John Jay Papers
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To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 17 June[–13 July] 1781

From Gouverneur Morris

Phila 17 June[–13 July] 1781

Dr Jay

Although I beleive myself thoroughly acquainted with you yet I cannot tell whether I ought to congratulate or condole with you on your late appointment. Ere this reaches you you will have learnt that you are on the part of this country one of five to negociate for Peace1 So far you are something but when you come to find by your instructions that you must ultimately obey the dictates of the French Minister, I am sure there is Some thing in your Bosom which will revolt at the Servility of the Situation, to have relaxed on all Sides to have given up all Things might easily have been expected from those Minds which softened by Wealth and debased by Fear are unable to gain and unworthy to enjoy the Blessings of Freedom. But that the proud should prostitute the very little little dignity this poor country was possessed of would be indeed astonishing if we did not know the near Alliance between Pride and Meanness. Men who have too little Spirit to demand of their constituents the [that] they do their duty, who have sufficient Humility to beg a paltry Pittance at the Hands of any & every Sovereign. Such Men will always be ready to pay the Price which Vanity shall demand from the Vain. Do I not know you well enough to beleive that you will not act in this new capacity I think I do and therefore I will express my Concern that you must decline the Honor if that Name can indeed be applied to such office. Decline, however with Decency tho with Dignity. I mean always if no Alteration takes Place which shall be done if I can effectuate it tho I almost despair2

Having declared what I think you will do let me advise what I wish you to do as the only Mode to be of conseq. when the Affair is treatd of in Earnest Let Carmichael go to the meeting.3 I must be most egregiously mistaken if Spanish Court is desirous of peace meet them fully & in appearance with Confidence. Tell them we are determined to persist untill the last Necessity. State our present Terms, to [be the effect of their Backwardness. Hint a private Treaty to]4 comprehend the Cession of the Floridas and even of Jamaica as an Ultimatum of peace their minister at the Congress can delay, and delay is every Thing. No other Congress will surrender all as this has to an ally. I am more moved on this Occasion than I have ever been and therefore it is possible I may be mistaken but I think so strong and deep an Impression cannot be false.

Your Brother has been pelting at me in the News Papers.5 I am sorry for it because it renders your Brother ridiculous and indeed contemptible. Remember me properly & beleive me yours.

Gouv Morris

[P.S. The original & Duplicate of this Letter were sent in different Vessels to France, one by the Anne Captn. Josiah & another in the Delaware Captn. Prowle. These were in Cypher But the present will not be exposed to the European Posts.

10 July

This Day Mr. McKane Chief Justice of Pensilvania was chosen President of Congress. If he fills the Chair as well as he has filled the Bench, the Country will have Reason to applaud the Choice. If you did not personally know this Gentleman I would go into a Character of him but it is unnecceary you have served with him so long that neither of you is a stranger to the other.

When I mentioned to you Carmichael’s going to the Congress, I did not know of another Object which may prevent it, and which you will probably hear of by this Conveyance. I wish you would communicate to him such Parts of mine of the 17th. of June as you think proper. By writing to you both as I do each will gain more Information of what is doing by the Means of a free Communication for I hate to write twice the same Thing with Duplicates & without them there is but little Chance that a Letter should reach you.

13 July

Mr. Morris’s Letter of this Date will fully apprize you of what has hitherto been done in Congress on the Subject of Loans. By the Bye Subsidies will be probably obtained as speedily as Loans and they will be much more convenient. I have nothing to tell you of news. Your Friends are all well. I think the Scarcity and Brevity of your Letters might have excused my troubling you so much. What is very certain is that if you had formerly written to me as fully as you might you would have gained much Intelligence which I think you wished. In future when you write to me use the Cypher which you receive from & use with the Sup[erintendent]: of Fin[ance]: I shall have access to it and I have not time now to form another— Those which you receive were Blanks originally printed for my own private Use— They have in various Occasions been supplied to the Public. The first Use made of them was to send one from me to you. It was I fear drowned in the Shelaly with many other Letters and many worthy Characters— Adieu Believe me always yours

Gouv Morris]6

ALS, partly in code, decoded by JJ, NNC (EJ: 6969). Addressed: “Honle Mr. Jay Minister plenipo. of / the United States of North America / at / Madrid—/ Forwarded by Cuming & Macarty / L’Orient 2d Augt. 1781”. Endorsed: “ . . . Recd 18 Augt. 1781 / ansd. 24 Do.—” ALS, not encrypted, marked “Triplicate”, with attached postscripts. Endorsed: “G Morris 17 June–10 & 13 July / 1781 / Ansd 28 Sept. by Mr. Franks.” Incomplete in HPJ description begins Henry P. Johnston, ed., The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay (4 vols.; New York, 1890–93) description ends , 2: 338–39. Encoded using second Jay-Morris book code, based on Entick’s New Spelling Dictionary (1777), described in JJ to Gouverneur Morris, 2 Mar. 1780, NNC (EJ: 8332). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on pp. 9–10.

1See Congress’s commissions and instructions to JJ of 15 June, above, and the President of Congress to JJ, 5 July 1781, below.

2For JJ’s reaction to these instructions, see his letter to the President of Congress of 20 Sept. 1781, below.

3Carmichael was one of the unsuccessful nominees for the enlarged peace commission. 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 , 20: 628.

4Text in brackets supplied from the triplicate ALS.

5Sir James Jay was at the time politically aligned with Pennsylvania’s Constitutionalists and the Lee faction in national politics. His animosity toward Gouverneur Morris dated back to August 1778, when Morris had not arranged to have Sir James invited to the reception for the French minister (see Morris to JJ, 16 Aug. 1778, JJSP, 1 description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay: Volume 1, 1760–1779 (Charlottesville, Va., 2010) description ends : 531–33). His newspaper attacks may also have been prompted by Morris’s failure to support his financial claims against Congress, as well as by Sir James’s disappointment at not being put in charge of the newly created Department of Marine. Morris attributed to Sir James an “Advertisement Extraordinary,” signed “Pro Bono Publico,” that appeared in the Freeman’s Journal on 16 May and a longer piece published on 23 May under the pseudonym “Many.” Both pieces charged that Morris’s intended visit behind enemy lines in New York with his gravely ill “Mammy” (Sarah Gouverneur Morris [1714–86], a Loyalist sympathizer) was improper for a late member of Congress. “Pro Bono Publico” also described Morris as attached to the “very virtuous” Silas Deane (as did “A Citizen” on 6 June) and as an intimate of Benedict Arnold. Yet another piece by “Lucius,” also published on 6 June, declared Morris disqualified for public life by his “vanity, levity of temper, personal attachment or depravity of principle.” Morris replied to these attacks, all of which he seems to have assumed came from Sir James, on 30 May and 20 June but left without response subsequent charges from “Lucius” that he had attempted to ruin the Canada expedition that was under discussion in 1778. See the Freeman’s Journal, 16, 23, and 30 May; 6, 20, and 27 June; 4 and 25 July 1781; Kline, “Gouverneur Morris,” description begins Mary-Jo Kline, “Gouverneur Morris and the New Nation, 1775–1788” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1970) description ends 191–94; and Edward O. Alexander, A Revolutionary Conservative (New York, 1938), 144–49. New York delegate James Duane came under attack at this same time. See the Freeman’s Journal, 23 May; 6 and 27 June; 8, 15, and 22 Aug. 1781. For Silas Deane’s comments on these attacks, see his letter to JJ of 26 Sept., below.

For Sir James’s claims against Congress, see “Sir James Jay” (editorial note) on p. 783; for his connection with the Department of Marine, see Catharine W. Livingston to JJ, 29 Mar. 1781, ALS, NNC (EJ: 8097).

6Postscripts of 10 and 13 July supplied from triplicate ALS. As noted in the endorsements, JJ replied to the original letter on 24 Aug. (letter not found) and to the triplicate with postscripts on 28 Sept., below.

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