From John Jay to Silas Deane, 16 June 1781
To Silas Deane
Aranjues 16 June 1781
Dear Sir
Your Letter of the 8 Ap.1 is particular on a Subject, on which I confess I wished to be minutely informed. I approve of your having conveyed to the Minister what you concieved to be a true State of our Affairs. On such Occasions Policy, as well as Candor, forbids Deception. How far it was necessary or proper to mention the same Things in public Conversations, is less clear, & if that was the Case, I think it was not prudent.
As to Wm. Carmichael he is ignorant of the subjects of any letters that have passed between us. he onde had my good Opinion and might have retained it if almost from the time we sailed from America he had not given me sufficient caus[e] to repent his being with me J cannot now go into Details I wish to be in a situation of forgetting them and him— This must be entre nous—2
I am told that Payn is in France, but as far as I can learn, the Objects of his voyage remain a secret.3 Mr. S[earle’s]. political Reflections do not surprize me, I wish however they had been spared, as many may be led from the Extravagance of them to consider such assertions rather as Gasconades than well founded Facts—
It gives me Pleasure to hear that France has lately granted very considerable aids to our Country. They will be very seasonable, in more than one point of View— They will strengthen our Hands, and confirm our Confidence.
Spain going to do something great, if we may judge by appearances. I allude to the armament preparing to sail from Cadiz— Gibralter is supposed to be the Object, and the Duke de Crillon is said to be the Commander in Chief—4
I am rejoiced to find that G. M. was not alluded to in your former Letter—he is still at Philadelphia, tho not in Congress—it is a Pity that his Time should be spent in private Life, when it might be employed with much advantage to the public—5
Mrs. Jay desires me to present her Compliments to you and I am Dr Sir sincerely Your Friend & Servant
John Jay
The Honble Silas Deane Esqr—
LS, partly in code, not decoded by Deane, CtHi: Deane (EJ: 2901). Endorsed. Decoded by the editors of JJUP. Encoded in the Jay-Deane code (EJ: 7590). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on p. 9. Letter printed with inaccuracies in decoding in , 4: 438–39.
1. Deane to JJ, 8 Apr. 1781, above.
2. JJ made some errors in using the cipher (e.g., onde for once and J for I).
3. Paine was John Laurens’s choice to be his private secretary on the latter’s mission abroad, but Congress, to avoid contention, chose William Jackson (1759–1829) instead. Paine nonetheless accompanied Laurens to France, paying his own way. For Paine’s previous contretemps with Congress and JJ, see : 551, 563–66, 567–70, 571–72.
4. Instead of moving against Gibraltar, Crillon’s force landed on Minorca on 23 Aug. 1781. Only after that island fell, in February 1782, did Crillon turn his attention to Gibraltar. , 234–36, 267, 269–70.
5. As early as June 1781, Gouverneur Morris was acting unofficially as Robert Morris’s assistant in the Office of Finance at the latter’s request, but he was not sworn in until 7 Aug. , 1: 96n.