To John Jay from Daniel Coxe, 30 November 1796
From Daniel Coxe
London, John Street, Berkeley Square Novr. 30th. 1796
Dear Sir,
I take the Opportunity of the Viscount d’Orleans sailing for New York, to acknowledge the receipt of your favor by Mr. Gore,1 to whom, from having been out of Town the Summer, and but very lately returned to it, I have not yet been able to pay him all that attention which your introduction entitles him to,— that pleasure I expect soon to have.
The stay of the Viscount d’Orleans will, I beleive, be but short at New York, but should he have occasion or opportunity to pay his Respects to You, I beg leave to speak of him as a French Gentleman of very amiable & genteel Character, formerly in the Naval Service of France, who has some Business to transact in America relative to Property— He has been much in my Family as a Visitor. As Names sometimes confound & may prejudice, it may be proper to say that he is not connected with the Family of that Name, whose Character & Memory has been so distinguished for worthlessness in France & the world, as to render it almost proverbial—2
General Washingtons late Address on his Resignation has just reached us, and causes much regret among the Friends to America here, that a Character so distinguished, and so necessary to the support of its Union and Political Interests, should, at a moment so critical as the present, and before Peace is restored to Europe, and in which America, remote as she is, must eventually be greatly interested, retire from the Helm. His public Reasons are, no doubt, unanswerable & honorable to himself, and his private ones ^perhaps^ still more so; but a change of such magnitude at this time, fills us with some apprehensions, unless, without meaning to flatter, You were the Character to succeed him. But we have not the consolation to hear that You are a Candidate, and fear lest it may, from improper influence, fall into the hands of a Person who may not so truly study the real Interest of America in a reciprocal union of it as Your liberal spirits has evinced in conducting the late Treaty—3
Give me leave, Sir, through You, as any opportunity may present, to thank Genl. Schuyler for his polite attention in answering my Letter to him, under cover to You, respecting the Weston-hook Lands— I wish I could derive more solid advantage to myself from the Interest I hold in that Patent than he afords me to expect— The Proprietors on the spot seem strangely to neglect a valuable Interest, so much so, that at this distance from it, I would willingly accept of £1000 sterling for my 5/8th of 1/9th of about 80 or 90,000 Acres which I understand were left clear to the Proprietors on the dispute & Compromise with Mr. Ransellear, tho’, perhaps, now much settled by the New Englanders—4 Mrs. Coxe unites with me in best Regards to You Mrs. Jay & Family— I have the honor to be with real Respect and Regard Your Excellency’s most Obedient and most humble Servant,
Danl. Coxe
His Excellency John Jay Esqr &c &c &c
ALS, NNC (EJ: 05533). Endorsed: “… recd 10 march 1797”.
2. Individual not identified. The “family of that Name” to which Coxe refers is probably that of Louis Philippe, duc d’ Orléans (1773–1850), son of Louis Philippe Joseph d’Orléans (1747–93). Forced into exile in 1793, he sailed from Hamburg to the United States, arriving in Philadelphia in October 1796.
3. For JJ contributions to GW’s farewell address and his reflections on his retirement from public service and the presidency, see JJ to GW, 19 Sept. 1796, and his Address to the New York State Legislature, [1 November 1796], both above.
4. See JJ to Coxe, 4 Apr. 1796, above. The Westonhook patent was awarded in March 1705 by Edward Hyde, Viscount Cornbury, governor of New York, to Pieter Schuyler and eight other patentees including Dirck Wessels Ten Broeck, Jan Janse Bleecker, John Abeel, Ebenezer Wilson, Peter Fauconier, Dr. Daniel Cox, Thomas Wenham, and Henry Smith of New York. Although the boundaries were ill defined, the land was east of the Hudson and south of Albany. Since it bordered Connecticut and Massachusetts those state also had claims to some of the land, and New England settlers moved into the area. For background on the competing claims over the Westenhook patent, see , 3: 324–35; and , 173–80.