From John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, 1 July 1776
To Robert R. Livingston
[New York] Monday, 1 July 1776
Dr Robt.
I returned to this City about Noon this Day from Elizh.Town, & to my great mortification am informed that our Convention influenced by one of G. Morris vagrant Plans have adjourned to the White Plains to meet there Tomorrow.1 This precipitate ill advised Retreat I fear will be not a little injurious to the publick—The Prosecution of the Late Discoveries of Govr. Tryons Plot will be delayed, & may it not by our Enemies be imputed to a Design of keeping the Necks of some of our Citizens out of the Halter? The Business of some other Com[mittee]s. of Importance is at a Stand—I begin to loose Patience—This Stroke of Morrisania Politics quite confounds me—They tell me too that a Resolve has passed granting certain Powers to the Gen.2 God knows what they are. I think of it with Fear & Trembling—I wish Mr Ph. Livingston could have been prevailed upon to stay here a little longer—3 I exhausted all my Rhetorick on this occasion but in vain—Nor Did he assign a better Reason for leaving the Province, than that he would go to Philadelphia—The ways of some Men like Solomons Serpent on a Rock, are past finding out. I am too much out of Humour to add any Thing except that I a[m you]r Friend
John Jay
ALS, DLC: Keane Coll. (EJ: 13128). Addressed: “To Majr. Robt. R. Livingston Esqr, a member of the Continental Congress Philadelphia.” Franked: “free J. Jay.” Endorsed.
1. The British fleet began to arrive in New York harbor on the morning of 29 June 1776. The same day, JJ received leave from the Third Provincial Congress to “go to Elizabeth Town, and . . . to return on Monday Morning [1 July].” On 30 June, the New York Congress, fearful of an attack by the British, adjourned from the city to reconvene at White Plains on 2 July. However, the Third Congress never met again, and provincial government was in a state of limbo until the Fourth Provincial Congress made a quorum at White Plains on 9 July. , 1: 511, 512, 515.
2. During JJ’s absence, on 30 June, the New York Congress resolved that Washington be authorized to “apply to the brigadier-generals” of the province “for any proportion of the militia under their respective commands” and also “to take such measures for apprehending and securing dangerous and disaffected persons as he shall think necessary for the security of this Colony and the liberties of America.” , 1: 512.
3. On Wednesday, 26 June, the New York Congress gave Philip Livingston, who had been working with JJ on the secret committee investigating the Hickey Plot, leave to attend the Continental Congress “after next Saturday.” , 1: 506.