From John Jay to William Livingston, 22 March 1777
To William Livingston
[Kingston 22 March 1777]
Dr Sir
Your obliging Letters of the 18th: Ulto. and 3d. Inst. after passing thro’ various Hands & Places have ^were^ at Length arrived were delivered to me two Days ago—1 Your ^elegant^ Panegyrick2 on the amiable Character & benevolent of Designs of his Britannick Majesty meets with General approbation and some have do not hesitated to predict that it may influence him will stimulate the gracious prince to embrace the first Opportunity of exalting you. When I read On reading the Proclamation against picking & stealing3 I could not forbear wishing there had been one pasted on the foreheads of [Western Bound?] ^some of our late Eastern Protectors.^ Nothing but the Chance of these Psalm singing [things?] their being predestined to go to Heaven, can save them from a Campaign in the opposite Regions— The least they can with Justice expect ^expect with any Degree of modesty^ is to be decimated—4 They seem to ^have^ actd, as if they thought themselves Ten[an]ts. in common in all the Good Things they met with, and that posterior instead of prior occupancy enabled them to hold in Severalty.5 Some of them perhaps may verify the above a prior Paragraph in Property belonging to the [illegible] & by way of [illegible] Conscience that wont sleep Sound. The People both Friends and Enemies appear to have [illegible] with each other in raiding West Chester or [illegible]for Want of Property [illegible] remarkable for want of Godliness.6
The aff[ectiona]te. Manner in wh. you speake of our little Boy is very obliging I hope he may live to thank you for your kind Attention and to deserve it. Sally’s Rheumatism continues now & then to pay her short visits; her Health however is much mended, and I flatter myself the approaching season will remove all her fears on that Head. and perfect her Recovery.
At a Time when the most strenuous Efforts are necessary to our political Salvation it is to be regretted that any of our measures shd bear the Marks of feeble or dispirited Councils— Your militia bill shd. ^have^ been framed as to give Birth to strong & decisive executive powers— I should have thought
the Spirit of the Speech would have diffu added to the Remembrance of the barbarous Ravages of the Enemy wd. have diffused thro’ the Legislature a Degree of Resentmt ^Determination^ & Enthusiasm which wh wd have been productive of Regulations better adapted to the Times.7
Our Attention [We are engaged in the most important Of all Endea?] ^Our Convention has now^ under Consideration the Report of of the Com[mitte]e for preparing a Form of Govt. for this State, and unless ^my^ Expectations are very ill Founded, the Pe[ople] our Constituents will have great Reason to be satisfied
The Impartial Intelligencer does Honor to the wit as well as the invention of its Author.8 But if lying be a Sin he as well as Hugh Gaine will be damned beyond the power of Redemption. I confess his lyes [illegible] than those of the other and perhaps on that Score at least with Whigs will May escape Reprehension
Our printer for £200 per a year besides Subscriptions can afford only to publish a two penny half Sheet, filled with for the most part with accounts of desertions [rather?] for wh he is paid, instead of interesting publications by wh the public might be gratified, and for which he cannot find Room—9 These
^& other^ circumstances ^considerations^ have induced the Convention to take Holt into their service, & when he begins to print I may probably have the pleasure of sending you a Paper worth reading— I am my Dr Sir With the ^greatest^ Respect & Esteem Your most obt. Servt.
Dft, NNC (EJ 8276). Endorsed.
1. Letters of 18 Feb. not found; Livingston’s letter of 3 Mar. is printed above.
2. Probably a reference to Livingston’s speech to the Council and General Assembly of New Jersey dated 25 Feb. 1777 and delivered 28 Feb. 1777. Votes and Proceedings of the General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey . . . (Burlington, 1777; , no. 15466), 85–89, 90; , 1: 254–60. The speech, a copy of which Livingston sent to JJ on 3 Mar., was published in the Pennsylvania Packet on 4 Mar. and as a broadside (, no. 15464). It incorporated themes similar to those in Thomas Paine’s American Crisis and JJ’s address of the New York Convention of 23 Dec. 1776, on which see the editorial note on pp. 320–25. Referring to George III, Livingston asserted:
Even the Author of this horrid War, is incapable of concealing his own Confusion and Distress. Too great to be wholly suppressed, it frequently discovers itself in the Course of his Speech. A Speech terrible in Word; and fraught with Contradiction: Breathing Threatenings; and betraying Terror: A motley Mixture of Magnanimity and Consternation; of Grandeur and Abasement. With Troops invincible, he dreads a Defeat; and wants Reinforcements. Victorious in America, and triumphant on the Ocean, he is an humble Dependent on a petty Prince; and apprehends an Attack upon his own Metropolis: And with full Confidence in the Friendship and Alliance of France, he trembles upon his Throne, at her secret Designs, and open Preparations.
3. Probably a reference to Livingston’s proclamation of 5 Feb. 1777 condemning the unauthorized seizure of goods by units of the state militia and requiring officers to prevent “like Disorders and Violence for the Future.” , no. 15462; , 1: 214–16. For JJ’s continued attention to the issue of unauthorized seizures of goods by troops, see his “A Hint to the Legislature of the State of New York,” [15 Jan.–2 Apr. 1778], below.
4. A reference to the punishment of mutinous troops in the Roman army by the execution of a tenth of the men, chosen by lot. JJ seems to be responding here to property seizures by Massachusetts troops in New York, either during the Canadian campaign or, more recently, when Washington ordered New York and Massachusetts troops to assemble at Peekskill, whose damages compounded those from a raid of British troops on Peekskill.
5. Here JJ is employing terms derived from property law related to ways in which property can be owned by more than one person at a given time.
6. The section is enclosed in a box and marked for deletion; it was apparently more heavily crossed out at a later date.
7. For Livingston’s speech, which strongly emphasized British depredations, see note 2, above. On the New Jersey militia bill, see Livingston to JJ, 3 Mar. 1777, above.
8. A reference to “The IMPARTIAL CHRONICLE, or the INFALLIBLE INTELLIGENCER, upon the plan, and after the manner of the New-York MERCURY,” Livingston’s pseudonymous satire, which first appeared in the Pennsylvania Packet of 18 Feb. It was reprinted in various newspapers, including the Continental Journal (Boston) of 13 Mar. and the Massachusetts Spy of 27 Mar. 1777; , 1: 225, 226–39. Hugh Gaine, satirized as “Hugo Lucre” in the piece, was the editor of the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.
9. Samuel Loudon.