From John Jay to George Clinton, 18 August 1779
To George Clinton
Pha. 18th. Augt 1779
Dear Sir
I send you two Sets of the Journals of Congress—two acts of the Legislature of Virga. one for establishing a Land office &c. the other laying a Tax payable in Certain enumerated Commodities1—four news Papers from the 5 to the 17th: Aug Inst inclusive—3 Parcel’s of German ones—and an Essay on Trade and Finance by Pelatiah Webster—2 There are also enclosed with this Letter, two from for my Brother, ^Fredk. & one for the Chancellor^ which I take the Liberty of committing to your Care—
Mr. Duane, who set out from hence Yesterday ^last Monday,^ will give you satisfactory information on every Subject of public Importance here. ^much interesting Information^. Mr. Morris expects will also be with you soon.
I should have written by Mr Duane but Want of Leisure as well as want of Health prevented me—
Mr. Morris will explain to you very fully the steps which in our Opinion are necessary to be pursued respecting the Grants— I therefore Forbear saying any Thing on that Subject now.3
The Exertions of our State have placed her in a very respectable point of View here, and permit me to tell you that your March to the Highlands has given occasion to many handsome things being said and written of you here4
In my Letter to the Chancellor is enclosed a Resignation of my office—say nothing of it till you see him.5 You will find no Reasons assigned for this Measure—to you they would be unnecessary— Altho I shall soon return to private life, it will be with a Determination (as long as ^during^ this Conflict) lasts; to quit it whenever my Country shall call me from it, and afford & while out of it afford me Subsistence; and that in any Place or Station except the Senate— I shall by no means ^It will be with a Determination not to^ shrink from the Duties of a Citizen but shall be ready to serve the People of New York. During the Contest ^continuance^ of the present Contest I ^have always^ considerd the public as being entitled to my ^time &^ Services—my best respects to Mrs. Clinton. I am dear Sir very sincerely Yours &c.
J. J.
His Excely. Govr. Clinton
DftS, NNC (EJ: 7609). Endorsed. ALS, not found, printed in , 5: 198–99. Enclosures: unspecified issues of the journals of Congress, probably part of the weekly series of publications undertaken by the Continental Congress in April 1779; Pelatiah Webster’s “Essay on Free Trade and Finance, Humbly Offered to the Consideration of the Public,” written under the pseudonym “A Citizen of Philadelphia,” dated Philadelphia, 24 July 1779 (, no. 16670); JJ to Frederick Jay, not located; JJ to Robert R. Livingston, 18 Aug. 1779, ALS, NHi: Livingston (EJ: 793).
1. On 13 May 1779 the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act entitled “An act, for establishing a Land Office, and ascertaining the terms and manner of granting waste and unappropriated lands.” On 18 May it passed “An act for laying a tax, payable in certain enumerated commodities.” W. W. Hening, The statutes at large; being a collection of all the laws of Virginia from the first session of the legislature, in the year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond, 1819–23), 10: 50–65, 79–81.
2. Pelatiah Webster (1726–95), a Yale-educated clergyman, was a prominent Philadelphia merchant who contributed a series of articles to the Pennsylvania Evening Post, signed “a Financier” and “A Citizen of Philadelphia,” in which he argued for support of the war by taxation rather than by loans, free trade, and the curtailment of paper money issues.
3. The New York delegation did not support the application of the Vermonters, but neither Duane’s nor Morris’s account of New York’s policy in Congress has been located. For JJ’s later proposal, see JJ to Clinton, 27 Aug., below.
4. The battle of Stony Point.