To John Jay from Silas Deane, 25 June 1789
From Silas Deane
London June 25th 1789
Sir,
On the receipt of Your Letter, which you may perhaps recollect, your writing me from Paris,1 I had no expectation of a renewal of our correspondance, nor any hopes of success, if attempted by me; Mr. Sayre told me that you enquired after me, and expressed a wish for my return; This leads me to hope that the surmises and suggestions, propagated ^against^ me, having never been, in the most remote degree substantiated, may be dissipated & that any error in judgment, which is the utmost any one can charge me with, is fully expiated, by what I have suffered; I flatter myself, from my recollection, of your former way of thinking, when I enjoyed some Share of your good opinion, & confidence, that this must be the case with You, and on this ground I now address you, on a Subject, of the most interesting nature, to myself, & Family, as well as in some Degree to the public. It is now more than Ten Years, since insinuations were thrown out, that I was a defaultor in my pecuniary transactions, whilst in the service of my Country; And You must recollect, that from that Time, I omitted nothing in my power to bring those insinuations to a direct, & specific charge, that I might meet it and that the public might, from a fair, and impartial investigation, have the means of coming at the Truth. I have been unsuccessful, and for a long Time since, have despaired of ever being otherwise, untill the present attempts, to form a new, & efficient, & I hope permanent System of Government, have revived my hopes, so far at least, as to expect that this Subject, may be taken up, & examined, & decided on; and I now once more, most earnestly sollicit Your Influence, to have this done. Distressed as I am, & have long since been, in my circumstances, I form no expectations of a pecuniary nature, from the enquiry; I wish to have the ballance which has been so long due to me, settled & acknowledged; This will be a satisfaction to my Family, to my son in particular, and it will be hard to be refused the opportunity of doing this, when I have nothing else ^left^ in my power to give them.2 I have wrote a long Letter to my Brother, which will be communicated to Col. Wadsworth to whom I shall write,3 by the present opportunity, & take the Liberty of referring You ^to them^ if disposed to lend your interest, in bringing this question to a conclusion; & will trespass no farther on your Time, but to assure You that I am with much respect Sir Your most Obedt. & very hum. Servt.
S. Deane
If my health permits, I hope by the assistance of Friends to be in some part of the united States, probably in Boston, in the course of the coming Autumn4
Honble Jno. Jay
ALS, NNC (EJ: 07790). , 5: 526–28, omits the significant postscript.
1. JJ to Deane, 23 Feb. 1784, , 3: 562–63. For Deane’s relationship with JJ, see the editorial note “Silas Deane: A Worrisome Correspondent,” , 2: 243–46.
2. For Deane’s status at this time, see TJ to JJ, 3 Aug. 1788, and note 7, above.
3. Deane wrote to GW, Jeremiah Wadsworth, and Barnabas Deane, letters all dated 25 June. The letters to Wadsworth and Silas’s brother were transmitted through William Samuel Johnson, who was then senator from Connecticut. , 5: 524–29.
4. On Deane’s death soon after boarding ship for his return to America in September 1789, rumors of his suicide, and allegations he may have been murdered by Edward Bancroft, see 515–50; , 215–27.