From John Jay to John Trumbull, 6 June 1800
To John Trumbull
New York 6th. June 1800
Dear Sir
From not having recd. any Letters from you for a considerable Time past, I suspect that mine to You have miscarried. Your last being at Albany I cannot mention their Dates; but I think the last was the one which accompanied the Reports you sent me, and which I read with pleasure.1
Since that Period Affairs both in Europe and in this Country have undergone great changes; and the most sagacious are at a Loss to divine what will probably be the Issue of them in either. For my own part I do not regret the late Revolution and new Governmt. in France;2 but I suspect that all the Expectations of the allied powers from a Continuance of the war, will not be realized.
The Session of Congress at Ph[iladelphi]a has terminated in a different Manner from [wh]at was expected— You have [doubtless] heard the Details—3 The ensu[ing] Ele[ction] for President will probably be [ve]ry interesting— What System [or?] Policy [will] afterwards take place cannot as yet be conjectured. Such [is] the present State of Parties, and so singular are some of their operations that their ultimate objects, if they have any precise ones, cannot be discerned. perhaps some of their objects are to be found only in the Chapter of Accidents. The public mind is far from being composed; and altho we enjoy great and general Prosperity, yet the Contentions of popular Leaders and Demagogues, create agitation and apprehensions which alarm & perplex.
Being at Albany I had no opportunity of seeing Mr. Gore, with whom it would have given me pleasure to converse about our Friends in England, and talk on a Variety of Matters.
Doctr. Robertson4 who married the Daugh[ter] [illegible], sailed in the last Packet— being at that time indisposed I could not write by him nor return the visit he was so polite as to make me. If you should see him be so good as to mention this to him— with great Esteem and Regard I am Dr Sir your most obt. Servt
John Jay
Col. John Trumbull
ALS, Harlan Crow Library. Endorsed: “… Ansd. Octr. 22d. 1801”. Portions of the manuscript text are obliterated and could not be deciphered. For JT’s reply of 22 Oct. 1801, see below.
1. Possibly JT to JJ, 3 June 1799, above.
2. The French Directory was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had returned from Egypt in October 1799, in the Coup of 18 Brumaire (8–9 Nov. 1799); it was replaced by the Consulate.
3. Congress adjourned on 14 May 1800, resolving to meet in Washington, D.C., the new seat of government, on the third Monday in November.
4. A Mr. Robertson (not further identified) sailed on 2 June 1800, aboard the British packet Arabella along with polemicist William Cobbett and his family, and reached London by way of Halifax by 9 July 1800. See Commercial Advertiser (supplement) (New York), 2 June 1800; Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia), 4 Sept. 1800.