John Jay Papers
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From John Jay to Alexander McDougall, 17 October 1775

To Alexander McDougall

[Phil: 17 Octr 1775]

Dear Sir

I am much obliged to you for your friendly Letter by Mr Fine—his Business will soon be determined—1 The Hint you give is by no Means pleasing—I wish your Apprehensions were without Foundation tho ’tho I have too good an opinion of your Discernment to entertain Hopes of your being mistaken. You will much oblige me by a few Lines now & then—I need ^not^ caution you to be careful by what Hands you send them—

Tho I lament your Absence from the Scene of Action It gives me Pleasure to find you on a Field which you should not quit with Precipitation—Prudence forbids my being explicit—Were I sure that this Letter would reach you unopened it would be a very long one—

Why you restrain Exports permitted by the Association I know not. The Sacrifice tho well intended is expensive—Your Seamen will forsake you—I should not be surprized if Necessity should add them to the Number of your Enemies.2

No News yet as to the Effect of our Petition—3 God grant it may be a Means of restoring the Peace & I may add the Prosperity of the Empire now rent by unnatural Convulsions. But we ought not to rely wholly on it, lest it prove a broken Reed & pierce us—I am with great Sincerity, your Friend & h’ble Servt

John Jay

ALS, NHi: McDougall (EJ: 752). Addressed: “To/Coll. Alexander McDougall/in/New York.” Endorsed. McDougall, who had been serving on the New York Provincial Congress as a delegate from New York City, was, on 30 June 1775, appointed colonel of New York’s 1st Regiment and was participating actively in preparing the province for war.

1Letter not located. Fine was a merchant who had approached Congress with a plan for obtaining military supplies from Hispaniola (see JJ to McDougall, 26 Oct. 1775, below). The Fine (or Fyn) family had settled in New Netherland in the seventeenth century. The merchant mentioned here may have been Frederick Fyn (c. 1735–80), who was active in New York at this time.

2A reference to the provincial congress’s letter to Congress of 13 Oct. 1775 seeking “directions” on whether to ban all exportations, not merely those to Britain and her colonies as required by the Continental Association. JJ made a similar point concerning seamen in congressional debates of October 1775. JCC description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends , 3: 495. See also “Operating under the Continental Boycott” (editorial note) on pp. 139–40.

3The “Olive Branch Petition” of July 1775 (see JJ’s draft, printed above, and the editorial note on pp. 118–23); news of its rejection by the king did not reach Congress until 9 Nov. 1775. JCC, description begins Worthington C. Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1904–37) description ends 3: 343.

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