To John Jay from Robert Morris, 4 February 1777
From Robert Morris
Philada. Feby. 4th 1777
Dear Sir:
Your favour of the 7th Ulto came safe to hand,1 Timothy Jones is certainly a very entertaining, agreable Man, one woud not judge so from any thing contained in his cold insipid letter of the 17th Septr. unless you take pains to find the Concealed beauties therein,2 The Cursory observations of a Sea Captain wou’d never discover them, but transferred from his hand to the penetrating Eye of a Jay the Diamonds Stand Confessed at once, it puts me in mind of a Search after the Philosophers Stone, but I believe not ^one^ of the followers of that Phantom have come so near the Mark as you my Good Friend. I handed a Copy of your discoverys to the Committee, which now Consists of Harrison, R. H. Lee, Hooper, Doctr. Witherspoon Johnson, you, & Myself3 & honestly told them who it was from because, measures are necessary in Consequence of it; but I have not recd. any directions yet— I shou’d never doubt of the Success of measures Conducted by such able heads as those that take the leads in your Convention, I hate to pay Compliments, and would avoid the appearance of doing it, but I cannot refrain from saying I love Duane, admire Mr. Livingston, & have an Epithet for you if I had been writing to another.
I am stationed here with Mr. Walton of Georgia and my Colleague Mr Clymer as a Committee of Congress for transacting all Continental business that may be proper &. necessary at this place abundance of it we have &, I believe we dispatch about ⅞ths of that damn’d trash that used to take up ¾ths of the debates in Congress; and give them no trouble about the matter, but we have this day wrote them pressingly to come back4 whether they will or not is uncertain as I am told some of them are attached to the place, other execrate it. I do not revile Condemn their flight from hence as I should have done had I been at the distance you are, but I cannot spare time to explain myself for I write in haste & proceed to unfold a little business I want to trouble you with—
Major West the Nephew of my Friend Will West was taken Prisoner at Fort Washington he had made a kind of bargain with Mr. Elliott late Collr. of New York to get exchanged for Mr. Jauncey junr. and I represented the matter to Congress, who very wisely passed the inclosed Resolve,5 the agreeement was that if Major West cou’d make interest with Congress, Mr Elliott wou’d do the needfull with Genl. Howe to effect this exchange at least so I understand it. West is an active good Officer, & has great interest in our back Country that wou’d enable him to recruit fast— Mr Jauncey I fancy may as well be in N York as Connecticut and I wish you wou’d forward this business of Exchange if you think it right My Compts To Mr Duane & Mr Livingston and I hope they will join you in it—
I wish you had done with your Convention You are really wanted exceedingly in Congress, they are very thin, Hooper gone of[f] with a Fever— Tom Nelson with an appoplectic complaint, when I say gone off; I dont mean to the other World, only to another part of this, one to Virginia & Tother for No Carolina. Harrison has barely weathered it, but he is mending. T. Johnson passed through here a few days ago a General for the Camp.6 Maryland is not represented Jersey &. Delaware seldom are, your state & this not so fully as they ought. We shall have a New appointment here soon. I wish it may do honor to us, but much I fear the reverse from the Names now talked off Adieu my Dr Sir God Bless you, & grant Success to America in the present Contest, with Wisdom and Virtue to Secure Peace & happiness to her Sons in all future Ages. I am with true regard Your most Obedt Servant,
Robt Morris
John Jay Esqr.
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6994). Endorsed. Enclosure: resolution of Congress, 21 Jan. 1777 concerning the exchange of William West Jr. for James Jauncey Jr., , 7:52–53.
1. JJ to Morris, 7 Jan. 1777, not located.
2. “Timothy Jones” was a name used by Silas Deane in his secret correspondence with JJ in 1776. The note from “Jones” to JJ, 17 Sept. 1776, is reprinted in , 1: 67. This brief and innocuous message was written in ordinary ink at the top of a sheet of paper while the apparently blank remainder of the page contained Deane’s letter to Morris of 17 Sept. 1776 written in invisible ink. In his letter to Morris, Deane advised that a shipment of clothing, powder, cannon, and ammunition would be sent from France in October; recommended that Congress give commissions to seize Portuguese ships as a means of encouraging support from Spain; urged an increase in the American navy; and predicted, wrongly, that “A general war is undoubtedly at hand in Europe, and consequently America will be safe, if you baffle the arts and arms of the two Howes though the Summer.” , 1: 247; , 2: 148.
3. Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, William Hooper, Dr. John Witherspoon (1723–94), and Thomas Johnson were JJ’s and Morris’s colleagues on the Committee of Secret Correspondence. Harrison, Johnson, and JJ were named to the committee 29 Nov. 1775; Morris was appointed 30 Jan. 1776; and Lee, Witherspoon, and Hooper were added to the committee on 11 Oct. 1776. , 3: 392; 4: 104; 6: 867.
4. Executive Committee to John Hancock, 4 Feb. 1777, , 6: 212–15.
5. Major William West Jr. of the 3rd Pennsylvania Battalion was captured at Fort Washington 16 Nov. 1776. Loyalist James Jauncey Jr. (d. 1777), the son-in-law of Andrew Elliot, the royal collector of customs at New York, was seized by the New York Convention in the summer of 1776 and sent to Connecticut. On 21 Jan. 1777 the Continental Congress resolved to permit the exchange of West for Jauncey subject to the approval of the New York authorities. , 7: 52–53; , 2: 233.
6. Thomas Johnson, as first brigadier general of the Maryland militia, led 1,800 men to Washington’s headquarters at Morristown, N.J., at the end of January 1777.