To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 August 1776
From Gouverneur Morris
[Harlem Church, 3d Augt. 1776]
Dear Jay
If you play Truant thus, Le tout est perdue. How do you expect that your unruly Horses can be kept in Order by a Whip and a Spur. They want the Reins. On Tuesday next it is to be determined as to the Seat of our General.1 Unless &ca. &ca. I would not give a Fig for your Resolution. This is not the worst of it make haste, Yours
Gouvr. Morris
1. John Morin Scott, a member of the Third Provincial Congress, was commissioned a brigadier general in the New York militia on 9 June 1776, six days before the New York Congress resolved “That no military officer in the pay of the Continental Congress or the Congress of this Colony, ought to be eligible to a seat in the Congress of this Colony.” Scott was returned to the New York Convention as a delegate from New York City, and on 31 July, Morris challenged Scott’s eligibility to his seat. Scott claimed his seat “on behalf of his constituents.” The issue of Scott’s qualifications for membership in the convention was postponed several times and subsequently dropped. , 1: 488, 495, 551.