1To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 11 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Kingston, New York, May 11, 1777. On May 12, 1777, Hamilton wrote to Morris: “I have received the pleasure of your favour of yesterday’s date.” Letter not found. ]
2From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 20 April 1776 [letter not found] (Washington Papers)
Letter not found: to Gouverneur Morris, 20 April 1776. Morris’s letter to GW of this date is endorsed in Stephen Moylan’s writing: “ansd Same day.”
3To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 July 1783 (Washington Papers)
I take the Liberty of introducing to your Acquaintance Mr Darby a young Gentleman of family from England—He comes hither with warm Recommendations from our Ministers abroad and as far as may be determined from a very short Acquaintance is a Man of fashion who has kept the best Company—His Object is to see America and his first Excursion is to see you. Believe me very truly yours DLC : Papers...
4To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 24 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Kingston [ New York ] May 24, 1777. Has no news of the destruction of stores at St. Johns. Speculates on future course of the war and discusses need for maintaining health of troops. ALS , Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress. This letter was written by Morris in his capacity as a member of the New York Committee of Correspondence.
5George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 8 May 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Middlebrook [ New Jersey ] May 8, 1779 . States reasons for favoring a campaign in South. Discusses distressing state of the Army. Df , in writings of George Washington and H, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. Morris was a delegate to Congress from New York.
6To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, [18 July 1777] (Hamilton Papers)
[ Saratoga, New York, July 18, 1777. On July 22, 1777, Hamilton wrote to Morris: “Your favour of the 18th ⟨from Saratoga reached me⟩ yesterday.” Letter not found. ]
7To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 October 1782 (Washington Papers)
In Consequence of a very interesting Conversation which has passed between Mr Ogden and myself, I have advised him to wait upon you. He will deliver this Letter. How far what he has to communicate may merit Attention you can best determine. I confess that I think it very important. Believe me always very sincerely yours PHi : Etting Collection.
8To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 26 March 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
By unavoidable Incidents this Letter is delayed beyond the usual Time for which I assure you I am extremely sorry. Your Favor gave great Pleasure as well to the Committee as to several Members of the House who are much pleased with your judicious Caution to distinguish between what you sport as your private Opinion and the weighty Sentiments of the General. No Circumstance could have more...
9To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 15 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Permit me to congratulate you on the passing a Resolution for a Kind of Establishment at this late Hour It is not what you wished but it may do You must pardon a little to the Republicanism of our Ideas. What is a little extraordinary there was no Dissentient State and only two Individuals Yet no Measure hath ever been more severely contested. We shall now go thro the Regimental & other...
10To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 1 July 1782 (Washington Papers)
Enclosed is a Packett containing two Weeks News Papers for Genl Dalrymple—They are sent in Consequence of an Agreement we made at Elizabeth town being a cartel of Gazettes—We were to send out the New York Papers—these we want for the Use of the Office and had in Vain attempted to get them thro the Commissary of Prisoners. He promised very fairly—Should Genl Dalrymple send out the News Papers...
11To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 9 June 1778 (Washington Papers)
I have sent to your Addressé three Bundles containing the several Materials collected by the Committee for arrangg the army. This Business being now put under your Care I trust you will be enabled speedily to put your Army in the Situation you wish excepting always the Deficiency of Numbers which is upon the whole well enough since thereby it happens that less of the Resources of the Country...
12To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 August 1776 (Jay Papers)
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. Unless &c a . &c a . I would not give a Fig for your Resolution. This is not the worst of it make haste, Yours ALS , NNC ( EJ : 6959 ). Address mutilated. Endorsed....
13From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 11 September 1782 (Washington Papers)
I wrote on the 2nd instant to Mr R. Morris and requested that the accounts relative to the subsistence of Prisoners might be collected and forwarded—General Knox has since desired me to write to you for those particularly which were in the possession of yourself and him upon the prison Commission, and for the Calculations made by you at Boonetown of the probable Balance due America with any...
14From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 18 August 1782 (Washington Papers)
Congress having again directed me to propose to the British Commander in Cheif at New York the appointment of Commissioners to settle forthwith a General Cartel for the exchange of prisoners—taking care that the Liquidation of accounts and settlement of the Balance due for the maintanance of prisoners be provided for therein—I have this day communicated their resolution to Sir Guy Carleton and...
15From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 27 November 1778 (Washington Papers)
I thank you for your favor of the 11th which I received by the last Post. You know when a House is on the move and packing up, all the family are commonly busy—and all is hurry—so it is when an Army is changing it’s ground for new Quarters. This circumstance must plead my excuse for not going fully into your Letter. You are certainly right in your position that we must act according to our...
16From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 21 July 1777 (Jay Papers)
The Situation of Tryon County is both shameful & deplorable Such abject Dejection & Despondency as mark the Letters we have rec d . from thence disgrace human Nature. God knows what to do with or for them. Were they alone interested in their Fate, I should be for leaving their Cart in the Slough till they w d . put their Shoulders to the Wheel. Be more cautious in your Letters to the Council....
17To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 10 March 1782 (Jay Papers)
I have received and now acknowlege your Letter of the tenth of November which arrived by Captain Jackson a few Days since. The Enclosure of that Letter shall be properly made Use of. The Letter you mention to have written to me in September I never received. To explain what appears misterious in one of my Letters as to a Gentleman who wondered you did not write to him I say only that from his...
18From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 5 September 1778 (Washington Papers)
I was yesterday favoured with your Letter of the 31st Ulto—The one you allude to, came to hand about five days before. I thank you for your very polite and friendly appeal, upon the Subject of half bounty in solid Coin. The measure, I have no doubt, would produce an Instant benefit, so far as the engaging drafts &ca might be concerned; but I am certain, many mischievous and pernicious...
19To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 20 March 1780 (Jay Papers)
The Disaster you met with and the Delay occasioned by it will make all my Letters old before you see them— Your Note from Martinique the Day after your arrival shuts my Mouth as to any Thing worth your knowing. This Letter will go by a circuitous Rout but I trust a safe one. I shall therefore mention that Congress have anvilled out another new System of Finance the Plain English of which is a...
20From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 5 June 1782 (Washington Papers)
General Washington’s compliments to Mr Governr Morris. If Mr Morris should have postponed his report, respecting the business entrusted to him by Mrs Lloyd, ’till information could be had from hence, of the conveyance of her Packet to Mr White; the General prays him to present his compliments with it, and assure her, that the packet went by a returng Flag in less than 24 hours after it came to...
21To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 28 July 1775 (Jay Papers)
What shall we do with our West Chester Causes I have not hitherto given you any Notices of Trial because the Uncertainty and Inquietude of the Times in some measure prohibited me the Hope of trying them. Besides this I daily expected you in Town and wished for the Certainty of your Presence inasmuch as it would have been an improper Advantage over you while attending upon the public...
22To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 21 October 1779 (Washington Papers)
Two Days ago I was placed on a Committee to report the necessary Provision to be made for Officers not heretofore provided for. I recollect at present the general Officers & Erskine’s Corps (The Surgeons are already reported & the Report set down for this Day when as the Devil will have it I cannot attend) but as it would produce many Inconveniences to make this Provision which Congress intend...
23To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 29 March 1782 (Washington Papers)
Colo. Smith delivered your Excellency’s Letter of the twenty eighth, between four and five Yesterday Afternoon. You mention having had Intimations, that under the Idea of the Cessation of Hostilities a Number of People intend to come over from New York to our Lines, and express your particular Desire that no Persons coming from the Enemy may be permitted to Land, except the Commissioners and...
24From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 6 November 1779 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 21st ulto did not reach me till a longer time after its date, than is usual between this and Philadelphia. I cannot for a variety of reasons which will occur to you, undertake to designate the persons who shd receive the provision of Congress—or to fix upon the Sums which might be adequate. They are points of too great delicacy for me to interfere in. The Committee on the...
25From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, August 1775 (Jay Papers)
I have rec d your Letter of the 28 th Ult. and take the earliest opportunity wh. has offered of answering it. The Principles on which you account for hav g delayed Notices of Tryal on the West Chester Causes merit my Acknowledgm ts You need be under no apprehension of Non Suits in case you sh d . prevail upon yourself to postpone the Tryal which I confess I cant forbear wishing may be the...
26To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 2 August 1778 (Washington Papers)
I was in your Debt. It is my Fate always to be so with my Friends. But beleive me my Heart owes Nothing. Let me add that you can do me no Favor so great as to comply with your Wishes except an Opportunity to serve the Public which indeed is your highest Wish as you have evidenced fully to all the World & particularly to your Friends. I feel the full Force of your Reasoning. The Faith of...
I address this Letter to you both because I have not time by this opportunity to write to each separately. In a few Days I shall write you both particularly. M r . Gerards being about to sail happily prevailed upon Congress to proceed rapidly & unanimously in arranging their foreign Affairs— Young Coll Laurens is going Secretary to Doct r Franklin, and had the general approbation of Congress...
28To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 26 August 1782 (Washington Papers)
I received your Excellency’s Favor of the eighteenth Instant last Evening. I pray you to accept my most grateful Acknowledgements for this mark of Approbation and Confidence. As the Enemy appear to be desirous of doing Justice the Meeting about to take Place will I trust be under better Auspices than the former. It may perhaps be successful. Nothing would give me greater Pleasure than to...
29From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 25 April 1778 (Washington Papers)
I received your obliging favor of the 18th Inst., only Yesterday evening. I thank you much for the explanatory hints it contains and could have wished it had come to hand a little sooner. I have many things to say to you, but as the Express, who will deliver you this, is going with dispatches that will not admit delay, I shall content myself with taking notice of one matter, that appears to me...
30From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 20 May 1778 (Jay Papers)
Accept my thanks for the last letter I received from you, and the papers inclosed in it. The report of Congress on the subject of Lord North’s Bills was too strikingly marked with Morris not to be known by his friends to have been produced by his pen. Your history of that business gives me pleasure, as it acquits you of certain paragraphs which I could not understand the propriety of,...
31To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 23 July 1778 (Jay Papers)
I received yours of the 4 th some Days ago but I was in so unsettled a Situation that I could not answer it. At present I must be short for I have Company waiting. I have no Apprehension that these Money Matters can affect me . I have not taken nor would I on any Consideration have taken the Agency of the Business. Duer I trust will do what is right.— Your Caution however is useful and proper...
32To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 16 May 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
I had the Pleasure of your two Favors within two Days of each other and am very happy to find that our Form of Government meets with your Approbation. That there are Faults in it is not to be wondered at for it is the Work of Men and of Men perhaps not the best qualified for such Undertakings. I think it deficient for the Want of Vigor in the executive unstable from the very Nature of popular...
33To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 28 November 1780 (Washington Papers)
I ⟨ mutilated ⟩ to write a Letter which I ⟨ mutilated ⟩ you to excuse. If I am rightly inform’d of the Situation of the Enemy the Next E⟨m⟩barkation will not leave above 6.000 Men in New York. Supposing this to be the Case I will go on to suppose that the french Troops with 2.000 Militia are throw⟨n⟩ upon Long Island and march Westward. That you move down with 10.000 Men to the Neighbourhood...
34From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 29 August 1778 (Jay Papers)
Your friendly letter of the 16 th . instant was delivered to me yesterday. I am well apprized of the situation of the gentleman you mention, and sincerely hope that his conduct may, on inquiry, be found such as to justify the opinion which I have long entertained of him. I wish for many reasons to have a personal interview with him. It will probably be long before the duties of my office will...
35To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 23 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
I wrote you a few Days ago by Colo. Johnson; as he is not yet gone, I will now add two Things I forgot to mention then. The first is that if you send any General to Rhode Island you will probably find it most convenient to get rid of Varnom, Whose Temper and Manners are by no Means calculated to teach Patience Discipline & Subordination. Congress having determined on the Affair of the...
36To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 30 May 1783 (Jay Papers)
My Time will not permit any Thing more at this Time than to assure you of my Affection and to pray you will present me most warmly to M rs . Jay and your little ones— Beleive me I take a sincere Interest in all which may concern them— I could not if I would say any Thing on Politics worthy of Attention— All you friends here are well myself among the Number— Adieu always beleive me very...
37From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 30 April 1782 (Washington Papers)
It is with great pleasure, I make use of the earliest occasion to acknowledge the receipt of your several Dispatches, by Colonel Smith, which contain an ample account of your Proceedings in consequence of the Commission you were charged with, by me. I have also received from Sir Henry Clinton an abstract of the same negociations as stated by his Commissioners. From the whole aspect of the...
38From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 7 August 1782 (Washington Papers)
I asserted pretty roundly to you, but not more confidently than it was asserted to me, that General Dalrymple had Sailed for England. Since my return to this place I have seen a letter from him to Genl Knox which, at the same time that it contradicts both assertions, announces his speedy departure for the Albion shore. If he should remain in New York after this, charge it to his acct—not...
39From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 20 March 1779 (Washington Papers)
I have received your favor of the 14th Instt by Colo. Morgan, and have had a good deal of conversation with him respecting our affairs to the Westward. I wish matters had been more prosperously conducted under the command of Genl McIntosh—This Gentlemn was in a manner a stranger to me, but during the time of his residence at Valley forge I had imbibed a good opinion of his good sense—attention...
40From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 9 July 1782 (Washington Papers)
Your letter for Mr Elliott, went into New York a few days since by the Comy of Prisoners, who is now there. The Packet for Genl Dalrymple shall also go there; altho’ the Genl, by this time, may be in England. Genl Knox has Skinners Letter—Mrs Washington set out this day for Virginia by an upper Road—present me in the most acceptable manner to Mrs Morris & Miss Kitty Livingston—I do not forget...
41To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 21 May 1782 (Jay Papers)
I write these Lines to acknowlege yours from S t . Ildefonso of the twenty eighth of September. To enclose you a short Resolution of Congress. To tell you that Col o . Livingston and your Brother James met in the Provost at New York. Livingston is with us. James is at large in New York. Your Family except one are alive and well. I am sorry to add that your Father is no more. I know how much...
42From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 17 March 1778 (Jay Papers)
Your Favor of the 1 st . Feb y came to Hand last week. It gives me Pleasure to hear you was then at H d Q rtrs . especially on Business so important & perplexed. It is Time that Inquiries and I may add ^ as well as ^ Punishments sh d . become more frequent. I wish better, or rather more use was made of Courts Martial. Why is the the Inquiry directed to be made into the Causes to which
43To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 28 April 1778 (Jay Papers)
This Letter is to be handed to you by Gen l . Gates. Let me recommend him to your particular Attention. Vermont you will say prevents this. Policy may have induced him to flatter those People when he wanted their Assistance. Let us take it up on that Ground. In his present Command he will want the Assistance of our State the cordial Assistance of its Rulers. I have promised this. I write to...
44To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 31 August 1778 (Washington Papers)
I wrote you a Letter long since which went backwards & whether it hath ever Yet got so far forwards as to reach you I am utterly incapacitated even to guess trusting however that you have got or will get it I shall not from Memory repeat what if there at all is at best but faintly traced. At present I trouble you on the Subject of recruiting your Army which is at this Moment in Debate before...
45To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 1 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Knox is to attend the Council. Conway hath resigned & his Resignation is accepted. The Affairs of the Army are necessarily delayed by the foreign Affairs which have broken in upon us. As to the Half Pay Matters stand thus the Questions have been carried but by an Entry on the Minutes there is an Agreemt that a final Question shall be put whether it be finally determined in Congress or sent to...
46From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 18 May 1778 (Washington Papers)
Your favor of the 15th Inst. gave me singular pleasure—I thank you for the agreeable intelligence it contains; which (tho not equal to my wishes) exceeds my expectation, & is to be lamented only for the delay, as the evils, consequent of it, will, soon (as I have often foretold) be manifested in the moving state of the Army, if the Departments of Quarter Master and Commissary will enable us to...
47To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 May 1778 (Jay Papers)
I shall plague you with very few Words. I congratulate you on our Alliance with France for Particulars I refer you to our Friend Robert. I enclose you a News Paper containing a Report I drew on North’s Bills which were sent us by the Gen l . I have marked in the Margin two Clauses inserted by the House you may find perhaps some Difficulty to discover how they shew the Wickedness or Insincerity...
48From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 4 October 1778 (Washington Papers)
My public Letters to the Presidt of Congress will inform you of the Wind that wafted me to this place —nothing more therefore need to be said on that head. Your Letter of the 8th Ulto contains three questions & answers—to wit—Can the Enemy prosecute the War? Do they mean to stay on the Continent? And is it our interest to put impediments in the way of their departure? To the first you answer...
49From George Washington to Gouverneur Morris, 8 May 1779 (Washington Papers)
Monsieur Gerard did me the honor to deliver me your favour of the 26th—I shall always be obliged to you, my dear Sir, for a free communication of your sentiments on whatsoever subject may occur. The objects of your letter were important. Mr Gerard I dare say has made it unnecessary for me to recapitulate what passed between him and myself and has informed you of the alternative I proposed for...
50To John Jay from Gouverneur Morris, 3 January 1780 (Jay Papers)
You will doubtless be glad to hear News from this Quarter. Your Friends are all well. Our Army are hutted in the Vicinity of Morris Town except a Detachment consist. of the North Carolina & Virginia Troops who are on their March to the Southward three thousand — The Don on the Part of the Governor of havannah did lately propose to Congress to assist in the Reduction of Florida .— They have...