From John Jay to Robert R. Livingston, 6 October 1780
To Robert R. Livingston
Madrid 6 Octr. 1780
Dear Robert
Your Favor of the 6 July came to Hand Yesterday— This & two others viz of the 6 Octr. and 22 Decr1 are all the Letters I have had from you since I left America. How could you discontinue writing because you recd. no Letter from me while at Martinico?2 I am almost tempted to say it was unkind— You have seen my Letters to Congress from that Island,3 & can easily guess at the Number of those I was obliged to write to others—4 I was there but a little better than a Week. In Company most part of the Day—judge then whether much more could have been written in the same Time, and under similar Circumstances— I knew you would hear the History of our Disasters,5 and hoped you wd. consider my not writing to you as being rather a presumption on, than a Neglect of your Friendship.
We had heard that your Family was about to increase, and rejoiced at it—6 nay a congratulatory Letter from me to your Mother on that and a similar Event in her Family, is now on the Water.7 I did not write to you at the same Time, because I was a little sorry and a little vexed at your not giving me a Hint of a Circumstance that you know would have given me so much pleasure. Perhaps indeed you might have been too prudent to have “reckoned [”]8 I did not think of this before, or you would probably have been my Debtor for a Letter extraordinary. But be this as it may, I most cordially congratulate you on this Event, and sincerely join in all the good wishes which you may find applicable to it in the Book of Psalms—not many Weeks ago we had also a fine hearty Girl, but a violent Fever has since carried her to Heaven, where I expect one Day or other to see her much more charming & accomplished than if she had been educated either in Europe or America—9 You see I have not left my Philosophy or rather my Christianity behind me—
I find my little Boy10 was well and healthy and thank you for telling me so. If he should turn out good for any thing, the Circumstance you allude to, will probably with many others be among my Objects for his Happiness. Your Idea was in my mind before I recd. your Letter, for Caty had written us the News, imagine then how pleasing it was to find it had also a Place in yours.
A Year or two ago I heard the House at Eliz. had been burnt, and told Mrs Jay I was glad of it—11 Perhaps before the War ends, still stronger Reasons may arise for wishing the same thing— But perhaps Grandmama is a Predestinarian in the Latitude of Laidly—12 if so there is no ^human^ Reason or Wisdom in or out of the Case.
The Nephew I brought with me turns out a very fine Boy, indeed just such a one as I would wish him, or any other Boy of his age to be— My only Fear is that one of these Days some of his Blood may breake out and spoil all—13 in that Case all my Hopes, after all my Pains, will be blasted.
Why do you never tell me any thing ^say a word to me of^ of Edward? where is he? what are you doing with him? That Boy ought to be to you as a Son, for it must be great good Luck if you or any body else have so clever a one—14
[illegible] Mrs. Jay has a tolerable Degree of Health—better than usual— I have much Reason to pray God that it may continue and encrease.
Thus much for Family Matters— As to Politics—you are or ought to be in Congress, and my Letter to the President15 is long enough and particular enough to gratify your Curiosity— I therefore wont say a Word on that Subject now.
The King wants wisdom attention money. The ministry wants system and decision— The two court[s] not cordial. People averse to war— These are [yet?]16 Notwithstanding, Congress satisfied with me.
The observation that as our Years encrease, our social Attachments wear away, is untrue— Mine never were warmer than at present The more We know of the World, the more we prize the few good plants we find among the many Weeds in it— Here I never enjoy the Pleasure of thinking loud— Prudence forbids it— My Heart is in America and I am impatient for the Time when the Rest of my Body will be there also. Tell Benson I am not pleased with him—he is a bad correspondent, and you may say the same thing to your Governor.17 We hear R. Morris is Ch. Justice,18 I am glad of it— I lament Gouvrs. Misfortune19 there are many Things good as well as great in him.
The enclosed are Seeds of the best Melon I have eaten in Spain. Give half of them at least, to your Mother, for you have not Care enough to be trusted with them all— Remember me to all my Friends— You know who they are and dont forget that you have an old one in, Dr Robt. Your afft
John Jay
P.S. When you decypher, do it on a separate paper, & not on the Letter—and as you are sometimes a little careless, destroy the paper immediately—
ALS, partly in code, not decoded, NHi: Robert R. Livingston (EJ: 808). Endorsed. Duplicate ALS, not decoded, endorsed “March 1779,” NHi: Robert R. Livingston. The code (WE078) is based on Abel Boyer’s Royal Dictionary (1771). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on p. 9 and , 48–49. Decoded by the editors.
1. See RRL to JJ, 6 July, above; and 6 Oct. and 22 Dec. 1779, : 706, 731–33.
2. JJ in fact wrote to RRL from Martinique on 24 Dec. 1779 (: 744), the copy of which RRL acknowledged on 26 Aug. 1780, above.
3. JJ wrote seven letters from Martinique to President of Congress Samuel Huntington, dated 20, 22, 24, 25 (two letters), 26, and 27 Dec. 1779, LbkCs of which are in DNA: PCC, item 110, 1: 1; 3: 17–28 (EJ: 4151–56). LbkCs of JJ’s letter of 24 Dec. are in CSmH and NNC: JJ Lbk. 1, with LbkCs of the others in NNC: JJ Lbk. 2. All of the texts except that of 27 Dec. appear in , 3: 432–33, 435–47, 448–49. His letter of 27 Dec. 1779 and its enclosed correspondence with Terrier de Laiske and Captain Seth Harding are in : 672–75. JJ’s letters of 24 and 26 Dec. 1779 were printed in : 733–44, 745–47, while one of his two letters of 25 Dec. appeared in , 1: 253.
4. Of the extant letters JJ wrote during the stay on that island, from 19 to 28 Dec., all except the note to RRL were official. In addition to writing the letters listed in note 3, above, on the 27 Dec., JJ drew on BF for part of his salary as minister to Spain, having provided out of pocket a sum to the strapped officers of the Confederacy. JJ to BF, 27 Dec. 1779, : 747.
5. For the events necessitating the stopover in Martinique, see SLJ to Susannah French Livingston, 12–26 Dec. 1779, and JJ to the President of Congress, 24 Dec. 1779, : 724–31, 733–44.
6. The birth of the Livingstons’ first child, Elizabeth Stevens Livingston. Catharine W. Livingston to SLJ, 13 Feb. 1780, : 689–91; RRL to JJ, 6 July, above.
7. No letters to or from Margaret Beekman Livingston prior to 1782 have been located. Her daughter, Gertrude Livingston (Mrs. Morgan) Lewis, had given birth to a daughter, Margaret, on 5 Feb. 1780.
8. Space left blank in manuscript.
9. The Jays’ second child, Susan.
10. Peter Augustus Jay, the Jays’ first child, who was left in the care of SLJ’s family.
11. For the two raids on Liberty Hall, see RRL to JJ, 6 July, above, and notes. While JJ was no doubt anxious to prevent the Livingstons from continuing to reside in an unsafe place, his views are consistent with his earlier advocacy of a scorched-earth policy. See JJ to Robert Morris, 6 Oct. 1776, : 299.
12. This is a reference to the Reverend Dr. Archibald Laidlie (1727–79), who was controversial for being the first English-language preacher of the New York City Dutch Reformed Church, serving from 1763 until the British occupation of New York. As a Calvinist, Laidlie was an expositor of the doctrine of predestination. Charles E. Corwin, A Manual of the Reformed Church in America, 1628–1922, 5th ed. (New York, 1922), 390–91.
13. Peter Jay Munro, whose mother, Eve Jay Munro, had emotional problems and whose father, the Reverend Dr. Harry Munro, had deserted the family and joined the Loyalist cause.
14. RRL’s younger brother Edward had entered the College of New Jersey (Princeton) as a junior in 1779 and graduated in 1781.
15. Probably JJ to the President of Congress, 6 Nov., below.
16. The code (553 b 8) reads “yerk,” which is probably a transcription error by JJ. A more likely reading would be “553 b 18,” or “yet.”
17. While from abroad JJ had written five letters to New York’s Governor Clinton and at least three to the state’s attorney general, Egbert Benson, the first extant letter Benson wrote to JJ abroad was that of 30 Sept. 1781, below. Clinton to JJ, 6 Apr. 1781, ALS, NNC (EJ: 5524), , 6: 746–49, mentions Clinton’s having written three letters, that of 1 June 1780 being the latest and the only one dated, none of which were received by JJ or have been located. See JJ to Clinton, 16 Nov.–11 Dec. 1781, below. For JJ’s letters to Clinton, see JJ to Clinton, 25 Oct. 1779, : 718–19; 1 Feb., : 723–25; 6 May, Dft, NNC (EJ: 7614), , 1: 314–15, , 1: 111–13, , 5: 684–86; [20] June 1780, Dft, NNC (EJ: 90290), , 5: 861–62; and 14 July, above. For his letters to Benson, see JJ to Benson, June 1780, DftS, NNC (EJ: 90289), , 1: 363–64, , 1: 55–56; and 18 Sept. 1780, above. JJ reported that he also wrote Benson from Martinique, but that letter has not been found. See JJ to Benson, March 1781, Dft, NNC (EJ: 7515).
18. Richard Morris had been appointed on 23 Oct. 1779 to succeed JJ as New York State’s chief justice.
19. On Gouverneur Morris’s loss of his leg, see William Bingham to JJ, 1 July, above; and JJ to Morris, 5 Nov., below.