John Jay Papers
Documents filtered by: Recipient="Huntington, Samuel" AND Period="Revolutionary War" AND Period="Revolutionary War"
sorted by: recipient
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-02-02-0151

From John Jay to the President of Congress (Samuel Huntington), 28 January 1781

To the President of Congress (Samuel Huntington)

Madrid 28 Jany 1781

Sir

Is it possible that my Letter1 of September requesting Congress to forbear drawing should not have arrived?2 Many Copies were sent by various Vessels from different Ports, and yet3 Bills daily arrive4 I have been promised 150 Thousand Dollars when it will be paid is uncertain5 It is hard to make brick without Straw Col. Livingston left this the Beginning of last Month with long Letters6 he is7 with his own Hands to deliver them to one of our8 Country[s] Captains.9 let me beseech you to keep the Contents secret The Letters brought for me by the La Luzerne10 have not reached me.11 My Intelligence for many months past has been by Gazettes only. I refer to my last Letters and have the Honor to be with great Respect & Regard your Excellencys most obedt. & most hble Servt

John Jay

four Copies of this Letter will be sent Tomorrow Eveng by the Post to my Correspondents at different Ports here & in France—

His Excellency Saml Huntington Esqr President of Congress

ALS, partly in code, decoded by the editors based on the draft, DNA: PCC, item 89, 1: 361 (EJ: 11908). The code is based on Boyer’s Royal Dictionary (1771). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on p. 9; JJUP, 1 description begins Richard B. Morris et al., eds., John Jay, vol. 1, The Making of a Revolutionary: Unpublished Papers, 1745–1780 (New York, 1975) description ends : 829–30; Weber, U.S. Codes and Ciphers description begins Ralph E. Weber, United States Diplomatic Codes and Ciphers, 1775–1938 (Chicago, 1979) description ends , 69n4. Duplicate ALSs (three), partly in code, DNA: PCC Misc. 5 (EJ: 13296). Dft, partly in code, decoded, NNC (EJ: 7752). LbkCs, partly in code, not decoded, DNA: PCC, item 110, 1: 395 (EJ: 4159); NNC: JJ Lbk. 1; CSmH (EJ: 3406). Tr, NN: Bancroft.

1Here in the Dft, JJ excised “from St. Ildefonso”.

3Here in the Dft, JJ deleted “Sheets of”.

4See, for example, Carmichael to JJ, 3, 4, 11, 25, 26, and [31] Jan. 1781, ALSs, NNC; and JJ to Carmichael, 10, 25, and 26 Jan., Dfts, NNC (EJ: 755660, 7665, 7692, 7693, 11675, 11676).

5See “Spain’s Finances and the Bills Drawn on John Jay” (editorial note) on pp. 366–72.

6Here in the Dft, JJ deleted “for you, which”.

7Here in the Dft, JJ deleted “to deliver”.

8Here in the Dft, JJ deleted “american”.

9Here in the Dft, JJ excised “He is now at Nantz” and “None Letters from Philadelphia from Congress ^the Comee^ of later t The Letters”. “He” refers to Henry Brockholst Livingston. Among the letters Livingston carried were JJ to the President of Congress, 6 and 30 Nov. (two letters), and to the Committee for Foreign Affairs, 30 Nov. 1780, all above. See also JJ to RRL, 21 Feb. 1781, Dft, NNC (EJ: 9645).

10Here in the Dft, JJ excised “tho put in the Post Office”.

11The October 1780 letters to JJ from Congress were sent on the Pennsylvania ship Chevalier de la Luzerne and the privateer Lady Washington. The accompanying instructions of 28 Oct. from James Lovell to the captains were that “They are of much importance and should be put into faithful hands for conveyance upon your arrival in Port.” LbkC, DNA: PCC, item 79, 1: 274; LMCC description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (8 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1921–36) description ends , 5: 431.

Index Entries