From John Jay to Robert Morris, 15 September 1776
To Robert Morris
[Fishkill 15 Sept. 1776]
Dear Sir
When Mr. Deane went to France I communicated to him a Mode of invisible writing unknown to any but the Inventor and myself.1 The inclosed Letter will explain it—On opening his Letter to me Yesterday & finding one directed to you inclosed in it, I without thought gave it to a Gentleman of your Light Horse who had been to Ticonderoga with Money from the Congress, I dont recollect his Name—I had not at that Time the Materials with me for rendering Deans Letter visible—But I from reading it, I now find the Letter directed to you is nothing more than a Continuation of the Intelligence begun in mine, & designed to prevent any Suspicion that might arise from his inclosing so much (seemingly) blank paper.—2 Be so kind therefore as to send me the Letter by the return of the Express together with the one I now inclose—3 You will be pleased to communicate such of the Contents as are of a public Nature to the Committee of Intelligence. And by all Means conceal from them & as well as every body else, the Discovery now made to you—I am Sir, with great Respect & Esteem, Your very hble Servt.
John Jay
I shall on recieving the Letter abovementioned immediately transcribe & send you a Copy of it.
[Enclosure]
Silas Deane to John Jay for the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Written in Invisible Ink within Deane to Jay, 11 June 1776.
Gentlemen:
I wrote from Bermuda the 2d4 of [April] to Mr. Morris, informing him of my transactions there and of the sums of money I had received; the situation I left his Island affairs in, with a particular account of the state and disposition of the Island and its inhabitants and my sentiments of their importance to the United Colonies . . . Of another trip of a charter party for the sloop in which I took passage. I wrote on family affairs to Mr. B.D. [Barnabas Deane] . . . and to Mr. . . . enclosed in lead, ready for sinking . . . By a Carolina vessel, I wrote a few lines to Mr. Rutledge, informing of my arrival &c. and by Capt. Bascom, I wrote you a secret letter, which ordered him not to destroy. These letters I hope arrived, if not, be so kind as to warn them of my having wrote them . . . I propose in every secret letter to you to notice every letter I have wrote and render the contents, to prevent that anxiety which might arise from hearing that letters . . . the knowledge of their contents . . . I have not yet met with . . ., but hourly expect them. Mr. Delan [Delap] appears in every respect quite a person as I would have wished to have been addressed to. He most readily negotiated my bills and has afforded me every assistance in his power. The merchants here are greatly alarmed lest their West Indies should suffer by want of North American produce. Salt provisions are scarce here and rising in price. Irish beef usually sold from 32 to 36 s. is now selling 56 to 60 s. per barrel and no quantity on hand, sensible of the consequence of American . . . Immediately on my arrival inquired at values of present prices of the crop in this kingdom and am assured there will be a deficiency of more than one third of their usual harvest. I wrote Mr. [Thomas] Morris at Madrid, Mr. [Edward] Bancroft5 & others in London to make the like inquiry in those kingdoms and Mr. N.6 has wrote . . . to other places to which expect answers soon. Should a like confusion happen in other kingdoms or in England only, America blessed with her usual supply may command the market & consequences ensue on which I need not enlarge, nor on the importance of being early apprized of it. I have the London & Irish papers down to the prorogation of Parliament & an unconditional submission is the cry of the ministry & their adherents. The nation are taught however to believe this will be the last campaign & the same is inauspiciously circulated here. I forwarded all Mr. [Robert] Morriss letters by post and yours to your brother [Sir James Jay], & as I practiced in my last inclose one to a fictitious person having a French name & in character of a French prisoner in Philadelphia, which hint may be improved in your answer. I may not enlarge. Present my most respectful compliments to the Gentlemen of the Congress, particularly to the worthy president, I am Gentlemen, Yours,
S. Deane.
P.S. I seal the enclosed to save appearances, as well as that to Mr. Morris, both of which you will open.
ALS, NN: Jay (EJ: 1018). Addressed: “To Robert Morris Esqr a Member of the General Congress Philadelphia.” Endorsed. Enclosures: unidentified document explaining the use of invisible ink (not found); decipherment, not found, of an original letter in invisible ink from Deane to JJ. Morris was JJ’s colleague in the Continental Congress, November 1775–May 1776, and remained a member of Congress until October 1778. JJ, despite his absence from Congress after May 1776, continued to receive and forward letters from Deane written in invisible ink.
1. In March 1776 Silas Deane sailed to Europe as an agent of the Continental Congress. Under a contract with the Secret Committee (better known by its later title, the Commercial Committee), Deane was to obtain goods in France “suitable for the Indians.” Such goods had long been imported by the British and provided to various tribes to keep the peace, but they were not available in America to enable the colonies to continue this system and preserve the friendship or at least neutrality of Indians. However, this mission was secondary to that given him by the Committee of Secret Correspondence (later the Committee for Foreign Affairs), of which JJ and Robert Morris were members in the winter and spring of 1775–76. Deane’s instructions from this committee state that his “Business of providing goods for the Indian Trade” would give Deane “good countenance to . . . appearing in the character of a merchant . . . it being probable that the Court of France may not like it should be known publicly, that any Agent from the Colonies is in that Country.” Under his instructions from the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Deane was to seek an agreement with the French government for clothing and arms for 25,000 men, with a suitable quantity of ammunition and 100 field pieces, for which the Congress would pay “as soon as our Navigation can be protected by ourselves or Friends.” See the copy of the contract with the Secret Committee for the purchase of goods for the Indians and the contractors’ instructions to Deane of 1 Mar. and the Committee of Secret Correspondence’s instructions to Deane of 2 Mar. 1776, , 3: 313–15, 320–23.
The invisible ink used by Deane and JJ in their correspondence was the invention of JJ’s brother Sir James. , 1: 116–19, 123–26; , 3: 320–23; 5: 224–25; , 89–90. For its later use by Washington’s spy network in New York, see JJ to Washington, 19 Nov. 1778, below. On 18 Aug. 1776 Deane informed the Committee of Secret Correspondence of the existence of his letter to JJ and of its enclosure to M. Longueville, without referring to the invisible ink or the importance of the messages involved. See , 1: 209.
2. See the deciphered message enclosed in Deane to Morris, 6 Oct., which was written in invisible ink within a letter ostensibly addressed by one M. Longueville to his brother in Philadelphia, care of Robert Morris. See also Deane to Morris, 23 June 1776, in , 1: 141–42, and , 22: 487–90.
3. The enclosure JJ sent has not been found, but see the text deciphered in 1937 with the help of phototechnical techniques from the version in invisible ink, printed below. 243–56; Bendikson’s transcriptions appear on pp. 249–52. The document in invisible ink, which JJ biographer Frank Monaghan made available to Bendikson, has not been found. The editors have suggested some corrections and added some missing words within brackets from similar passages in Deane to Morris of 23 June.
4. The correct date should be 26 or 27 Apr. or 3 May (see Deane to Morris, 27 Apr. 1776, and Morris to Deane, 5 June 1776, , 1: 134–35, 136). The other letters mentioned in this text have not been found.
5. For Bancroft’s reply of 25 June to Deane’s letter to him of 7 June 1776, see , 1: 143.
6. Probably a mistranscription by Bendikson, as in his letter to Morris of 23 June, Deane refers to Messrs. Delap as having also written on the subject of crop conditions in Europe (, 22: 489).