To John Jay from George Clinton, 2 February 1779
From George Clinton
Poukeepsie, 2d. Feby. 1779.—
Dear Sir
I wrote you on the 10th. Ultimo in Answer to your Letters prior to that Date; Since which I have had the Pleasure of receiving yours of the 10th. & 13th. Mr. Yates has not ^yet^ favoured me with an Answer to my Letter requesting the Papers & Maps respecting our Boundaries—1 You may depend upon their being forwarded the Moment they are received.
A Sufficient Number of Members to form a Legislature did not meet until the 27th. so that they are now only entring upon Business— A Tax and Confiscation Bill have been read in the Assembly2 and are in some forwardness.
The Genl.3 I am informed has announced this to be a Session of Politics & has introduced this Tune in the Senate by moving for a Bill for regulating the Council of Revision, founded on Doubts (which I am persuaded never existed except in his own Mind) whether the Lieutenant Govr. or President of the Senate administring the Government are by the Constitution Members of the Council of Revision; And whether the Members of the Council are amenable to the Laws of the Land for Mal or Corrupt Conduct in the Council as Govr. Chancellor &ca. & containing a Clause obliging the Council to publish their Minutes as well past as future— You will readilly perceive that the Intention of this Bill is to hold up the Members of the Council of Revision to the Public in an obnoxious Point of View as having already been guilty of Corrupt Conduct which is concealed from the Public Eye.
The Chancellor has not yet appeared or either of the Judges so that I am deprived of their Aid in warding off a wicked factious Measure which might perhaps be more easilly defeated now than at later Period.4 I flatter myself however I shall be able to render the Present Attempt abortive.
The People of this State warmly interest themselves in the Controversey between Mr. Deane and the Lees and without knowing more than the Gazette informs them pretty generally espouse the Cause of the former.
I send you the Papers continued from the Date of my last. They are scarcely worth your perusal. The Author of the Farmer is unknown to me. The Language as well as Sentiment will discover the Author of the Real Farmer.5 Your Brothers are here and well. I have mentioned to them Your Desire that they should write you frequently. Mrs. Clinton beggs to be rembered to you. I am my Dr Sir with the most perfect Regard & Esteem Yours Sincerely
Geo. Clinton
P.S. Mr. McKesson6 who is just arrived from Albany informs me that the Maps & Papers wanted are not in Mr. Yates Possession or in his (McKesson’s) and; he cannot tell me where it is likely to find them:
His Excellency John Jay Esqr.
ALS, NNC (EJ: 5516). Endorsed.
1. Clinton to JJ, 10 Jan. 1779, not located. JJ to Clinton, 10 Jan. 1779, above; JJ to Clinton, 13 Jan. 1779, , 6: 482. “Papers and Maps respecting our Boundaries” refers to the New York-Vermont dispute. Mr. Yates is Robert Yates.
2. On 2 Feb., “A Bill to lay a Duty of Excise on strong liquors, to appropriate the Monies arising thereon . . .” was read. On 4 Feb. the assembly passed a resolution strengthening an act providing for seizure of all flour, meal, and wheat. , no. 16408.
3. John Morin Scott.
4. The 1777 New York State Constitution provided that the veto power was to be exercised by the governor, the chancellor, and the “Judges of the Supreme Court, or any two of them,” sitting as the Council of Revision. Robert R. Livingston was chancellor; JJ was still chief justice; the two associate justices were Robert Yates and John Sloss Hobart. , 1: 167; , 346–47.
5. Although the exact writings referred to here have not been located, both “A Farmer” and “The Real Farmer” were pseudonymous authors of pieces discussing ways to stem the depreciation of the currency. “The Real Farmer,” author of at least five pieces by April, promoted a direct tax on paper currency to withdraw excess paper money from circulation and wished to lay most of the tax burden on the commercial sector, through whose hands much of the money flowed. “A Farmer” called for taxes on real and personal estates. Their writings appeared in a number of newspapers, as did responses to them by other pseudonymous authors. See, for example, “The Real Farmer,” nos. 3 and 5, in the Independent Ledger (Boston), 1 Mar. and 19 Apr., and the response by “A Bostonian” in the 8 Mar. issue; “A Farmer,” dated 2 Mar. 1779, reprinted from the New York Journal in the 12 Apr. 1779 issue; and commentary by “A True Patriot” in the New Jersey Gazette of 28 Apr.
6. John McKesson, clerk of the state assembly.