To John Jay from Silas Deane, 26 September 1781
From Silas Deane
Paris Sept. 26th. 1781.
Dear Sir
Our mutual Friend Dr. Franklin told me last Night that he should write to you on Saturday, & offer’d to send my Letter inclosed in his Packet, I therefore embrace the opportunity to excuse my not having written to you for some time past, I recd. yours of the 16th. June ^last^ but a Day or two, before I set out on a Journey to Holland where I was absent for near six Weeks, & on my return, actually forgot that I was a Letter in your debt, & having nothing material to write, I neglected to write at all, though this may not wholly justify me, it is simply the true cause of my silence since the Rect. of yours.— Comm Gillon has at last sail’d from Holland in the Ship L’Indien for America, Mr Searle & many others went Passengers with him, but he in a strange way left behind him all the Goods & Stores purchased in Holland by orders of MrLaurens Junr. for Congress, by which they will not go out this season.— We have nothing new from America, I have seen the Papers from Boston & Phila. to about the 20th of July, but they are fill’d with little but ^except^ party disputes, gasconades in the stile of Mr Searle, & plenty of personal abuse for which our Friend G Morris, comes in for a large share & the cautious & smooth Mr. Duane for a still larger.— The Freemens Journal of Phila. & the Boston Gazette are outrageous, & meanly abusive,— I see that my Name comes in now & then as one of Mr Duane & Genl Arnolds Friends.— I know how to feel for Mr Duane, though I by no means approve of his Conduct in Congress while I was in America, & tho I think his temporizing, & intriguing with a certain set of Men whom he never loved merits some punishment, yet the present is too severe—1 for Me I have long since been so inured to there abuse & invective, that it does not affect me personally in the least, but that Licentiousness, in stigmatizing Men in public trust with the vilest & most abusive Epithets & Characters, which prevails, & is encouraged in America, appears to me a fatal Symptom of that universal Anarchy, which is more dreaded than despotism itself, & which I think, is at the Door. Carmichael writes long Letters every Post to Doctr. Franklin. He has made many efforts to reconcile himself to Dr. Bancroft2—hitherto without success. I am very easy since I find that you know his Temper & disposition. I see that you are named ^as^ one of the Commissioners to treat of Peace, & as Mr. Jefferson will not
probably accept as Mr Laurens will not be at Liberty to Act, & as Mr. Adams, who has long since been disgusted, at every thing in Europe, will on this I suspect return suddenly to America, will not this new appointment lead you this way? if it should let me know in season, for in that Case I will try to shorten the Time I propose to be absent on a Tour into the Northern Parts of France, & the Low Countries, to have the pleasure of seeing you; though to be sincere with you I have no faith in the success of your Negociation or indeed in your being able even to enter on one, yet I shall be happy to spend a few Days with you & proportionably more so, if you succeed in making Peace, as I at present so much despair of it— You will then in my opinion, merit the Title of an Angel of Peace, & glad tidings, & I shall ever after respect you in that Light, which highly as I esteem you at present, will add to that with which I am ever Your sincere Friend &c
S Deane
P.S. My Compts. to Mrs. Jay, consult her on a Voyage to Paris, if she does not declare with me in favor of it, I will be content to say no more about it—in-close your Letters for me to Dr. Franklin who will have my address from time to time during my absence— I shall write you again before I set out & on the subject of my Accts. with Congress, which have long since been ready for settlement.—3
John Jay Esqr.
LbkC, CtHi (EJ: 2885). Printed in , 4: 478–80, apparently from the ALS that was once in the John Jay Papers (not found). See also JJ’s response, 5 Dec. 1781 (original manuscript not found), printed in , 4: 549–50. Encoded in the Jay-Deane code (EJ: 7590). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note) on p. 9.
1. For the attacks on James Duane and Gouverneur Morris, in which Sir James Jay was involved, see Gouverneur Morris to JJ, 17 June 1781, above.
2. The code in Deane’s letterbook reads “Dr. Bancroft “ (70); the , working from the ALS (now missing), rendered the code as “Beamarchais” (76).
3. The version printed in the includes the following paragraph, not included in the LbkC: “Mr. McKean is chosen President of Congress; Gen. Nelson, Governor of Virginia, in place of Gov. Jefferson, for what reason I know not. They are both of them, worthy men, and when I left the country stood high in the esteem of their countrymen.”