From John Jay to the Governor of Pennsylvania (Thomas Mifflin), 9 September 1795, enclosing To John Charlton, 4 September 1795 [and six other letters]
To the Governor of Pennsylvania (Thomas Mifflin)
New York 9 Septr. 1795—
Sir
Your Excellency’s Proclamation of the 31 of last month, prohibiting all Intercourse between this City and Philadelphia,1 induced me to write the following Letter to the President of the medical Society in this City—
(here was inserted the preceding letter)2
To John Charlton
New York 4 Septr. 1795
Sir
By a Proclamation of the Governor of Pennsylvania dated the 31 of last month, all Intercourse between this City and Philadelphia is prohibited for the Term of one month, or untill that Prohibition shall be revoked
The Reason assigned for this Prohibition is thus expressed in the Proclamation “Whereas the Board of Inspectors of the Health office of Philadelphia, have reported to me, that it appears from authentic Information to them exhibited, that an infectious or contageous Disease exists in the City of New York in the State of New York, and that there is Reason to believe that a similar Disease exists in the Town of Norfolk in the State of Virginia, so that the Safety and Health of the Citizens of Pennsylvania require stoppage of Intercourse with the said infected Places” Therefore &ca.—
This Proclamation, by exciting alarms and apprehensions throughout this and the neighbouring States, and in foreign Countries, naturally tends to produce Embarrassments to the Commerce of this City and to interrupt that Intercourse with the Country, which is at all Times necessary to the convenience and Interests of both. Hence it becomes important to examine and ascertain with Precision, whether any and what Degree of Credit is due to the Information alluded to in the abovementioned Report of the Inspectors of the Health Office of Philadelphia. No infectious or contageous Disease can exist & prevail in this city without the Knowledge of the Gentlemen who practice Physick in it; and as the greater part of them are members of the medical Society over which you preside, I request the favor of you to summon a meeting of the Society, and to lay before them this Letter.
They will oblige me by reporting to me in writing an accurate Statement of such Facts and Observations as may in their opinion be necessary to the forming a right Judgment relative to the Existence nature and Extent of the Disease in Question. If such a Disease does really exist and prevail here, it should candidly be admitted and made known, that the Dangers resulting from it may be guarded against. If on the contrary, the Reports concerning it are ill founded, care should be taken to prevent their continuing to gain Credit.
Altho the Truth of the frequent Reports made and published by the Health Committee has not been impeached, yet ^as^ the before mentioned Proclamation appears to be grounded on Information more alarming than what those Reports afford, I think it adviseable to inquire whether it is warranted by any Facts within the Knowledge of the members of your Society— I have the Honor to be &ca.
To this Letter I recd. the following answer.
[From John Charlton]
“New York Septr. 5 1795
Sir
The Communication which you were pleased (thro’ our President) last Evening to lay before the medical Society, we consider of a nature the most serious & important: and the Information you desire, we offer with great Respect, and under Impressions the most scrupulously conscientious—
About six weeks ago, in a particular part of this city, being very low & having an Eastern Exposure, a Fever has been observed to exist, marked by the violence of those Symptoms which are acknowledged to characterize that of the malignant Sort. This Fever in a short Time attacked a considerable number of Persons, in Proportion to the Space which it occupied, and proved fatal to more than is usual with us, and which (previous to the salutary and heavy Rains we have lately had, and the consequent cloudy and cool weather) assumed an aspect, which called for and justified every prudent Exertion that could be made to investigate its origin, and check its Progress—unfortunately however, the Sensibility of the public mind on a Subject of this nature, giving Reality to apprehension, converted the necessary Efforts for Security and Prevention, into Sources of Fear and Terror. Hence probably have arisen most of the exaggerated Reports which at first alarmed our own Citizens, and being sent abroad, have excited the apprehensions of our neighbours; and given origin to measures more timed, as they respect themselves, and more injurious to us, than the nature of the case in any wise justified—
The collective opinion of this Society, as the Result of attentive observation is with Regard to the contageous nature of this Disease, most of the members are of opinion that it is not contageous; and all agree that it is so little so, as to afford no apprehension of its being communicated from man to man, out of the Sphere of its original and local atmosphere—
As to its origin Suspicions have been entertained by a few Physicians, that it may have been imported, whilst at the same Time there are many among us, who consider it as little more than that Species of Fever, which has more or less prevailed in this City at the same Season for several Years past; rendered, by the extraordinary Heat, and some local Sources of malignity, more violent and fatal than usual—
If the Board of Inspectors of the Health office of Philadelphia have recieved any Information respecting the Disease in question, other than that from the Health Committee of this City, which they deemed authentic, we are extremely sorry that they should have been influenced by it, from a Persuasion that such Information was equally unfounded as unauthorized—
We assure your Excellency that we have no Disposition to disguise or conceal Facts, nor do we hesitate to declare our opinion, that the alarm which has gone abroad has been unreasonably great and quite disproportionate to the actual State of the Disease, which as we have already observed, has been confined to a very inconsiderable Portion of the City. It affords us great Pleasure to be able to assure Your Excellency, that this Complaint is fast diminishing, and that the general Health of our City has been throughout the Summer, and continues at this moment unusually good.— We have the Honor to be &c. &ca. By order of the medical Society,
(signed) John Charlton President
His Excellency John Jay &c &c &c.”
The committee of Health in this city was appointed for the express purpose of guarding against the Introduction and Progress of infectious Distempers, and they have manifested great vigilance and attention in the Discharge of their Duty. As they possess the best means of Information, and will always communicate it with accuracy and Candor, I wrote the following Letter to them—
[To John Broome] 3
“New York 6 Septr. 1795—
Sir
The alarming and exaggerated Reports in circulation, that a dangerous and infectious Distemper prevails in this City, will be corroborated by the Proclamation of the Governor of Pennsylvania, prohibiting all Intercourse between us and Philadelphia.
I think it prudent to obtain from you and others, and transmit to the Governor of that State, authentic and conclusive Information relative to the question— whether any such Distemper does exist and prevail here?
The Reports which you have from Time to Time published, are for the most part concise and summary, and it is not necessary that they should in common be otherwise— on the present occasion, it may be useful to report to me a more particular and circumstantial Statement— I have the Honor to be &ca.
John Broome Esqr Chairman” &c
In pursuance of this Letter I recd. one from the chairman enclosing the Report mentioned in it.— they are as follows—
[From John Broome]
“New York Septr. 8 1795
Sir
I took the earliest opportunity to lay your Letter of the 6th. Inst: before the Health Committee, when they made immediate arrangements to comply with your Excellency’s wishes— This you will find contained in the enclosed Report, which after mature Deliberation was adopted by the Committee— it is as particular & circumstantial a Statement as they have it in their Power to make: and which they believe is very near a real State of Facts— I have the Honor to be &c.
(signed) John Broome chairman”
[Health Committee Report]
[New York, 8 September 1795]
“Sir
In answer to your Excellency’s Letter of the 6 Instant, requiring from us a particular and circumstantial Statement of such Facts, relative to the Disease, which has lately made its appearance in this City, as have come to our Knowledge— we beg Leave to submit the following—
on the 20 Day of July, Doctor Malachy Treat,4 the late Health officer of this Port, visited the Brig Zephyr from Port au Prince; on board of which he found three Persons ill of Fever, and the Corpse of one who died that morning. The Doctr. calls the Fever in his Report, a bilious remitting Fever. The Brig was ordered to ride Quarantine. on the 22d. Day of July Doctr. Treat was taken ill, & died on the 30th. of a Fever marked by a Yellow Skin, Hermorrhages, vomiting of black matter resembling Coffee Grounds, and all such Symptoms as characterize Bilious Fever of the malignant kind.— on the 25th. Day of July, four Persons from on Board the Ship William from Liverpool, which arrived here several weeks before (all the Crew having previous to that Day and during the Voyage, been perfectly healthy) were taken ill of Fever attended with similar Symptoms, and all died within 7 Days. This Ship lay at a wharf at the point of Dover Street, in the South-easterly part of this City, which lies exceedingly low, is much of it made Ground, has an eastern Exposure, and (from the Street’s having been raised about 3 Years ago, which threw the Lotts and Yards into Hollows of considerable Depth) is almost unavoidably liable to great collections of Offal and Filth of all kinds. It is a part of the Town very much crouded by poor Inhabitants, and contains a great number of lodging Houses, in which Seamen and Strangers of the poorer Class commonly resides; and from all these Causes, is unquestionably the most unhealthy part of this City, and ever has suffered most from the regular autumnal Diseases, as well as from any new and uncommon Complaint— From all which Circumstances we entertain no doubt but that the Seamen of the Ship William contracted the Disease of which they died here, and did not introduce it into this City. A little before and immediately after the Attack of the Seamen of the Ship William, which first called the Attention of this Committee, several other Persons in Water & Front Streets, and in the neighbourhood of Dover Street, were seized with Fever, which especially in those Cases which proved mortal, was marked by severe vomitings, a Yellow Skin Hermorrhages, and in some Cases a vomiting of black matter resembling Coffee Grounds, and which generally terminated within seven Days—and proved fatal to more in Proportion to the number seized than is usual in the ordinary Complaints of this Season, in this City—
From that Time the Disease continued to spread in that neighbourhood, extending itself to a few Houses lower down towards Peck’s Slip, to one or two in Pearl Street, & Cherry Street, but principally upwards towards the Ship Yards— the number of Deaths encreasing slowly until the 9 august, from which to the 11th. inclusive, 13 died. From that Day the number of Deaths reported to us have gradually decreased, so that 9 only are reported to have died within the last five Days; and in all from the 30th. of July to this Day, 89 have been reported to this Committee. 44 persons in all have been sent to Bellevue Hospital, of which the greatest number have been Seamen and Strangers, who have arrived in this city, sick of various complaints: and of this number several in the very last Stages of their Diseases.— 20 have died, 16 have been discharged cured, & 18 remain in the House, most of them convalescent.
The number of Deaths includes all the Cases which to our Knowledge have happened between the 26 July, and the 7th. of September inclusive, either in this City, at the New York Hospital, or at the Hospital at Bellevue, arising from Fever in the least approaching to the Character of this Disease—
And as this Committee have made every Exertion in their Power to obtain the necessary Information, they do not hesitate to say, that this Statement is sufficiently correct to afford the Basis of every public measure which may be thought necessary for our own Safety, or for the Security of our neighbours. By order of the Committee—
(signed) John Broome Chairman”
This Report, and the one from the medical Society, have been communicated to the Mayor and Corporation of the City, to whom on the 6th. Instant I wrote the following Letter
[To Richard Varick]
“New York 6 Septr. 1795
Sir
The Suspension of all Intercourse between this City & Philadelphia is inconvenient to them as well as injurious to us. The Information which induced their Health office to apply to their Governor for his Suspension was doubtless such, as in their opinion justified that measure. There nevertheless is Reason to believe, that more credit was inadvertently given to it, than it deserved.
Whether a contageous Disease does exist and prevail in this City, is a question to which a satisfactory answer can only be formed from correct Statements of well authenticated Facts, and the opinions of men well informed and meriting Confidence—
on the present occasion I think it adviseable, to obtain such Statements and opinions, and to transmit them to the Governor of Pennsylvania. If it should appear from them, that the usual Intercourse between this City and Philadelphia may be resolved without any Danger to the latter, the Prohibition which suspends it will of course be revoked—
I have requested and recieved from the medical Society of this City their Report on this Subject, and when to this is added the Publication of the medical Gentlemen who compose the Society called The College of Physicians, the Sentiments of the Faculty relative to it will be ascertained.
As the Common Council of the City is composed of magistrates and other members from the different wards, and as a dangerous infectious Distemper cannot be presumed to prevail here, without exciting their notice and attention, I request from them a Statement of such Information as they may possess, together with their opinion relative to this interesting Subject—
These Documents, with the Report of the Health Committee will afford to the Governor of Pennsylvania the best and most authentic Evidence that the nature of the Case will admit of; and such as cannot fail to reduce the many exaggerated Reports that are in circulation to the Standard of Truth— I have the Honor to be &ca.—
The Hon’ble Richd. Varick Esqr. Mayor of the City of New York”
In answer to this Letter I received one from the Mayor, enclosing an Extract from the minutes of the Board on this Subject— They are as follows—
[From Richard Varick]
“New York Septr. 8 1795
Sir
I have the Honor to inform your Excellency that on this Day I laid before the Common Council of this City, your Letter of the 6th. Instant, together with the Copy of the Report of the medical Society of this City on the Subject of the Disease said to exist in this City, which accompanied it—and also a copy of the Report of the Health Committee of this Date to your Excellency on the same Subject—
In answer to your Letter, I am requested by the common Council to inform you, that they have duly considered these Reports, and that they do believe that the Facts contained in them are, according to the best Information they have been able to obtain, correct and true; and further, that from the Information recieved by the individual members of the Board, it is their opinion that a much greater Degree of general Health prevails in this City at present than is usual at this Season of the Year— a certified Copy of this Resolution of the Board upon that Subject, I do enclose to your Excellency— I have the Honor to be &ca.
City of New York ss At a common Council held on Tuesday 8th. Day of Septr. 1795 Present—
Richard Varick Esqr. Mayor
Gabriel Furman— John Campbell— Theophilus Beekman— Wynant Van Zandt— Isaac Stoutenburgh— Andrew Van Tuyl— Nicholas Bayard Esqrs. Aldermen
Garret Harzin George Janeway Fredk. Stymets Mangle Minthorn Nichs. Carmer Assistants.5
The Mayor laid before the Board a Letter from His Excellency the Governor of the sixth Instant on the Subject of the Proclamation issued by the Governor of Pennsylvania, suspending all Intercourse between this City and Philadelphia, and the said Letter together with a Report made to his Excellency on the fifth Instant by the medical Society in this City, and also a Report made to his Excellency by the Health Committee of this City on this Day, were respectively read, and duly considered And thereupon Resolved that Mr Mayor be requested to inform His Excellency the Governor, in answer to his Letter, that the Board do verily believe that the Facts contained in the said respective Reports, are according to the best Information this Board have been able from time to time to obtain, correct and true; And further, that from the Information recieved by the individual members of this Board, it is the opinion of this Board, that a much greater Degree of General Health prevails in this City at present than is usual at this Season of the Year—
Extract from the minutes.
(signed) Robt. Benson Clk”6
Your Excellency will find (herewith enclosed) a Paper containing a Letter from the President of a Society of medical Gentlemen in this City, called the College of Physicians, to the chairman of the Committee of Health—
Thus Sir! I have laid before you, and submit to your Consideration, a Collection of Facts and opinions which merit Credit and Respect.—
I flatter myself it will appear to your Excellency from these Documents that it is not necessary to suspend the Intercourse between this City and Philadelphia, and therefore that the Prohibition in Question will be revoked.7 I have the Honor to be &ca.
His Excellency Ths. Mifflin Esqr. Govr. of Pennsylvania
LbkC, NNC:JJ Lbk. 10 (EJ: 12883). PtD, Philadelphia Gazette, 24 Sept.; New-York Gazette, 28 Sept. 1795.
1. On 26 Aug., Mifflin asked the inspectors of the Philadelphia Health Office and inspecting physician about conditions in New York. On 31 Aug. they reported that there was indeed yellow fever in New York and Norfolk. Mifflin’s proclamation of 31 Aug., issued “with a sincere regret for the unhappy occasion,” banned all intercourse between Philadelphia and New York and Norfolk, by land or water, and issued a fine of three hundred dollars for violators. The ban was to be in place for one month, or “until such prohibition shall be by Proclamation lawfully revoked.” Pennsylvania Archives, Series 9, vol. 2, pt.1: Executive Minutes of Governor Thomas Mifflin, 1794–96, ed. Gertrude MacKinney (Harrisburg, 1931), 1005, 1008, 1009–10; Philadelphia Gazette, 1 Sept.; Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 2 Sept; and Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia), 5 Sept. 1795. For the 1795 yellow fever epidemic and JJ’s response to it, see John Jay’s Proclamation on Yellow Fever, 13 Aug. 1795, and the editorial note “John Jay and the Yellow Fever Epidemics,” both above.
2. In the letterbook, Charlton’s letter was recorded before the letter to Mifflin.
3. Chairman of the New York Health Committee. For identification of the original Health Committee members, see editorial note “John Jay and the Yellow Fever Epidemics,” and note 7, above.
4. On the death of Malachi Treat, see the editorial note “John Jay and the Yellow Fever Epidemics,” note 10, and “Proclamation on Yellow Fever,” note 4, both above.
5. Several members of the Common Council listed comprised the majority of the Health Committee. Aldermen Wynant Van Zandt Jr. (1767–1831), a merchant, and Nicholas Bayard (1736–98), and assistant aldermen Garret Harzin and Mangle Minthorn (1737–1821), were not on the Health Committee.
6. , 2: 176–77. Robert Benson was the brother of Egbert Benson.
7. On 17 Sept. 1795, Mifflin replied to JJ, stating that he had referred JJ’s letter and enclosures to the Board of Inspectors and the Board of Physicians, who stated that, although the fever had abated somewhat, they advised the continuance of the ban. Mifflin noted, “It could certainly be no alleviation of their sufferings, that the inhabitants of Philadelphia should be exposed to the same affliction; and your excellency will readily allow, that every embarrassment, as well foreign as domestic, that may be the effect of a suspension of the intercourse between the two cities, will operate equally against both.” Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia), 25 Sept. 1795; , 44–45.
On 26 Sept., the Aurora General Advertiser (Philadelphia) reported the “lengthy correspondence” between JJ and Mifflin, commenting “… the desertion of New-York is a corroborating proof of its malignancy. The New-Yorkers in the beginning of this month blamed us much for our precipitancy, the present state of the disorder fully exonerates us from the charge.” On 21 Sept., Mifflin issued another proclamation, continuing the prohibition of intercourse between Philadelphia and New York for another month. One month following the proclamation, Mifflin wrote JJ informing him that the ban had been lifted, congratulating him on the positive change in New York’s health. Greenleaf’s New York Journal, 26 Sept. 1795; Pennsylvania Archives, 1016–18; , 52–53; Philadelphia Gazette, 27 Oct.
In his reply of 29 Oct., JJ wrote, “This Information is rendered the more acceptable, by the Sentiments of Benevolence and Sympathy which accompany it. Good offices under the Pressure of calamities, endear Societies as well as Individuals to each other; and they deserve well of mankind in general, who by infusing into the bitter cup of adversity, the Blessings of Beneficence and Humanity, promote the Influence and operation of this great Truth, that the relative Duties & Interests of Men are inseparable—” ALS, PHi: Gratz (EJ: 01129); LbkC, NNC: Governor’s Lbk. 10 (EJ: 12885).