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As I intend to leave this City Tomorrow I take the Liberty of sending you the inclosed. I have just rec d a Letter from H.B. Livingston & his Brother John. Harry informs me that his Major has quitted the Service & that his Coll. has also resigned. These Places being vacant I think Harry sh d be made a Lieu t . Coll immediately, for as the Lieut. Coll. continues in the Service he certainly...
Since my last I have had the Pleasure of recieving your Letter of the 25 th : Inst. and am obliged to you for the Intelligence contained in it. So great are the Inconveniences resulting from the present Mode of Government, that I believe our Convention will almost unanimously agree to institute a better, to continue till a Peace with Great Britain shall render it unnecessary. The Proceedings...
In times like these when the most horrid Murders and Affecting carnage are taking place all around us, and when the cruel & inveterate enemies we have to deal with are sticking at nothing to bring about their Diabolical purposses every genuine friend to our injured countrey (among which number I have the most powerfull reason to be convinced you are) will undoubtedly use all their influence to...
Your obliging Letter of the 2 d . Inst did not reach me till two Days ago. I am very sensible that Your Time must have been greatly engrossed at Congress, & the more so as the Treasury Department was I believe almost wholly under your particular Inspection. I ardently wish to see the Time when Matters of general Importance will cease to deny us Leisure for regular Correspondence; & be assured...
I have perused the letter which you did me the honor to write—containing several subjects of consideration refered by Congress to the Committee of conference—and on which you desire my opinion. As I am not yet furnished with sufficient data relative to the first head—it will be necessary to defer touching it—until I can by means of the board of war inform myself more fully of the object of the...
Mr Thomas Reed Deputy Pay Masr Genl for the Troops in the Northern department has made application for 100,000 dollars for the use of that department. As the Sum remaining in the Chest at Middle brook will not be more than sufficient to discharge the pay now due the Army there, and that upon the other side of Hudsons River I am under the necessity of referring Mr Reed to the Board of Treasury...
Mr Beatty, at my desire has made a representation of the state of the Marine prisoners, a copy of which is inclosed. They do not seem to be upon so regular a footing as might be wished. It appears that those in the hands of the enemy, captured in state or private as well as in Continental vessels, are subsisted at the expence of the United States; but exchanged for the benefit of the...
I have taken the liberty, thro’ the Channel of the Committee appointed to confer with me, to lay before Congress the inclosed extract of a letter from General Knox, and the Return to which it refers. As the completion of the Corps of Artillery is a matter of great importance, I hope the earliest attention will be paid to that Business. There are but two ways of keeping up the Regiments of...
Middlebrook [ New Jersey ] May 3, 1779 . Explains that the exchange of nonmilitary prisoners is controlled by the states. LS , in writing of H, Papers of the Continental Congress, National Archives. Duane was a delegate to Congress from New York.
I am honored with your favour of the 27th of April, in behalf of the delegates of New York, which hurry of business prevented my answering sooner. So far as the matter respects military prisoners, it is in my province, and I have written to His Excellency Governor Clinton accordingly —The exchange of inhabitants has always been transacted by the States to which they belonged; and I have...
[ Middlebrook, New Jersey, May 26, 1779. ] Explains why the corps which included Colonel William Malcom’s regiment was not disbanded. Df , in writing of H, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
Hurry of business has prevented my having the pleasure of acknowledging sooner the receipt of your two favors of the 15th & 17th instant. Application was made to me for dissolving the corps you mention and incorporating that part which belonged to Col. Malcoms Regt with the troops of the State of New York. But I did not concur with it for several reasons—The principal one was that a spirit of...
I had several days ago the Honor to receive the Board’s Letter of the 18th Ulto which I should have acknowledged long since, if I had not been prevented by the hurried and moving state of the Army. I am persuaded Mr Auditor Johnston’s report has but too much foundation and that many Officers have left the service without having previously settled their accounts. This however, has not been with...
I with pleasure snatch a moment agreeable to your request to inform you of the events which have taken place since you left us. A York paper of the 24th announces the arrival of the Russell of 74, which parted three days before from Arbuthnot’s fleet, which was of course momently expected. Subsequent intelligence gives us the arrival of the whole fleet. This comes through different channels, &...
I this day received your bill⟨et⟩ of the 4th with one inclosed for Col Washington which was immediately forwarded. You do not mention the receipt of a line from me which I wrote several days since giving you an account of Arbuthnot’s arrival. The current of our intelligence makes the reinforcement with him amount to about three thousand, mostly recruits and in bad health. ’Tis said...
I do not recollect whether I said any thing in my last about the strength of the reinforcement with Arbuthnot. All the accounts agree that it does not exceed 3000, mostly recruits, and in very bad health; ’tis said more than a thousand died on the passage, and the greater part of the remainder, are journeying fast to the other world. Disease prevails also in the other parts of the army and...
I received your letter of the 10th ins. two days since & with my usual distraction suffered your apple to pass out of my hands and to be lost before it could be seen by the General. But Tilghman and Meade who saw it and pretend to be connoisseurs in matters of this kind laughed at me for my inquiries & insisted that it was nothing more than the common crab-apple and not the least resemblance...
I am much obliged to you, my dear Sir, for your two letters of the 16th & 23rd. In haste I snatch up my pen by an express going off to the Governor, to give you the news as it runs. The most important & best authenticated is, that Count D’Estaing was arrived on the coast of Georgia. The tale runs thus. We are in possession of a Charlestown paper of the 6th of September which mentions that the...
I am much obliged to you my dear Sir for your two letters of the 16th and 23d. In haste I snatch up my pen by an express going off to the Governor, to give you the news as it is runs. The most important and best ascertained is that Cou[n]t D’Estaing was arrived in the coast of Georgia. The tale stands thus. We are in possession of a Charles Town paper of the 8th. of September, which mentions...
Your obliging Favor by M r . Phelps it has remained thus long unanswered, because till to very lately I promised myself the Pleasure of seeing you, but that has now become very improbabl ly e as we expect to sail in a few Days— If I leave Congress with Regret and Your Reelection and ^ Consent to ^ Return to Congress are Circumstances which I consider as fortunate in the present Situation of...
Mr Laurance is setting out for Philadelphia to obtain a determination respecting the promotion which he may expect by continuing in his present station. It seems his pay has been lately reduced—and he stands in the predicament of the civil staff in general, without any assurances of having his depreciation made good; though certainly there can be no reason for excluding him from this piece of...
Your favors of the 4th & 9th came safe to hand. I thank you very sincerely for the several articles of intelligence contained in them; and shall be happy, at all times, to hear from you when any thing occurs worthy of the moments which must be spent in the communication. My hearty wishes attend your endeavours to accomplish the confederation. It is certainly a most desirable event for us—and a...
This will be handed you by the Marquis, who brings us very important intelligence. The General communicated the substance of it in a private letter to you & proposes a measure which all deem essential. For God’s sake, my Dear Sir, engage Congress to adopt it & come to a speedy decision. We have not a moment to lose. Were we to improve every instant of the interval, we should have too little...
Morristown [ New Jersey ] May 14, 1780 . Proposes that a small committee with all necessary power, rather than Congress, should handle proposed cooperation with French fleet and army. Believes that “we shall probably fix the independence of America if we succeed.” Would like to see Philip Schuyler, Robert R. Livingston, and James Duane on committee. Df , in writing of H, George Washington...
The arrival of the Marquis De La Fayette opens a prospect which offers the most important advantages to these states if proper measures are adopted to improve it. He announces an intention of his Court to send a fleet and army to cooperate effectually with us. In the present state of our finances, and in the total emptiness of our magazines, a plan must be concerted to bring out the resources...
I had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 21st of May in due time. You must be good enough to attribute my not answering it sooner to the real cause—a hurry of other business. I had been twice before applied to for my opinion on the propriety of promoting Captn McLean, the last was thro’ the Board of War to whom I stated my objections fully on the 9th of April —I need not enter into a...
I take the liberty my Dear Sir to request your interest for a friend of mine and a member of the family, Dr McHenry. He wishes to quit a Station which among foreigners is not viewed in a very reputable light and to get into one more military. He will go into the Marquis’s family as an aide. He has been in the army since the commencement of the War—first in the medical line, since the 15th of...
Agreeably to your request and my promise I sit down to give you my ideas of the defects of our present system, and the changes necessary to save us from ruin. They may perhaps be the reveries of a projector rather than the sober views of a politician. You will judge of them, and make what use you please of them. The fundamental defect is a want of power in Congress. It is hardly worth while to...
The letter accompanying this has lain by two or three days for want of an opportunity. I have heard since of Gates defeat, a very good comment on the necessity of changing our system. His passion for Militia, I fancy will be a little cured, and he will cease to think them the best bulwark of American liberty. What think you of the conduct of this great man? I am his enemy personally, for...
Tappan [ New York ] October 4, 1780 . Criticizes proposed Congressional plan for raising a permanent army. Is concerned that slightest success “will lull us into security.” States that “the history of the war is a history of false hopes and temporary expedients.” Fears this winter “will open a still more embarassing scene.” Reports that interview at Hartford produced nothing conclusive. Df ,...