From John Jay to Josiah Ogden Hoffman, 22 October 1798
To Josiah Ogden Hoffman
Albany 22 Octr. 1798
Dr Sir
It is painful to say disagreable Things to ones Friends, and yet and it is not without Reluctance that I apprize You, that your pecuniary Embarrassments have excited apprehensions that are considered as being incompatible with the Attention and Independence with which the Duties of your office should be executed. This opinion has for some time past been gradually becoming more strong and more extensive, and Your arrest at New York, and the unsettled State of your Accounts with the public, have greatly ^tended to^ confirmed it—1 It has been mentioned not only to me but also to others, that in Excuse for not paying a certain account, you alledged the want of money in the Treasury but that you wd. endeavour to negociate the Cash warrant you recd. from the Comptroller; which warrant I am assured was duly paid to you by the Treasurer—
The Cordiality ^& Friendship^ which has so long and uniformly subsisted between our Families, will not permit me to conceal from you these disagreable Circumstances. They have made such strong Impressions, even in minds perfectly well disposed towards You, that the Question whether an Att[orne]y. Gen[era]l. so circumstanced should be continued in office, must speedily be considered. Whatever the Result may be, you should also be apprized, that it will certainly be insisted that the Attorney General do in future reside at the Seat of Government, and I confess to You candidly that I [illegible] ^think it highly^ proper & expedient, and therefore as indispensable.
I am aware of the Effect of this Letter on your Feelings— mine are very far from being gratified by it2 for With the best wishes that you may soon be blessed by the Return of Prosperity I am D[ea]r. Sir, your most obt. & hble Servt.
Josiah Ogden Hoffman Esqr.
Att[orne]y Genl. of the State of NYork
N.B. Enclosed this to Mr Hale to forward—not knowing where Mr Hoffman resides at present—.
Dft, NNC (EJ: 08468). Endorsed.
1. JJ refers to both Hoffman’s personal debts, contracted in land speculation, and his handling of public funds to cover expenses related to the court cases surrounding the Connecticut Gore controversy, specifically, disagreements in reimbursing General Matthew Carpenter (d. 1839) of Chemung County, N.Y., for expenses incurred as a witness. Hoffman enlisted the help of AH and Robert Troup in clearing the matter in general and his reputation with JJ in particular. In his lengthy reply to JJ of 31 Oct. 1798, Hoffman explained that his personal debts were the result of standing as surety for others. As to his arrest, Hoffman remarks that “the Cause of this Arrest was not for any debt of my own—its to the unsettled state of my Accounts with the Publick” and a disagreement with the Comptroller over when those accounts should be stated and settled and the amount owed. It is apparent from Hoffman’s remarks that he believed that state comptroller Samuel Jones had insinuated that Hoffman had stolen public funds. See Stephen Van Rensselaer to AH, 6 Nov. 1797, , 21: 310–11; John Laurance to AH, 10 Dec. 1797, , 21: 327–28; Richard Varick to JJ, 24 Sept. 1798, above; Hoffman to JJ, 31 Oct. 1798, ALS, NNC (EJ: 08470); Troup to JJ, 5 Nov. 1798, below; AH to JJ, 8 Nov. 1798, , 22: 226–28; JJ to AH, 10 Nov. 1798, , 22: 233–34; JJ to AH, 12 Nov. 1798, , 22: 236–37; JJ to Hoffman, 12 Nov. 1798, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08466); and JJ to Troup, 12 Nov. 1798, Dft, NNC (EJ: 12827). For the Connecticut Gore controversy, see JJ to Thomas Mifflin, 6 Sept. 1796, Hoffman to JJ, 14 Dec. 1797, both above; and JJ to Jonathan Trumbull Jr., 4 Dec. 1799, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08998); and JJ’s Address to the New York State Legislature, 28 Jan. 1800, ADS, PHi: Gratz (EJ: 01135), for full citation see JJ to Thomas Mifflin, 6 Sept. 1796, above.
2. In his reply to JJ of 31 Oct. 1798, Hoffman took pains to defend his honor and address JJ’s concerns about how his conduct affected his ability to perform his duty. “Early in life, I prescribed to myself a Rule for my political and private Conduct— I have ever intended, that the Publick Good, should characterize the one, and the other, I trust, bears no Stamp of Turpitude— The uniform consistency of my political life, has acquired me the disinterested friendship of many Characters, equally eminent in Abilities and Station— Among such, I have felt a pride in numbering yourself, and of such friendships, I was most ambitious— to be deprived of them, through deceptive Misrepresentations, or by the Insinuations of Prejudice, must prove to me, the source of unceasing Regret— You can judge then, Sir, how gratifying it will be to my pride, to be restored to that Confidence which, I flatter myself, you once professed…”