To John Jay from William Bingham, 13 July 1781
From William Bingham
Philadelphia July 13th 1781
Dear Sir,
I did not know of Major Franks’s1 Intentions of embarking for Spain, untill this very Moment— I cannot suffer him to depart without addressing you a few Lines, should they only serve to congratulate you on the pleasing Prospect of our Affairs—
In every part of the United States, the Enemy are now acting on the defensive & seem to have renounced the vain & hitherto transitory Idea of Conquest and Subjugation— A Revival of public Spirit has taken place of that listless Apathy we were involved in, & our Friends to the Southward are making Exertions, that were thought far beyond their Competency— We seem to be convinced of the Necessity of a firm Reliance on ourselves, & have renounced the Illusions that a dependance on foreign Assistance occasioned— I believe the best Mode of procuring Services from others, is to show them, that we do not stand in need of them.
Our Army under General Green in So Carolina, have reduced every British Post, except Ninety Six & Charlestown—the former of which was closely besieged, & would inevitably have fallen, if it had not been for the unfortunate Arrival of a Reinforcement, which enabled Lord Rawdon to take the Field, & Report says that he has raised the Siege, altho no official Dispatches have as yet confirmed it—2
In Virginia a most respectable Corps of Troops is now opposed to Lord Cornwallis, which has forced him to retreat, & take Post at Portsmouth3
The sanguine hopes of Conquest, which our Enemies flattered themselves with have been completely baffled in this Quarter.
New York is now invested by the federal Army,4 & I should have hoped much from the Event of their operations, had it not been for a faux pas of our good Friends the Spaniards, who gave a Capitulation to the Garrison at Pensacola, which permitted them to reinforce the Enemy at New York or any other Port of the United States—5
By a Late Gazette from New York it appears that upwards of eleven hundred of them have already arrived there, which is a most important Acquisition to the Enemy at this critical Moment, & has occasioned the greatest Murmurings and Discontents— Indeed I Know of no palliation that can be offered for such blind & erring Conduct—
Your late Appointment by Congress6 will postpone your Return to this Country longer than you at first imagined—however it will enable you to return with greater Eclat, as I hope you will bring the Olive Branch along with you— No one partook of greater Satisfaction at your Nomination than I did—
Mr Huntington has lately resigned the Chair, to which Mr Johnson of No Carolina was elected, but he has declined that honor, & Mr McKean from the State of Delaware has been since chosen—7
My best Respects wait on Mrs Jay, & my Compliments on the Colonel— Believe me to be with sincere Regard & Respect Dear sir Your Friend & obedt hble Serv
Wm Bingham
ALS, NNC (EJ: 7492). Endorsed: “ . . . by Majr. / Franks / ansd. 8 Sept. 1781 by Do.” No manuscript text of JJ’s reply of 8 Sept. has been found, but see , 2: 88–91; and , 2: 66–69.
1. David Salisbury Franks (c. 1740–93), son of the prominent Montreal merchant Abraham Franks, joined General Richard Montgomery’s forces upon the capture of Franks’s native city of Montreal in 1775. Following four years of service in the northern army, Franks became a major and aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold, but he was exonerated (November 1780) of any complicity in Arnold’s treason. Prior to Arnold’s defection, Franks had written Henry Brockholst Livingston about the possibility of his going to Spain. Franks sought to recoup the substantial losses he had suffered in exchanging the gold he had brought from Canada for Continental money. Dispatched to Spain by Robert Morris in July 1781, Franks temporarily solved JJ’s problem of intercepted letters. A. B. Hart, ed., The Varick Court of Inquiry (Boston, 1907), 169; Jacob R. Marcus, Early American Jewry (10 vols.; Philadelphia, 1951), 1: 251–55; , 20: 442–43; Hersch L. Zitt, “David Salisbury Franks, Revolutionary Patriot,” Pennsylvania History 61 (April 1949): 77–95; Herbert Friedenwald, “Jews Mentioned in the Journal of the Continental Congress,” Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society 1 (1893): 76–86.
2. See Gouverneur Morris to JJ, 7–9 May 1781, above, note 12.
3. By 13 July, Cornwallis positioned his main base in Suffolk while detaching 3,000 men to Portsmouth preparatory to sailing to Philadelphia or New York, a trip that never transpired as planned.
4. The reference is to the Continental forces under Washington. At Wethersfield, Connecticut, on 22 May 1781, Washington met with Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725–1807), commander of the French expeditionary force. They agreed to a plan to lay siege to New York but held open the possibility, upon the arrival of de Grasse’s fleet, of shifting operations southward to Virginia. , 20: 557–59; John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Diaries of George Washington, 1748–1799 (4 vols.; Boston, 1925), 2: 216–18; , 22: 105–7; Douglas S. Freeman, George Washington (7 vols.; New York, 1948–57), 5: 289; Henry P. Johnston, The Yorktown Campaign and the Surrender of Cornwallis, 1781 (New York, 1881), 76.
5. On the capitulation of Pensacola, see the notes to James Lovell to JJ, 15–16 Aug. 1781, below.
6. JJ’s appointment as peace commissioner, on which see the President of Congress to JJ, 5 July 1781, above.
7. Samuel Johnston (1733–1816) of North Carolina was elected to the post on 9 July but declined the next day because of ill health. Thomas McKean (1734–1817) of Delaware was elected in his place. See , 20: 724, 732, 733; , 6: 139–40, 160n.