John Jay Papers
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From John Jay to William Livingston, 21 May 1783

To William Livingston

Paris 21 May 1783—

Dear Sir

It was not until this Morning that your obliging Letter of the 8th. Jany. last reached me—1 I thank you for it sincerely, & regret that its arriving so late in the Season will render it useless to send you an assortment of Seeds for this Spring. You may expect them in the Fall & they shall be fresh & of this Years Growth.

Your accounts of my Boy are flattering, & so is your affectionate attention to him. Mr Benson rightly understood the Reason of my desiring that he might be carried to Fishkill— When that Reason ceased I preferred his returning to, and remaining with his Grandmama & wrote so to my Brother, but the Letter it seems did not reach him in Time—2 when Peter returns to you, which will probably be this Month, be pleased to take the Direction of him—

Your little grand Daughter, as well as her Parents, has had her Share of Trouble and Sickness. she is now well and thrives finely—my Health has been injured by the Heats of Spain; and since my arrival here, I have not had Leisure to attend properly to it— Mrs. Jay has lost some of her Complaints by our Change of Situation, tho she is not yet strong and hearty—

as to Politics, I can add little to what you must have already heard on that Subject; especially as it would not be expedient to write freely unless in Cypher. I hope our Countrymen will not delay to secure and encrease the Blessings of Peace by wise Regulations and Establishments. The Boundaries of the different States should be immediately settled, and every Cause of Dissention provided against as far as possible. Our feeble public Credit requires appreciation, & the sooner that work is begun the better—hard things are said of us on that Head. Mr Morris’s Letters to Congress have occasioned much Speculation— I wish he may not have resigned.3

I cannot conclude this Letter without congratulating you most sincerely on the Termination of your long Exile from Liberty Hall, and on the happy Period put by the Peace, to the Snares and Dangers which beset you during the War. Indeed every American must enjoy the present Moment— I confess I do in a great Degree and with great Thankfulness—but as our Happiness is erected on the Tombs, and ^the^ Distress of so many of our virtuous Countrymen, there is a Solemnity in its aspect which will not permit me to say with Horace

nunc est bibendum, nunc Pede libero

‘pulsanda Tellus.’4

May God continue to bless and preserve you I am Dr Sir Your afft. & hble Servt.

John Jay

His Exy Gover Livingston

ALS, MHi: Livingston (EJ: 4693). Endorsed. FC, in the hand of Peter Jay Munro, NNC (EJ: 8282).

1See William Livingston to JJ, 8 Jan. 1783, ALS, NNC (EJ: 6884); JJUP, 2 description begins Richard B. Morris et al., eds., John Jay, vol. 2, The Winning of the Peace: Unpublished Papers, 1780–1784 (New York, 1980) description ends : 594–95.

3Robert Morris’s letters of resignation as Superintendent of Finance, 24 Jan. and 26 Feb. 1783. On the publication of the resignation letters, news of which reached Europe in late April, see PRM description begins E. James Ferguson et al., eds., The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784 (9 vols.; Pittsburgh, Pa., 1973–99) description ends , 7: 361–71, 462–74.

4“Now to drink, now to beat the earth with free foot.” Horace, Odes 1.37.1–2.

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