To John Jay from Timothy Matlack, 21 April 1780
From Timothy Matlack
Philadelphia April 21. 1780
Sir,
The American Philosophical Society for promoting useful knowledge &c has the honor to enroll your name in the list of its Members, of which you will receive official information thro’ another channel;1 but the Situation of the Society will not admit of your having a Diploma until a new one is framed agreable to the late change of circumstances. The Society applied to the late sitting of Genl. Assembly for an act to incorporate us, which was very readily granted. On this occasion the Revd. Dr Ewing was requested to deliver the annual oration, to which duty he had been long since appointed; but having been lately chosen Provost of our University, and this Seminary of learning having been by the war thrown into great disorder, his immediate and whole attention became necessary to restore it to order again: He therefore declined the oration.2
You know the delay of business in publick bodies, and will therefore not wonder that too much time was spent before any other was appointed to that duty; so that some Gentlemen who might otherwise have done honor to this institution were, by this means, discouraged from undertaking the task.
Seeing the opportunity likely to be lost, and my motto being “I can try” I determined to make the best use of the little time there was left, and threw together the thoughts enclosed herewith. When you read it pray remember, it was delivered in the presence of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, composed of pious good men, well read in scripture. The blush which I feel upon publishing so crude a performance would have restrained, effectually, the vanity of an author and prevented my troubling you with it, had I not known it would officially find its way to Paris, which rendered some apology necessary, more on account of the Society than on my own.3
The enclosing it to you affords me an opportunity of recommending to your notice the bearer, Doctor John Foulke, a young Gentleman of a good family in this city and whose abilities and industry will one day make him a useful and respectable character. The present contest has laid the doctor under very singular difficulties, which render the countenance and assistance of Gentlemen of distinction abroad absolutely necessary to him. He has undergone a regular examination before the Trustees of the late College of this city; but the change in the institution taking place and the professors not being yet appointed, renders it impossible for him to obtain a diploma at present. Under these circumstances let me beg your interest in his favour, being firmly pursuaded that he will do honor to his country.4
The resolution of Congress of the 18th March, respecting the bills of credit, alarmed the holders of Loan office certificates, and occasioned several meetings of the Citizens. Great warmth appeared among them; but before the measures they proposed could be executed the resolve of the 18th instant was passed, which has put it in our power to reconcile the people to the measure with less difficulty than was expected. Something like this will probably happen in several of the States, and will, I hope, as happily subside.5 I have the honour to be with great respect Your Excellencys Most obedient and very humble Servant6
T Matlack
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6943). Endorsed: “ . . . Recd 27th. Aug 1780 / anns 17 Septr”. Enclosure not found.
1. JJ, like Matlack, was among those chosen members of the American Philosophical Society on 21 Jan. 1780. Pa. Packet, 27 Jan. 1780. No more formal notification to JJ has been found.
2. Politics and religious divisions had complicated efforts to reestablish the College of Philadelphia, which had closed in June 1777 when its buildings were used to quarter troops and remained closed during the British occupation of Philadelphia. In November 1779 the Pennsylvania Assembly, under the control of the Constitutionalist Party, abrogated the college’s charter and adopted a new charter, renaming the college the University of the State of Pennsylvania. It replaced the board of trustees and staff and required college officials to swear oaths of loyalty to the state government. Dr. John Ewing (1732–1802), a Presbyterian minister and natural philosophy professor allied with the Constitutionalists, was appointed provost, succeeding Anglican William Smith, who was considered a Loyalist. Ewing, a member of the American Philosophical Society since 1768 and its vice president, remained provost of the university until 1802. , 32: 282–83n.
3. Timothy Matlack (1730–1829) of Philadelphia became a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1780. A Constitutionalist Party leader, he was also, as secretary of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, ex officio a member of the board of trustees of the University of the State of Pennsylvania. Matlack’s address, stressing the importance of agriculture, especially in Pennsylvania, praised agricultural improvements and promoted agricultural education and the spread of agricultural knowledge. It was printed under the title An oration, delivered March 16, 1780, before the patron, vice-presidents and members of the American Philosophical Society, Held at Philadelphia, for Promoting Useful Knowledge (Philadelphia, 1780); , no. 16867. On 21 Apr., Matlack wrote a similar letter to BF, the president of the society. See , 32: 282–84.
4. Because of the disruptions of the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, John Foulke (1757–96) continued his medical education in Europe, studying in Paris, in Leipzig, and after the war, in London. He then returned to Philadelphia, where he served on the staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital and was a fellow of the College of Physicians.
5. On the act of 18 Mar. devaluing the Continental currency, see Gouverneur Morris to JJ, 20 Mar., above. Congress resolved on 18 Apr. to make such provision for loan office certificates that their holders would not sustain any loss on them by depreciation. It subsequently adopted sliding scales of depreciation for adjusting the principal and interest due on loan office certificates. See JJC, 16: 374–75; 17: 567–69; , 15: 49–50, 59; and , 62–69.
6. For the response, see JJ to Matlack, 17 Sept., below.