From John Jay to John Adams, 1 November 1785 (first letter)
To John Adams (First Letter)
New York 1 Novr. 1785
Dear Sir
The enclosed Letter from President Lee to you (of the Subject and Contents of which I am informed) will explain to you the Design of the Letters and papers which accompany this.
The one to the archbishops of York and Canterbury are left open for your Information; and that you may the more easily determine with yourself either to deliver it in Person, or merely to forward it by a proper Conveyance.1
The attention you manifested to the episcopalian church in the affair of Denmark, has much obliged the members of it, and induced them to hope for your further good offices.2
The Convention are not inclined to acknowledge or have any thing to do with Mr. Seabury—his own high Church Principles and the high Church Principles of those who ordained him, do not quadrate either with the political Principles of our Episcopalians in general, or with those on which our Revolution and Constitutions are founded. They wish therefore to have a Bishop to whom no objections of that kind can be made and that is the object of their present measures.
It will be much in your power to aid them in the attainment of it, and for my own part I think your friendly Interposition will neither disserve your Country nor yourself.
To me personally Bishops are of little Importance but as our civil affairs are now circumstanced I have no objections to gratifying those who wish to have them—I confess I do not like the Principles of the nonjurors, and I think the less Patronage such opinions meet with among us the better. With great and sincere Esteem & Regard I am Dear Sir Your most obt. and hble Servt.
John Jay
The Honble John Adams Esqr. Minister Ply. &c.
LS, in the hand of Jacob Blackwell, MHi: Adams. Enclosures: Richard Henry Lee to JA, 24 Oct. 1785, LS, MHi: Adams; 22: 700–701; the letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to the Archbishop of York, not found, probably refers to the letter of 5 Oct. from the Clerical and Lay Deputies to the Archbishop and Bishops of England, referred to in the English Bishops to the Clerical and Lay Deputies, n.d., C, NNC (EJ 7405); Dft, NNC (EJ: 7458).
2. See JA to Thomas McKean, President of Congress, 22 April 1784, and enclosures, 8: 197–99. To the inquiry made by JA, the theological faculty of Denmark decided that American ministers of the Church of England could be ordained in Denmark by a bishop of the Danish church according to Danish rites, obtaining from the candidates only “a profession conformable to the articles of the English church; omitting the oath called test, which prevents their being ordained by the English bishops.” See also JA to JJ, 30 May 1785 (LbkC, DNA: PCC, item 84, 5: 461–64 [EJ: 11839]), wherein JA reported that when this was known in England, it “produced a more liberal spirit and decision here than had prevailed before, so that I hope that respectable body of our fellow-citizens who are interested in it have derived a benefit from it. I am much obliged to congress for this instance of their approbation, and for the honor they have done me in transmitting an account of it to the executives of the States.” 8: 252–53; 28: 187 (21 Mar. 1785); JJ to JA, 31 Mar. 1785, Dft, NNC (EJ: 7455); LbkC, , 40–41 (EJ: 2410); 8: 231–32, enclosing the resolution of Congress.
As William White informed JA, 26 Nov. 1785, the Church did not need the Danish offer, as just before Parliament had passed an act permitting the Bishop of London to ordain non-British subjects without administering the oaths. 8, 349–50.