Philip Schuyler to George Washington, 3 April 1781
From Philip Schuyler
Albany April 3d 1781
Dear Sir
Your Excellency’s obliging favor of the 23d of last month, I had the pleasure to receive on the 31st following.
It was exceedingly mortifying to me, that the Senate was so thin of members, when Your Lady honored us with a visit, that my attendance could not be dispensed with, even for a day, I was consequently deprived of Affording that Attention, which inclination, esteem and the most friendly feelings impelled me to, she saw my Embarrassments and with a good nature and Complisance which at once charmed and captivated, made every allowance.1
The motives which led Congress to postpone filling the war department, have leaked out, and been communicated to me, General Gates was in nomination but his friends reflecting, that the impropriety of appointing him, before he had exculpated himself, from the imputation of misconduct in his command, would be too glaring an abuse of power, deferred it, in hopes that by an acquital, the public confidence will be restored to him; but surely, the Gentlemen who intend him the Office, neither consult his reputation, or the public interest, not the former, because his inability to discharge it, will Certainly draw disgrace on him, nor that of the latter, for, If even he was competent, he ought to be precluded, as the Inveterate enmity which he bears to you; and which will Influen[c]e him the more for being groundless, will lead him, without hesitation, to reject, or thwart the most salutary measures You may propose, Gracious God!2 how much it is to be lamented, that rulers charged with the Affairs of an Empire, will sacrifice the best interests of their constituents, to little narrow minded prejudices, and local politics, favorable only to their unworthy sycophants, That they will close their Eyes, to the evident advantages, which would result from chusing men to fill the Great offices of the state, who have a Mutual confidence in each other, and will give mutual Support to every measure calculated to promote the public weal, the man in question, I fear will also embarrass the Financier for he has not the least Idea of public Oeconomy in his composition, nor do I believe, that they entertain much esteem for each other.3
I most sincerely lament that a plan so judiciously formed, as that you mention in confidence, should be defeated by those who would have reaped so much credit from the Success which would in all human probability have ensued, and the Glory of having rendered so essential a service to the allied powers, My heart reallizes your feelings on the Occassion, and cordially sympathizes with Yours, You have the weakness of some and the wickedness of others, to encounter, Obstacles and embarrassments to surmount, which blunderers with one object, and without System, daily create, as well as those Which unavoidable Accidents, and events which none can foresee, Occassion, but I trust the day is rapidly Advancing, when an astonished world will know, (what It would be improper to communicate now,) and feel, what they ought, an increase of gratitude, that best affection of the human heart.
May your next dispatches from the southern quarter relieve you from the disagreable situation which the torture of doubt & suspence occassions, and announce some capital advantage over the Enemy.
Mrs Schuyler and My Daughter Join me in affectionate regards to you, & Your lady,4 be pleased to make my compliments Acceptable to Colo: Harrison and the other Gentlemen of Your family.5 I am with great Esteem and regard & most affectionately Dr Sir Your Obedient Humble Servant
Ph: Schuyler
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. For Martha Washington’s visit to the Schuylers, see GW to Catharine Littlefield Greene, 22 March, and n.6.
Schuyler had written New York delegate James Duane from Albany on 29 March that he could not leave “the senate house, with just members sufficient to make a quorum” ( 8:386–90, quote on 386).
2. Congress had ordered a court of inquiry to investigate Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates while he commanded the southern department, but it had been delayed (see Samuel Huntington to GW, 6 Oct. 1780, and n.2; GW to Nathanael Greene, 22 Oct., and n.5 to that document; and Greene to GW, 7 Dec., and n.2; see also Nelson, General Horatio Gates, 255–56). When he wrote Duane on 29 March 1781, Schuyler observed: “I do not hope so much from Gates whom I understand is to be the war officer, and that the appointment is purposely put off that he may be in condition to be elected. Another objection exists to my mind against him, his enmity to the Commander-in-chief, with whom he must necessarily consult. Indeed there is not a man in the list I have seen of those who are nominated whom I would not prefer to him except myself” ( 8:386–90, quote on 387). Others under consideration for secretary of war were New Hampshire delegate John Sullivan and Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. Tensions between GW and Gates dated back to the so-called “Conway Cabal” (see GW to Gates, 4 Jan. 1778, and n.3 to that document; see also , 154–85, and Mark Edward Lender, Cabal!: The Plot Against General Washington [Yardley, Pa., 2019]).
3. Schuyler refers to Robert Morris, the recently appointed superintendent of finance.
4. Schuyler probably refers to his oldest unmarried daughter, Margaret “Peggy” Schuyler (1758–1801). She married her distant cousin Stephen Van Rensselaer in 1783.
5. Robert Hanson Harrison had resigned as GW’s secretary (see Harrison to GW, 26 Feb.; see also GW to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 16 April).