Dear Sir, 479. JOHN ADAMS TO JOSEPH PALMER.1 PHILADELPHIA May 6 1777 I had a few days ago the Pleasure of receiving your Favour of the 16 ult. The Subject of Finances is the most important of any that can come under our Consideration. if we can Support these we can carry on the war with Vigour and probably with success. But if we go on as we have we must suffer extream Distress. The Science of a Financier is to be learned only from Books or from Travel. I have scarce a Moment to look into a Book and I never travelled. Some of our Bostonian Genius's who understand the Nature of Commerce and of Money must turn their Thoughts to these Subjects. I think with you that we ought to negotiate with some foreign Power Loans of Cash. But this is attended with great Difficulty. We might possibly borrow, but there is a vast Risque in transporting the Money across the sea.2 I know not what to say of the Lottery, you say is in Contemplation. I dread the Effects of the Gambling Spirit that is abroad. Salt, Lead, Sulphur, Allum and Copperas, are Articles of great Importance, but whether you cannot import them cheaper than you can make them, (under all the Risques) I know not. . . . Dear Sir, 480. JOHN ADAMS TO JAMES WARREN.' PHILADELPHIA, May 6, 1777 About Ten Days ago I had the Boldness to make a Motion that a Navy Board should be established at Boston. Certain Gentlemen looked struck and surprised; however, it passed. I have moved I believe fifteen Times, that a Nomination should take Place; certain Gentlemen looked cold. Two or three Days ago, the Nomination came on. Langdon, Vernon, Deshon, Dalton, Orne, Henley, Smith, Cushing and Warren, were nominated. This Day the Choice came on. At last Vernon, Warren, and Deshon were chosen. The Board are to appoint their own Clerk who is to have 500 Dollars a year. I hope you will engage in this Business and conduct it with Spirit. You cannot be speaker and do this Duty too I believe. I think the Town of Boston will be offended. But I could not help it. This you will not mention. The Salary for the Commissioners is 1500 Dollars a Year. You will have the Building and fitting of all Ships, the appointment of Officers, the Establishment of Arsenals and Magazines, etc., which will take up your whole Time. But it will be honourable to be so capitally concerned in laying a Foundation of a great Navy. The profit to you will be nothing, But the Honour and the Virtue the greater. I almost envy you this Employment. I am weary of my own and almost with my Life. But I ought not to be weary in endeavoring to do well.2 481. WILLIAM WHIPPLE TO [JOSIAH BARTLETT?].1 My Dear Sir, PHILADELPHIA 7th May 1777 . Col. Thornton set out the 3d inst I endeavored to perswade him to tarry 'till Mr. Frost arrived, but without success. I hope I shall be excused if I leave this very soon after Mr. Frost arrives, for I assure you I am almost wore out. . . . . I think it absolutely necessary that the state shod be as fully represented as possible, therefore hope a second Person will soon be sent after Mr. Frost. 482. WILLIAM ELLERY TO THE GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND (NICHOLAS COoke).1 PHILADELPHIA, May 8th, 1777. Sir: I hope the General Assembly will attend, if they should not already have done it, to the letter which I wrote them desiring the earliest information, after the appointment of delegates. Our State is not represented in Congress now, and will not be until I shall have received authentic advice of my being chosen, or another delegate shall have arrived. Therefore, let me intreat that it may be done, that the new delegates may come forward immediately. The circumstances of my family require that I should return as soon as possible, to make some suitable provisions for it, and my long, constant attention in Congress demands relaxation." 483. THE NEW YORK DELEGATES TO THE NEW YORK CONVENTION.1 PHILADA. May 9th. 1777 Gentlemen, When we arrived here, it plainly appeared that great pains had been taken to injure the Character of Major General Schuyler. No direct Charge had been urged against him; a series of sly Insinuations, That he was making an enormous Fortune at the Expence of the Public, That he had converted the Specie provided by Congress for the Canada Service to his own private Purposes: And when he shewed his 2 See the Journals, Apr. 19, May 3, 6; also nos. 427, 449, 457, 459, ante, and nos. 485, 521, 540, post. [481] Library of J. Pierpont Morgan, Declaration of Independence, I. [482]1 Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong., p. 138. 2 See Ellery to Cooke, Mar. 30, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong., p. 123. Cf. Ellery to Cooke, Jan. 30, and Cooke to Ellery, Feb. 18, ibid., pp. 116, 118. [483] N. Y. State Lib., Minutes of the Council of Safety, IX. 47 (copy); Jour. N. Y. Prov. Cong., I. 941; Harvard Univ. Lib., Sparks MSS., XXIX. 189 (copy). 2 Feelings of some unworthy Treatment, severe Rebukes, and Animadversions on his Expressions, and his supposed want of Respect to his Superiors. Those were Weapons employed so successfully, as in the End produced some resolutions of Congress, paring away his Authority to Nothing. It took us some time to become acquainted with the new Members, and to undeceive those who wished for Conviction. We had in the meantime got a Committee appointed to inquire into the General's Conduct at large. That Business went on heavily and seemed to promise no Conclusion. We therefore were under the Necessity to take a more direct Course. The General's Account of the Specie was at his request reexamined (after it had been passed by the Commissioners) at the Treasury Board who made a full report in his Favor, which was received by Congress and ordered to be published. This Report, a printed Copy of which is herewith transmitted, had a powerful Effect on many of the Members, who heard it with the utmost Pleasure, and frankly acknowledged that they had been deceived. The way being thus prepared, the General presented a Memorial to Congress, stating such of their Resolutions, as conveyed a Censure upon him, justifying himself in every particular. This after some Debate produced a unanimous Resolution of Congress, That the Memorial was Satisfactory, and that the Congress entertained the same favorable Opinion of the General as they entertained before the passing those Resolutions.* A compleat and honorable Vindication of the General's Character and Conduct being implied in that resolution, and the infamous Charge of embezzling the Specie effectually done away by the Report from the Treasury, we shall give ourselves no trouble about the proposed Enquiry; especially as Congress came into the Appointment of the Committee with the utmost reluctance, almost every Member declaring that there was no Accuser or Charge against the General, and that the Enquiry was therefore unnecessary. All Impediments being now removed, we shall proceed to take the most speedy Measures for reinstating the General in his Command. In the critical Situation of our Affairs, his Services are loudly called for: We therefore conceived that this Business ought first to be dispatched. It unavoidably occasions some delay in the other Matters committed to our Charge, but You may be assured that they shall be attended to, with all the zeal and diligence of which we are capable. In the meantime we remain with the utmost Regard Honble Gentlemen Your most Obedt. Humble Servants PHIL. LIVINGSTON Hono'. Convention of the State of New York. 2 See the Journals, Apr. 18; also nos. 453, 461, 472, ante. 3 See the Journals, May 3; cf. ibid., Apr. 29, May 13. 4 See the Journals, May 7, 8. 5 See the Journals, May 12, 15, 22; also nos. 495, 502, 511, 515, post. The convention's reply to this letter, dated May 28, is in Jour. N. Y. Prov. Cong., I. 947. 484. JOHN ADAMS TO MRS. ADAMS.1 PHILADELPHIA, 10 May, 1777. Upon a hint from one of our commissioners abroad, we are looking about for American curiosities to send across the Atlantic, as presents to the ladies. Mr. Rittenhouse's planetarium, Mr. Arnold's collection of varieties in the virtuoso way, which I once saw at Norwalk in Connecticut, Narraganset pacing mares, mooses, wood-ducks, flying squirrels, red-winged blackbirds, cranberries and rattlesnakes, have all been thought of. Is not this a pretty employment for great statesmen as we think ourselves to be? Frivolous as it seems, it may be of some consequence. Little attentions have great influence. I think, however, we ought to consult the ladies upon this point. Pray what is your opinion? 485. WILLIAM WHIPPLE TO JOHN LANGDON.1 My Dear Sir, PHILADELPHIA 10th. May 1777. A Navy Board is to be established at Boston. the gentlemen who compose it are elected. You were in nomination, but as I thought you had rather continue in the business you are then [than] to remove to Boston for a salary of 1500 dollars I did not urge your appointment.2 Sir, 486. THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS (JOHN HANCOCK) TO PHILADA. May 10th. 1777. P. S. I am directed by Congress to request you will furnish them, by the Return of this Express, with an Account of the Number of the Troops you have at present. It is not expected in the Situation of the Army, without an Adjut General, that you will be able to do it [with] any great Degree of Precision. What they desire is, that you will give them the best Information in your Power as to your Number and Strength.2 The Congress having recommended it to the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania to call out a Body of their Militia amounting in the whole to four Thousand five Hundred, and Preparations being made for their going into Camp, would wish to know, whether in your Opinion, it is necessary to compleat this Business. They would by no Means interfere with any Plan you may have formed; and therefore leave it entirely to 1484]1 Familiar Letters, p. 271. 2 See Deane to the committee of secret correspondence, Nov. 28, 1776, and Deane to Jay, Dec. 3, 1776, Wharton, Rev. Dipl. Corr., II. 196, 212. [485] Library of Congress, Force Trans., Whipple, p. 347. 2 Cf. no. 480, ante. Langdon was elected agent of prizes for New Hampshire June 25, 1776. [486] Library of Congress, Letters to Washington, XC. 185. 2 No resolution to this effect is found in the Journals. Cf. no. 487, post. you to determine on the Expediency of the Measure, being desirous of co-operating with you in any Scheme you may have projected against the Enemy Sir 3 487. THE BOARD OF WAR TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.1 WAR OFFICE May 11th. 1777 Congress are desirous to be informed what Number of Men are now under your Excellcy's Command in New Jersey as nearly as Certainty can be arrived at in the present Situation of the Army, in Order that a Judgment may be formed of the Propriety of hastning on or disbanding the Pennsilvania and Delaware Militia now embodying agreeable to the Request of Congress who would be glad of your Excellcy's Opinion on the Subject and that you would inform them whether the disbanding the Militia would be safe and proper or would in any wise interfere with any Plan your Exellcy. has formed. From the distracted State of Pennsilvania there is no certain Prospect of their Quota speedily taking the Field and no Accounts have been received of those of the Delaware State being ready. Steps however are persuing in both States to comply with the Recommendation of Congress and Part of the Men are assembled.2. I have the Honour to be Your very obed and most hble Servt His Excelley Genl Washington Sir: 488. THOMAS BURKE TO THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA.1 PHILADELPHIA, May 11th 1777 We have had no debates of any consequences in Congress except on the Confederation; all those I shall transmit you at once.2 It goes on very slowly, and I fear, the difficulty of preserving the independence of the States, and at the same time giving to each its proper weight in the public Council, will frustrate a Confederation. Altogether I have had so short a notice of this opportunity that I can not be full on this subject; but as I give the most diligent attention to it nothing material will escape me, and you shall be fully informed. I have the honor to be etc. your Excellency's ob't. serv't., Gov'r. Caswell. THOS. BURKE. 3 For the action regarding the Pennsylvania and Delaware militia, see the Journals, Apr. 23, 24, 25, 29; also the motion of Richard Henry Lee, printed in a footnote in the Journals (ed. Ford), under May 9 (p. 343), and no. 487, post. Cf. no. 460, ante, no. 523, post. Washington's reply to this letter, dated May 12 (Writings, ed. Ford, V. 359), was read in Congress May 16. [487] Library of Congress, Letters to Washington, XV. 154. 2 See no. 486, ante. [488]1 N. C. State Recs., XI. 469. 2 See no. 465, note 3, ante. 3 See Burke's proposed amendments to the Confederation, in the Journals, May 5; cf. nos. 503, 507, 528, 725, 739, 740, post. |