kind of Fatality still prevents our proceeding a Step in the important affair of Confederation. Yesterday and the day before was wholly spent in passing Resolutions to gratify N. Y. or as they say to prevent a civil War between that State and the Green Mountain Men-A Matter which it is not worth your while to have explaind to you. Monsr. D Coudrays affair is still unsettled. The four french Engineers are arrivd." They are said to be very clever but disdain to be commanded by Coudray. Mr. Comr D-- continuing to send us french German and Prussian officers with authenticated Conventions and strong recommendations. . . .

6

526. JAMES DUANE TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.1

June 28th Saturday

Yesterday, though assigned for concluding the business of our Revoltors was taken up in other cares, for we thought it [not?] impossible to be too urgent for a preference, tho' it was a right we might have maintained. Experience has convinced me of the propriety of such condescensions at seasonable junctures. This morning the House in a Committee of

2 See no. 528, post.

3 See no. 524, ante.

4 See no. 514, note 2, ante.

5 Dec. 2, 1775, Congress authorized the committee of secret correspondence to secure 'skillful engineers not exceeding four". It was not however until the beginning of 1777 that this commission was effected. On Feb. 13, 1777, Franklin and Deane entered into a contract with four officers of the royal corps of engineers of France, Lewis Le Bègue Duportail (Chevalier Derford), Laumoy, Obry Gouvion, and Bailleul La Radière, to enter the service of the United States, with stipulations as to rank. The contract with the three first mentioned is found in Wharton, Rev. Dipl. Corr., II. 269. The Journals, July 2 and 8, mention La Radière as included in the same contract, but his name does not appear in the document as printed in Wharton. These officers, with exception of Laumoy, accompanied by a lieutenant and two sergeants, landed in New River, North Carolina, June 3 and proceeded to Newbern, where they obtained assistance from Governor Caswell to pursue their journey to Philadelphia. (See a letter from Joseph Leech, Richard Ellis, and Alexander Gaston to Governor Caswell, June 4, an undated letter from the Chevalier Derford, i. e., Duportail, to Governor Caswell, one from Governor Caswell to Governor Henry of Virginia, June 10, and two from Governor Caswell to Thomas Burke, June 10, 11, in N. Č. State Recs., XI. 486, 492-495. Both the Newbern committee and Governor Caswell are in some error as regards the rank of these officers.) That Laumoy was not with the party appears from three facts: First, Duportail says in his letter to Governor Caswell: "We are just arrived in this place three officers of the Corps Royal of Engineers in France, that is to say one Lieutenant Colonel [Duportail], one Major [evidently La Radière], one Captain of the Corps Royal of the Artillery of France [Gouvion], one Lieutenant, two Sergeants." Second, on July 8 Congress made Duportail a colonel, La Radière a lieutenant-colonel, and Gouvion a major, ratifying the contract made with them by Franklin and Deane. The contract as regards Laumoy was not ratified until Oct. 2, when he was made a lieutenantcolonel. Third, in a letter to Washington, July 24 (no. 559, post), Lovell mentions that "the Chevalier Duportail, with M. La Radière, M. Gouvion, and one other officer, who is left sick in the West Indies, were engaged by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane to come over to America." All these officers received further promotions Nov. 17, 1777. For further information concerning their careers, consult the Journals (passim), Heitman, Hist. Register, and Balch, The French in America. For the complications in which Congress was involved through the Du Coudray contract, see especially nos. 501, 514, ante, and nos. 530, 531, 535, 537, 539, 541, 542, 559, post.

6 Silas Deane.

[526]1 See under June 24 (no. 522, notes 1 and 2), ante.

2 The negative seems to be necessary here to give the meaning intended.

the whole cheerfully resumed the debate; and the resolutions passed almost unanimously; for you'll observe they go upon general principles highly interesting and important to every State which yet directly apply to The only contest was on Young's Address, and that was ostensibly grounded on his death in the midst of the debate. Compassion to his distressed family, no doubt, induced some of the members to wish it to be passed over in silence. You will observe however, that it was of great consequence to us to have this wicked production censured and exposed and this point was finally carried in our favor after a sharp conflict. The debate was spun out till after 4 o'clock and the Committee rose and agreed to finish it on Monday.

527. ROBERT MORRIS TO SILAS DEANE.1

[PHILADELPHIA June 29, 1777.]

With respect to my Brother I shall deal very candidly with you, by declaring to you that I never was more shocked and hurt by any incident in my Life than at the manner in which you Gentlemen Commissioners at the Court of France have been pleased to mention him in Publick Letters, that you knew must be laid before Congress. These Letters arrived long before I had a scrip of a Pen from you on the Subject. It occurred to me instantly that I had unbosomed myself to you respecting him, That I had sollicited your Friendship in his favour and asked you to inform me fully and freely of his Conduct, That to all this I never had a word in Answer, and found your Name at the bottom of Letters blasting his Character in the most Publick manner and exposing me to Feelings the most pungent I ever knew. it also occurred to me that I had sollicited Doctor Franklin to Admonish and Advise him if he found it necessary, and shew him countenance if he proved deserving. From these Circumstances I really did expect that any complaints he merited would have been made to myself in Private Letters giving me an Account of his Conduct and if it was necessary to remove him from his employment, I could have done that so as to prevent any the least disservice to the Publick or his being unnecessarily exposed. You will see that these sentiments were strong in my mind, when I wrote the Commissioners the 1st April and they made so strong an impression on me at the Time your Letters were read in Congress that I got up instantly, gave my Brother his True Character, complained of his being so publickly exposed, told what my desires and Expectations from you were, and added that by my Letters to you by Capt. Bell I had put him in your Power either to be confirmed in his employment or to be dismissed from it, as his conduct might require. I think the Letter

3 Concerning Dr. Thomas Young's address see the Journals, June 23, 25, 30 (pp. 510, 513), and nos. 532, 533, post.

4" Dr. Young died lately of a Fever caught in attending the Congress Hospitals in the City, and was buried the day we came into Town." William Williams to Jonathan Trumbull, July 5, 1777 (Hist. Mag., XIV. 223).

[527]1 Univ. Pa. Lib., Franklin Papers, X. 20 (extract, in the writing of Silas Deane); N. Y. Hist. Soc., Collections: Deane Papers, II. 79.

I wrote you by Capt. Bell respecting him must have convinced you that I did not wish him employed in the Publick Service if he did not deserve it. It must also convince you that a Publick Letter to Congress was not necessary to procure his removal if his conduct was not right, for you found me as ready to displace him, as you could wish, and I begin to fear that I was rather too forward in it; from what I now write you may naturally conclude I do not think myself in the least Degree beholden to Doctor Franklin or you for your Conduct towards this Young Man, and in Plain Truth I do not. However I do not Cherish resentment, and hope my Passion may be always subdued by Reason, and my Reason influenced by good Principles, therefore I mean nothing more than to let you know that I think those Publick Letters were cruel to my Brother and extremely unfriendly to myself. I shall inform him of them and if he has Spirit to resent them, I hope he will also have Judgment to do it properly.

Perhaps I have flattered myself with the Expectation of more Friendship from the Doctor and you than I had a right to and shall therefore correct the Error in future. Thus much for what you say of him in Publick. as to what you write me of him in those Letters of the 4th Decr. and 5th January now before me, I thank you most sincerely for it and should do so had the Account of him been ten Times more Disagreeable. it is bad enough, God knows, and what is worse I believe he deserves every Tittle of it. had these Letters reach'd me before the Publick Letters I should in some Degree have been prepared and probably should not have said any thing about him in Congress, but even in that Case I should have thought in the same way of your Publick Letters, because I think it was totally unnecessary to mention him there; You refer me to Mr. Bromfield for further Particulars and Anecdotes respecting this Youth, and Mr. Bromfield has kindly referr'd me to all the Gentlemen from Virginia where he landed to South Carolina where he is gone by Land and has industriously communicated these Particulars and Anecdotes to every body he met with.2.

528. SAMUEL ADAMS TO JAMES WARREN.1

My dear Friend

PHILADE June 30 1777

. You wish to hear "how our Confederation goes on ". I do not wonder at your Anxiety to have it completed, for it appears to me to be a Matter of very great Importance. We every now and then take it into Consideration, but such a Variety of Affairs have continually demanded the Attention of Congress that it has been impracticable hitherto to get it through. There are but two or three things which in my Opinion will be

2 Thomas Morris was agent of the secret committee in France. He was a half brother of Robert Morris. See especially the letter from the commissioners in France to the committee of secret correspondence, Jan. 17, 1777, Robert Morris to Henry Laurens, Dec. 26, 1777, Morris to Lovell, May 2, 1778, and William Lee to the President of Congress, Mar. 16, 1779, in Wharton, Rev. Dipl. Corr., II. 248, 460, III. 79. See also ibid., II. 463 n.

[528] Warren-Adams Letters, I. 337; Writings of Samuel Adams (ed. Cushing), III. 379; N. Y. Pub. Lib., Samuel Adams Papers (draft).

the Subjects of further Debate, and upon these I believe most if not all the Members have already made up their Minds. One is, what share of Votes each of the States which differ so much in Wealth and Numbers shall have in determining all Questions. Much has been said upon this weighty Subject, upon the Decision of which the Union of the States and the Security of the Liberty of the whole [depend]. Perhaps it would be more easy for a disinterested Foreigner to see, than for the united States to fix upon the Principles on which this Question ought in Equity to be decided. The Sentiments in Congress are not various, but as you will easily conceive, opposite. The Question was very largely debated a few days ago, and I am apt to think it will be tomorrow determind, that each State shall have one Vote, but that certain great and very interesting Questions shall have the concurrent Votes of Nine States for a Decision.2 Whether this Composition will go near towards the Preservation of a due Ballance, I wish you to consider, for if your Life and Health is spared to your Country, you will have a great Share in the Determination of it hereafter..

Received your kind favour of the 22nd Instant had then but just arrived in Town. . . . . Of your New Appointment I have been Informed by Mr Sherman, and of the salary or wages allowd you. I think you will have much less Trouble more leisure or rather time to Visit your Friends than when at the head of the Issuing part. how far your Wages will as now fixd answer or exceed your Expences I cannot determine, but am rather of Opinion and so is Coll. Williams Mr Law and Mr Sherman, that unless you must by serving fall in the rear you had better Accept your Appointment. we think the Country requires your service and the cause may suffer by your refusal we therefore rather advise you on the whole to accept.3.

2 See the Journals, June 22, 23, 25, 26, July 2; also nos. 465, 488, 503, 507, ante, and no. 537, post. Although on July 2 Congress assigned “tomorrow for consideration of the Articles of Confederation, the Journals do not record any discussion of the subject until Oct. 7 (see nos. 556, 558, post). Aug. 16 the following Monday (the 18th) was set for resuming the consideration, but the Journals contain no evidence that this was done (see however nos. 588, 616, post). On Tuesday, Sept. 2, a motion was made to devote a part of every day during that week to the Confederation, but the motion was negatived. Eliphalet Dyer's letter of Sept. 7 (no. 631, post) suggests that the subject was at that time under consideration, but no mention of the matter is found in the Journals until Oct. 2, when Congress again resolved to take the Articles into consideration "tomorrow morning" (cf. nos. 659, 671, post). Oct. 6 it was resolved to take into consideration tomorrow morning" that part which related to the mode of voting, and on that day (Oct. 7) the question was determined. See no. 679, note 4, post. [529]1 Conn. Hist. Soc., Joseph Trumbull Papers. Addressed: 'To Joseph Trumbull, Esqr., Commissy. Genll. Continental Army, at Brunswick or Camp Middle Brook etc." It bears an endorsement: "needs no Ansr".

2 Dyer took his seat in Congress June 25. This letter was evidently written a

day or two thereafter.

The regulations for the commissary department were adopted June 10, the compensation established June 15, and the commissaries and deputies elected June 18

Many new faces in Congress tho but about half or little more of their full Numbers. let me hear from you as often as Convenient and am sincerely yours

[P. S.].

ELIPHT DYER

(see nos. 517-520, 522, ante; also nos. 530, 543, post). Apparently it was not until after July 5 that Trumbull was officially informed of the new regulations and of his election as commissary-general of purchases, for Hancock's letter transmitting the resolutions bears that date (Mass. Hist. Soc., Hancock Letter-Book, VI. 220; Library of Congress, Papers Cont. Cong., no. 58, pt. II., p. 216). July 9 Trumbull wrote to Hancock acknowledging receipt of his commission and postponing his decision as to its acceptance until he had conferred with the committee of Congress then at headquarters (Papers Cont. Cong., no. 78, vol. XXII., f. 259). July 19 he wrote to Hancock: "Inclosed I send you the Commission which Congress have honored me with lately as Commissary General of Purchases, and must beg leave to decline accepting the same, or acting under the Authority or rather, the want of Authority, of it. My reasons for declining, I have given to the Honble. Committee of Congress here, at large." (Ibid., f. 265.) The commission, dated June 18, is found ibid., f. 269. In the Connecticut State Library, Joseph Trumbull Papers, is the draft of a letter to President Hancock dated June 15 (that is, about three weeks before he had received his new commission), in which he offers his resignation to Congress. Inasmuch as the letter casts light upon the proceedings of Congress it is given here:

"Sir

"Camp Middlebrook, 15th June, 1777

"It is now more than twelve months since I first applied to Congress for regulations in the Commissary Department which were not then compleated-immediately after I noticed you as President of Congress and His Excellency Genl. Washington as Commander in Chief of the Army of my design to resign the Office of Commissary General as soon as it could be done with safety to the Army-in the Month of Novr. last, I preferred a Memo. to Congress, merely respecting my own allowances in sd. Office, which has hitherto remained unnoticed-in April last, I was by Congress directed to attend them in Phila. which I Instantly did and was called on by a Committee of Congress, for proposals in Writing for proper Regulations in the Commissary Department. I gave it to them in two days after, and pressed upon them the necessity of immediate attention thereto, on Accot. of my Assistants, who were all from different Causes discontented and uneasy, also on accot. of Vegitables and Vinegar and many other Matters fully pointed out in the sd. Proposals given in Writing-Afterwards I staid in Phila. four Weeks, and was never once called on by the sd. Committee, respecting sd. Regulations, nor was any thing that I could learn done therein, notwithstanding my most pressing representations to different Members of Congress, of the Necessity of the Affairs in sd. Department.

Since my return to Camp I find the discontent arising from Ill treatment here, among my assistants to be greater than I had before conceived it to be. This also I have represented to different Members of Congress by Letter-yet I find nor hear of any relief.

"My Patience is wholly exhausted. Everything draggs heavily on, when all are discontended, and uneasy, and the Causes thereof wholly unattended to. Under all these disagreeable circumstances, it will I fear, be totally impossible for me to do my Duty, and Subsist the Army-therefore I must request the Honble. Congress, to dismiss me from their Service, and appoint Some Person, who will and can Serve them, with better abilities, tho' he cannot with more Integrity than I have done. "I am Sir with regard and esteem

Your most humble Servt.

"I have noticed Genl. Washington of this my Resignation. "Hon. John Hancock Esqr. President of Congress."

Jos: Trumbull,

Accompanying this letter in the Trumbull Papers is a draft of his letter to Washington, and also a draft of a letter to a personal friend, probably Elbridge Gerry. The latter is as follows:

"Dear Sir

"Camp Middle Brook 15th June 1777.

"By this Express, I have sent my Resignation to Congress, and request that they would dismiss me their Service. I have assigned my Reasons. I have also sent a Copy thereof