nomination in case it should be necessary, for of myself I cannot fix on a suitable person.'. . . . P. S. . . . . I have not time to speak to Brown, he is referred to you, pray take care of this friend to American Independence, and do [not] let us be imposed on by such a miserable Toll. . . . . 747. CORNELIUS HARNETT TO THOMAS BURKE.1 YORK, PENNSYLVANIA Nov. 20th 1777. Your favorite Confederation is at last finished. It only waits to be printed and sent on by the President to the Legislatures of the several States for their approbation, with a pressing letter from Congress on that subject, which you will soon see. Our finances are in such a situation, that unless the States agree immediately, to tax as high as the people can possibly bear, the credit of our money must be ruined. Another very large emission must take place, there is no preventing it. The Treasury Boards see the fatal consequence of this measure, but they also perceive that when we have no money, we shall have no Army. The Loan Offices are already drained to their utmost farthing. The prospect before us is truly distressing, we must however continue further emissions. I tremble at the consequences.. P. S. For God's sake endeavour to get some Gentlemen appointed in my stead. I can not stay here any longer with any pleasure.* 7 Commissioners to go to Fort Pitt were appointed Nov. 20. They were Samuel Washington, Gabriel Jones, and Joseph Reed. Reed declined and George Clymer was chosen in his stead (see the Journals, Dec. 4, 10, 11), Samuel Washington also declined and John Walker was then elected (see the Journals, Jan. 1, 1778). On Jan. 10, since neither Jones nor Walker had indicated acceptance of the appointment, Congress conferred upon Governor Henry of Virginia the power to appoint others in their room in case they declined. February 23 Congress received notice from Governor Henry that he had appointed Sampson Matthews and Samuel McDowell. For further proceedings relative to Fort Pitt, see the Journals, passim (index, Pitt, Fort; Hand, Edward; Morgan, George; McIntosh, Lachlan). See also nos. 705-707, 717, ante, nos. 751, 766, 769, post, and Laurens to Clymer, Mar. 27, 1778, in the next volume of these Letters. 8 See no. 744, ante. [747]1 N. C. State Recs., XI. 681. 3 2 In using the word "favorite" Harnett is speaking ironically. See, for instance, Burke's comments on the Confederation, nos. 739, 740, ante. Cf. nos. 725, 733, ante. 8 Cf. nos. 723, 733, 736, 738, ante, nos. 749, 753, 754, 760, 764-766, post. In a letter to William Wilkinson on the same date, Harnett wrote: "I never in my life went through so much fatigue, being obliged to sit all day in Congress and often very often in the Treasury board till II at night." N. C. State Recs., XI. 808. 4 Harnett wrote to Wilkinson, Dec. 28: "Believe me it is the most inhospitable scandalous place I ever was in. If I once more can return to my family all the Devils in Hell shall not separate us. The honor of being once a member of Congress is sufficient for me, I acknowledge it is the highest honor a free state can bestow on one of its members. I shall be careful to ask for nothing more, but will sit down under my own vine and my own Fig tree (for I have them both) at Poplar Grove where none shall make me afraid except the boats of the British cruisers." N. C. State Recs., XI. 825. 748. RICHARD HENRY LEE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.1 Dear Sir, YORK 20th November 1777 I have no doubt of being excused by you for not sooner answering your favor of the 24th. last,' when you are informed that my ill state of health has prevented me from attending as I ought, to the important matter it contains. I gave Mr. Jones the letter, that he might inform Congress of such parts as it imported the public they should be acquainted with. As it appeared by the letters of Gen. Mifflin that he objected only to serve in the Quartermasters department, that his health was returning, and that he was willing to continue his aid to the public cause, Congress appointed him one of the Commissioners of the new Board, because he is competent to the right discharge of its duties, because that would best suit his valetudinary state, and as shewing a just sense of his uniform, vigorous, and well-founded patriotism. I have strong hopes, that by the skill and industry of this new Board, and from the right execution of business in that important department, you will in future find great relief.3 Gen. Conway has not lately been mentioned in Congress, nor has there been much talk of an Adjutant General, since it is not certainly known whether Colo. Pickering will accept his new appointment. Mr. Flemmings character stands very fair, and so far as I am able to judge, would answer well in this commission. You will see in the inclosed what Mr. Sergeant says of him. General Mifflin has proposed a plan for the Quartermaster's department that appears judicious, and well fitted to answer the purpose of good service and oeconomy at the same time. He would divide this department into its military and civil branches, the former to be filled by a person well qualified to discharge its duties, and the latter, again to be divided into Commissaries of Teams, of Forage, of Tents etc. to be governed in their purchases by estimates from the Quarter Master general who is to touch no money but a moderate tho sufficient salary.5. 4 It was most evident to discerning men that the change in the Commissariat, at the time it was adopted would produce most mischievous consequences, yet such was the rage of reformation, that no endeavors to prevent the evil could avail, and now I feel the most anxious solicitude for fear the consequences may disperse our army even in face of the enemy." [748]1 Library of Congress, Letters to Washington, XX. 6; Univ. Va. Lib., Lee Papers (draft); Letters to Washington (ed. Sparks), II. 44; Letters of Richard Henry Lee (ed. Ballagh), I. 349. 2 Evidently the letter dated Oct. 28, in the Century Magazine, LXXXI. 663. 3 See nos. 700, 720, 743, ante, and the Journals, Nov. 19; see also nos. 757-761, post. Probably William Fleming is meant. He was a delegate in Congress from Virginia in 1779. 5 See the Journals, Nov. 19, 24. A plan by Mifflin is in the Journals, under May 14; cf. ibid., Apr. 16, 23. 6 Cf. nos. 664, 726, ante, nos. 757, 759, 790, post. A Committee is appointed to confer with the Commissary general and to try what can be done to avert the evil.'. . . . My ill state of health will compel me to return home in a few days, where I shall continue ardently to pray for your health and success.R I am dear Sir affectionately yours RICHARD HENRY LEE 749. NATHANIEL FOLSOM TO THE PRESIDENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE (MESHECH Weare).1 Dear Sir: YORK TOWN, November 21st, 1777. Inclosed I send you a Copy of the Confederation, the Eighth article of which respects Taxation, and has given me great uneasiness, as I cannot see any Justice in the Rule therein laid down, for proportioning the several States with the charges of the present war. In the first place, it appears to me that one third part of the wealth of the Southern States which consists in Negroes, is entirely left out, and no notice taken of them in determining their ability to pay taxes, notwithstanding it is by them that they procure their wealth; neither are we to have any advantage of them in proportioning the number of men to be drawn from the several States to carry on the war, that being fixed on the number of white inhabitants in each State, so that by their negroes being left at home, they can till their lands and get bread and riches, while some other States may be greatly distressed. In the next place, the wealth that is in some States more than there is in others, by no means fixes a proportionable Value on the Lands in such States,-which, if this be true, seems to prove that the plan laid down by Congress is not just: These are my own thoughts on this head; but refer you to your own better judgment on them. It seems to be the sense of Congress, that if any of the Articles of Confederation, should be thought hard of or unequal to any of the States, that they will make a representation of the same to Congress, with the reasons of their disapprobation to such articles, in order if possible to give satisfaction and ease to each and every of the States. The time fixed on for the several Legislatures, to determine on these great Points, is by some members thought too short; but I make no doubt but they will take as much time to deliberate thereon as may be thought just and necessary.3. . 7 This must refer to the committee appointed Nov. 22 on the letter of Nov. 21 from William Buchanan, commissary-general of purchases, which reported Nov. 24 There is further evidence in an omitted paragraph that the latter part of this letter was written as late as Nov. 22. A committee of five was appointed Nov. 24, to devise ways and means for supplying the army with provisions. 8 In a letter to Samuel Purviance, jr., Nov. 17, Lee says that he will be passing through Baltimore on his way to Virginia in eight or ten days (copy, from the original, in possession of the Carnegie Institution). It would appear, however, that he did not leave Congress until Dec. 6. See no. 768, post. [749]1 N. H. State Papers, VIII. 755. 2 Cf. nos. 712, 722, 723, 738-740, 746-748, ante, nos. 753, 754, 760, 765, 766, post 3 See the Journals, Nov. 17. Sir, 749A. THE COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE TO EDWARD HAND.1 YORK IN PENNSYLVANIA Novr. 21st 1777 You will receive this from the hands of Mr. James Willing who is charged with some P[ublic?] dispatches for New Orleans, and we are directed by the Honorable Congress of which we are members to require from you one of the Continental Boats properly manned, armed and provisioned to carry him from Fort Pitt to New Orleans and hereby request you will immediately comply with this order. The number of men, arms and quantity of Provisions is submitted to your discreation, but it is of great Importance that Mr. Willing get speedily down, and that he has truely faithful People with him, therefore we flatter ourselves no Time will be lost in doing what may be needful and are Sir Your obedt. hble Servts ROBT MORRIS The Honorable Gen Hand or in his absence to the Continental Officer commanding at Fort Pitt 2 66 [749A]1 Library of Congress, Continental Congress, Miscellaneous, Accession 2614. 2 This letter comes to light just as this material is going into page-proof. On the same day the committee wrote to Oliver Pollock in New Orleans: The present [letter] is dispatched by Capt. James Willing by the way of Fort Pitt and will serve to inform you that Congress have determined that part of the stores arrived or to arrive from Spain at New Orleans for the use of these States shall if possible be brought up the Mississippi and Ohio to Fort Pitt." The committee then sets forth its plans, which Pollock is asked to carry into effect. (Library of Congress, Papers Cont. Cong., no. 50, f. 40.) There is not in the Journals at this time the least intimation of the projected expedition to New Orleans to be conducted by Willing, although during the next four years various matters incidental to the expedition find record in the Journals. The first of these entries is under Jan. 31, 1778, when an account rendered by Willing is laid before Congress; the next is under Feb. 19, when a letter from General Hand was read, referring to Congress for determination a matter pertaining to the expedition. A letter of Feb. 21 from two members of the commercial committee, Francis Lewis and William Ellery, to Robert Morris refers incidentally to the proceedings upon Hand's letter: "Messrs. Forbes and Ellery who were the only members of the Commercial Committee then present, laid before Congress General Hand's Letter etc. respecting the Rattletrap. Some of the Members were dissatisfied with that undertaking and asked a Multitude of questions about it. The instructions given to Captain Willing were read, but still they wanted more light." (See the next volume of these Letters. The Rattletrap was the boat commanded by Willing.) The remarks here quoted suggest that the project was probably set on foot by the commercial committee on its own initiative and without the knowledge of Congress as a body. The instructions to Willing have not been found, but they may be gathered from the committee's letter to Pollock referred to above. Moreover, in a memorial which he presented to Congress Oct. 29, 1781, Willing gives his own account briefly of what his instructions were. He sets forth, "That a comee of Congress knowing your memorialist to be well acquainted with the local state and situation of the british settlements in that quarter employed him to proceed from York town to Fort Pitt there to equip and arm a batteau with twenty-four men the command of which was given to him with a captains commission and orders to proceed with dispatches to the Governor of New Orleans and to Mr. Oliver Pollock agent at that place on behalf of the United States. In order to receive and convoy from New Orleans up the Mississippi and Ohio to Fort Pitt certain stores which had been deposited for the use of the American army and Navy and also instructions to capture whatever british property he might meet with in the said rivers." 750. JAMES DUANE TO THE NEW YORK COUNCIL OF SAFETY." YORK TOWN Novr. 1777 Honourable Gentlemen Your Dispatches of the 22d of October were safely deliver'd by the Express. I thought it adviseable, Mr Duer being absent a few days for the Benefit of Health, to detain him till Congress shou'd have time to deliberate and determine upon the delicate and important Propositions you recommend to their Attention. They are now submitted to a Committee and you shall be acquainted with the Result." Every body here is sensibly touched at the melancholy catastophre which followd the Loss of the Passes in the high Lands. When so great a number of Troops were withdrawn I predicted the fatal Event. In calling away 1500 men Congress in my opinion went too far. I strenu ously remonstrated against it; but in Vain. The Hopes of being able to subdue General Howe by such a Reinforcement preponderated: no body: [nor] any member coud be Perswaded that it was in Sir Henry Clinton's power to give the State of New York the least disturbance. The Report; of his having receivd Reinforcements was not credited. The unhappy He relates further, "that altho a superior force of the enemy prevented his return up the rivers yet his operations in that quarter created a considerable diversion by drawing off a part of the enemys force from their main army and employing a number of armed vessels to protect the navigation of the Mississippi". Finally, he relates that he embarked from New Orleans for Philadelphia Nov. 15, 1778, with despatches from the governor to Congress but was taken and carried to New York," where he endured a long a cruel and expensive imprisonment". (Papers Cont. Cong., no. 42, VIII. 237.) Accounts of Willing's operations on the lower Mississippi indicate that the diversion which he created was chiefly an indulgence in plundering forays. See especially Claiborne, Mississippi, ch xv.; Gayarré, History of Louisiana, III. 109-114; and Winsor, Westward Movement, pp. 156-158. Some account of Willing's invasion is related in a letter of Gov. Pete Chester to Maj.-Gen. Augustine Prevost, Mar. 21, 1778, in British Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report on American Manuscripts in the Royal Institution, I. 213. (See also ibid., pp. 197, 236.) In the George Rogers Clark Papers (ed. J. A. James) are twe letters from Willing to Clark, writen from New Orleans Aug. 22 and Sept. 1, 1778 besides some other materials relating to the expedition. Some letters of Willing are in the Papers of the Continental Congress, and the correspondence of Oliver Pollock with the commercial committee in 1778 (ibid.) pertains in considerable measure to the Willing expedition. In a letter of Sept. 18, 1782, Pollock recounts in particular his own efforts in behalf of the project (Papers. Cont. Cong., no. 50, ff. 1-14). [750] N. Y. State Lib., Revolutionary Papers, X. 213; Harvard Univ. Lib., Sparks MSS., XXIX. 431 (copy); Jour. N. Y. Prov. Cong., II. 439. 2 The date given this letter in Jour. N. Y. Prov. Cong. is Nov. 3. It contains however a postscript dated Nov. 22. In a passage of this letter here omitted Duane says: "The confederation is completed and I expect will be forwarded by this conveyance, as it is in the press at Lancaster." According to Daniel Roberdeau, Nov. 16 (see no. 746, note 4, ante), the Confederation had not then been sent to Lancaster. Duane also speaks of a report prevailing that Fort Mifflin had already been evacuated. The Pennsylvania Evening Post of Nov. 17 carried an announcement of the evacuation on Saturday, Nov. 15. The absence of Duer, which Duane mentions, must have been from about Nov. 9 (see his letter of that date, no. 731, ante) to about Nov. 19, as his name does not appear in the Journals between those dates. 8 The council's letter of Oct. 22 is in Jour. N. Y. Prov. Cong., I. 1072, but its receipt by Congress is not recorded in the Journals. Forts Clinton and Montgomery were captured by Sir Henry Clinton, Oct. 6. Some account of the affair from the point of view of General Putnam, who was in command, may be found in his letters of Oct. 8 to Washington (Letters to Washington, I. 438, 441). See also his letters of Oct. 16 and 25 (ibid., II. 5, 15). An investigation was ordered by Congress Nov. 28. |