You will pardon me, Sir, for intimating that from a want of proper acknowledgements, Congress are kept uninformed of the safety of the several Acts transmitted to Virginia. timely notice of the receipt of such letters as Your Excellency may receive from me will be a means of detecting miscarriage if any shall happen and enable me in case of need to supply deficiencies in the Course of my duty. Your Excellency will receive in company with this an Act of Congress of the 23rd for detecting disaffection and defeating conspiracies and Insurrections in the State of Delaware and part of Maryland.2 Also twelve copies of a speech said to be Lord North's in the British House of Commons, draughts of Bills referred to by His Lordship and an Act of Congress of the 22nd Inst. printing the supposed Speech and Draughts to which they have to refer." Sir 215. JOHN HENRY, JR., TO THE GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND YORK TOWN Ap'l 24th, 1778 You will receive by an Express which left this place to Day Lord North Speech, the two Bills which occasioned it and the Strictures of Congress upon them. They were drawn up in haste, but I trust they will be sufficient to shew the wickedness of the Ministry." Dear Sir, 216. HENRY LAURENS TO JOHN PENN.1 24th April Inclosed with this you will receive three Copies of an Act of Congress of the 22d Inst. founded on the appearance of preceeding Acts said to be Lord Norths speech and draughts of Bills referred to. Supposing these to be Sibyl's Letters, our Act I trust will do no harm. The States will learn the temper of their Delegates and I hope be animated to the utmost exertions for reinforcing the Army. the general opinion is in favor of the genuineness of the Speech etc. 217. THE PREsident of ConGRESS (HENRY Laurens) 24th April. [1778.] Sir Your favor of the 17th with the papers referred to I had the Honor of receiving and presenting in due course to Congress. a special Committee 2 Cf. nos. 210, ante, 217, post. 3 Cf. no. 213, ante, 215, 216, post. [215] Md. Hist. Soc., Red Book, X. 79; Arch of Md., XXI. 58. 2 See nos. 213, 214, ante, 216, 219, 221, 253, post. [216]1 S. C. Hist. Soc., Laurens Letter-Book, Mar.-Sept., 1778, p. 56. 2 That is, the bills were something of an enigma and capable of at least a two-fold interpretation. The doubt as to their real character and purpose is shown by the action taken by Congress Apr. 22. Cf. nos. 202, note 5, 213, 215, ante, 220, 221, post. [217] Library of Congress, President's Letter-Book, I. 273. of Mr. Duer Mr. Chase and Mr. Carrol are appointed by Congress in order to confer with the Governments of Maryland Virginia and if needful Delaware on proper measures for suppressing the threatned Evils intimated in your late dispatches. from these Gentlemen you will receive the necessary information I have only at present to Inclose an Act of Congress of the 23d Inst. reviving late powers vested in Genl. Washington and extending the term to the 10th August next.2 My Dear 218. OLIVER WOLCOTT TO MRS. WOLCOTT.1 YORK TOWN, 25th April, 1778. P. S. It is in Contemplation to sink 20,000,000 Dollars in a Loan and pay the annual Interest in Bills on France-This measure may be adopted and if so I think that it will by calling in and burning so large a Quantity give Credit to the whole, and perhaps particularly raise the first Emissions which are proposed to be sunk in that manner-As the Payment of the Interest in Bills will while the Interest shall continue have the same effect to the Lender as tho the Principal was in Specie. This may therefore induce such People as have the first Emissions not to part with them, or rather induce such as Wish to be Lenders to procure such BillsAs every one well knows that a Certificate whenever it may be necessary to turn it into Money may easily be done.2. . . . Sir 219. WILLIAM ELLERY TO THE GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND 2 (NICHOLAS COoke).1 YORK TOWN, April 25th, 1778 Mr. Collins arrived here last Saturday with emaciated horses after having passed through a very deep and difficult road. Your Letter to the President of Congress and the state accounts are referred to the treasury board who will soon report thereon to Congress. We should urge this matter on; but it would be impossible for Mr Collins to proceed with his horses without being recruited, and the longer he stays here the more money he will probably receive. I could wish that the Assembly in their Letters had mentioned what part of the ballance it would have suited them to receive, in Loan-Office 2 See the Journals, Apr. 20, 23. Laurens falls into a slight error in naming the members of the special committee. They were Carroll, Duer, and Banister. Duer, Chase, and Carroll were the committee to whom Smallwood's letter was referred Apr. 20. See also nos. 207, 208, 210, ante, and nos. 220, 230, post. This letter was addressed to General Smallwood at Wilmington. [218] Conn. Hist. Soc., Oliver Wolcott Papers, vol. II., no. 52. 2 See the Journals, Apr. 8. Cf. nos. 234, 243, post. [219]1 R. I. Arch., Letters to the Governor, 1778, p. 72; Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong., p. 169. ? John Collins had been appointed by the assembly to wait upon Congress with the state's accounts against the continent, and empowered to adjust and liquidate them. See R. I. State Recs., VIII. 378, and Governor Cooke to Ellery Apr. 3, in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong., p. 167. Cf. no. 251, post. Collins was chosen in May a delegate to Congress and took his seat June 20. certificates. However I shall do what I think will be agreeable to my constituents. The confederation is not yet taken up; if it should be before I return I will pay a religious regard to your instructions.3 Mr. Collins informs me that the Delegates which will be chosen at the ensuing election will not set out until some time in June. I should be loth to leave congress, the state unrepresented, but my health, and the unhappy situation of my family require that I should be at home as soon as possible, wherefore let me intreat you to send forward two of the delegates at least immediately after the choice. This will be accompanied by a late Speech of Lord North, the Draught of two bills, and the remarks of Congress on the latter. The design of this ministerial manœuvre is obvious. We have nothing new. [P. S.] Since I wrote the foregoing I have seen a printed hand bill of the two Drafts contained in the news papers with a certificate of Govr. Genl. Tryon. A copy of said certificate I now inclose.* 220. THOMAS BURKE TO THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA (RICHARD CASWELL).1 D'r Sir YORK April 25th. 1778 Mr. Harnett will inform you of every thing which I can write about at present. I shall therefore refer you to him, and spare you the trouble of reading. The inclosed paper will shew you the present temper of our Enemies, and the disposition of Congress. I will make on it no other comment than to observe that nothing is necessary to insure our Success but vigorous Efforts. This opinion which I have so often declared, is every day more and more Justified, and I hope will be finally Sanctified by the happy Event of our struggles. I hope before this the Assembly have made a new choice of Delegates, and have supplied my place with a more able Citizen. I shall set off on the fourth of May, and leave what public papers are in my Hands directed for the Succeeding Delegates. Altho I shall remain here until that day, yet I do not find myself entirely clear on the propriety of Voting in Congress after the 28th Instant. I am told by Mr. Harnett that on that day in 3 The resolves of the assembly and the instructions to the delegates respecting the Confederation are in Staples, R. I. in Cont. Cong., pp. 133-135, and R. I. State Recs., VIII, 364-367. See no. 292, post. 4 See no. 202, note 5, ante. In a letter of this day to William Vernon, member of the navy board of the Eastern department. Ellery says: "Inclosed is the last York paper which contains weighty manoeuvres. It ought to be immediately reprinted in Providence. You will therefore deliver it to the Printer so soon as you shall have read it.” Papers of William Vernon and the Navy Board (R. I. Hist. Soc., Publications, VIII., no. 4), p. 41. [220] Copied from the original, then in possession of Mr. Stan. V. Henkels of Philadelphia; Harvard Univ. Lib., Sparks MSS., XXXVI. 483; N. C. State Recs., XIII. 102. 2 Presumably a copy of the Pennsylvania Gazette, Apr. 24, containing Lord North's conciliatory propositions, etc., and the resolutions of Congress Apr. 22. See no. 202, note 5, ante. Cf. no. 221, post. last year the Election of Delegates was made, and on the preceeding day in this year must in that case the term of my Service end. The Commission under your hand being dated the 20th [4th] of May, and having in some former Letters promised to remain here until then to Execute any Command of the State, I will keep my promise, tho I assure you Sir every hour is, and will be a very heavy one to me until I can return to the Station of a Private Citizen, Secure under the Protection of the Laws and constitution of my Country. every day Sir convinces me more, and more, that such a Station is the only happy one, and nothing but my deference to the opinion of my Country, and my wishes to serve the Cause of freedom should ever have drawn me from it or will withold me now from it. Happy is it for those Countries who are at a distance from the War. they are Secured from the Depradations of the Enemy, and their civil rights from most violent Infractions. The Rights of private Citizens and even of our Sovereign Communities are at present so little regarded in Congress that any humor will determine a Majority to Violate both, and it is hardly safe to oppose it. every argument against the unlimitted power of Congress to judge of Necessity, and under that Idea to Interpose with Military force is heard with great Reluctance, hardly with patience and the Internal police, and Sovereignty of States are Treated as chimerical phantoms. One instance I will give you. General Smallwood was ordered by Congress to apprehend two men in the Delaware State, under a Suggestion that they were Inimical, and that the State was unable to exercise any act of Government, the Assembly was then sitting, he did apprehend them, They applied for a habeas Corpus, the chief Justice granted it, the Officer refused to obey and applied to Congress for advice. The Congress approved the Officers conduct and was with difficulty prevented from ordering him in Express Terms to proceed in direct opposition to the habeas corpus, and they forbore this only under an Idea that, approbation of his former conduct would determine him to proceed. I need not tell you I opposed these things, you know my pertinaceous attachment to Civil Rights, and my immoveable determination to oppose every thing that may give Color to an arbitrary exercise of power under an idea of Right. I shall probably give you another Instance before long wherein our State and myself are concerned. I have upon a late occasion Insisted so far on the Sovereignty of the State, and my being amenable to no other Jurisdiction, that I have given very great offence to Congress. an accident involved me in the dispute, and so far as it regarded me personally I should have waived all opposition but I delivered occasionally in Debate my political opinions of the power of Congress and the Sovereign and Exclusive authority of the States over 3 See the Journals, Apr. 28, and no. 226, post; also note 5, below. * See the Journals, Mar. 23, 26, Apr. 10, 13, 15, 20, 23, May 21, and nos. 176, 207, 208, 210, 217, ante, 230, post. Some of the more conspicuous instances of conflict between state and continental authorities are the case of Colonel Carrington (Virginia; see the Journals, Aug. 19, 1777, May 23, 1778), the Pennsylvania case (Journals, Mar. 20, 1778), the case of General Stark (New Hampshire; Journals, Aug. 19, 1777), the Delaware case referred to by Burke (Journals, Apr. 15), and the case of Count Pulaski (Pennsylvania; Journals, Oct. 2). See also no. 315, post. their Delegates, these opinions were not relished and I was required to make some appoligy, I very frequently appoligized for the Terms and manner in which they were conveyed, tho I could not perceive any thing offensive in them, but I persisted in the opinions and declared I could not give them up without an outrage to my honor in telling a falshood, and what I deemed a Treason to the State I represented in giving up her Sovereignty. Nothing however would do but retracting the Opinions, and it was in vain to require this of a man who would die in Support of them." I shall trouble you no more at present on the Subject, but at some future time will give it to you with all its circumstances. My Country will I suppose one day Judge of it, but I shall not desire it during the present struggle. I should be very sorry that any thing would interrupt the public harmony which is so necessary to our Success, a time of peace and Tranquility will better suit the Investigation of Civil Rights and relations. I wish you Sir all Imaginable Happiness and am with the greatest Sincerity Your most obedient Servt. Dear Sir, THOS. BURKE." 1 221. JOHN MATHEWS TO THOMAS BEE.1 I Arrived here the 21st Inst. after a most disagreeable Journey indeed. I inclose you a paper (which if you have not seen) will amuse you, and I imagine some parts, will not a little surprise you.2 Compare the speech of the Minister with the last speech from the Throne. Lee is exchanged. Tryon was impudent enough, a few days agoe to write to Washington inclosing several of the Acts, desired him to disperce them thro' his camp.3 When the Acts were posted up in Philadelphia the officers tore them down 5 See the Journals, Apr. 10, 11, 24, 25, 28, and nos. 225, 226, 233, 235, 236, post. Cf. nos. 195, note 4, 196, note 5, ante. A copy of the "Evidence and Examination of Witnesses relative to Mr. Burke April 24, 1778" (printed in the Library of Congress edition of the Journals, vol. X., pp. 386-389) is in the S. C. Hist. Soc., Laurens Papers, Congressional, 1777-1778, no. 1. Appended to this copy is the following statement by Charles Thomson: 66 Those parts marked in the margin thus [ are entered on the Journal. The rest is a Copy of the Evidence taken and what passed subsequent which were minuted, at the time, but not entered on the Journal" [Signed] Chas. Thomson, Secy "The letter from Mr. Burke, he desired me to mention to you was only for your own private information. I hope before he left Congress the whole was erased from the Journal." Cornelius Harnett to Governor Caswell, May 25, 1778, N. C. State Recs., XIII. 136. [221] Charleston Lib. Soc., Miscellaneous Letters, p. 97. Addressed, "The Honorable Thomas Bee Esqr., in Charles Town, South Carolina". 2 See no. 220, note 2, ante. 3 Tryon's letter to Washington Apr. 17 is in Washington's Writings (ed. Ford), VI. 492 n. It was enclosed in Washington's letter to Congress Apr. 23 (ibid., VI. 492, ed. Sparks, V. 336), read in Congress Apr. 25. Washington replied to Tryon Apr. 26, assuring him that the bills should have an "unrestrained circulation", and requesting, in turn, that Tryon be instrumental in communicating "to the persons who are the objects of its operation" the resolve of Congress of Apr. 23 (ibid., V. 343). See also Washington to Governor Livingston Apr. 26 (ibid., V. 341). Cf. no. 223, post. |
