To George Washington from Philip Schuyler, 19 March 1780
From Philip Schuyler
Philadelphia March 19th 1780
Dear Sir
Since my last nothing new has been received from the South ward, the report which I mentioned to have prevailed of serious Indications on the part of the british to attempt the reduction of Charlestown begins to lose Credit with many.1 I however cannot believe that so Capital a force would have been Sent to That Quarter merely to hold their Ground In Georgia.
Advices tho not Official have been received two days ago via Holland that Mr John Temple was to repair to these states Charged with propositions to Congress from the Court of London, The Substance of which, and An Acknowledgment of our Independance, provided they retain Canada In All Its Extent That we Ceed South Carolina Georgia and what they Call the province of main now part of the Massachusetts State, and that they Also retain Acadia with Its dependencies2—to leave us at Liberty to fulfil our Engagements with france but to Observe a perfect neutrality with respect to them & Spain.3
The report on Finance is agreed to without any Material Alteration from what I think I Stated in a former letter.4
The Committee appointed to Arrange the Civil departments in Conjunction with Messrs Mifflin & Pickering have not Yet reported, as I refused to Attend I can only Judge of what It will be from the Ideas which Some of the Gentlemen have Communicated on the Subject, & which are not Consonant to mine.5
My best respects Attend Mrs Washington be pleased to Convey them with my Compliments to the Gentlemen of the Family. I am Dear Sir Most Affectionately and truly Your Excellencys most Obedt Humble Servant
Ph: Schuyler
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. See Schuyler to GW, 12 March, and n.7.
2. Acadia was the name given to a land area, never fully defined, largely located in southeastern Canada. At its greatest extent, Acadia included the present-day provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and stretched into northern New England. England and France disputed control of the region from the early seventeenth century, and the English ousted some 4,000 French-speaking Catholic residents at the close of the French and Indian War. A significant number of these forced migrants settled in Louisiana.
3. Schuyler’s intelligence concerning John Temple and peace proposals, which proved erroneous, paralleled information found in the letters from James Lovell to Samuel Adams and from Nathaniel Peabody to Meshech Weare, both 17 March, in , 14:514–16; see also Thomas McKean to Richard Henry Lee, 25 March, in , 14:545–46. For Temple’s earlier clandestine diplomatic activities, see Adams to James Bowdoin, 3 Sept. and 19 Dec. 1778, in , 10:553–55, 11:357–59; see also Bowdoin to GW, 7 Nov. 1778; John Sullivan to GW, 12 Nov. 1778; and GW to Henry Laurens, 23 Nov. 1778.
4. See Schuyler to GW, 12 March 1780, and notes 3 and 4 to that document.
5. For this controversial congressional committee, see Samuel Huntington to GW, 25 Jan., and notes 1 and 2 to that document, and Schuyler to GW, 7 March, and n.2 to that document. The committee’s proposals greatly interested Q.M. Gen. Nathanael Greene, who wrote GW about the suggested reforms on 22, 28, and 31 March, and 3 April.