From John Jay to Gouverneur Morris, 13 September 1778
To Gouverneur Morris
Fish Kill 13th. September 1778.
Dear Morris,
My last to you was from the White Plains and was dated the 29th. August. I know not who was the bearer, and consequently cannot conjecture whether you have received it. It was in answer to yours of the 16th. of the same month. Inform me from time to time of the dates of such of my letters as you receive, I shall do the like.
The resolution of Congress on the report of inquiry respecting the loss of Fort Montgomery &c. has not many advocates in this State.1 Admitting the propriety of the matter of it in general, yet many think that an acquittal of Genl Putnam and of Govr Clinton ought not to have been blended together, or expressed in the same words. The Governor thinks that all doubts respecting the propriety of his conduct are not removed—he is hurt— For my own part I think he deserved more than the resolution gives him. He talks of writing to Congress on the subject.
Gates and Wilkinson have had a duel, in which no blood was shed, although I am told the honour of the former has received a bad wound.2 I fancy some folks sing te deum on this occasion. I will give you the particulars of this affair, but as to morrow’s newspaper will do it, I forbear blotting paper with it.3
Ethan Allen has commenced author and Orator. A Philippic of his against New York is handed about. There is Quaintness, impudence, and art in it.4
By the time the Confederation is settled, Vermont will have gained strength, and, until that Period arrives, I suspect Congress will avoid interposing, unless some collateral circumstance should occur to constrain them.
I am told you are no longer a representative of WChester in assembly, and am at a loss in what class to rank your opponents.— They paid you a compliment on which I congratulate you. They said you had so much sense as to be able to do great mischief and therefore ought not to be trusted.— I imagine lack-learning Parliaments will become fashionable, to some people I am sure they would be agreable. Laugh at this and at the same time remember nullum numen abest &c.5 Adieu I am and will be very much Yours &c.
John Jay
Tr, MH: Sparks (EJ: 5355). Addressed: “The Hon’ble / Gouverneur Morris Esqr. / A Delegate from New York / Congress / Philadelphia.”
1. On 17 Aug. 1778, after Congress had received the report of a court of inquiry on the loss of Forts Montgomery and Clinton (6 Oct. 1777), it merely stated that “it appears that those posts were lost, not from any fault, misconduct, or negligence, of the commanding officers [Israel Putnam and George Clinton], but solely through the want of an adequate force under their command to maintain and defend them.” , 11: 803–4.
2. James Wilkinson (1757–1825), General Gates’s adjutant in 1777, was responsible for leaking Thomas Conway’s remark (October 1777) that “Heaven has been determind to save your Country; or a weak General and bad Councellors would have ruined it.” Washington received word of Conway’s “attack” 8 Nov. 1777. The criticism, and the knowledge that Conway and Gates were corresponding, indicated to the commander in chief that a cabal was forming to replace him as head of the army. Wilkinson’s indiscretion led to a duel with Gates on 4 Sept. 1778. Wilkinson missed, Gates did not fire, and honor was satisfied. Samuel W. Patterson, Horatio Gates (New York, 1941), 281; , 10: 29. See also Robert Troup to JJ, 23 Nov., and Edward Rutledge to JJ, 25 Dec. 1778, below.
3. Having heard about the duel from Holt, the official printer, JJ expected the news to appear the following day. Instead, there was an announcement that due to illness within the family, Holt would not have any domestic news that week. The New York Journal of 21 Sept. 1778 did carry a statement describing the duel, dated White Plains, 8 Sept. 1778, by the Englishman John Carter (John Barker Church; d. 1818), Philip Schuyler’s son-in-law, who was Wilkinson’s second at the duel. New-York Journal and the General Advertiser, 14 and 21 Sept. 1778.
4. Allen published his “An Animadversory Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont . . .,” dated 9 Aug. 1778, at Bennington. , no. 15719.
5. Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia: If prudence be present, no divine power is absent. A widely quoted and variously translated line from Juvenal, Satires 10.365 and 14.315–16, that appeared at the beginning of Joseph Addison’s essay on discretion in the Spectator (no. 225) of 11 Nov. 1711, translated there as “Prudence supplies the want of every good.” JJ also quoted this expression in his letter to Robert Troup of 8 Dec. 1778, drafted at the foot of Troup to JJ, 23 Nov. 1778, below.