| PREVIOUS | NEXT | ITEM LIST | NEW SEARCH | BEST MATCH |
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Dear Brother Phila. May 6th 1777 I am much obliged to you for your Congratulations upon my Wife's Recovery. She is now restored to perfect Health. I wish our Friend Colo. Nelson was in a better Way than he is, for I really fear he will never again be able to attend to Business, the smallest Application affects his head. It will be Charity in the Assembly to send a Delegate immediately to releive him. Rest from Business may be of Service to him, whereas if he stays he must inevitably die.(1) We have no News from the Jersies. The Enemy lately made an Excursion into Conecticut & destroyed a considerable Magazine at Danbury; of which & the arrival of the Amphitrite, General Washington has given our Governour as particular an Account as any I can furnish. Send us Men, & all will go well. Colo. Nelson, who knows more of the making the Seal, than any other of the Delegates, promises to enquire about it. As soon as it can be finished it shall be sent.(2) I am so much hurried with Business, & fatigued with
writing a Number of other Letters that I must desire you to give my Love to my Sister, & conclude. I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate Brother,
Mann Page Junr.
Page 34
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
RC (NjMoHP).
1 Thomas Nelson's attendance in Congress in late April and early May 1777 cannot be ascertained precisely. Burnett credits him with attendance from April 30 to May 8, while a biographer recently suggested that Nelson arrived in Philadelphia around April 25 and eight days later suffered the stroke that hastened his return to Virginia. Burnett, Letters, 2:1xxii; and Emory G. Evans, Thomas Nelson of Yorktown (Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975), p. 64. Although Congress did not grant Nelson leave "for the recovery of his health" until May 8, it seems unlikely that he attended after his stroke, which probably had occurred before Page wrote this letter. JCC, 7:335. Furthermore, Nelson's entry under April 1777 in his account with Virginia included charges "to travelling to and from Phila" and "to attendance 8 days in Congress," suggesting that his services had been rendered primarily in April. Emmet Collection, NN.
At any rate Nelson was at his home in Hanover County, Va., on May 16 when he wrote to Speaker George Wythe requesting to be replaced in Congress. "A total inability to at[tend to business] having oblig'd me to quit the Congress, I beg leave, thro' you, to acquaint the Assembly with it, that they may appoint another Delegate; and I will take the liberty to advise, that this be immediately done because Congress are now engag'd in forming the Confederation, in which Virginia is deeply interested.
"Nothing but necessity could have induced me to leave Congress at this critical time, & I hope I shall stand excus'd." Executive Communications, Vi. On May 22 George Mason was selected to relieve Nelson, and when Mason declined to serve, Richard Henry Lee was elected on June 24 to fill the vacancy.
2 For details about making a seal for Virginia, see Thomas Jefferson to John Page, July 30, 1776.
Philip Schuyler's Memorial toCongress
To the honorable the Continental Congress
The Memorial of Major General Schuyler
Humbly sheweth Phila. May 6th. 1777 (1)
That sundry Resolutions passed in your honorable House on the 15th Ultimo [i.e. March], conveying a severe Censure on your Memorialist for a supposed Contempt of the House deeply affect his Feelings both as an officer and a Citizen.
Your Memorialist with great Submission begs Leave to observe that these Resolutions appear to him to have been founded on a Misapprehension of his Letter to Congress of the 4th February,(2) and this he hopes to evince to the Satisfaction of the House.
He trusts that a Candor, rendered necessary on the principle of Self Justification will not give offence, so long as he confines himself within the Bounds of that Decency and Respect which are due to the grand Council of the united States.
For the Sake of perspicuity he begs Leave to recite the passages of his Letter on which the Resolutions of Congress were founded.
Page 35
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
Portrait of
Philip Schuyler
Page 36
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
"As Dr. Stringer had my Recommendation to the office he has sustained, perhaps it was a Compliment due to me, that I should have been advised of the Reasons for his Dismission."
These Expressions gave Rise to the following Resolutions.
"In Congress March 15th.
"Resolved that as Congress proceeded to the Dismission of Dr Stringer upon Reasons satisfactory to themselves, General Schuyler ought to have known it to be his Duty to have acquiesced therein.
"Resolved, that the Suggestion in General Schuyler's Letter to Congress, that it was a Compliment due to him to have been advised of the Reasons of Dr. Stringer's Dismission is highly derogatory to the Honor of Congress, and that the president be desired to acquaint General Schuyler that it is expected his Letters for the Future be written in a Stile more suitable to the Dignity of the Representative Body of these free and independent States, and to his own Character as their officer."
The other passage of your Memorialist's Letter which has given offence is in these words: "I percieve by some of the Resolutions that my Letter of the 30th December continued to the first of January3 was received by Congress. I was in Hopes some Notice would have been taken of the odious Suspicion contained in Mr. Commissary Trumbull's intercepted Letter to the honorable W. Williams Esqr. I really feel myself chagrined on the Occasion. I am incapable of the Meaness he suspects me of, and I confidently expected Congress would have done me that Justice which it was in their power to give, and which I humbly conceive they ought to have done." (4)
Upon which Congress was pleased to resolve "That it is altogether improper and inconsistent with the Dignity of this Congress to interfere in Disputes subsisting among the officers of the army, which ought to be settled, unless they can be otherwise accommodated in a Court Martial agreeably to the Rules of the army, and that the Expressions in General Schuyler's Letter of the 4th of February, that he confidently expected Congress would have done him that Justice which it was in their power to give and which he humbly concieves they ought to have done, were, to say the least ill advised and highly indecent."
With Respect to the first Resolution your Memorialist begs Leave to observe, that the word acquiesce admits of a very extensive Construction and may either mean that your Memorialist ought to have obeyed your orders; that he ought to have been convinced of their Justice & propriety or that he was obliged to suppress his Sentiments concerning them.
If an obedience to your order was meant, your Memorialist assures this House that he caused the Letter from General Washington, covering the Dismission of Dr Stringer,(5)to be delivered to that Gentleman within half an Hour after its Receipt and that he prevailed on Dr
Page 37
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
Stringer to continue in the Care of the Sick, and of the Hospital Stores, till the Arrival of Dr. Potts, by whom he was superceded. If this latter part of your Memorialist's Conduct which was dictated by common Humanity and a Regard to public Economy be deemed a Disobedience, he must plead guilty.
If by the word acquiesce a Belief of the Justice and propriety of the Measure was meant, your Memorialist begs Leave to observe, that Congress having made Rules for the Government of the army and its Followers and appointed a Mode of Trial, a general opinion has prevailed therein that all persons who enter the Military Service have a Right to be tried by these Rules, and if guilty to be punished.
The following Resolution of Congress of the 29th November ordering an Enquiry to be made into the Conduct of persons in the Medical Department, and which your Memorialist begs Leave to quote seems to justify this opinion, "That the General or commanding officer in each of the Armies cause strict Enquiry to be made into the Conduct of the Directors of the Hospitals and their Surgeons, Officers & Servants, and of the Regimental Surgeons, that if there had been any just Ground of Complaint in those Departments the offenders may be punished."
Your Memorialist begs Leave to observe, that tho' this Resolution did not come to his Hands till the 12th January when he was on public Business at Fish Kill, the Dismission of Dr Stringer took place on the 9th of that Month, a Circumstance which superceded the Enquiry which your Memorialist was on the point of instituting.(6)
The power of Congress to dismiss their Servants, without a formal Enquiry, your Memorialist, for his own part, never questioned; but its policy as a general Rule he humbly begs leave to observe, may be subject at least to one strong objection, it may tend to prevent Men of worth and abilities from affording to the public that assistance which they are capable of giving, from the apprehension that the Suggestions & Clamors too often arising from a Jealousy of Office might expose them to the Disgrace & Injury of a Dismission, without being heard in their own Defence.
If an Idea was intended to be conveyed by the Word acquiesced, that your Memorialist ought to have suppressed his Sentiments concerning the Resolutions of Congress, he is apprehensive that a principle would be held up of so broad a nature, as might sometimes be injurious to the public Interest. Should the great confidential Servants of Congress be precluded from the Indulgence of expressing their opinions or Sentiments on such of the Resolutions of your House as appear to them to affect the public Interest or to wound their own Feelings, Congress would certainly be deprived of many useful Suggestions, and one important Channel of Information, frequently arising from actual Experience be entirely cut off.
Page 38
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
This Privilege your Memorialist from a Sense of Duty has exercised on several Occasions, in which Congress has not only acquiesced, but sometimes expressly approved of his Sentiments even when they did not coincide with their own Resolutions.
Among several Instances your Memorialist begs Leave to remind Congress of the Resolution of the 1st of July 1775 ordering him not to remove any of the Troops under his Command from New York.
That of the 8th January 1776 directing Shipwrights to be sent from New York and Philadelphia to build Batteaus at Fort George.
That of the 14th October last, withdrawing the Allowance of one and one third Dollar, as a Compensation to recruiting officers for inlisting Soldiers .
That for ordering Batteaumen to be raised in New York and several more, which your Memorialist humbly conceives were repealed or altered in Consequence of the Information he gave, and the Execution of others not insisted on, when your Memorialist pointed out the Objections to which they were liable.
It is true that when the Servants of the public give their Opinion of the Measures of Congress, Decency as well as Candor should be observed, and your Memorialist flatters himself that when his Motives for using the Expressions which have incurred Displeasure are duly compared and weighed, it will appear that he has not deviated from that Line. This, at least, he can conscientiously affirm that he hath in no Instance done it intentionally, Nothing having been more distant from his Thoughts, however they may be expressed, than to offend, or reflect upon, Congress.
Your Memorialist took it for granted that Congress was acquainted, that he had in a Manner forced Dr Stringer into the Service, that in August 1775 when Sickness was spreading through the Army under his Command at Tyonderoga with great Rapidity and they were not only destitute of competent medical assistance, but even of Medicine, the repeated Solicitations of your Memorialist, supported by the promisses of the late Mr. Lynch a Member of your honorable House (who was then at Albany) prevailed on Dr. Stringer to exchange an extensive and established practice for your Service, and to appropriate a large Stock of his own Medicines to the public use.
Your Memorialist begs Leave to observe that Dr Stringer, since his Dismission, without an Enquiry into his Conduct, imputes the Loss of a profitable Business, as well as that of his Medicines which cannot now be replaced, to your Memorialist, who, for that Reason, could not but be anxious to have it in his power to assign the Motives of Congress for taking that Measure.
When these Circumstances are attended to, and when it is considered that your Memorialist expressed his Wish of being informed of the Reasons for dismissing Dr Stringer, not as a Right, but merely as a
Page 39
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
Matter of Compliment, and not from Impatience or Curiosity, but with a View to obviate that Gentleman's Complaints, he flatters himself that the Expressions on which the first and second Resolutions were founded will not appear in that unfavorable point of Light, in which they have hitherto been considered. Conscious he is (and he must again repeat) that he did not mean to wound the Dignity of Congress, or to dispute their authority.
Your Memorialist begs Leave to tresspass on the patience of the House, whilst he proceeds to the third Resolution which is founded, as he hopes to evince, on Missapprehension.(7)
The Commissary General in a Letter to a Member of Congress, which was accidentally made public, had accused your Memorialist with detaining the Commission of Deputy Adjutant General of the Northern Department which had been directed to be made out for Colo. John Trumbull, the Commissary's Brother. An Imputation so injurious to the Honor of your Memorialist could not be passed over in Silence: to vindicate himself became a Duty, and the only Means by which it could be effected w-ere in the power of Congress because their honorable president must have known, and from his Candor & Regard for Justice, been ready to declare, that the Commission had not at the Time of writing that Letter been transmitted.
Your Memorialist entertained not the most distant Wish that Congress should interfere in the Dispute between him and Commissary Trumbull, though the third Resolution is founded on such a Supposition. He applied only for their Testimony of the Fact, whether the Commission had been transmitted to him or not: and very far was he from apprehending that this could have given Offence or Displeasure, even now he cannot but flatter himself, that upon a Revision it will not appear to have been a presumptuous or unreasonable Request.
Without this Evidence how would it have been possible to convince the World that the Suspicion was ill founded, or to have brought Colonel Trumbull to a Court Martial for slandering his superior Officer? Had this Mode been deemed by your Memorialist consistent with the public Good.
Candor however obliges your Memorialist to confess, that, ignorant as he was of the Sense of Congress in this point, he should not have thought it a Transgression of the Bounds of his Duty, if he had directly applied to them as a mediating power. May he be permitted to refer it to their Consideration whether the Exclusion of an appeal to Congress in Disputes between the great officers of the army, might not, in many Instances, be attended with unhappy Effects ?
What, he begs Leave to ask, must have been the Consequence, had your Memorialist immediately arrested Major General Gates when, on the Retreat of the Army from Canada, he disputed his Command?
Might it not have been greatly detrimental to the Service, especially
Page 40
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
as your Memorialist was under the Necessity at that Time to quit the army and to attend an Indian Treaty at the German Flatts? Would that Harmony have subsisted which was so necessary to the Good of the Service, which your honorable House so warmly recommended: and which your Memorialist trusts he can convince the whole World he has strenuously labored to cultivate?
In That Dispute, from a pure Zeal to the public Cause, your Memorialist waved the Rights of a superior Officer and appealed to Congress. They thought proper to take the Matter into Consideration, and passed the following Resolution.
"In Congress July 8th. 1776.
"Resolved, that General Gates be informed that it was the Intention of Congress to give him the Command of the Troops whilst in Canada: but had no Design to vest him with a superior Command to General Schuyler whilst the Troops should be on this Side Canada and that the president write to General Schuyler and General Gates stating this Matter and recommending to them to carry on the Military operations with Harmony & in such a Manner as shall best promote the public Service." They further directed their president to express their approbation of the Measures your Memorialist had taken on this Occasion.(8)
In the Case of Colonel Trumbull, if it be considered, that he was then Commissary General of all our Forces, that he accompanied the main Body of the Army under his Excellency General Washington, and that your Mernorialist commanded in the Northern Department, might not great prejudices have accrued to the public Service if your Memorialist, as he had a Right to do, had arrested the Commissary General? Either the one or the other must at a very critical period have left his Station to attend the Enquiry and your Memorialist fears that if any Misfortune had followed such a Step, though he might have stood justified in the opinion of Congress, the world would have laid all the Blame upon him and he should have been censured for precipitation, Intemperance & Disregard to the public Good.
Your Memorialist, with Gratitude, begs Leave to remind Congress, that he has on many Occasions received their Thanks for the Zeal and unremitted Attention which he has shewn in the Service of his Country. He hopes he has studied to deserve them. His Feelings are deeply wounded whenever he reflects that on the Same Journals he is recorded as an intemperate person, who acted in Contempt of that Body whose Dignity he has endeavored to maintain with his Life and Fortune; he therefore hopes that the Honorable Congress will reconsider the Resolutions of the 15th of March and that they will adopt such Measures in Consequence as to their Justice and Wisdom shall appear meet and expedient,(9) and Your Memorialist Shall Ever Pray &c(.l0)
Ph. Schuyler
Page 41
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
MS (DNA: PCC, item 41). In the hand of John Lansing, Jr., and signed by Schuyler. Lansing was Schuyler's military secretary.
1 General Schuyler prepared this memorial as part of his campaign to vindicate himself against what he regarded as unjust treatment by Congress. On March 15 Congress had reprimanded him for a sharply critical letter he had written to President Hancock on February 4, and on March 25 it had made Horatio Gates commander of the army at Ticonderoga, thereby removing the largest military force in the northern department from Schuyler's control. Yet these actions were also the result of long-standing dissatisfaction with Schuyler among several delegates-particularly the New Englanders-who were discontented with his military leadership and inability to get along with New England troops, resented the hectoring tone of some of his letters to Congress, and believed rumors that he corruptly mishandled public funds. Thus several factors had conspired to lower Schuyler's prestige and lead many delegates to want General Gates appointed commander of the northern department.
In order to answer his critics and regain control over the northern department, Schuyler, who was technically still a New York delegate, returned to Congress early in April, resolved either to win vindication or resign from the army. The immediate result of this move was a striking series of short-term successes for the much harried general. Ably supported by his fellow New York delegates Schuyler secured the appointment on April 18 of a committee to examine his "conduct . . . since he has held a command in the army of the United States." Next, he submitted his accounts to the Board of Treasury, which on May 3 cleared him of the charge of financial irregularities. And after he presented the memorial printed here, Congress expressed satisfaction with his explanation of his offending letter to President Hancock. Finally, on May 22 Congress granted Schuyler' main wish by confirming his command over the northern department, stipulating that it included "Albany, Ticonderoga, Fort Stanwix and their dependencies," thus making Gates his subordinate. Yet these resolves did not signify that Schuyler had won Congress' unreserved confidence. Those of the 22d passed by only a narrow margin-six states to three, with two divided and two absent, according to William Duer; five states to four, with two divided, according to James Lovell. It was not surprising, therefore, that after the fall of Ticonderoga in July, Schuyler's congressional support evaporated and Gates was made commander of the northern department on August 4, 1777.
For information on congressional dissatisfaction with Schuyler before April 1777, see Edward Rutledge to Robert R. Livingston, September 23, 1776; John Hancock to Schuyler, March 18 (not in printed text), and to Gates, March 25, 1777; Benson J. Lossing, The Life and Times of Philip Schuyler, 2 vols. (1873; reprint ed., New York: Da Capo Press, 1973), 2:153-82; and Jonathan G. Rossie, The Politics of Command in the American Reuolution (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1975), pp. 107-53. Schuyler's mission to Philadelphia may be followed in JCC, 7:279, 326 27, 333-34, 336, 364, 371, 8:375; Schuyler to Richard Varick, April 16, 26, and to George Washington, May 18; James Lovell to Horatio Gates, May 1, 22, and to Oliver Wolcott, June 7;
Page
New York Delegates to the New York Convention, May 9
Link to date-related documents.
; and William Duer to Robert R. Livingston, May 28, 1777. John Lansing, Jr., to Richard Varick, April 26, 1777, NNPM, indicates that Schuyler composed his memorial with the help of James Duane, William Duer, Philip Livingston, and Lansing himself. That Schuyler began work on this document in April is also indicated by the reference in the very first paragraph to a March 15 resolve as one of the "15th Ultimo."
For General Gates' dramatic reaction to Congress' May 22 resolves on the northern department, see Horatio Gates' Notes for a Speech in Congress, June 18, 1777.
Page 42
MAY 6, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
Schuyler actually presented this memorial to Congress under cover of the following brief May 7 letter to President Hancock:
"I have done Myself the Honor to address the Honorable Continental Congress in a Memorial on the Subject Matter of their Resolutions of the 15th March last & have taken the Liberty to inclose it.
"Permit me to intreat you to lay It before the House." Schuyler Papers, NN.
2 This letter is in PCC, item 153, 3: 9-14.
3 For this letter, see ibid., 2:513-19.
4 Commissary General Joseph Trumbull's intercepted letter to Connecticut delegate William Williams of November 18, 1776, is in Am. Archives, 5th ser. 3: 1497-98.
5 See Washington, Writings (Fitzpatrick), 7:28.
6 Shortly before meeting with the New York Convention at Fishkill, Schuyler had a highly revealing conversation with New York loyalist William Smith, which the latter recorded in his diary:
"General Schuyler ... declares agt. the Disunion of the Empire, and speaks in Despair of the Abilities of the Colonies and with Disgust at the Conduct of their Leaders....
"Unless Clothing & Covering can be found soon the Indian Interest will be lost. He has Nothing to give them-they are strongly solicited by the British Generals-Mr. Howe got two Men to them thro' Jersey to Susquehanna very lately-The Oneydas he says are as yet staunch. Mr. Howe desires them to take up the Hatchet.
"He has no Opinion of the New England People. He can get no Cannon from thence to supply the Loss of the Naval Victory & the Flight from Canada. He thinks the Miseries of the Country convert the Multitude daily, and he wishes Negotiations were opened for Peace.
"I informed him of all that passed with Ld. Drummond of which he had heard Nothing and seemed to be greatly surprised & declared that he would promote at Fishkill some Application in the Continental Congress for a Treaty of Reconciliation." William Smith, Historical Memoirs from 12 July 1776 to 25 July 1778 of William Smith . . ., ed. William H.W. Sabine, (New York: Colburn & Tegg, 1958), pp. 62-63. There is no evidence that Schuyler subsequently urged the New York Convention to support reconciliation with Great Britain, and it is only fair to point out that after his vindication by Congress his martial spirit rose, for on June 3 he met again with Smith, who regretfully confided to his diary that now the general "Talks with great Confidence in the Success of the American Opposition." Ibid., p. 150. Nevertheless, the pessimistic views that Schuyler expressed to Smith in January 1777 help to indicate why so many delegates were dissatisfied with his performance in the northern department. For an explanation of Smith's reference to "Ld. Drummond," see Lord Drumond's Notes, January 3-9, 1776.
7 That is, Congress' March 15 resolution against interfering in disputes between military officers.
8 See also John Hancock to Gates and to Schuyler, July 8, 1776.
9 Remainder of MS written by Schuyler.
10 On May 6 Schuyler, commander of Continental troops at Philadelphia, also wrote a letter to the Board of War in which he recommended that the Philadelphia "City Guards" continue to be "employed in Continental Duty, such as guarding ships, Batteaus, Hospitals, Goals, artillery &c," and accordingly that they be permitted to continue "to draw Provisions as usual." Schuyler Papers, NN.
Page 43
MAY 7, 1777
Link to date-related documents.
PREVIOUS SECTION .. NEXT SECTION .. NAVIGATOR
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | ITEM LIST | NEW SEARCH | BEST MATCH |