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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Dear Sir, Princeton 30th July 1783
After visiting my parents & friends in Morris County, in which I spent two days, & in Philadelphia in Company with Mr. Ellery & Dr. Arnold in which I spent from Friday till the next Tuesday, there being no House in the mean time, I took my Seat in Congress on Wednesday the 23d Instant.(1)
I found my Father in good health & strength for his age, being in the 75th year thereof. My oldest Brother has suceeded in a Lawsuit, in which he has been involved some years, in regard to the Title of Land adjoining him of much value; he will now have a farm of about 400 acres of good land all lying contiguous.
My friends in Philadelphia received me with joy; some have fallen away, & I fear "it is impossible to renew them again to repentance."(2) Messieurs Hewes & Anthony & others enquired affectionately of the welfare of their friends in Providence. Some of Mr. Morris's notes, & some Connecticutt money have been lately counterfeited in New York. A Letter has lately been received & read in Congress giving an account of the detection of this forgery & containing sundry depositions relative thereto & the confessions of one of the culprits. These papers are referred to committee.(3) This proceeding of the commander at New York is well spoken of here; as it is a most explicit & practical acknowledgement of our national character.
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The State of Maryland has appropriated part of their quota on the requisition of Congress for the year 1782 to the payment of part of the arrears due to their troops. This was done without any previous application to Congress to approbate the measure. Massachusetts delegates have applied for permission to do the same; but in vain.(4) This conduct of Maryland is severely reprehended by the advocates for Continental measures; & having been done after they had solemnly, by a resolve of their own Legislature appropriated it to the U. States & without any previous notice given either to Congress or Mr. Morris is not perhaps justifiable; but as it has a tendency to frustrate a System calculated to injure the Sovereignty & subvert the Liberties of the individual States, it gives me no great uneasiness.
Dr. Arnolds arrival, which will have taken place long before this will reach you, will spare me the necessity of enlarging on the State, in which I found the publick business. There has not been more than seven States on the floor at a time since my arrival 'till yesterday; and nine States being then present the earliest occasion was taken to ratify the Treaty of amity & commerce lately entred into with the king of Sweden. This was done at Paris the 3d of last April by Dr. Franklin Minister Plenipotentiary in behalf of the U. States & the Count Gustavus Philip De Creutz on the part of Sweden; the publication of the treaty & of the proclamation enjoining the observation thereof will be suspended 'till the acts of the Sovereign powers ratifying the acts of their ministers shall be mutually exchanged. The treaty is similar to those with France & Holland.
General Howe, who had the command of the troops detached from the Army to go to Philadelphia in order to bring to condign punishment the mutineers in that City, has proceeded in apprehending & examining the principal offenders, whose trial is now going on before a Court-martial constituted for that purpose, & is Directed by a resolve of yesterday(5) to send back to the army such of the 3 years men under his command as shall not longer be necessary to effect the purposes for which they were detached.
A resolve has passed that the late mutineers, having discovered themselves unworthy of that confidence in which was founded the resolve allowing the troops to be furloughed to carry home their arms, shall not be entitled to the benefit of that resolve.(6)
Congress have received respectful & affectionate addresses from all ranks of people in our present Environs, expressive of the high Sense they entertain of the honor done them in the choice of residence, & of their readiness to defend the persons & support the dignity of the Members of Congress & thereby maintain the honor & importance of the great Council of the nation. An address has also been received from the citizens of Philadelphia & its Liberties. They recount their services in turning out men--paying taxes--establishing a bank, &c.
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&c. To this address Congress have returned a suitable answer; tho' not such an one as the Delegates of Pennsylvania expected. By this answer as well as a variety of circumstances, there is good reason to believe that we are posted for the Summer Season at least.
The amenity of our Situation in this little village, the Salubrity of the air, & the courteousness of the Inhabitants all conspire to influence our determination in favour of this place. I discover no want of fresh meat, or vegetables, tho, I am informed that it is reported in Philadelphia that vegetables are bought in their market for our use. Weekly board is cheaper here than in Philadelphia; in other things there is no great difference and some things are dearer; such are shop goods, liquors, sowing &c. Mr. Ellery & myself are for the present stored in a small house about 50 rods from the College. This was a store when I was in College. It will be difficult when there shall be a full representation to procure suitable Lodgings for the whole, as well as for the foreign ministers & great officers of Congress, & their attendants; but in whatever place Congress shall establish their permanent residence there will be no difficulty in erecting suitable buildings in the course of one year, and all the places which are in Competition for this Honor have offered besides an exempt jurisdiction, sufficient funds for this necessary purpose. As you have been informed the question of the permant residence of Congress has been referred to October next; & from appearances I entertain great hopes that, whether any other place may be agreed on or not, a sufficient number of voices will not be obtained for Philadelphia.
Messieurs Holten & Higginson, the present Delegates for Massachusetts are good republicans & perfectly with me in political measures. It gives me pain that they are to return in Nov. next as it is uncertain what part their Successors may take. My good friends Mr. A. Lee & Col. Bland of Virginia received me with a smile of welcome & cooperate in every measure for maintaining the Sovereignty of the Individual States, as well as several other gentlemen from other States. It is astonishing to me that several Gentlemen in Congress could ever have given their voices for the late revenue recommendation in consistence with their present declared opinions. I can account for it no otherwise than by recurring to what I was told in New Haven by a gentleman who asked a certain delegate of that State(7) how he came to give his voice for the commutation resolve, having always theretofore been against half-pay? He answered with honesty that, it was true he voted against his own opinion & against the opinion of his State, known to him at the time but that he could, as things were circumstanced, vote no otherwise!!!!!!!
I conceive great hopes that things will take a different turn in Congress now it is removed from the unhealthful & dangerous atmosphere of Philadelphia. It is observed by some Gentlemen that an ob-
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may be imposed by authority. This application lies on the Table & will no doubt pass in a few days; there appearing no considerable opposition against it.(11) Quere does this look like falling in with Continental measures? If so, will the Chesapeake be wide enough to contain Mr. Morris's boats, as well as those of the ancient dominion? And will armed vessels be less necessary to collect continental, than State duties? And should the Continental Frigate quit tobacco droging & fall to battering the Virginia cutters, would it not prove an happy means of cementing & perpetuating the Union of the States?
The substantial points on which the cause of 5 per Cent rests are better understood in Congress as well as in the States than they were last year. General Washingtons circular Letter(12) is now the toast. It is the Sheat anchor of the cause; & coxcombs will refer you to that, who cannot state an argument from it, or comprehend the force of any argument in the plainest cause. I revere that character almost to a pitch of Idolatry & it gives me pain to reflect that so good a man should be induced from any motives to give sanction by his personal authority to so destructive a measure: But it is enough to observe that he has also lent his Sanction to the resolve for commutation.
It has been reported & generally believed for some days that the definitive Treaty arrived in the Mercury; but this opinion loses ground. No official, or certain account has yet been received of its signature. It remains uncertain at what time the evacuation of New York will take place; but from some appearance there is reason to hope for it soon.
Hitherto I have been very happy with Mr. Ellery. He has supported me on every occasion & speaks the Sense of the State. His Excellency General Washington is to attend at Congress to assist in forming a peace establishment;(13) upon this Subject I find a variety of opinions. It is a fortunate circumstance that this Subject is to undergo its canvassing determination before Congress can be certain whether the States will vest them with a revenue, or not. From the disposition of some Gentlemen I have reason to believe that if Congress had a revenue at command our peace establishment would make no contemptible figure. The jurisdictional powers of Congress are much agitated. It seems agreed that an exempt jurisdiction will be ceded to Congress over a certain tract, or extent of territory whereever they shall establish their permanent residence; but gentlemen are not agreed in the principle mode, &c, of this jurisdiction. This is referred to a Committee. I hope to live long enough to see their report,(14) which I flatter myself will afford entertainment.
I pray you, my worthy & good friend to communicate this Letter to his Honor the Deputy Governor, & to the members of both houses of Assembly as occasion offers--to any of our other friends & particularly to my friend Mr. Carter.
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I also pray to be respectfully remembred to Mrs Brown & to the several Branches of your family to whom I feel myself under many obligations.
With real esteeme, Believe me to be, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend & very hble Servt, David Howell
RC (RPJCB: Brown Papers).
1 See JCC, 24:442.
2 Hebrews, 6:6.
3 See Elias Boudinot to Guy Carleton, July 26, note.
4 See Massachusetts Delegates to the Massachusetts Senate, July 31, 1783.
5 Actually a resolve of July 28. See JCC, 24:452-53.
6 See JCC, 24:453.
7 That is, Eliphalet Dyer. See Dyer to Jonathan Trumbull, March 18, 1783.
8 That is, during the debate over Robert Morris' instructions to the receivers of Continental taxes, for which see JCC, 24:478-82; and note 10 below.
9 Actually Hamilton had left Congress only the previous day, and Madison did not return home until October although he spent most of his time in Philadelphia after Congress removed to Princeton.
10 Benjamin Stelle, a Rhode Islander who had been appointed commissioner for the settlement of Pennsylvania's Continental accounts on the recommendation of Howell, had submitted a number of questions to Robert Morris concerning his instructions, which Morris had referred to the comptroller general, James Milligan. For the report Morris subsequently submitted to Congress on this issue, see Morris to the President of Congress, August 12, 1783, in Morris, Papers (Ferguson), vol.8 (forthcoming).
Stelle (1746-1819), a native of New Jersey, had moved to Providence after his graduation from the College of New Jersey at Princeton in 1766, and operated a Latin grammar school there before beginning a career in business in 1770. Stelle's wife Huldak Crawford and Brown's wife Ann Carter were cousins. See ibid., 7:114-15, 214; and James McLachlan, Princetonians, 1748-1768: A Biographical Dictionary (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976-), 1:595-97.
For the controversy over Stelle's instructions which Morris' critics, especially the Pennsylvania and Rhode Island delegates, fueled in Congress, see Thomas FitzSimons to Richard Peters, October 23, 1783, note 4; Howell to Stelle, January 14, 1784, note 1; and Robert Morris' Report to Congress, November 5, 1783, in Morris, Papers (Ferguson), vol. 8 (forthcoming).
11 See Virginia Delegates to Benjamin Harrison, July 26, note 2.
12 See John Montgomery to William Irvine, July 26, note 2.
13 See Elias Boudinot to Washington, July 31, 1783.
14 See James Madison to Edmund Randolph, July 28, note 3.
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