advantage expected from the actual possession. Other members are extremely averse to a return to Philadelphia, for various reasons. TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, July 21, 1783. DEAR SIR, This will serve merely to prevent a chasm in my correspondence, having nothing whatever to make a subject of it. We hear nothing from our Ministers abroad. The Court Martial on the parties to the late mutiny have come to no decision as yet. The address from this city to Congress is, I believe, gone up, pretty generally signed; my next will probably communicate the result of it. Among other conciliatory steps, they have, by voluntary subscriptions, given a very splendid and cordial entertainment to the officers of the detachment under General Howe. The Legislature of Massachusetts have, in their election for the ensuing year, left out all their Delegates now in Congress, as a penalty for their concurrence in the provision lately adopted relative to half-pay. DEAR SIR, TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, July 28, 1783. Yesterday's mail brought me no letter from you. The address from the citizens of Philadelphia came before Congress on Thursday, and was referred to a committee of five members. The answer will probably be a very civil one, but will leave open the question touching the return of Congress. This question, if decided at all in the affirmative, must be preceded by despair of some of the competitors for the permanent residence, almost all of whom now make a common cause against Philadelphia. It is not improbable that, when the urgency of the scanty accommodations at Princeton comes to be more fully felt, with the difficulty of selecting a final seat among the numerous offers, New York, in case of its evacuation, may be brought into rivalship with Philadelphia for the temporary residence of Congress. My own opinion is, that it would be less eligible, as removing every thing connected with Congress, not only farther from the South, but farther from the centre, and making a removal to a Southern position finally more difficult than it would be from Philadelphia. Williamsburg seems to have a very slender chance, as far as I can discover. Annapolis, I apprehend, would have a greater number of advocates. But the best chance, both for Maryland and Virginia, will be to unite in offering a double jurisdiction on the Potomac. The only dangerous rival in that case will be a like offer from New Jersey and Pennsylvania on the Delaware; unless, indeed, Congress should be carried to New York before a final choice be made, in which case it would be difficult to get them out of that State. In order to prepare the way to their permanent residence, Congress have appointed a committee to define the jurisdiction proper for them to be invested with. Williamsburg has asked an explanation on this point. The nearer the subject is viewed, the less easy it is found to mark the just boundary between the authority of Congress and that of the State, on one side, and, on the other, between the former and the privileges of the inhabitants. May it not also be made a question, whether, in constitutional strictness, the gift of any State, without the concurrence of all the rest, can authorize Congress to exercise any power not delegated by the Confederation,—as Congress, it would seem, are incompetent to every act not warranted by that instrument, or some other flowing from the same source? I wish you could spare a little attention to this subject, and transmit your ideas on it. Contrary to my intention, I shall be detained here several weeks yet, by a disappointment in some circumstances which must precede my setting out for Virginia. There is considerable ground to believe that Carleton is possessed of the definitive treaty. He has lately sent Congress several depositions relative to forgeries of Mr. Morris's notes, the authors of which he has confined in New York, and has requested that persons may be sent in to attend the examination. The Court Martial is still proceeding in the investigation of the mutiny, but have disclosed no result. DEAR SIR, TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, August 5, 1783. The gazette which I enclose will give you a sight of the Philadelphia address to Congress, and their answer. Since I left Princeton last, I understand the question has been agitated relative to the return of Congress to this city, and a day fixed for its final discussion. There is little reason to suppose that it will be decided in the affirmative by the present composition and thinness of Congress. I rather suppose that no question will be taken when the probability of a negative is fully discovered; though it will be pushed by those who wish to multiply obstacles to a removal south of the Delaware. The arrival of the definitive treaty at New York, which my last represented as probable, has sunk into general disbelief. The most sanguine opinion goes no farther now than to the arrival of some preliminary intelligence and instructions touching it. TO THOMAS JEFFERSON. Philadelphia, August 11, 1783. DEAR SIR, The reserve of our foreign Ministers still leaves us the sport of misinformations concerning the definitive treaty. We all thought a little time ago that it had certainly arrived at New York. This opinion, however, has become extinct, and we are thrown back on the newspaper evidence, which, as usual, is full of contradictions. The probability seems to be, that the delay arises from discussions with the Dutch. Mr. Dana has been sorely disappointed in the event of his announcing himself to the Court of Russia. His written communications obtain verbal answers only, and these hold up the mediation to which the Empress, with the Emperor of Germany, has been invited, as a bar to any overt transaction with the United States; and even suggest the necessity of new powers from the latter, of a date subsequent to the acknowledgment of their sovereignty by Great Britain. Having not seen the letters from Mr. Dana myself, I give this idea of them at second hand; remarking, at the same time, that it has been taken from such passages only as were not in cypher; the latter being not yet translated. Congress remain at Princeton, utterly undecided, both as to their ultimate seat and their intermediate residence. Very little business of moment has been yet done at the new Metropolis, except a ratification of the treaty with Sweden. In particular, nothing has been done as to a foreign establishment. With regard to an internal peace establishment, though it has been treated with less inattention, it has undergone little discussion. The Commander-in-Chief has been invited to Princeton, with a view to obtain his advice and sanction to the military branches of it, and is every day expected there. The budget of Congress is likely to have the fate of many of their other propositions to the States. Delaware is the only one among those which have bestowed a consideration on it, that has acceded in toto. Several Legislatures have adjourned without giving even that mark of VOL. I.-36 |