Philadelphia Novr. 3. 1778
Dear Sir,
Your favor of October the 20th is put into my hands just when I am upon the point of setting out for Virginia,1 and therefore you may suppose me not so well circumstanced for giving you such an answer as I could wish. I esteem Sir, a cooperation with you in bringing to detection and punishment the plunderers of the public as being honorable to myself and useful to the Community. I believe upon the whole, that this Country has suffered more from its pretended friends, than from its open enemies.
Such has been the variety and importance of the business before Congress, that neither the affairs of Car - m - l or of D - e are yet finished. The delay producing powers of some men, the destruction of time under pretext of order, and by long confident speeches, that I have never seen less business done in any Assembly than has been with us the last six or eight months. Mr. Izard has written to Congress complaining most heavily both of D - e and F - n. There appears to me to have been great misconduct, but I hope time & attention will discover and rectify all. It is my sincere opinion that with your powers, and your knowledge of facts, you can cause such instructions to be given your Delegates to Congress as will more certainly and speedily effect this, than can by any other means be done.
You wish to know how your Delegates have acted in this affair and whether they were for the Viva Voce narrative.2 Amidst the variety of questions that are propounded in Congress it is not easy to remember what side particular Members take, nor do I recollect whether or not Mr. Lewis was present but as well as my memory serves me I think your State was against the written Narrative and for its being Viva Voce. That matter is a thing determined, and therefore I am at liberty to answer your questions as well as I am able on that point, but many other subjects of your enquiry I could answer to your satisfaction if I were not restrained by the rules of the house respecting unfinished affairs. That large sums of money have been expended in France is indubitable, that no adequate account is yet obtained is certain; and to me the reasons for its not being so are by no means satisfactory. He who undertakes public business without competency is culpable, and a capable man will at all times be able to shew satisfactorily how his business has been conducted even to the greatest minutiae. It is an insult on common sense to produce a Bankers charge of money issued, to account for the expenditure of Millions, during the transactions of near a year and an half.
We have a letter written by Cuningham3 (who commanded the Cutters fitted at Dunkirk, and which have cost the public more than 100,000 Livres) complaining heavily for himself & his people of finding themself the Commander of a private Armed Vessel, when he & they conceived themselves in the service of the U.S.4
Lee PapersUniversity of Virginia Archives
Printed in James Curtis Ballagh, The Letters of Richard Henry Lee, Volume 1, 1762 - 1778, pp. 449 - 50.
1 Jay’s 20 October letter to Lee is in Southern Literary Messenger, 30 (April 1860): 267 - 68. For Lee’s "setting out," see note 4 below.
2 Jay had explained that he had just been elected to the New York Senate and that he hoped he would now have "an opportunity to cooperate in checking the abuses we have together observed and regretted, in the publick business of the continent, and in calling to account and punishing the Delinquents and their Abettors [i.e., Silas Deane and his associates]." "Sensible as I am," he continued, "how exceedingly culpable in several respects Mr. D - - âs conduct was, having great room to suspect it was much worse in others, and being persuaded that much injury will accrue to the Publick if he should escape with impunity, I hope a free enquiry has been made into it. If that has not yet been done, and may still be done, I will do my utmost to bring it on. In public matters of such importance, nothing should be left doubtful or in the dark. Attempts to evade a full and free enquiry, or to slur over any fact, imply guilt in the Agent himself, and a criminal partiality or indifference in the managers of the Public. Whilst I was in Phâa, it was, I think, debated whether Mr. D should give a detail of his transactions abroad in writing or viva voce. I think it was carried for the latter, and that the three N.Y. Delegates voted for it. I wish you would set me right on this head, and let me into as many other particulars as are necessary to judge of the whole affair. I had at that time more than sufficient reason to suspect that one of our Delegates was using and would use undue methods in favor of Mr. D., and I now wish to be clear whether they voted for his detail being viva voce, and what part they have since taken in the business, because if it should appear from their voting on that or any other question, that they have acted with partiality or unbecoming indulgence, I would bring the affair before our legislature. I would state what I know of Dâs transactions. I would mention Mâs. attempt to suppress my evidence against D., and move to have one or more of the Delegates recalled to explain their conduct, or to have public instructions sent them, to insist on a full and accurate investigation of the whole business." Ibid.
In light of this statement, it is curious that the editors of the Papers of John Jay, in describing Sir Jamesâ role in the Deane-Lee dispute, concluded that he "found himself used as a tool of the Lee faction during the early maneuvers in the Congress." Jay, Papers (Morris), p. 508. For the effort made by Sir James the following March to bring the Deane-Lee issue before the New York Assembly, a move regarded as an embarrassment to his brother John and other pro-Deane New York delegates in Congress, see ibid., pp. 571 - 72. See also Gouverneur Morris to John Jay, 16 August 1778, note 1.
3 Capt. Gustavus Conynghamâs letter has not been found, but for the issue Lee raises here, that Silas Deane had outfitted on Continental account vessels that Conyngham had subsequently commanded on a private cruise, see Charles Thom sonâs Notes on William Carmichaelâs Examination, 5 October 1778. Conynghamâs "Narrative" and several other documents pertaining to the cruise of "the Cutters fitted at Dunkirk" are in Robert W. Neeser, ed., Letters and Papers Relating to the Cruises of Gustavus Conyngham, a Captain of the Continental Navy, 1777 - 1779 (New York: Printed for the Naval Historical Society by De Vinne Press, 1915). A similar "Narrative of the Proceedings of Captain Gustavus Conyngham, Commander of the Revenge Cutter," in the hand of Henry Laurensâ secretary Moses Young, is in the Laurens Papers, no. 24, ScHi.
4 Another document, consisting of a number of questions about Conyngham and "the Cutters fitted at Dunkirk," written by Lee but located in the papers of Samuel Adams, underscores the great interest a number of delegates had in this subject. This list of questions is undated, and the reason for its location in Adamsâ papers can only be conjectured, but Lee may have left it for Adamsâ use during any future interrogation of Deane. Because Lee left Philadelphia the same day he wrote this letter to Jay, he may well have given the document to Adams at this time. It reads:
"By whose direction was it that Cuninghames Vessel was fitted out at Dunkirk the first time. Did all the Commissioners know and approve the design of fitting out Cuninghames Vessel from Dunkirk the first.
"Who gave him instructions for his Cruise and what were they.
"Did the french Ministry know that such a Vessel was fitting at Dunkirk, and did they object or consent to the measure.
"Was Cuninghames Vessel ever considered as private property.
"At what time was Cuninghame first fitted at Dunkirk.
"What were the avowed declarations of the french Ministry respecting our privateers. Does Mr. Deane remember to have seen letters to the Commissioners and Mons. Grand from the Count de Vergennes complaining of the fitting out Privateers in France.
"Dr F. reasons supposed for D - - recall.
"Conduct of R. H. L. in that matter.
"View of the matter since that event.
"Pub. good demands coolness, impartiality; and choice of p[ublic] measrs." Richard Henry Lee notes, [c.November 1778], Samuel Adams Papers, NN. For Leeâs departure from Philadelphia, see Lee to Arthur Lee, 11 February 1779.