Aug. 17th. 1779
Dear Sir
Your Favor of the 7th is in my hand. I am surprized that you had not then heard of the Arrival of Ford on the 1st at Metompkin.1
Mr. J. Adams was at Braintree on the 3d and Count Luzerne in Boston.2 I have no Dispatches from either; but I have a Letter from Nantes of May 25th, Extract of which you will see in the Paper of Tomorrow, as well as the Continuation of Rowlands Communications,3 of Part of what you think ought to be published.
You talk of your having a Sort of right to a Copy of the Papers sent by Arthur, you little know of the droll motion made by your merry Friend,4 to stigmatize Ar[thu]r for having enclosed to an Individual what he desired might be communicated to a secret Commtee of Congress to prevent the Consequences of a palam Examination of the Vouchers. But, as on the one hand I contended for an open reading of the whole that was sent, I most easily convinced the House that every Officer in their Service has a Right to communicate such Papers as these in question to any Individual Friend, on whose Judgment he chuses to depend either to present or burn Resignations, Memorials and Defenses, these being personal Concerns; and I mentioned having by me some Things thus inclosed upon which I should act my sovereign Pleasure. I thought this necessary, that I may act with a good Grace, if I should see cause to give in any of the Papers now in my Trunk at a Time when it will not be possible to prove a late Arrival. The Motion was withdrawn Inch by Inch. I, pledging myself to prove that Congress never had an official Paper kept from them by the Mode mentioned in the Motion vizt. covering Dispatches of a Minister to an Individual. I mean I pledged myself so far as concerns Ar Lee Esqr. Your Brother was totally mistaken as to D’s Credit here. But I wait with impatience to know more by Mr. Adams. Our Penobscot Expedition is not yet well over. Collier may do great hurt there: I have a few Lines from Mr. SA he is as you think greatly engaged in Town and Body Meetings & in the general Assembly. They have great Expectation of mending the Currency by vigorous Taxation & Loan. But I look for Credit to the poor eastern States mainly from a successful Expedition, though even in that Case W.H.D. will be against them: he spouted an invidious motion about their sending their Fleet to relieve 5th Carol. & Georgia. Observe the cursed Rascality of sending to New York as well as to Boston the Paca-drayton Effort, though in the former case there is a superrogatory Lie of its being a Comtee. Information.
I find that Paper is stolen from me. It was either Pokipsie or Fiskill you can get it by Enquiry of yr Printer.5 I have recovered it.
The Party are provoked beyond measure at seeing the Vouchers sent out by Rowland; but I tell them, "they are free for any member who chuses to use them, only it is at his Peril if he does not guard against offending France, Spain or Prussia or exposing honest Whigs to Danger." The affair of Berkenhout can be put in a Light to damn D’s6 Virulence exerted under pretended Care of the public Safety. Simple Views must be first given of the State of Facts and at the Close a Freedom in Inferences, Reflections & Brands may be taken. Indeed this Part may be performed in the different States upon an Exhibition of Vouchers here. It will have more effect by springing from different Quarters. The main point will be to establish the Propriety of supporting Merit in Republics against Envy & Falsehood, rather than suffering it to be crushed from a foolish Idea of Convenience to the Public. The contrary would be to induce eventually a maximum to avoid a present quid detrimenti. I wish yr. Health may suffer you to attend to this. Specs should be short to be generally read.
J.L.
Receiver’s copy, Lee Papers, American Philosophical Society.
1 For the recent arrival of Arthur Lee’s former secretary Hezekiah Ford, see Lovell to Abigail Adams, 11 August 1779.
2 Anne-Cesar de La Luzerne (1741 - 91) had reached Boston on August 3. La Luzerne, the son of the comte de Beuzeville, had a varied military and diplomatic career. Before his appointment as French minister to the United States in April 1779, La Luzerne had served as French charge d’affairs in Bavaria during the crisis of the Bavarian Succession, 1777 - 78. For a detailed discussion of his career, see William E. O’Donnell, The Chevalier de La Luzerne: French Minister to the United States, 1779 - 1784 (Bruges: Desclee de Brouwer, 1938).
3 A reference to a series of essays written by Richard Henry Lee over the pseudonym "Rowland," in defense of his brother Arthur. They were printed in the Pennsylvania Packet on August 10, 17, 24, and 31, 1779, and are reprinted in the Deane Papers (NYHS Colls.), 22:49 - 53, 63 - 67, 73 - 83.
4 That is, Meriwether Smith. For the handling of Arthur Lee’s proffered resignation by his friends in Congress, see Lovell to Samuel Adams, July 16, 1779, note 6.
5 For the issue of the New York Journal (printed in Poughkeepsie) referred to here by Lovell, see Lovell to Samuel Adams, 17 August 1779, note 2.
6 Silas Deane.
7 That is Henry Laurens, William Whipple, and Henry Marchant.