Pha. [c.23] Octr. 81. Dear Sir,
Capn. Swan will deliver you the Camblet, Baze & Velvet for your great Coat. On receiving your Letter I applied at the House where Mr Buchanan lodg’d to know if he had left any cloth &c but coud not find he had; he mentiond to me that he shoud leave some memorandums of things to be got for you, in Case he did not procure them himself, but not hearing any thing more from him about them, I concluded he had taken them with him - & Mr A Hanson tells me, that Mr Buchanan inform’d him at Baltimore your Cloth &ca was on the way down. I therefore hope you have receivd them before this time. We will settle when I have the pleasure to meet you, I expect that will be in Novr. but how early I cannot ascertain - two things may retard my return as Soon as I wish. Congress is at this time very thinly represented, and as the Major2 Returns about the Middle of Novr. it is possible in order to keep up a Congress Maryland shou’d remain represented, to Say nothing of the great delay of Material Business when there are only seven or eight States, as it requires Seven to agree. I am afraid the State of my finances will be another difficulty. Mullahon has made Sale of the tobacco, but on credit, & it is uncertain whether I can negotiate & Settle my accounts here at that fund. I am anxious to be down in the 2d week of November for many reasons, among others I Shall feel myself in an awkard situation to be here at the time the delegates to Congress are chosen. It has in some degree the appearance of a confidence that I Shall be continued, and I must acknowledge to you being on the Spot here it wou’d be Some mortification to me to [be] left out - for these reasons I shall be down if possible.3
Present my Comps. to Mrs Lee. I am Dr. Sr. with great esteem, Yr. Afft. Hble Serv.
Danl. Carroll
Receiver’s copy, Gratz Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
1 Although Carroll left the day of this letter blank, it may be conjectured that he wrote it on the 23rd since eleven of the twelve identified letters that Carroll sent to Lee from August 21 to October 16 were written on Tuesday or post day. His speculation about returning to Maryland "in the 2d week of November" rather than "in two weeks" makes the following Tuesday, October 30, a less likely date. He also points out in his postscript that the report of Capt. Alexander Gillon’s return from France, which Carroll had transmitted to Lee in his letter of October 9, "was premature," an observation that John Hanson had already made in his October 16 letter to Lee.
2 That is, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, for whose departure see Jenifer to Lee, October 22, 1781, note 3.
3 It is evident from the journals that Carroll remained in Philadelphia during the month of November, but was nonetheless reelected to Congress on November 28. See JCC, 21:1100, 1114, 1119 - 21, 1130, 1147 - 48, 1151 - 52.