JAY TO MRS. JAY. - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 1 (1763-1781) [1890]
Edition used:
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston, A.M. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890-93). Vol. 1 (1763-1781).
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JAY TO MRS. JAY.
My Dear Wife:
I have now the pleasure of informing you that the New York Convention has at length made some provision for their delegates, vizt., four dollars per day for their attendance on the last and this Congress, so that I shall not be so great a sufferer as I once apprehended. The allowance indeed does by no means equal the loss I have sustained by the appointment, but the Convention I suppose consider the honour as an equivalent for the residue.
The Congress this day refused to give me leave of absence for next week. There are but five New York delegates here, Col. Morris and Mr. Lewis being absent, so that should either of us leave the town, the Province would be unrepresented. We expect, however, soon to adjourn, and your Papa has engaged Mr. Hooper to accompany him to Elizabethtown, where I hope we shall soon be all very happy. My horses were new shod, wheels greased, cloaths put up, and every thing ready to set off early in the morning, when on going to Congress this morning all my pleasing expectations of seeing you on Christmas Day were disappointed. Don’t you pity me, my dear Sally? It is, however, some consolation that should the Congress not adjourn in less than ten days, I am determined to stay with you till ———, and depend upon it nothing but actual imprisonment will be able to keep me from you.
At present I find the objections of the Congress so reasonable that I am sure you would blame me were I to attempt leaving them without permission . . . To-morrow or on Tuesday next the Congress will I believe determine the time of adjournment, so that it is probable I shall have the happiness of wishing you a happy New Year.
Adieu, my beloved,
Your affectionate
John Jay.
Philadelphia, 23 December, 1775.
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