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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

JAY TO RUFUS KING. - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 4 (1794-1826) [1893]

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. 4 (1794-1826).

Part of: The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 4 vols.

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JAY TO RUFUS KING.

Bedford, 23d June, 1814.

Dear Sir:

I this moment received your obliging letter of the 20th inst. I sincerely rejoice in the events to which you allude, and should be happy to join our friends in the proposed celebration of them.

In the course of the last winter my disorder was unusually mild, but in the spring I was taken with an influenza, succeeded by a distressing cough, which has enfeebled me so much that I cannot as yet ride more than a mile or two at a time without fatigue. The oration will doubtless correspond with the acknowledged talents of the author. The subject certainly has bearings on and toward topics which prudential considerations render delicate, and which it is desirable should be treated accordingly. I presume it will be committed to your consideration, and that, under a joint revision, it will be freed from any ideas or expressions of doubtful expediency which in the haste of composition may have escaped uncorrected.

Circumstanced as I am, I can only thank my friends for thinking of me; and express my regret that I cannot be with them on so joyful an occasion. Unless I regain more health and strength than I at present enjoy, I cannot promise myself the satisfaction of seeing my friends anywhere but here; and here it will always give me pleasure to see them. It cannot be necessary to say that I remember you among them, or that I am, with the best wishes for your health and prosperity,

Dear sir,
Your obedient servant,

John Jay.