Philadelphia Decr 19 1775 Dear Sir,

I am glad to hear you are Well. I perceive by your Letter to Mr. Hancock1 you are in doubt whether to return to Philadelphia or proceed directly home from Albany. For your Government I would Inform you that the General Court have Continued our Delegation untill the 31 of Jany. next & as affairs are Circumstanced I suppose they will still prolong it. Your presence here is needed especially as you can well Inform us as to the state of our affairs in Canada & Mr. John Adams is gone home, the circumstances of his family requiring it. There has been no opportunity to convey your Trunk into our Province as yet, as the waggon by which it was designed to go never went. Hope shall have the pleasure of seeing you soon, in the mean time remain with respect yr. Friend & humbl. Servt.,

Thomas Cushing

Mr. Hancock Send his Compliments.

RC ; addressed: “To The Honble. Robert Treat Pain Esqr. at Albany”; endorsed.

1.

Not located.

Clare Mount 19th Decr. 1775 Gent.,

My abrupt departure from Albany (for which the unhappy occasion will appologize) having deprived me of the pleasure of seeing you or settling such matters as were then undetermined I take the liberty to enclose my account.1 I have omitted all those articles which tho not at present necessary may possibly hereafter be of use & some triffles which I have forgot to note & do not know the exact amount of.

The ballance I have in hand & would remit to you had I a safe conveyance. I shall pay it to the order of Congress.

I was much disapointed at not having the pleasure of seeing you on your return, as I expected that you would have made my house one of your 119stages.2 And I was more solicitous about it, as I fear it will be long before I have the pleasure of joining you at Philadelphia as the sudden death of my father & the settlement of his affairs will necessarily engage much of my time.

If it would not obtrude too much on the hours which you have devoted to more important purposes, I could wish to hear from you when any thing worth communicating turns up; as in my present scituation I am quite out of the sphere of news or politicks. Present my comps. to Mr. Linch & Rutledge3 & to the Gent. your Colleagues & believe me to be with the greatest esteem Your Most Obt. Hum: Servt.,

Robt. R. Livingston

RC ; addressed: “Robert Treat Pain & John Langdon Esqrs: Delegates to the Hon: the Congress at Philadelphia.” Some unidentified calculations appear on the address sheet.

1.

On Dec. 10, while at Albany, Livingston learned of the death of his father, Judge Robert R. Livingston (1718–1775) and set out for home.

2.

Langdon set out for Philadelphia on Dec. 14 and RTP on the following day. The poor road conditions brought on by the winter weather delayed Paine’s progress. He reached Bethlehem, Penna., on Dec. 23 and remained for the sabbath-day “Celebration of Christmass Eve,” when “they had a Love feast.” A broken sulkey shaft kept him in town on Christmas day, and he improved the day by attending a sermon in English during the afternoon and one in German in the evening. He returned to Philadelphia on Dec. 28 (RTP Diary).

3.

Thomas Lynch and Edward Rutledge were delegates from South Carolina. Rutledge (1749–1800), a South Carolina lawyer who trained in London, was a member of the Continental Congress (1774–1776) and signed the Declaration of Independence. As captain in the Charleston Battalion of Artillery, Rutledge was captured at the fall of Charleston in May 1780 and held as a prisoner until July 1781. He later served in the state house of representatives, was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1790, and was governor of South Carolina from 1798 until his death ( DAB ).