Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
Upon trivial Occations the Tongue may be nimble. At present I can only bid you Wellcome to your Native place Joy to your heart on once more beholding the town our own pleasure to your Eyes at Seeing your family happy & strength to your heart on hearing of Washingtons victory wisdom to your head to assist our Cou
Shall we be favourd with a sight of you hear? All congratulate you on your return.
The very constant Attention I have been oblig’d to give to Business since my Arrival here, and my unsettled Scituation even to this moment not Family necessaries about me, tho’ I give £25 per mo. this Currcy. for my house only two Rooms one floor, have prevented my being able to set down in a quiet manner to write to you, which I fully intended long before this, but this Day having Rec’d your Friendly Letter of Decr. 23d. from Middletown,1 I could not avoid Stealing time to Acknowledge the Receipt of it, and to Thank you for your very kind Remembrance of me & mine, and to Assure you that it will at all times afford me much Satisfaction to hear from you, & to know what is passing in your Quarter, & you may Depend in Return every thing from me that passes in my Departmt. worthy being Communicated. Colonel Steward2 who was with you in the Jersies gave me an accott. of your Scituation, & of the loss of your fine horse. I really pitied your Case, but knew your Fortitude and the prospect of a speedy Union to your Family would induce you to Surmount all Difficulties, and to press forward to the Goal with unremitting Dili339gence, and wish this Letter may meet you safe at home enjoying the Felicities which you have long been a stranger to, & which I am very Confident you there found equal to your wishes, as I Trust you found your Family happy in health, & doubly so on your Arrival. I Beg my best Respects to Mrs. Paine, & to all Friends with you.
My Scituation upon Leaving Philada. was really distressing. You well know the State of my Family at that time, a Wife but Nine Days in Bed a little Infant just Breath’d in the World, a large Family & considerable Effects, all to take Charge of, in the Winter Season, cold Houses to put up at, & such a Number of passengers on the Road, doubtful whether I should even obtain Shelter, & among Strangers too, all these Circumstances with many others, needless to mention, plac’d me in a Scituation truly distressing, and indeed is what I cannot Describe, tho’ I severely felt it. But by the kind hand of Providence I pursued my Journey and arriv’d at this place without any Accident, & my wife & little one & indeed all of us bore the Journey far beyond my Expectation. On my Arrival I had no house prepar’d. Mr. Purviance was so obliging as to Take us in, & we Remain’d there Ten Days, & we were Treated by him & his Lady with the utmost Civility, in short I never met with more Civility in my life, free from Ceremony, & Desirous of making our Stay Agreeable. Mrs. Purviance3 a Polite, agreeable Lady. I Respect the Family much, their Civilities will ever endear them to me. I at length got to housekeeping; but the Change was disagreeable enough; from Mr. Purviance’s in a good part of the Town & among Friends, to my own, & the only one I could get, in a Remote place, among Whores & Thieves. I had not been Forty eight hours at my house before it was Rob’d. The Theives took out a Trunk with Linnen Books, papers, some hard Money &c. but the Money was Recover’d & part of the things, that I am oblig’d to keep a good watch lest they should Take every thing out of the house. I long to Return to Boston. I think it my next Turn; I have just Rec’d the new Delegation; some of you must Come on here, for three are oblig’d to be constantly present or the Representation is Destroy’d. I brought your Trunk safe here & have it with my things in my own house, subject however to be stolen with mine; I will Embrace the first good oppory. to Send it to you. There is a Vessell here from Boston. If she Returns I believe shall send it, tho’ if a prospect of Sending Money soon I shall prefer the Land Carriage. I have lately sent Three Expresses to Boston. You will of course know from them every thing passing in Congress. The last carried a most important Resolve which I am witheld from 340committing to Paper, but you have a right to See. To the Council I must therefore Refer you.4 The late Successes of Genl. Washington in the Jersies have given a most favourable turn to our Affairs. You will undoubtedly know every particular, as early as we, that it will be needless to mention them, but in general the Enemy are Retreating, & by an Express this moment Rec’d it is said they have Cross’d the Rariton, but I hope Genl. Putnam will meet them, who is gone the Amboy Road; had not our Troops been so Fatigu’d as to prevent their pushing into Brunswick; and they had gone on, they would have taken not only the Troops & Stores, but £70,000 Sterling in the Military Chest; however I hope we shall still get it; in short, My Friend, I think we are in a clever way; the Safety of Genl. Lee is insur’d by these Movements, for we had an Accott. they were preparing for his Trial at New York, & he would no doubt have been Executed. They have, since the late Success at Trenton, treated our Prisoners very differently, have Releas’d many, among others Mr. Carpenter late Barber at Boston who has been so long Confin’d at Halifax & York.5 He is now here in my house; & Col. Ethan Allen6 is now walking the Streets of New York, & is to be Exchang’d. I hope soon to be able to give you a good Accott. of things. The Resentment of the Jersey Men is Rais’d, & they are turning out well, & so are the Militia in general in Pennsylva. Congress Matters go on much as usual, tho’ I think they have been more spirited lately. I have Transmitted many Resolves by the three Expresses to our Council. To them I must Refer you.
I shall be oblig’d to you to write me as often as possible, & do give me Accott. of what our Assembly is doing, & indeed every thing that is passing with you. You will recollect some Conversation we heretofore had on a particular Subject, & which occasion’d your writing some very particular Letters. You, with respect to your self, will have a fine oppory. of Explaining matters to your own Satisfaction, & I wish things may terminate to your wish; should I be Affected by any thing in consequence thereof, I Beg your Candid Representation in my behalf. I know you will do me the Justice to say I have not neglected the Business I was Sent upon. You are a Judge of my Station, & I am confident will serve me all you can. Do give me hereafter the Sentiments of my Constituents, & what Effect some representations had with respect to you & my self &c.
How goes on Cannon Castg., does your Comme. meet, here I do not think they do; what Success had you with Govr. Trumbull; are they Casting in our Province? Give me your thoughts on the Subject of Cannon, & what Dependance for a Supply in your Quarter.
I have insensibly carried this Letter to an immoderate length, that you will Censure me I believe, but I will promise you my next shall be more concise, nor will I trouble you with so long a Letter, till I Receive a longer one from you.
Mrs. Hancock, Miss Katy, and (Mr. and Mrs. Hillegas who are now with me & going to sup here) beg to be Remembred to you. Mrs. Hillegas asks when she shall Teaze you again. We are all well. My Respects to all Friends. In all Scituations I shall be fond of Rendring you every Service in my power, & Command me at all times. Rest Assur’d that I am with Real Sentiments of Esteem Your Friend & Servt.,
Not located.
Walter Stewart (d. 1796) was major aide-de-camp to General Horatio Gates from June 7, 1776. As a result of his service with Gates, Congress breveted Stewart as lieutenant colonel on Nov. 19 of the same year. On Dec. 31 a congressional committee to procure cannon and supplies for General Schuyler appointed Stewart as their agent to apply to Robert Livingston in New York and Gov. Jonathan Trumbull in Connecticut for those arms and supplies. It was this purpose that took Stewart into New Jersey at the same time as RTP. In 1777 Stewart received command of one of the Pennsylvania regiments. He retired from the army in 1783 (Heitman, Historical Register, 520–521; Letters of the Delegates to Congress, 5:708–709).
Catherine Stewart, daughter of David Stewart of Glaslough, Ireland, and his wife Isabella Conyngham, had married Baltimore merchant Samuel Purviance, Jr., on Apr. 18, 1776. Her brother David Stewart was also a merchant in Baltimore (Papenfuse et al., Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 668).
Hancock is probably referring to the proposed attack on Nova Scotia “with a View to destroy the immense Quantities of military Stores that are there deposited to be employed against us” (John Hancock to the Massachusetts Council, Jan. 10, 1777. Printed in Letters of Delegates to Congress, 6:81).
Richard Carpenter’s case had first been discussed in a James Lovell postscript to the letter of Hugh Orr to RTP, Nov. 14, 1776 (see above).
Ethan Allen (1738–1789) was a land speculator in the New York Grants, which later became Vermont. In 1771 he founded the Green Mountain Boys to enforce some of the settlers’ authority, and with this band of militia on May 10, 1775, attacked and captured Fort Ticonderoga for the American cause. Allen was captured during an attempt to take Montreal and held as a prisoner of war for two years. His Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen’s Captivity (1779) proved extraordinarily popular. After the war Allen promoted Vermont statehood but failing that negotiated with the British to gain Vermont status as an autonomous province with the empire (
ANB
).