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WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington”) to James Jay, Morristown, 12 May 1780. Separate address panel addressed in his hand and bearing his franking signature (“Go: Washington”).
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). Autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington”) to James Jay, Morristown, 12 May 1780. Separate address panel addressed in his hand and bearing his franking signature (“Go: Washington”). Two pages, 325 x 205 mm (minor losses to address panel from seal tear). George Washington as Spymaster: the General thanks John Jay’s brother, in code, for sending a batch of invisible ink ("the Box of Medicine”), and offers to establish a laboratory to manufacture additional quantities, “from which I hope you will derive improvement and amusement, and the public some advantages.” Washington depended upon a variety of methods to encode his correspondence with the extensive spy network he ran in and outside of British-occupied New York City. One of his most valuable tools was invisible ink, some of which was supplied by James Jay, the brother of John Jay, who, until recently, had been practicing as a physician in London. On 9 April 1780, running low on supplies, Washington wrote to Jay to request more of the “liquid which you were so obliging as to furnish me for the purpose of private correspondence...” Jay obliged several days later, writing that the enclosed “medicine,” was all he had remaining from the supply he had brought from Europe, and advised the general that he now possessed all “the principal ingredients for the composition by me” (Washington to Jay, 9 April 1780, in Fitzpatrick, Writings, 237 & 237n). In the present letter, Washington advises Jay, in a more subtle code than he used on 9 April, that “The Box of Medicine mentioned in the former came safe at hand, and was the more acceptable, as I hadn’t entirely expected the first parcel with which you had been kind enough to furnish me.— I have directed Colo. [Udny] Hay to assist you in in erecting a small Elaboratory, from which I hope you will derive improvement and amusement, and the public some advantages.— Major Beauman intends to return to West point in a few days[.] I have already signified to General [Richard] Howe my consent to your then expending as much powder, as can be conveniently spared, in ascertaining these points on Gunnery, which you are anxious to prove by actual experim[en]t provided all matters are quiet.” It appears that Washington made good on his offer. On 19 September 1780, Jay sent a supply of ink to Washington, apologizing for not forwarding it sooner, “owing to a very considerable loss I am likely to sustain by the new System of Finance...” (Jay to Washington, 19 Sept. 1780, Washington Papers, Library of Congress). Washington closes his letter with a nod to James’ brother, who had only recently arrived in Spain on his diplomatic mission: “Give me leave to congratulate on your Brothers safe arrival at the Court of Madrid – an event truly important, and which gives particular pleasure to Dr Sr...” Jay would later move on to Paris where he would join John Adams and Benjamin Franklin to negotiate the Treaty of Paris. 1