YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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Yale University Library.

DANIEL SULLIVAN'S VISITS,
May and June, 1781,

TO

GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN,
IN PHILADELPHIA.

I

DANIEL SULLIVAN'S VISITS,
May and June, 1781,

TO

GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN,
IN PHILADELPHIA,

TO EXPLAIN

DECLARATIONS IN SIR HENRY CLINTON'S
SECRET JOURNAL.

By THOMAS C. AMORY.

[Reprinted from a Paper read to the Massachusetts Historical
Society, March, 1884.]

WITH ADDITIONAL COMMENTS.

CAMBRIDGE:
JOHN WILSON AND SON.
ilnibtrsitg $rcss.
1884.

CLINTON'S SECRET JOURNAL.

At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, held Feb. 14, 1884, Mr. Thomas C. Amoky
communicated the following paper : —
It is desirable to have in print, where conscientious histo
rians may find it, any information we may possess to explain
what, unexplained, may work injustice. The secret journal
of Sir Henry Clinton, now in process of publication in the
" Magazine of American History," is an important contribution
to the material of our Revolutionary annals. Such journals
are liable, from their character, to convey erroneous impres
sions ; and regard for the memory of the dead and the happi
ness of the living imposes a duty upon societies like our own,
to set right what may affect reputation. Present generations,
more familiar with events comparatively recent, may be better
able to prevent mistakes creeping into history than those that
follow them.
Daniel Sullivan, the elder brother of General John Sullivan
of the Continental army, and of James, one of the founders
and the first president of this Society, during the War for
Indepetidence commanded a force of minute-men, about one
hundred in number, raised near his home in Sullivan, on the
east shore of Frenchman's Bay, opposite Mount Desert. They
protected the neighborhood from depredation, became aggres
sive when there was cause, and formed an excellent school for
recruits for the army. They todk part in the attack on Cas-
tine in 1779, and rendered on other occasions efficient service.
Soon after, the execution of Andre* provoking a feeling of

resentment and a disposition to retaliate, the frigate "Alle
giance," in February, 1781, landed a party at night on the
shore near Daniel's dwelling, at Waukeag Point. They sur
rounded his house while he was sleeping, cast into the snow
his wife and children, burnt the buildings, and carried him
prisoner to Castine.
Declining the usual proffers of rank and reward if he would
swear allegiance to the crown, he was sent to New York, and
committed to the Jersey Hulks. These prison ships were
noted for their foulness, and few came out from them alive.
Daniel, accustomed to the pure air and freedom of his farm,
anxious for his family left shelterless, their home in ashes, lost
health and spirits, and was naturally eager for deliverance.
While thus confined, Stephen Holland, at one time clerk of
the Hillsborough County Courts in New Hampshire, who had
left the State in 1778 under suspicion of disaffection, who had
then gone to New York, and was now a major in the British
army, went to see him. As before the war he had known
General Sullivan, whose extensive professional practice carried
him into the different counties, he visited Daniel, perhaps of
his own motion, or he may have been sent by his superior offi
cers. Having heard Daniel's story and witnessed his distress,
he procured for him, from Clinton, permission to visit his
brother John, then a member of Congress at Philadelphia, to
effect his exchange.
General Sullivan was then serving a second term in the Con
gress. From September, 1774, to June, 1775, he had taken an
active part in that body, in organizing resistance to the
encroachments of the British Government upon thejust rights
of the colonies. With Washington he joined the army besieg
ing Boston, in July, 1775, and with General Greene served as
Brigadier-General under General Lee, who commanded the left
wing. During the following winter the Connecticut line, its
period of enlistment ended, went home ; and his efforts and
influence were largely instrumental in replacing them with
two thousand troops from his own State. After Howe evacu
ated Boston, in March, 1776, General Sullivan was sent to
Canada, and there extricated our army, weakened by disease,
from their perilous position, the force opposed to them being
greatly superior. Recalled to New York, now Major-General,
with McDougal and Lord Sterling as his brigadiers, they did

what they could with five thousand men, to withstand four
fold their numbers, and, with Sterling, Sullivan was taken
prisoner. Exchanged for Prescott, he was honorably noticed in gen
eral orders for his services in West Chester, and after Lee's
capture in December marched his troops to join Washington
on the Delaware. A few days afterwards he took part as
commander of the right wing in the battles of Trenton and
Princeton. He made, in August, an attack at night on Staten
Island, which a court of inquiry decided deserved the appro
bation of the country. At the battle of the Brandywine, in
command of the right wing, he was opposed, with five thou
sand men, to double their force, whom he kept for two hours
at bay, — for half that time, to use his own expression, muzzle
to muzzle. Again at Germantown he commanded on the right,
and drove the enemy opposed to him, when fog and smoke
and mistakes in other parts of the field led to retreat. The
army then went into winter quarters at\ Valley Forge, where
he was engaged in building a bridge over the Schuylkill.
Ordered to Rhode Island towards the spring of 1778, as the
welcome intelligence arrived of the treaty of alliance with
France, he commanded, at the siege of Newport, ten thousand
men, whom he helped in raising to co-operate with D'Estaing
and his fleet. The appearance of a large British naval force
drew out the French fleet to pursue them. The fleet, shattered
by the storm and partial conflicts, returned only to announce
the necessity of their going to Boston to refit. The American
army, diminished by the departure home of the militia and
volunteers whose term of enlistment had expired, withdrew to
Butt's Hill, at the north end of the island. There, and on
the way, was fought, on the 29th of August, what Lafayette
pronounced the best-fought battle of the war. It began at
about seven in the morning, and lasted, with little intermission,
if any, till four in the afternoon, ending in a bayonet charge
which drove the enemy to their intrenchments on Quaker
Hill and Anthony's. The British loss that day exceeded one
thousand men, the troops engaged being about six thousand
on each side.
The following year Sullivan commanded an expedition of
four thousand men into Western New York. One object was
to punish the Indian tribes for their atrocities at Wyoming and

along the frontier, and deter them from repetition ; another
was to open the paths for the invasion of Canada if D'Estaing
returned in season to co-operate. D'Estaing was belated in
the West Indies, made a hurried and unsuccessful attack on
Savannah, and returned wounded to France. Sullivan, by an
accident and the exposures in the campaign, had become inca
pacitated for the time for active service, and resigned from
the army as the year closed. The letter of Washington in
reply to the communication of his resignation testified to the
high estimate he held of Sullivan's services in the army.
He was slowly recovering from serious illness when, without
his knowledge and against his wishes, as his family needed
his professional services for their support, he was chosen a
delegate again to the Congress. Among other duties which
devolved upon him, he was directed and empowered to defend
the title of New Hampshire to fifty or more townships of land
east of the Connecticut. New York claimed them, as she did
Vermont, as part of her domain, and sent four of her ablest
advocates to urge her rights. After twenty arguments of the
cause before Congress, Sullivan succeeded in securing the
townships for his State. From his long experience in the field,
he was able to institute many useful reforms in the army, as
also in other departments of the public service. He took an
active part on the committees for furnishing means for the war
by improving the currency, restoring credit, inducing the State
to impose taxes, and procuring loans and subsidies.
These measures took months to mature ; and as they were
becoming ripe for adoption, the Continental currency reached
its last stages of collapse. In various places occurred popular
demonstrations of discontent, and on the 6th, of May, 1781,
the day Daniel Sullivan reached Philadelphia, similar distur
bances took place in its public streets. That night, as he was
supping with his brother, Daniel gave him a letter from Major
Holland. Its contents, as it was immediately destroyed, are
only known by what John told Luzerne a few days after. It
is reasonable to presume that one principal subject of Holland's
letter was Daniel's exchange or liberation. But he took occa
sion after complimenting the general upon his intelligence and
talents, and the high esteem in which he was held by the Eng
lish, to add that they regarded him as the fittest man to nego
tiate a reconciliation between the mother country and the

English colonies ; that they wished him to make known his
sentiments on the subject; that all overtures on his part would
be received with the consideration which they deserved ; that
he had only to state his wishes ; that the person who wrote to
him was fully empowered to open a special negotiation with
him, and he might count upon the profoundest secrecy. Such
a proposal of secret correspondence with the enemy so soon
after Arnold's defection might well have aroused his indigna
tion as a reflection upon his good sense as well as upon his
honor. He burnt the letter before the face of Daniel, and
begged him to tell those that sent him that their overtures
had been received with the deepest scorn.
Still eager to effect Daniel's liberation, John wrote Holland
an answer to his letter and gave it to his brother to carry to
him. But upon reflection, lest it should compromise Daniel
or be misconstrued, he sent next morning for him, as he was
taking his departure for New York, and took the letter away,
saying he would find some other means to communicate it to
Holland. What John said in this interview as Daniel was
starting on his journey, in the midst of John's various engage
ments, in a place subject to interruption and open to observa
tion, Daniel might well have misunderstood. In his desire to
save his brother from captivity and not to wound his sensitive
ness by want of cordiality, John's words might have been
construed to mean more than he ever thought of attaching to
them. Some ten days later, after Daniel's return to New York,
Holland drew up the paper purporting to give an account of
what took place between the brothers in Philadelphia. If in
the intervening period John had been heard from, the declara
tion would not have been needed. Its obvious object was to
obtain Daniel's deliverance, and this by representing John as
" having good intentions towards the English." It abounds in
improbabilities and exaggerations, and distorts language, possi
bly uttered in other connections and susceptible of very differ
ent explanation, into an import inconsistent with the whole
tenor of John's previous life and his subsequent conduct. For
no sooner had Daniel taken his departure than John went to
Luzerne, the French minister, the last person he would have
selected for his confidant if he had entertained any disloyal
•intentions, and told him all that had taken place, with some

8
slight reserve as to what might compromise Daniel as an
American officer or a British prisoner. He may have related
the circumstances also to his friends in Congress, or to that
body ; but of this we have no evidence. His whole language
to Luzerne, as set forth in that minister's letter to Vergennes,
dated May 13, the following Sunday, was that of a man of
honor and of too much good sense, knowingly, to be placed in
a false position.
Sullivan was under obligation to Luzerne. When, in 1774,
at the age of thirty-four, he went to the Congress, he had
already accumulated, by his professional labors and judicious
investments, ten thousand pounds. For seven years he had
been constantly in the public service, civil or military, and he
continued in it as long as he lived. His property depreciated ;
he was considerate of his debtors ; he had a family to support.
For the last three years of his military service, although in
command of separate departments, he had received in all fif
teen hundred dollars for his pay and expenses, besides rations ;
the last year but forty dollars, as indicated by the paymaster's
account. One hundred dollars had been advanced to him in
1780 by New Hampshire towards defraying his travelling ex
penses to Congress. His means speedily exhausted, he wrote
to Weare, president of the State, for remittances. His let
ter, intercepted, was carried to New York and printed in the
" Gazette." It came thus to the knowledge of Luzerne, who
of his own accord offered him a loan of what was equivalent
to a year's pay at a dollar a day, or seventy guineas. This
may have actuated his choice of a confidant when puzzled as
to what was best to be done in May, 1781.
The acceptance of this loan in his need has been censured.
But Sullivan was on friendly terms with Luzerne. France
was our ally, with no conflicting interests. Six weeks later,
when the Pennsylvania line, with its pay long in arrears, be
came disaffected, a committee composed of Sullivan, Wither
spoon, and Matthews, went to confer with Governor Reed of
that State. Sullivan wrote to Luzerne an account of what
had taken place, from Trenton, Jan. 13, 1781. His letter closed
with the following postscript : —
" One circumstance ought not to be omitted, which in my opinion
does the insurgents much honor. When they delivered up the British

9
emissaries, Governor Reed offered them a hundred golden guineas,
which they refused, saying that what they did was only a duty they
owed to their country, and that they neither wanted nor would receive
any reward but the approbation of that country for which they had so
often fought and bled."
He would hardly have thus written to Luzerne if the loan
made to him seven weeks before had been tainted for either
by any thought of corruption ; and some of tlie most honorable
men in the country, presidents of historical societies, have
placed on record their sense of its entire propriety.
The Government owed him six thousand dollars for pay and
advances while in the army. Though the whole sum was
finally paid him, fifteen hundred only was voted, July 31, 1781;
and of this the public treasury could spare, for several months,
but two hundred. His friends were busily engaged in bringing
about a more cordial feeling between himself and Burke, of
North Carolina, who were still at variance about the battle of
Brandywine, four years before. Burke thought that Sulli
van's five thousand men in the right wing should have subdued
twice or thrice that number of British veterans., who were far
better armed and equipped. Probably neither of them allowed
any personal feeling to interfere with his public functions ; but,
as they were constantly on the same committees, it seemed
better they should make peace. This was effected by General
McDougal and Mr. Shiel at this very time ; the former's letter,
giving an account of their reconciliation, bearing date the 22d
of May. It is difficult to believe that any one, even if gener
ally actuated by selfish considerations, would have incurred
the risk of forfeiting the esteem of his associates, on whose
good opinion so much depended, by any questionable pro
ceedings. Daniel at an early age had joined his wife's kinsfolk and^
neighbors, the Beans, Gordons, Hammonds, Plaisdells, and
Prebles, in procuring a grant of thirty thousand aieres, — now
Hancock and Sullivan, on Frenchman's Bay, — and on a farm
three or four miles south of the present principal settlement
was extensively engaged in sawing lumber. Not originally so
well educated as his three brothers, who were bred to the bar
and were all successful lawyers, he may have been less sensi
tive to John's public obligations and the consequences of their

10
violation. The transactions of Congress were manifold in
their nature, and recorded in separate journals. One of them
for foreign affairs was secret, as also another for domestic; but
those entered on the public journal were generally known.
What transpired in Philadelphia soon found its way to New
York ; and he may have had in mind the newspapers in suggest
ing that John should send Holland news of what took place.
His anxiety was not without cause. Public opinion in Eng
land clamored for retribution for the execution of Andre". The
Government lost temper at their ill success ; their prisoners
were sent to England, and there, as here, subjected to inex
cusable barbarities. The brutal murder of Colonel Hayne in
August had already been precedented by like atrocities, which
at this time or soon after justified the appropriation of the
Simsbury Mines in Connecticut for a prison house. Daniel's
principal concern was to regain his freedom, of which he had
been unwarrantably deprived, while he might, and go home to
the protection of his family. His brother, conscious of his own
integrity, which had never been impeached, might well have
risked reputation for such an object, though nothing would
have tempted him to forfeit his honor.
The declaration drawn up by Holland to effect this object
by conveying the impression of John's good intentions to the
Crown, may have been influenced by a wish to range John
on his own side of the contest. Both Holland and Clinton
probably knew of the overtures to peace communicated by
Vergennes from Paris sixty days before. Independence even
to them must have seemed assured; and an ' influential friend
like General Sullivan might save Holland in that event from
the exile which ended in his death in Ireland as the war closed.
There is no evidence or reason to suppose, however, that Gen
eral Sullivan in any way authorized Holland to misrepresent
his dispositions towards England, or did aught to save Daniel
except through the legitimate channels of exchange.
Four years before, Judge Livius, also a refugee loyalist
from New Hampshire, wrote him a letter of like character to
that of Holland. Many of the leaders were similarly ap
proached, but Arnold was almost the so.litary instance of
defection. In burning Holland's letter when he received it,
General Sullivan had expressed himself in terms sufficiently
explicit of his indignation. If the next morning, as alleged

11
in the declaration, Daniel said that what Holland wished was
information as to the transactions of Congress and advice as to
what steps to take, and that he might name his own terms,
John certainly did not agree to give either. In his kindly
feeling towards his brother, at what niight have proved their
last parting, he probably did not think any repetition of what
he had said the night before called for. If he used such phrases
as set forth in the declaration, " that he was sorry it was too
late," " that he would ride a hundred miles to see Holland
and learn his views about politics," " that he would seek an
occasion for sending Daniel to him," which is very proble
matical, they were quite likely used in some other connection,
and fell short of any proof or reasonable evidence of any agree
ment to do aught inconsistent with his existing obligations.
He did not lose sight of the important consideration as to
how much Daniel's safety depended upon Holland's kind
offices. Holland's disposition towards himself seemed friendly,
and he may have made some allowance for what was dishonor
ing in the proposal of terms. He may have considered, as
suggested to Luzerne a few days after, the opportunity too
favorable not to be improved for procuring information of the
enemy's designs and movements. This idea, if entertained,
soon yielded to the counsels of Luzerne and his own reflec
tion on its imprudence. These various reasons explain why,
if the declaration be a true account of what took place in
Philadelphia when they parted, which does not seem proba
ble, John did not again resent, in terms more indignant, the
proposition of Clinton and Holland, through Daniel, when
repeated that morning.
Luzerne's letter to Vergennes, dated the 13th of May, shows
plainly enough that he had no disloyal intentions. "It is for
tunate for his memory that these two documents — one from
England, the other from France, each. giving one side of the
same transaction, each separately brought back to America
about a century after their dates —should so completely ex
plain each other : " showing that General Sullivan was neither
corrupt nor disloyal ; that under circumstances peculiarly try
ing his conduct was that of an honest man and affectionate
brother ; and that he was sensible enough to guard his repu
tation from the misconstructions and misrepresentations of
those who might seek to defame it, by making the minister of

12
France his confidant and the official correspondence the de
pository of his abundant justification. Clinton, like Walpole,
thought every man had his price ; but it was proved over and
over again during the Revolution that this was not true of the
American leaders.
As there is no evidence or reason to suppose that John ever
gave information or advice to the enemy ; as there were but
fifteen days, from the 7th to the 22d of May, 1781, when there
was the slightest possibility that he should have had any
chance or temptation to do so, and during all this period he
was busily engaged with the most honorable gentlemen of
Congress, in public affairs taking a leading part in debate
and on committees, and on the 26th placed on the Committee
for Peace, from which Luzerne, who had the best means of
knowing him, might have easily had him excluded by de
nouncing him, if he had any ground of suspecting his integ
rity ; as the declaration is susceptible of easy explanation
without any impeachment of his honor or reputation, — we
think no conscientious writer on American history, having
improved all the sources of information that are accessible, as
our Proceedings must always be, can upon the evidence hon
estly question his loyalty and fidelity to all obligations.
The journals of Congress, his own correspondence, and the
course of events testify strongly against the likelihood of
his ever having in the slightest degree favorably entertained
the temptations presented, or of their having been the slight
est temptation to him. If he ever took them into his mind,
upon the briefest reflection he must have repelled them with
out hesitation. If flattered at the thought of becoming the
mediator of peace when the moment was ripe for such a con
summation, he knew that to Congress and our representative
at Paris had been committed all peace negotiations. The
proposal of selfish inducements was simply an insult. He
had been steadfast from the first to the cause of Indepen
dence, and he so continued till it was soon afterwards accom
plished. For seven years he had been engaged in the conflict,
had made for it as great sacrifices, and endured as great
hardships, as any other of the patriots. He stood well in
the public estimation and with the Congress. What object
could he have had to throw away so honorable a record,
when fleets and armies were gathering with such reasonable'

13
prospect of obtaining that for which they had so long been
contending ?
If he was ever in doubt as to the issues of the war, his duties
were too absorbing to admit of any thought of discouragement.
The journals of Congress, both public and private, exhibit
the variety and extent of his occupations. Few of the mem
bers were more busily engaged or constantly called upon to
do their part in debate or on committees. In October, 1780,
he was employed with Madison and Duane in instructing
Franklin and Jay to maintain the right of the United States
to all the territory held by Great Britain recognized by the
Treaty of Paris in 1763, including the navigation of the
Mississippi. He had moved at that time that a letter should
be addressed to the King of France, urging a more vigorous
prosecution of the war. This letter, bearing date the 22d of
November, was responded to by the king on the 9th of March,
pledging himself to what was requested ; his response reaching
Philadelphia on the 22d of May, 1781.
In December, intelligence being received of the capture of
Henry Laurens, formerly president of the Congress, who had
been sent out in July to negotiate a treaty with the States-
General, and had been imprisoned on a charge of treason in the
Tower, Sullivan moved that an envoy extraordinary should be
sent to Paris to solicit the aids requested of the king. John
Laurens, who had fought valiantly with him at Newport, and
been seriously wounded With D'Estaing at the siege of Savan
nah, was chosen to go. It was indeed understood that the
mission was especially ordered that he might do what he could
to effect the release of his father. His mother, and a sister who
became afterwards the wife of James Ramsay, the historian,
in 1786 likewise president of the Congress, were in Paris.
They were in the greatest affliction at the impending danger.
Mr. Laurens, one of the most estimable and honored of the Rev
olutionary leaders, was greatly beloved by all who knew him.
The harsh measures and menaces of the British* Government
naturally overwhelmed his family with the deepest distress.
It is well known how wisely the time was improved in
plans for the campaign to come. Dr. Franklin and Ver
gennes, the king and young Laurens, at Versailles, on those
Ides of March mornings, would make an interesting histori
cal picture for some genius in art. Perhaps Necker might

14
be added to the group, distressed at the royal extravagance ;
Cornwallis, entering Virginia, pushing on to Yorktown ; Clin
ton, embarking and disembarking his men, not knowing
whether to go south or bring Cornwallis north ; Lafayette,
playing fast and loose, the more to puzzle them ; Arnold,
burning Virginia tobacco he could not carry off, and Con
necticut churches he did not value enough to leave. To
keep the bird from startling till De Grasse on the first of
August, with the best regiments of France collected in the
nooks and corners of the West Indies, should join Washing
ton and Rochambeau, Barras and Lafayette, before the walls
of Yorktown, depended on secrecy, punctuality, and chances
so various that the slightest mistake might have proved dis
astrous. All went well; as one of the plotters, Sullivan made
no mistakes. At the right moment the French fleets entered
the Chesapeake ; both Washington and Rochambeau were
there. In helping on this consummation, General Sullivan had an
important part to perform in the Congress. The thirteen
colonies that had declared their independence in July, 1776, lay
now exhausted. They were represented abroad by Dr. Frank
lin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Laurens, Francis
Dana, Ralph Izzard. In executive offices were Sam Adams,
Livingston, Cornell ; while Washington, Gates, Greene, Ster
ling, Morgan, Wayne, Sumter, and Marion led in the armies.
Several of the most honored, who had been members of the
Congress, held high office in the States. Rarely as many as
thirty attended Congress. This explains why so many duties
devolved upon the few, — why Sullivan was chosen on so many
committees. As the first on the list of the most northern
State, in which order of precedence they were called upon to
vote, Sullivan's was a responsible position to hold, for reasons
sufficiently obvious. In military and naval affairs, in the
Treasury and Foreign departments, there were few more able
or willing. Langdon, President of Harvard, was his frequent
correspondent on finance ; and with Witherspoon, President
of Princeton, he was associated in foreign and financial affairs.
With Madison, Varnum, Matthews, Carroll, who served with
him on many committees, he was constantly employed upon
documents which elicited praise from the most renowned of
European diplomatists.

15
With so few left to share the responsibilities of administra
tion and perform its tasks, many functions naturally devolved
on one who had formed part of the government from the
beginning. He had his rights, not to abuse, but to use for the
cause ; and as a general he had been trained to respect
the limits of authority too well to be likely to transgress them.
If in suggesting to Luzerne the wisdom of using the opportu
nity presented by Clinton for procuring information, he claimed
a larger discretion as one of the. Government than he would
have thought of exercising simply as a member of the Congress,
allowance should be made for the singular condition of the Gov
ernment of the time, having no head, carrying on a war almost
partisan, and the people being almost equally divided.
Our struggle for independence was evidently not to go by
default. Dependence on a nation alien in blood, language, and
faith bad its objections. The approach of the critical moment
may have disturbed the settled views of many ; but knowing
from history what England meant by unconditional surrender,
France as a friend and ally, if sometimes exacting, would be
preferable to the old oppression. There could have been no
advantages, national or individual, which Britain could offer so
acceptable as the independence assured by the great Euro
pean combinations.
From the commencement of his term of service, the previ
ous September, Sullivan, as mentioned, had taken an active
part in devising measures for restoring the public credit and
replenishing the exhausted treasury. In his correspondence
he had consulted Washington as to the selection of Hamilton
— who wrought in that department such wonders later — for
Superintendent of Finance. Hamilton could not be spared
from the army, and the choice fell on Robert Morris. Con
gress, in committee of the whole, had previously kept control
of this branch of the public service as the Committee on
Finance. But on the 8th of May, the day after his brother
Daniel's departure from Philadelphia, General Sullivan moved
that a committee of five be chosen to devise further ways and
means to defray the expenses of the ensuing campaign, and
to consider what further measures could be adopted for a better
regulation of the public finances. Witherspoon, Sullivan,
Smith, Clymer, and Rodney constituted this committee.
Two of their recommendations for redeeming the outstand-

16
ing obligations, which were thought too considerate of the
actual holders, met with little favor; but on the 14th Morris
accepted the office of Superintendent of Finance, and on the
17th submitted his plan for the Bank of America. This,
approved on the 26th, was referred to the committee " to fur
nish means for the campaign " to mature and carry out. On
the 16th, Sullivan, from a special committee, reported the result
of an inquiry into the management of the loan offices, and on
the 22d his committee " to furnish means for the campaign "
offered a resolution, which was accepted, that the war should
be carried on upon a specie basis, and that rations be purchased
by contract.
On the 21st Sullivan reported an order authorizing General
Gates — then awaiting his trial by court-martial for Camden
— to repair to head-quarters and take such command as the
commander-in-chief should direct; and on the 25th, he reported
another, directing the Board of War to take measures to send
into New York and Charleston such quantities of tobacco as
would discharge the arrears due from American prisoners then
in confinement, and to provide for their future support. As
chairman of another committee, with Varnum and Bland, to
whom had been referred the letter of Washington of the
20th of December, he submitted a rearrangement of the army,
amounting to a reorganization. It is not proposed to claim
for Sullivan any exclusive credit for these various measures.
He did his part with the rest. He co-operated in all the prin
cipal reforms which, adopted when our fortunes seemed at their
lowest ebb, proved the masterly moves on the chess-board
which achieved independence. One of his earliest duties in
Congress had been to secure Greene's appointment, whose
judicious movements that very month had driven Cornwallis
to his trap.
On the 22d Luzerne transmitted to Congress a letter from
the king, expressing an intention to prosecute the war with
the utmost vigor, and informed them that he had received
despatches of great importance, which he should hasten to
communicate when deciphered. On the 25th he informed
Congress that the second division of the troops, commanded by
Count de Rochambeau, could not be expected for the campaign ;
but measures bad been taken to reinforce the army and expe
dite ships in force to enable the squadron at Newport to put

to sea. The king had granted a subsidy of six million francs,
and would enable Dr. Franklin to borrow four millions more.
The following day another memorial from the minister an
nounced certain overtures made by Great Britain for peace,
through the mediation of the Empress of Russia and the Em
peror of Germany, and declared that France was disposed to
accept them on the basis of independence for the States ; and
advised that, while negotiating, the efforts against the enemy
should be redoubled. He requested that a committee should
be appointed to treat with him for the negotiation.
The committee, consisting of Carroll, Jones, Witherspoon,
Sullivan, and Matthews, reported on the 28th and again on
the 6th of June. They were engaged in the general direction
of the preparations for many weeks, in framing commissions
for Dr. Franklin, Henry Laurens, John Jay, John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson, the appointed commissioners, in determin
ing boundaries and other stipulations, and in preparing the
instructions for the action of Congress.
In these and similar duties Sullivan was busily engaged till
September, when, his year having expired and his successor
having been elected the previous April, he went home to
New Hampshire. He was there busily occupied in its ad
ministration, as major-general in organizing its troops, as
attorney-general, as president of the State, or Federal judge,
till his death in 1795. This rapid sketch of his public career
seems important to be borne in mind in passing judgment
upon the likelihood of his ever having swerved from loyalty
to his country. It would seem harsh judgment, — even if it
should prove that he ever wrote, to save his brother's life, to
Holland of which no evidence appears that he ever did — that
he should, after such devotion to the cause of Independence,
be charged with either corruption or treason.
Judging by the periods it took for intelligence of a secret
nature to pass between Philadelphia and New York, the infor
mation obtained must have been stale before it reached its
destination. On the 16th of May the "Adventure," with nine
hundred barrels of flour, was captured by the " Royal Oak," and
carried into New York. It had a permit which covered part of
its cargo or mail. One of Captain Beckwith's correspond
ents takes occasion to mention this neglect in a letter of the
19th of June, thirty-four days afterwards. It reached Beck-

18
with only on the 1st of July, with despatches received in May
from France. Its writer mentions subjects under debate in
the assembly of his State, which indicate either New York or
Pennsylvania as that to which he belonged.
In another letter of the 27th of June, 1781, from a gentle
man of Philadelphia to Captain Beckwith, received by him
also the first day of July, he speaks of a letter dated May the
30th received on the -23d June. The correspondence could
not have been brisk or profitable ; and in this particular instance
the principal part of the information had long before been
spread broadcast over the land, or forestalled by the press.
There were times, during that eventful summer, when secret
intelligence might have been precious, — for example, in the
allied armies' circuit round New York, from Newport to York-
town, — but what proved of most avail was the truth told by
Washington and Rochambeau, which Clinton refused to be
lieve. Leaks, when generals kept their own counsels, were
unimportant. That much found in Clinton's secret journal
was purposely designed to mislead him, seems obvious enough.
There is no evidence that any of the communications printed
in the journal had come directly or indirectly from General
Sullivan. We only argue that if they had, they betrayed no
secret prejudicial to the cause of American independence when
received by Clinton.
It was clearly a dut}r to his brother, cost what it might, to
do all that he honorably could to save him in his peril from his
imprisonment. He had no means to give him to rebuild his
house, burnt without the slightest justification by the British ;
for the ashes of the Iroquois towns was a retaliation for Wy
oming. Their brother James, then judge of the Supreme
Bench of Ma'ssachusetts, had a large family and scanty means.
If, to further Daniel's liberation, John expressed his wish for
reconciliation on fair terms and reasonable , guaranties, in case
independence from reverses proved impossible, there was no
treason in that. Daniel was soon exchanged or set free, and
died on his way home. There is no evidence that John ever
received any bribe or performed any service for the enemy.
He was always true to the cause of Independence. Often a
successful candidate for public office, no such reproach was
ever flung at him or whispered. He retained to the end the
confidence of Washington, Greene, Knox, Lafayette, and all

19
the best of the patriots. The only key to Holland's declara
tion, signed by Daniel, in Clinton's journal, is that the plain
truth was very much perverted for a purpose ; that John was
faithful to his brother ; and that if he feigned more affection
to the British than the infamous course of Clinton in his
attempts to bribe inspired, his motive was to save Daniel from
the pestilential vapors of the hulks and restore him to his
wife and children.
Nothing is known to the prejudice of Daniel; but, on the
contrary, much in his favor. Judged by his descendants, he
was in every way worthy. He was hardly responsible for pas
sages in the declaration to which exception' is taken. It is
signed by De Lancy, Daniel, and Holland. This does not look
as if Daniel signed of his own free will, but from encourage
ment, perhaps coercion. Perhaps he smelt the blood of the
shamble, and instinctively drew back. By threat or in ap
prehension of what later betided Hayne, he signed under duress
of circumstance. It needs no casuistry to hold him blameless,
to impeach the credibility of the declaration without question
ing the truthfulness of his character. Formal oaths under such
conditions are not binding in honor or conscience, and, extorted
under threat, have no moral obligation. June 9, 1884.
Our request to examine the secret journal of Sir Henry
Clinton before its publication in the magazine, so that ex
planation when needed might prevent anticipated prejudice to
the memory of General Sullivan, was not granted. Comments,
we think, not justified by the text have been embodied in the
notes. We have endeavored to follow up the successive instal
ments of the journal as they appeared from month to month,
by the statement of reasons and facts to correct erroneous im
pressions. We hope this explanation, with the just and can
did, will counteract the ungenerous constructions placed on
transactions very simple and innocent, forced on General Sul
livan by circumstances not of his own seeking and beyond his
control. The captivity of his brother Daniel was the work of
the enemy, and the visits of Daniel to Philadelphia were evi
dently at their suggestion.
What other course could the most devoted and conscientious
adherent of the cause of independence have taken than he did

20
under the given conditions ? The uncertainties attending the
future no one had done more to avert than himself ; but he was
too sagacious not to estimate aright the possibilities of disaster,
of the imperative necessity of submitting to what could not
be avoided, should such disaster occur. The brilliant hopes
reasonably entertained in the summer of 1778, of reducing
Newport and achieving the object of our exhausting efforts,
had been frustrated by the defection of D'Estaing. The disap
pointment of the expectations then indulged might be brought
about by some similar mischance. That he should have real
ized the precarious situation of our condition, and might have
alluded to it in confidential conversation with his brother, does
not warrant any imputation upon his fidelity to the cause to
which he had pledged his allegiance. He may well have re
plied, in answer to the arguments of Daniel for changing sides,
that he should seasonably be prepared for the events thought
by Daniel likely to happen ; that, in case the Congress should
come to confusion as predicted, he was determined to take
care of himself, but needed no help from the enemy.
But he knew what Daniel did not, nor Holland, nor De
Lancy, nor Clinton, — that arrangements had already been
made, through his own efforts and influence (if not mainly, in
part), to bring about combinations that would insure the concen
tration of the fleets and armies of Washington, Rochambeau,
and De Grasse in the Chesapeake in front of Yorktown in the
month of August, and by capturing Cornwallis end the war.
He knew not only that Great Britain had made overtures for
peace, but that France had pledged itself to accept no media
tion but on the basis of American independence, and had prom
ised and already remitted means to re-establish our credit
and finances, and sent troops and armies to fight our battles ;
and he could see, though they could not, that the probabilities
were more encouraging than ever, that we should effect that
for which we had been so long contending. He knew at the
same time that success depended on lulling Clinton into a false
security that our cause was regarded by ourselves as virtually
hopeless. No reason leads us to doubt that General Sullivan could
have revealed what might have defeated our plans, or that
he kept this studiously concealed from Clinton. The whole
tenor of his words, if he used those that Daniel imputed to

21
him, tended to show they were making no great effort, and
that the Parliament had little to dread or to guard against,
but an attack on New York by Washington and Rochambeau.
That Clinton knew nothing of the plan of the campaign ar
ranged in Paris in March, and communicated to Congress on
the 26th of May, or perhaps confided alone to its committee
up to the time (July 4, 1781) embraced in the June number of
the magazine, is equally evident. Before making any further
comment on the information from Captain Sullivan on the
4th of July, 1781, we append the document itself : —
Information from Captain Sullivarit July 4, 1781.
He arrived at Philadelphia the 12th of June, waited upon his brother
General Sullivan, and delivered a letter to him from Captain Holland ;
after reading it several times the General told him it was very well,
but would not descend into particulars, as his coming to Philadelphia
twice might give suspicions ; and as soon as he had an answer from New
Hampshire he would inform him of everything in his power. That
Captain Holland might assure the person which he mentioned in his
letters to him, in whose full confidence he was, that he would do every
thing in his power to serve him.
Captain Sullivan asked his brother if Mrs. Holland's visit would be
limited to any certain time ; he said he had not the least doubt she
might stay as long as she pleased ; that Captain Holland would follow
her in less than six months, and that the purchasers of Holland's prop
erty had thrown their money away. That it was his opinion that unless
the French made very great exertions in America this summer, the Con
gress will be torn to pieces, and the people would return to their alle
giance ; that the Congress was at present in great confusion, and that
he was determined to take care of himself. Captain Sullivan further
says that in every part of Philadelphia the people were swearing they
would pull the Congress house down. [Signed] Daniel Sullivan.
This purports to give an account of Daniel's second inter
view with his brother at Philadelphia, on the 12th of June.
It is evident that Daniel mistrusted, or affected to distrust,
the likelihood of our being able to prolong the contest. He
avowed, as one principal object of his coming to Philadelphia,
the employment of his brother as counsel or friend in the
affairs of Holland in New Hampshire, whose estates there had
been sequestered or confiscated upon his taking sides with the

22
British. It was natural enough that Holland should wish to
know whether the property upon which his family depended
for support was irretrievably lost. At his request General
Sullivan, as such counsel or friend, writes home to ascertain
if this were the case ; and the information received in reply
appears to have satisfied his mind that such was not the result
of any legal proceedings instituted. He states his belief that
Mrs. Holland would be permitted to stay as long as she pleased
in New Hampshire, and adds that Captain Holland would pos
sibly follow her in less than six months, and that the pur
chasers of Holland's property had thrown their money away.
This opinion, no doubt, was that of a lawyer, and predicated
upon evidence that the requirements of law had not been com
plied with. This remark that Holland might in less than six
months return to New Hampshire is susceptible of two expla
nations, — either that in six months the American cause would
have become hopeless by British success, as it would seem to
signify in New York ; or, as he firmly believed himself and
as the event justified, that the plan of the campaign would be
carried out and result in an overwhelming defeat, as actually
happened of the British arms. This was sufficiently guarded
to prevent General Clinton or his subordinates surmising what
he had in his mind ; though, had he supposed that his brother
Daniel would have repeated his words, uttered by him in the
freedom of fraternal intercourse, he might have been more
prudent. In war the important object is to attain all information
possible of the designs and movements of the enemy, and to
prevent the enemy from discovering any of our own. From
any fear of misconstruction, to shut the door upon opportunity
offered for gaining such intelligence would have shown a want
of wisdom. Members of the Congress were more interested
with the events of the war than even generals commanding
in the field. In this instance, without any encouragement of
his own, sources of information opened to him which it would
have been a neglect of duty not to improve. It would be
unfair to the memory of General Sullivan to judge of the pro
priety of his proceedings without taking into consideration his
position, his relations to the country, the part he was actually
taking in public affairs. No one was more busily employed or
reasonably trusted, or more favorably placed to further sue-

23
cess ; no one more active or energetic, or eager and earnest to
bring- it about. Submitted to this test, nothing that as yet
has appeared in the secret journal but is susceptible of easy
explanation without prejudice to his patriotism ; nor do we
believe that anything will be discovered in its future pages
incapable of a similar solution.