Facilitating the passing of personal letters through the British lines - Foto 1

Facilitating the passing of personal letters through the British lines

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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
VeranstaltungsortVereinigtes Königreich, London
Aufgeldsee on Website%
ID 1362424
Los 650 | Facilitating the passing of personal letters through the British lines
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$ 10 000 – 15 000
Facilitating the passing of personal letters through the British lines
George Washington, 5 June 1782
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799) Autograph letter signed in the third person, ("General Washington's") as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army to Gouverneur Morris, Head Quarters, Newburgh, 5 June 1782.

One page, 227 x 188mm (toning with several light spots of dampstaining at extreme margins). Laid down on a board [With:] SPARKS, Jared (1789-1866). Autograph letter signed to George Bond, n.p., 21 October 1831, presenting "an autograph specimen of General Washington's handwriting." One page, 202 x 128mm (moderate toning). Both letters laid down on a board and housed in a nineteenth century frame.

Washington thanks Gouverneur Morris for his assistance in assisting with "the commands of that Lady, whenever she shall find occasion to write to England," observing further that Her letters by Post, under cover to the General, will be more certain of a safe passage to New York, than by any other conveyance; and he shall be happy in becoming the means of facilitating her wishes." An unusual letter which most likely concerns Joanna Leigh Lloyd (1758-1814), a fashionable woman from the Isle of Wight, who, noted for her beauty, was the subject of a noted painting Joshua Reynolds.* Washington instructs Morris, who was assisting Washington in facilitating messages between the British and American lines around New York. He requests that in the event "Mr Morris should have postponed his report, respecting the business entrusted to him by Mrs Lloyd, ’till information could be had from hence, of the conveyance of her Packet to Mr White; the General prays him to present his compliments with it, and assure her, that the packet went by a retur[i]ng Flag in less than 24 hours after it came to his hands."
Joanna Lloyd belatedly thanked Washington in late August for his "polite offer of conveying my letters through the lines," and advises him that she had "taken the liberty of sending a Packet of letters for my friends in England which I shall beg the favor of Your Excellency to forward for me."1 Washington apparently obliged the request and in early October, Washington received a packet of letter letters from New York City and directed them to Joanna Lloyd in the care of her husband: "The packet herewith enclosed came by the late Flag from New York; and this, first post since, conveys it to you. I hope it contains Letters from England, & will give Mrs Lloyd a pleasing account of her friends in that quarter." Washington then advises that Joanna Lloyd might want to seek a new intermediary, a Loyalist might be leaving the city in the event the British evacuate the city if a peace agreement was reached.2

Contacts with suspected Loyalists. Washington had been corresponding with Joanna Leigh Lloyd since she arrived in America with her family in November 1781. Her husband, Richard Bennet Lloyd, was a Maryland native who moved to England in the early 1770s where purchased a commission in the Cold Stream Guards, but resigned in February 1776, soon after his marriage. The couple moved to Paris where Richard served as a commercial agent for one of his relatives in England. There, they met Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, and enjoyed a lengthy correspondence. Short on funds, 1779, Richard Lloyd resolved to return to Maryland to better manage his affairs and sought the advice of Franklin and Adams. To that end Lloyd moved his family to London to make preparations.

Betraying at what may have been Loyalist leanings, or at the very least associations, Richard Lloyd worried in a letter to Franklin that "on my arrival in Maryland I must take the oath directed by Congress and act agreeably to the laws of that State, or run the hazard of forfeiting my Estate," and proposed to land in British-occupied New York where he had assurances that General Clinton would "permit me and my Family to pass thro the Lines to the Southward"3 Franklin at first advised against Lloyd's plan to take a ship to New York City and then cross the lines, warning that they would be subject them to suspicion that "will occasion Slights; & perhaps some Ill-Treatment, which will render your situation uncomfortable. I think therefore you had better conclude to Stay where you are till a Peace."4 In early 1780, Lloyd informed Franklin of a "Mr. Kinlaw of Carolina went out from Bristol to New York where he got a Flag of Truce and was well received by his Countrymen—Here is likewise a Gentleman who left Maryland last May he got a permit from that State to come by the way of New York to this Country to finish his studies in the Law here at the Temple." Lloyd reasoned that if Kinlaw could get home unmolested, so could his family.5 Franklin agreed with Lloyd's assessment and gave the plan his blessing on 26 February. In late February, John Adams wrote Lloyd offering some advice on ship sailings, and requesting a supply of "the critical and monthly Reviews: the Remembrancers and annual Registers as they come out: the parliamentary Registers and any other political Pamphlets of any Reputation, that may be published in London." He was also keen how the Pulse beat in England, particularly, the situation of the Gentry of Brompton Row (the home of Loyalist exiles including Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., Samuel Sewall and Robert Auchmuthy.6

Their first contact with Washington appears on 11 November 1780 after they missed an opportunity to meet in person in New Jersey, in which Richard Lloyd blamed on" very rapid ap[p]roach of Winter, and the Children being somewhat indisposed to day" which compelled him to "settle his family" at his home in Maryland.7 It appears that Washington continued assisting the Lloyds through 1783 according to extant letters. In late December she thanked Washington for the latest packet "from my Friends in England dated August, when" she reassured him, "they were all perfectly well," and asks for another packet to be sent "for New York," assuming he must find her requests, "very troublesome in sending letters so often but must trust your goodness to excuse it."8 In February, Washington replied and assured her "that your Letters do not give me the smallest trouble: Public business occasions such frequent intercourse between the two armies, by Flags, that if you were to write every week: your letters would never remain seven days in my hands for want of a conveyance to New York. I mention this matter to remove every possible scruple you may have on the score of trouble, & to prove how unnecessary it is to apologize for what you are pleased to call a liberty."9

In April 1783, Joanna Lloyd voiced her trepidations over the safety of their intermediary, Mr. White, and his family if the British evacuate the city, observing that "It appears that some threats have been thrown out by some persons in the Neighborhood of New York which has alarmed the Ladies much — If Sir you can with propriety calm the fears of this landy and Children you will confer a very great and particular favor on me & Mr. Lloyd," noting how the family had helped them when they first arrived in New York in 1780.10 In early May, Washington offered his advice, and what appears to be the final letter of their correspondence, explained that, "Mr White being among those characters which stand proscribed by the Laws of this State, can only be relieved by Legislative authority; and this is one of the points, which Congress by the Treaty is to recommend to the several States." But as to "Mrs White, & her children (who I am informed, propose to remain in New York) cannot, I persuade myself, be in danger of personal insult: your apprehensions therefore, on this score, may be calmed—In speaking this language, I not only give my own opinion, but the sentiments of some of the most respectable characters, of this State (N. York)."11

Following the war, Joanna Lloyd became estranged from her husband who apparently suffered from alcoholism and died in 1787 at his home at Bennett's point on the Wye River. By this time, Joanna had returned to England where she married Franics Love Beckford of Basing Park, Hampshire in in 1788. Provenance: Jared Sparks, letter of presentation to —George Bond.

For more information see: Amy Speckart. "The Colonial History of Wye Plantation, the Lloyd Family, and their The Colonial History of Wye Plantation, the Lloyd Family, and their Slaves on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Family, Property, and Power Slaves on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Family, Property, and Power." Ph.D. Diss., College of William and Mary, May 2011; Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, "Survival of the Fittest: The Lloyd Family's Furniture Legacy." American Furniture, 2002. (https://www.chipstone.org/article.php/139/American-Furniture-2002/Survival-of-the-Fittest:-The-Lloyd-Family%E2%80%99s-Furniture-Legacy).


________________________
1Joanna Leigh Lloyd to George Washington, Annapolis, 20 August 1782. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

2"I do not know under what description of character Mr White falls; but if he is of a class to render his departure from New York necessary it may not be amiss for Mrs Lloyd to pass her letters through some other channel than this, to prevent a circuitous rout & the delay & accidents consequent of such a removal. I take the liberty of offering this hint, from information (which I believe may be depended upon) that the Refugees & Loyalists are preparing to leave New York—Should he be of this number, her letters under cover to him, will run a hazard of being lost. Mr B. Watson, or Major Murry to whom you have already written on the subject, will probably remain there while the Enemy hold a footing in the City." George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

3Richard Bennett Lloyd to Benjamin Franklin, London, 10 April 1779. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992,), 29:301-303.

4Benjamin Franklin to Richard Bennett Lloyd, Paris, 4 May 1779. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, 29:429-430.

5Richard Bennett Lloyd to Benjamin Franklin, London, 8 Jan. 1780. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), 31:350-351.

6John Adams to Richard Bennett Lloyd, Paris, 20 February 1780. Papers of John Adams, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Robert J. Taylor, Richard Alan Reyerson, Celeste Walker, and Joanna M. Revelas. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989). 8:344-345.

7Richard Bennet Llloyd to George Washington, Elizabethtown, 11 November 1780. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

8Joanna Leigh Lloyd to George Washington, Annapolis, 20 December 1782. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

9George Washington to Joanna Leigh Lloyd, 15 February 1783.George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

10Joanna Leigh Lloyd to George Washington, Annapolis, 18 April 1783. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.

11George Washington to Joanna Leigh Lloyd, Tappan, 7 May 1783. George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.




Sale room notice

Please note that the letter is signed in the third person. This has been corrected in the description online.
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