Life of Colonel Aaron Burr, vice-president of the United States. Also sketches of Rev. Aaron Burr, D. D., president of Princeton College, and of Theodosia, daughter of Colonel Burr and wife of Governor Alston of South Carolina

Preface

HPHE reasons for a book on Silas Deane are in the following facts: he was prominent and influential in the movements leading to the Revolu tion; he was on important committees in the First and Second Continental Congresses ; he was our first agent to France for the Insurgents; he forwarded military supplies, indispensable at Saratoga; he commissioned Lafayette, De Kalb, and Steuben; he served as Commissioner with Franklin and Arthur Lee, with whom he arranged and signed the treaties with France; unjustly recalled, he suffered for years from false and malicious charges ; reduced to poverty and misery, he died when em barking on a new enterprise; fifty years later, Congress vindicated his memory from the charge of embezzlement; his life was woven in with critical events; his career was checkered; the mistake of his life was serious, the sufferings extreme, the fate — a dramatic close of the career

of one of the most efficient of the men of the

i

Revolution.

vi Preface

It is high time that the truth were told about Deane, in the interests of justice to a man so mis understood and so wronged: because of the light thrown on critical years in which he was associated with Franklin, Morris, Jay, and others of their class; because of unexpected glimpses of shadows found in heroic times; because the study enables us to see more clearly the pillars on which our civil freedom rests, and the struggles and perils of those trying days.

In his endeavor to discover all the facts bearing on the case, to give all that seemed necessary toward forming a fair judgment of Silas Deane, and to present a clear view of his valuable services in behalf of his country in a crucial age, the author has been indebted to the librarians of the Con necticut Historical Society, the Watkinson Library, and the Connecticut State Library, and to his friend Edward Porritt, for many courtesies and suggestions.

The authorities consulted are the Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society; Collections of the New York Historical Society; Correspondence of Samuel B. Webb; Wharton's Diplomatic Cor respondence of the American Revolution; Life and Works of John Adams; Works of Jared Sparks; Colonial Records of Connecticut; Durand's New

Preface vii

Material on the American Revolution; J. B. Per kins's France in the American Revolution; Lives of Franklin, Morris, and Jay; and articles in magazines.

G. L. C.

Wethersfield, Connecticut.

May /, ig 13.

Contents

PAGES

Chapter I

Silas Deane a Merchant in Wethersfield — Born in Groton in 1737 — Graduates from Yale in 1758 — Practises Law in Wethersfield — Marries Mehitabel Webb in 1763 — Later Marries Elizabeth Saltonstall — Becomes a Pros perous Merchant — How the People Lived in a Puritan Village 1-12

Chapter II

Deane's Activity in the Political Struggles before the Revolution — The Stimulating Atmosphere of Patriot ism— Jared Ingersoll Resigns his Commission — Wethersfield Sends Supplies to Boston — Deane Sent to Legislature in 1772 — Secretary of Committee of Correspondence .... I3~2°

Chapter III

Deane, Sherman, and Dyer Represent Connecticut in the Continental Congress in 1774 — Deane's Opinion of Sherman, Washington, and Patrick Henry — Deane and Others Organize and Finance the Ticonteroga Expedition — Formulates Rules for Navy — Serves orf Committees with Morris, Washington, Franklin, and Jay — Discussions in Congress — Deeply Interested in Forming a Navy ..... 21-37

ix

Contents

Chapter IV

Deane's Mission to France — Colonists Need Firearms and Ammunition — Committee of Correspondence Send Deane to Paris — Burdened with the Responsibility — Wethersfield Merchant in Gay French Capital — Asks for Supplies for Twenty-five Thousand Men — Well Supplied with Good Advice — Obliged to Buy without Money — Hindrances from British . . . 38-51

Chapter V

Deane, Vergennes, and Beaumarchais — Romantic Story of Beaumarchais — Arthur Lee's Flowery Talk with Beau marchais — Vergennes a Sterling Friend of America — Ingenious Plan of Beaumarchais — Deane Arrives in Paris in July — Supplies are Shipped and Tobacco Called for in Return — Lee's Falseness Confuses Con gress — Beautiful Letters are Sent to France but Little Tobacco — Ultimate Ruin of Beaumarchais . 52-72

Chapter VI

Deane Forwards Military Supplies — The French Insist on Sending Officers with the Artillery — Soldiers of For tune— De Kalb's Plan to Put Broglie in Place of Washington — Deane's Anxieties and Perplexities — Commissions Steuben — Eight Ships Sail for Ports mouth with Supplies ..... 73~9i

Chapter VII

Franklin and Lee Join Deane in Paris — Fitness of Franklin for the Office of Commissioner — His Fame in Paris —

Contents xi

PAGES

Early History of Arthur Lee — Lee's Towering Ambition — Duplicity — Deane's Resolute Plea — The French Wary — News of Burgoyne's Surrender to an Army Equipped from French Arsenals — Treaty Signed Feb. 6, 1778— Death of Elizabeth Deane . . . 92-109

Chapter VIII

The Recall — Excitement over News of Saratoga — Congress Calls Deane Home to Report on the State of Europe — Deane Urges Vergennes to Send over a Fleet — Deane Crosses the Atlantic in the Flagship of the Fleet — Com parison of Deane and Lee — Jealousy of the Latter — Lee Poisons the Minds of Leaders in America — Conspiracy against Franklin — Deane bears Letters from Vergen nes, Franklin, and Beaumarchais — Deane's Success in Paris ........ 110-132

Chapter IX

The Hostility of Congress — A Frosty Reception — Delay in Calling Deane to Report — Effects of Lee's Lying Letters — Gang of Conspirators — Carmichael and Izard Work with Lee — Months of Delay — Forty-two Appeals — Congress at Low Ebb — Deane's Address of Dec. 5, 1778 — Excitement over the Drastic Appeal — Thomas Paine Takes a Hand— Morris Defends Deane— Bitter Debate — Franklin's Opinion of Lee . . 133-159

Chapter X

Deane's Second Mission to France a Failure — Morris Sym pathizes — Deane's Anxiety as he Returns to Paris — Charges against Deane — Sympathy of Beaumarchais — xii Contents

PAGES

Gathering Gloom — Deane Talks too Much — Poverty and Worry — Fever ..... 160-181

Chapter XI

Deane's Republicanism Weakens — "Paris Papers" — Nine Intercepted Letters — Doubts over the Future of America — Gloomy Views of a Discouraged Man . 182-192

Chapter XII

Deane an Exile in Holland— Cornwallis Crushed while Deane Despairs — Publication of Intercepted Letters — Charge of Bribery — Tom Paine Happy — Franklin Loses Confidence in Deane — Beaumarchais' Friendli ness — Increasing Poverty — Jay's Advice — Hard Times for the Exile ....... 193-214

Chapter XIII

Isolation, Poverty, and Misery in England — Illness of Jesse Deane — Business Sends Deane to England — Benedict Arnold Calls — Animosity Continues — Address to America — Charged with Influencing England against America — Laurens's Charges — Distress, Hun ger, and Robbery ...... 215-243

Chapter XIV

Deane's Last Enterprise and its Failure — Plan for a Canal from Champlain to St. Lawrence — Delay because of Illness — Palsied Limbs and Sinking Heart — Final Ap peals for Justice — Sails from Deal, England, Sept. 23, 1789 — Dies on Ship and Buried in Deal . . 244-253

Contents xiii

PAGES

Chapter XV

The Vindication— Reports of Death and Comments — Charge of Atheism, Post-mortem Slander — Memorial to Congress in 1835— Charges Exploded— In 1842, Thirty-seven Thousand Dollars Voted to Deane's Heirs — Ver dict Concerning Deane's Character — In No Sense a Traitor, but an Honest, Effective, though at Length Discouraged Man ... . 254-271

Chapter I Silas Deane A Merchant In Wethersfield

IN the summer of 1633, venturesome and trying John Oldham gave the Massachusetts people a little rest, and ascended the Connecticut to the little Indian hamlet of Pyquag, a part of the sachemdom of the chieftain Soheag, who reigned at what is now Middletown, twelve miles down river.

Attracted by the glorious elms, rich and sightly uplands, broad meadows fertilized by freshets every spring, waters teeming with fish, it is no wonder that this pioneer in the following year led a band of adventurers from Watertown, Massachusetts, and building their log houses just beyond the space visited by the spring floods, they settled the ancient town of Wethersfield.

In the autumn of i635,Winthrop tells us, "About sixty men, women, and little children went by land toward Connecticut with their cows, horses, and swine, and after a tedious and difficult journey, arrived there."

The next period of a century and a half was likewise tedious. Welcomed by the friendly Indians along the river, as avenues of trade and allies against the dangerous Mohawks and Pequots, they bought a tract of land six miles square, laid out their roads, built their homes, their church and fortress, and entered upon a century and a half of hard work and peril. There were years when no one could be sure that a band of braves was not lurking in the forest for months, waiting for the right time for the midnight attack. Again and again the citizen soldiers marched out of the village streets on the Pequot campaign, to Deerfield, Albany, for deadly Havana, to Louisburg, Crown Point, Ticonteroga, and Quebec. The campaign of 1762 ended the long contest known as the "Old French War."

In that year, Silas Deane, a young lawyer from Yale, put up his shingle in the towrn of Wethersfield, which, despite its struggles and losses, had grown wealthy and prosperous with cultivating the soil, manufactures, and a brisk shipping trade.

Merchant in Wethersfield 3

Silas Deane, son of Silas Deane, a blacksmith of Groton, Connecticut, was born December 24, I737> graduated from Yale in the class of 1758, taught school, after the custom of his time, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1761.

The prosperous town, which was to be his home for twelve years, had a population of 2500 inhabit ants, and a grand list three quarters as large as that of Hartford. It was decidedly inviting to the young lawyer, who saw no necessity for starting at the foot of the ladder, but had the nerve to marry on October 8, 1763, Mehitabel, widow of Mr. Joseph Webb, five years his senior, and blessed with six children and a thriving store.

Squire Deane threw himself into commercial life with all his energy, and before long he was widely known as a man of enterprise, vigor, and good judgment.

In 1764, he built a substantial house just north of his store, and soon afterwards a boy, Jesse, his only child, was born. On October 13, 1767, his wife died of consumption, and later he married Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall of Norwich.

There was a large assortment in the population of Wethersfield during those twelve years, while Deane practised his calling of merchant, trader, and politician. It ranged all the way from Mrs. Joseph Smith, who paid two pounds and ten shillings for a pair of red shoes, to the squaw slave owned by Rector Elisha Williams.

It startles us a little to think that in those days of blossoming freedom there should have been slaves in a Puritan village; but one in twenty-five was negro or Indian, and many of these humble people were slaves. The upright Leonard Chester owned a "Neager Maide, " appraised at twenty -five pounds. Some of the slaves were offered their freedom if they would serve three years in the army.

We must not press too far the question as to the origin of these lowly helpers. We know the origin of the Indian slaves. Long enough the steal thy red men carried terror and loss to the hamlets by the Great River. No wonder some of their descendants were kept washing dishes and hoe ing corn.

Whether negroes were brought home in Wethersfield sloops, odds and ends of human cargoes landed in Southern ports, it is perhaps neither discreet nor kind to ask. There were New Eng land ships in the slave-trade. Thrifty captains left our ports for Lisbon, or the Canary Islands, "and a market"; the market was the west coast

Merchant in Wethersfield 5

of Africa, and on the return there came a load of blacks for the West Indies, Charleston, or Savannah.

While not exciting, there was much variety in the life of Wethersfield. A weekly paper, The Connecticut C our ant, came to town from Hartford, four miles up river, after April, 1764. There was no post-office until April I, 1794, and no stage-coach until after the Revolution, but a public wagon went through the town at inter vals of a few days, for the town was on the great road from Boston to New York.

A central feature of the life of the village was the church, whose noble meeting-house was building when Deane was wooing Mehitabel; and in the church he had a prominent place. The records tell us that when the society voted to "discontinue the present method of lining out the Psalms," Colonel Chester, Deacon May, and Silas Deane were appointed to arrange the stations of those who should carry the principal parts of the singing.

It was at a time when the formalities of religion were rigidly required. It was an expensive thing to stay away from church. Not many miles down river the setting sun one Saturday found a man half -shaven, owing perhaps to a dull razor or a week's tough growth of beard, but he was in church the next day with a muffler over his half -shaven face.

How much religion Deane drank in we do not know. His earlier letters contain occasional specimens of the language of religion, but after he went to France they became less frequent.

A wide variety of industries was carried on in the town. The first gristmill in the colony, "come mill," it was called, was built on Mill Brook, a mile south of the village, in 1635. Later, windmills were used to grind grain, and sawmills were operated by wind and water. "Brick mills" prepared material for many substantial houses and capacious chimneys with their enormous ovens, on Fort Street, Sandy Lane, Jordan Lane, Main and Broad Streets. There were several tanneries at the time of which we write, and Ephraim Williams' s account book, covering 1746 to 1760, gives an interesting story of a merchant currier and shoemaker, who re ceived prices for boots and shoes which seem extravagant in our more economical days. Colo nel Israel Williams of Hartford paid him four pounds for a pair of double-channelled pumps, and for a pair of double-channelled boots the price was fourteen pounds.

Merchant in Wethersfield 7

Boots were one of the extravagances which the Puritans did not give up: the leather in one pair would be enough for six pairs of shoes, and those great square-toed casings would last a lifetime, and become an heirloom. Captain Jonathan Robbins had several pairs of silk shoes made for his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and pumps for his son, Apple ton.

When Washington was in town, a guest in the Webb house, in May, 1781, he was measured for a pair of boots by a first-class Wethersfield shoe maker.

The " smithy" was a far more important establishment than nowadays, for axes, chisels, ploughs, hoes, spades, nails, and spikes were made there, as well as shoes for horses and cattle. The fuel for the smithy was charcoal. There were so many coal pits in one section of the town it was called "Collier Swamp."

A prominent industry was pipe staves, mostly of oak, put up in bundles or "shooks" and shipped to the West Indies for hogsheads or casks for rum, molasses, and sugar.

Clothiers and tailors were hard at work, and the year Deane reached town Rev. John Marsh was credited on Jonathan Buckley's account book with ''making one pair Leather Breeches — four shillings, sixpence. "

Hats, too, were "felted" from the fur of the muskrat from the river, and sold in New York.

Ropes and cordage were in great demand for the rigging of the ships made at Stepney, a hamlet of Wethersfield four miles below. Hemp was raised as early as 1640, and "hemp mills" and a rope- walk were indispensable.

Fish, a leading attraction to the early settlers, was abundant almost to superfluity in the river before the days of chemicals and sewage. Salmon and shad were sold in Hartford in 1700 for "less than a penny a pound. " Fishes were sometimes piled up on a corner lot for sale: and it was con sidered disreputable for any but "poor folks" to eat shad. Apprentices, in binding themselves to their masters, frequently stipulated that salmon should not be served them as food oftener than twice a week. Fish made a first-class fertilizer: a shad in a hill of corn was as strong a plant food as a handful of phosphate.

The staple crops were grass, Indian corn, Indian beans, barley, rye, peas, onions, and

Merchant in Wethersfield 9

tobacco. Tobacco was a valuable export to the West Indies. The famous Wethersfield, large red onions were cultivated mainly by the women, who were seldom too high-minded to shrink from the lowly task of weeding them. Women were fond of bunching them; sitting around a heap of fragrant bulbs, they dressed off the butcher, dis sected the doctor, did up the grocer, measured the tailor, sized up the shoemaker, hammered the blacksmith, and dozed over the minister.

We wish it were not necessary to mention another industry, but they did have distilleries. Farmers appreciated the still for it made a mar ket for their rye, and on all occasions, from a barn raising to the ordination of the minister, flip was a favorite beverage.

Apples were common after 1750, when orchards began to come into bearing, and since there were scarcely any winter varieties, the juice of the apples could be preserved in barrels, to cheer and sometimes inebriate, through the long cold months. Cider was displacing at meals the beer, which the women had brewed as regularly and conscien tiously as they made rye bread.

It was a neighborly kind of life the people lived ; when farmers butchered, they exchanged spareribs and quarters of beef and lamb. The common table ware was of pewter; there were no carpets in the spare room beneath the gambrel-roof , but what furniture there was, was substantial, well made, though not always comfortable. The cherry clocks, highboys, lowboys, chests, and oaken chairs which have come down to us speak of a sterling age.

The food of that time was varied. The Yankee cooks were skillful in concocting dishes whose mysteriousness would puzzle us to-day. No doubt there came upon Deane' s table berries of all kinds, quinces, cherries, damsons, peaches, arti chokes, grapes, and walnuts, put into all kinds of preserves, conserves, pickles, candies, syrups, and cordials. He enjoyed peas, turnips, carrots, cu cumbers, beef, pork, lamb, geese, turkeys, and chickens. Potatoes had a limited use, but apples were wrought into tarts, shrub, dowdy, puff, and the celebrated pie. Pumpkin pie was also a famous dainty.

The store in which Deane did business stood high, and was reached by five long stone steps, one of which is in front of the present post-office. He kept a large variety of goods : flour, molasses, sugar, rope, knives, Barcelona handkerchiefs, sieves, fustian, buttons. In 1765, he advertised in The Connecticut Courant a quantity of choice

Merchant in Wethersfield n

brandy, which he was willing to part with at a very low rate for cash, either by the hogshead, barrel, or keg, also hemp seed at twenty shillings a bushel.

The Great River was a convenient thoroughfare for extensive ventures, shipping lumber, barrel staves, horses, cattle, tobacco, and onions to the West Indies and Europe. Wethersfield was in full sympathy with the rest of New England in com mercial activity. In 1760, the first lighthouse was erected on the coast, paid for by a lottery authorized by the General Assembly.

In 1768, Captain John Bulkley was running a sloop from Wethersfield to the Caribbean Islands, carrying oxen, horses, and cows. Trade was springing up with Ireland, whither was sent flaxseed, then and long afterward a staple pro duction. Flour and lumber were carried to Gibraltar and Barbary. Vessels carried fish to Lisbon and Bilboa, and brought back wines. Lumber and potashes were shipped to England. Beef and pork loaded many a sloop bound for New York and the West Indies, bringing back molasses, sugar, and spices.

The river was a busy place, and the life of the young merchant was far from narrow in his store or at the wharves, fitting out vessels, corresponding with business men near and far, caring for his large household, attending to the duties of the church and the merry social life, in that short breathing spell between the Old French War and the terrible Revolution, whose thunder clouds were beginning to fill thoughtful minds with dread.

Chapter II Deane's Activity In The Political Struggles ( Before The Revolution

'T'HE three river towns, Hartford, Wethersfield, * and Windsor, held from an early date ad vanced views concerning the principles which led to the Revolution. Their settlement was due more to a democratic reaction against the aristocratic views of Winthrop and Cotton as to government, than to a desire for land. At first, the river towns were governed by a commission established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but four years after the settlement began the people felt at liberty to govern themselves, and on January 14, 1639, the constitution of the new colony was adopted; and into that constitution was written Thomas Hooker's democratic theory of government.

Suffrage was granted to all free men, the princi ple of representative democracy was applied to the infant state without reservation, and authority was traced to the free suffrage of free men. This famous document, the constitution of 1639, marks an epoch in the civil history of the world. It put into action for the first time the declaration made by Thomas Hooker, in his sermon, May 31, 1638, "that the foundation of authority is laid firstly in the free consent of the people. "

Thus, for the first time in history, the delegates of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor crystallized into a written constitution the principles of de mocracy, which for centuries had been slowly evolving in England, and later had such splendid expression in the Constitution of the United States, a constitution which has become the model for all democracies. It is the first written constitution defining its own powers. With such a past, we are not surprised that Wethersfield, in the time of Deane, had a keen interest in the political events that led to the Revolution.

Opposition to the Stamp Act was as pronounced in Connecticut as in the Bay Colony, and, as early as 1765, the Sons of Liberty from the eastern towns joined with those on the river in bold defiance of the obnoxious measure.

Jared Ingersoll of New Haven, the stamp-master newly appointed by the Crown, met with such determined resistance that he was obliged to resign his office. This opposition appeared first

Zeal for Freedom 15

in New Haven, New London, and Windham counties, but, evading the demand for his resig nation, he started on horseback for Hartford where the General Assembly was about to meet. For a part of the way he was attended by Governor Fitch to protect him from insult. On his way up the river, when within a few miles of Wether sfield, Ingersoll was met by a party of four or five mounted men ; half a mile farther he was met by a second squad, and they all rode silently together until they came to a company of five hundred free holders, all mounted, and armed with long, heavy sticks, from which the bark had been peeled, giving them a resemblance to the staves of office carried by sheriffs and constables. This force, led by one Durkee, with two fully uniformed militia officers acting as aids, and heralded by three trumpeters, rode, two abreast; and with quiet courtesy, opening ranks to receive the stamp collector, they closed silently around and behind him. We think we can imagine his feelings, and the cool-headed, humorous Tory saw the comical side of the affair, for when one of his escort quizzi cally inquired of him what he thought of him self attended by such a retinue, Ingersoll, who chanced to be riding a white horse, quickly replied that he now had a clearer idea than ever before of that passage in the Revelation, which speaks of " Death on a pale horse and all hell following. "

Reaching the immense elm in front of the Colonel Chester mansion on Broad Street, the procession halted, and demanded that the matter be settled there. The stalwart farmers would brook no delay, and Ingersoll, reading the faces of his opponents, said, "The cause is not worth dying for," and wrote and signed his resigna tion. He was then persuaded to shout three times, " Liberty and Property. " After dinner the mounted men attended Ingersoll to Hartford, where he again read his resignation and the Sons of Liberty dispersed.

Not long after this, the people of Wethersfield had an opportunity to show their spirit of oppo sition to the encroachments of King George. In April, 1768, the merchants of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York made a compact to unite in stopping the importation of goods from Great Britain. The Connecticut merchants kept the agreement with more fidelity than those of New York, and this led to a general convention of delegates from all the towns of the Connecticut colony to "take into consideration the perilous condition of the country, to provide for the growth and spread of home manufactures, and

Zeal for Freedom 17

to devise more thorough means for carrying out to the letter the non-importation agreement." The spirit of the people was manifested in the resolutions passed by the town meetings.

At a meeting held in Wethersfield, December 25, 1769, it was

Voted that it is and ever has been the opinion of this town that the late acts of Parliament commonly called the American Revenue Acts, imposing certain duties on paper, glass, etc., are in themselves un constitutional, offensive, and tending to that total subversion of the liberties of his Majesty's subjects in America ; that the opposition made thereto through out the Continent has been noble, just, firm, and deserving of highest applause through every age.

That in particular the resolution against import ing goods of merchandise from Great Britain, until said Acts are repealed, so genuinely and unanimously come into by the merchants in America, and so uni versally approved of by the people, is worthy of the highest commendation, as being the most effectual method for obtaining relief, — Do resolve to abide by the same, and as far as possible to prevent the least breach thereof by any of the inhabitants of this town or others : nor will we purchase nor use nor consume any goods imported contrary to said agreement, so universally come into.

And, for the more effectual preventing any counter acting said resolution, we do appoint Messeurs. Silas Deane, Ezekiel Williams, Elisha Williams, David Webb, and Elias Williams, a committee, directing them, with the utmost vigilance and care to guard against and prevent any attempt to put in execution so fatal and infamous a purpose as that of sacrificing the good of this Continent and their posterity to pri vate gain and emolument: desiring them to corre spond and consult with, as well as aid and assist, the other committees appointed in the neighboring towns and elsewhere for this purpose.

On February 20, 1774, when Connecticut mer chants declared non-intercourse against the mer chants of .'Newport, charging them with infraction of the non-importation agreement, designed to coerce England into a fuller acknowledgment of American rights, Deane was clerk of the meeting, and signed the circular.

Unwilling to wait for the formal action of the General Assembly in October, the people of Wethersfield met in the Congregational meeting-house in June, to express sympathy with Boston, which was suffering from the Port Bill. Resolutions of sympathy were passed, and a committee appointed to receive contributions from the people and for ward them to Boston, and the first name on the list of contributors is Silas Deane. In October, 1772, Deane took his place with Captain Belden in the General Assembly, of which he was a member until two years later, when he was sent to the Continental Congress.

Zeal for Freedom 19

We look in vain for many exciting incidents in the legislation of those years. A large part of the energy of the law makers was exercised in ap pointing officers for the trainbands in the different towns. It was voted that Deane and three others be appointed a committee to receive money to be raised by a lottery, to erect buoys and other signals on Say brook Bar.

It was voted, in 1772, that a horse thief should be fined and publicly whipped, and sent to jail for three months, and on the first Monday of the other two months, he was to receive publicly ten more lashes.

On May 21, 1773, a letter having been received from the House of Burgesses of Virginia concern ing the support of the ancient, legal, and con stitutional rights, it was voted in the Connecticut Assembly that a standing committee of nine be appointed, called a Committee of Correspondence, "whose business it shall be to obtain all such in telligence, and keep up and maintain a correspond ence and communication with our sister colonies. " Deane was the zealous and efficient secretary of this committee.

In the same year, he was appointed on an im portant committee concerning western lands, in the settlement of the Susquehanna Claims.

In March, 1774, the governor of Connecticut sent to the Earl of Dartmouth, a British Secre tary of State, a letter complaining of the dis sensions due to British aggression, and of the unlimited powers claimed by Parliament, which were driving the Americans to the border of de spair; expressing deep sympathy with Boston, whose closed port had wrought such distress; and while insisting that the interests of the two countries were identical, yet calling for relief. One of the six men of the lower house appointed to confer with a committee of the upper house on this matter was Deane.