As I intend to leave this City Tomorrow I take the Liberty of sending you the inclosed. I have just recd. a Letter from H. B. Livingston and his Brother John. Harry informs me that his Major had quitted the Service and that his Collo. has also resigned. These Places being vacant I think Harry should be made a Lieut-Coll immediately, for as the Lieut-Collo continues in the Service he certainly ought to have the Regiment. (1) John it seems has heard that the Congress were about employing a Person to purchase Goods at Montreal, and is desirous of that Appointment.(2)
By attending to these matters you will have the Satisfaction of obliging a worthy Family as well as your &c%%J-.J
1 This day Jay wrote a brief letter to Henry Beekman Livingston, assuring him "It gives me Pleasure to be informed that the Congress have now an Opportunity of conferring upon you a further Mark of their Esteem, and you may rest assured, that my Endeavours shall upon no occasion be wanting to promote every Measure calculated to reward Merit and advance your Prosperity." Robert R. Livingston Papers, DLC. Livingston's January 2 letter to Jay informing him "that there is a Vacant Majority for me, in the Regiment to which I belong, if I think proper to accept it," is in Jay, Papers (Morris), pp. 220-21. Livingston, then a captain in the Fourth New York Regiment, eventually became colonel of this regiment in November 1776, but even before then Congress appointed him lieutenant colonel of the Second New York Regiment, upon the recommendation of the New York Provincial Congress. See JCC, 4:190; and Am. Archives, 4th ser. 4:1531.
2 Jay also wrote a brief letter this day to John R. Livingston, explaining that "The Report of the Congress intending to send a Person to Montreal to purchase Goods, is, I believe, without foundation. Should such a measure be adopted, I will take the Liberty of recommending you to the Congress for that appointmt." Robert R. Livingston Papers, DLC. Although unsuccessful in his quest for a position as a contractor for the Continental Army, Livingston was engaged by the New York Provincial Congress in October 1776 to procure clothing for soldiers raised in that province. Am. Archives, 5th ser. 3:218.