During the late summer and fall of 1780, Jay’s heavy burden of diplomatic duties was hardly lightened by the receipt of a flurry of letters from a longtime friend, Silas Deane. As agent of two secret committees of Congress, Deane had been dispatched to France in April 1776 to secure supplies and explore the possibilities of French recognition and alliance. He later was named commissioner, along with Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin. Accused by his enemies of lining his own pockets during his extensive operations abroad, he was recalled by Congress in 1778 to answer charges. The Deane-Lee affair rocked Congress during the very months when JJ served as its president.1 Since Jay had been a steadfast supporter, it was only natural that Deane, on his return to Paris to straighten out his tangled accounts, should seek to reestablish contact with America’s plenipotentiary to Spain, especially since he sought Jay’s intervention in winning approval for a contract with Spain for masts and naval stores.2

Ultimately, embittered by the seeming ingratitude of Congress, Deane embarked upon a course of correspondence with Jay and other prominent Patriots, which was to climax in October-December of 1781 with an overt appeal to prominent revolutionary leaders to give up the struggle for independence,3 a move allegedly prompted by an opportunity for a mere £3,000 in trade.4

Before the open break, however, Deane, unable to obtain settlement of his accounts or to recoup his fortune, became vociferously critical of American politics and the intentions of America’s allies, while anticipating improved prospects for negotiations with Britain due to changes in the ministry. Although Jay did not entirely agree with Deane’s assessments of French and Spanish policy, Deane’s letters exacerbated Jay’s suspicions regarding the reliability of allied support for America’s independence and its other peace objectives. Their information related to Deane’s difficulties settling his accounts also fueled Jay’s anxiety about the settlement of the accounts of his Spanish mission, causing him to postpone his return to America until a settlement had been reached.5

Upon first hearing of Deane’s discourse, Jay had advised prudence.6 Not anticipating Deane’s public defection, he continued to receive and respond to Deane’s letters in 1781, assuring him that he was “far from being indifferent” to affairs that concerned Deane personally, and giving Deane expert advice on how best to prepare his defense regarding his accounts.7 However, upon learning of Deane’s published letters, Jay commented to Franklin that Deane’s “mortifications had poisoned his Heart and turned his Brain” before excising that phrase and replacing it with “had an unhappy Influence on his Heart as well as his Head. I confess I had a better opinion of them both.”8

Subsequent to his public exposure, Deane, writing from Ghent, called on both Franklin and Jay to defend his character from the charge of being a war profiteer.9 Franklin responded affirmatively,10 but there is no record of Jay’s having complied. The Jay-Deane correspondence came to an abrupt climax with a note from Jay of 22 February 1783:

I write thus plainly and fully, because I still indulge an idea that your head may have been more to blame than your heart, and that in some melancholy desponding hour, the disorder of your nerves infected your opinions and your pen. God grant that this may prove to have been the case, and that I may yet have reason to resume my former opinion, that you were a valuable, a virtuous, and a patriotic man. Whenever this day may happen, I will, with great and sincere satisfaction, again become Your friend.11

Deane was subsequently alleged to have assisted the composition of Lord Sheffield’s pamphlet in support of British commercial restrictions against England’s former colonies, and also to have hobnobbed with Benedict Arnold in England.12 Consequently, Jay declined to meet with Deane during his visit to England in 1783 and vowed to continue to avoid contact until such time as Deane could establish his innocence of the various charges against him. His last letter to Deane was written on 23 February 1784,13 and thereafter Deane does not appear again among Jay’s correspondents until 1789, when the expatriate wrote on the verge of his planned return to America.14