vania) towards the excise Officers?-and does there seem to be a disposition among those with whom you converse, to bring them to a sense of their duty, & obedience to law by coercion, if, after they are fully notified by Proclamation & other expedients of the consequences of such outrageous proceedings, they do not submit to the Laws of the United States, & suffer the Collection of the duties upon Spirituous Liquors, & Stills, to be made as in other places?—In a word, would their be any difficulty, as far as the matter has passed under your observation in drawing out a part of the Militia of Loudon, Berkeley, & Frederick to quell this rebellious spirit, & to support order & good government?—You will readily perceive that questions of this sort from me to you & your answers are for my private information, & to go no further than ourselves. I am sorry to hear that your bad state of health requires the Waters of Bath, but hope they will restore you-My love (in which Mrs Washington unites) is offered to Mrs Ball & the family [Endorsed:] To Col. B. Ball I am--Y: Affecte. G. WASHINGTON 10 Aug! '94 [No. 17. To TOBIAS LEAR.] DEAR SIR, GERMAN TOWN 28th Aug 1794 Mr Johnson & Doct! Stuart having resolved to withdraw themselves as Commissioners of the Federal City, & not to act after the meeting which is proposed to be held on the 15th of next month, it has become necessary to appoint two others in their places. One of whom, it is said, ought to possess a considerable stock of legal abilities as cases are frequently occurring to render Law knowledge necessary for the purposes of deciding on points of law depending thereon as for the draughting of agreements & other instruments which are requisite in the progress of the business. M: Scott (at present of Baltimore) a gentleman eminent in the profession of the Law-a man of character & fortune-and one who has the welfare of the New City much at heart has been applied to and accepts the appointed trust.—And if it is convenient & agreeable to you to accept also the commission will be again compleated and the business go on without interruption from & after the ensuing meeting as before. It has been found from experience, indispensibly necessary that the Commissioners should reside in the City (in George Town would be tantamount) and devote, by some arrangement among themselves, much of their time to the multitudinous concerns of the same-thereby superceding the necessity of employing a Superintendent. As the rendering of such duties are not to be expected on the terms the late Commissioners served (and two of them decline it under any terms) I have fixed the Salary for each at Sixteen hundred dollars p! annum. Were it not that I am unwilling to add any thing that might carry with it the appearance of influencing your judgment, in the decision you are called upon to make in this case, I shḍ have expressed a wish that it might be found convenient to you accept the appointment.-—If however, you should find it incompatible with your other plans & views and decline the acceptance I pray you to let me know, as far as you may be able to discover, in how respectable a light Doct! Thornton stands, or would be considered by the Proprietors of the federal City (amongst whom he spent sometime in the Month of July last).—The Doct! is sensible, and indefatigable I am told, in the execution of whatever he engages;-To which may be added his taste for architecture, but being little known doubts arise on that head.—If (in case of your non-acceptance) any other person or persons sh occur to you as fit for this business, be so good as to mention (under the Rose) their names to me. The appointment is necessary, & can be delayed no longer With very great esteem & regard It has not been in my power to acknowlege, with convenience, the receipt of your letter of the 14th ult until now;-first, because it did not get to my hands until my return from the Westward, and 2dly, because my attention, ever since to the present moment, has been occupied in examining the various papers on which my communications to Congress were to be founded. I do not see how any one can decide so well on the project you have in contemplation as yourself, who has a view of all the circumstances of the case, before you; and who know how far so important a change in the scene, as that of transplanting yourself and family into a new country, is reconcilable to your feelings & dispositions.—and because, from the enquiries you have undoubtedly made, you must better know than any other who has not turned his thoughts to the subject, what you can sell for here, and buy at there.— It has always been my opinion that new countries (by this I mean the interior of our own) are the best to lay the foundation of wealth, in as much as lands which, comparatively speaking, are to be had there cheap, rise in a fourfold ratio. to what they do in the Atlantic Sea.—and it is to this circumstance, and the opportunities of acquiring them (by being in the scene) that the advantages consist.-as, until the navigation of the Mississippi can be obtained, or the communication between the Eastern & Western Waters be made more easy, than is the case at present, the principal demand for the product of the land is found in the emigrants who resort to it. To this cause also, is to be ascribed the rapidly increasing prices of those Lands. In one part of your letter, you talk of removing to Kentucky; and in another, of vesting money in lands to West of the Ohio, which creates a doubt as to your principal view. You are not uninformed, I presume, that there is no land office open at this time in the last mentioned District; and that there is no means by which land can be obtained there, at present, except by purchase of Army rights, or from some of those companies to whom Congress have sold large tracts: -and in the present stage of our disputes with the Indians, that no settlement is thought safe from the scalping knife, that is not under the protection of some fort. The same indeed may be said of the frontiers of Kentucky, while the central lands in that state are, as I am informed, selling very high. But of these facts. you must be better informed than I am. I should think it perfectly expedient-so soon as you shall have resolved to sell your lands on Rappahanock-to advertise it in all the principal Gazettes, from Richmond to New York inclusively; and not to be too hasty in disposing of it, except for a very good price; as there are reasons to believe that in the course of this winter and the ensuing spring and summer, many men of property from Europe will remove to this country, or send over their property, with a view to invest it, either in our funds, or in lands.— With respect to the other species of property, concerning which you ask my opinion, I shall frankly declare to you that I do not like even to think, much less talk of it. However, as you have put the question, I shall, in a few words, give you my ideas of it.-Were it not then, that I am principled agt selling negroes, as you would do cattle at a market, I would not, in twelve months from this date, be possessed of one as a slave.-I shall be happily mistaken, if they are not found to be a very troublesome species of property ere many years pass over our heads (but this by the bye)—For this reason-and because there is but little sale for what is raised in the western country, it remains for you to consider whether their value would not be more productive in lands, reserving enough for necessary purposes, than to carry many of them, there. My love to Mrs. Spotswood and the family. I am-Dear Sir Your Affecte Servant G: WASHINGTON General SPOTSWOOD. [Endorsed:] To Gen! A. Spotswood 23d Nov: 94. JOSEPH REED ON THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1778. (From the original manuscript in the Emmet Collection, New York Public Library.) DEAR SIR Your Politeness & Attention during my short Stay at York Town have left such Impressions on my Mind that I cannot but take every Oppy to shew my very sincere Regard & Respect.-And as the late Intelligence from England is both interesting & curious I have taken the Liberty to inclose you Extracts from a Letter received from a Relation there formerly Agent for one of the States, & a Letter from Gov! Johnstone one of the Commissioners lately arrived. If they are not otherwise useful they will for a few minutes soften & relieve that intense Application to Business which adorns the Patriot, while it weakens the Man. To these I have also added a Copy of my Answer to the Govern', the Opinion I have given is so universal on the great Subject of their Commission, that I cannot suppose there is the least Danger that the Reply of Congress will set our Claim upon lower Ground. And as Politeness required an Answer, Sincerity & Candor would not allow me to flatter him.-One Part of my Brothers Letter which seems to intimate the Admission of our Independence, if claimed by a new Congress chosen after the present Terms are propounded, appears to me to deserve particular Attention as an insidious manovre to distract & divide us. Your good Judgment will lead you to make such Use of it as you think best to guard against the Mischief intended— indeed any Use you please of the whole except printing them which I do not conceive myself altogether at Liberty to do.—The Fact alluded to in my Letter & evincive of the base Duplicity of the former Commissioners is proved by their Letter laid before the House of Lords last Session of Parliament & now printed in the parliamentary Register sent me among other Papers by Gov! Johnstone. Unless it can receive some Explanation I am not capable of giving it I cannot conceive a more palpable Treachery & ineffable Meanness. I cannot but congratulate you, Sir, on the respectable Appearance of our Army & their Improvement in Discipline & every soldierly Quality-On the Extinction of every Spark of Discontent & Faction against the best of Men & the Regularity with which the several Departments seem now to be conducted. To the latter I ascribe very much of the former, as the Attention & Care of the General being no longer called off from his Command to exercise the Duties of the Staff-his Time & Talents are devoted more directly to the military Duty of his Troops-the happy Consequences of which are more & more conspicuous every Day.-I have now been here near two Weeks (great Part of the Time waiting for M! Dana to complete the Business of the Arrangement of the Army) & can assure you that in the whole Time I have not heard a single Complaint of those Departments which formerly afforded so many-nor indeed of any other-I will not tax your Politeness with an answer to this Letter, I know the Nature & Extent of your Engage ments do not admit the Waste of a Moment-but I shall nevertheless do myself the Honour of communicating any Occurrencies here which are of Importance & not likely to reach you thro the publick Channel. With every Sentiment of Respect & Esteem I remain Sir Your very Obed. Hbble Serv. Jos: REED P. S. As I have not Time to copy the Governours Letter I have inclosed the original which you will be so obliging as to return me under Cover when you have made what Use you please of it-Upon farther Consideration I have thought best to delay an Answer to the Governours Letter least as the great Subject is under the Consideration of Congress I might say too much or too little & have therefore only concluded to send a bare complimentary Letter of Acknowledgment which is not worth troubling you with. [To Henry Laurens, York, Penn. ?] The letter is not addressed, but the endorsement is apparently in the handwriting of Henry Laurens. It is not mentioned in Wm. B. Reed's Life of Joseph Reed. |