Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO DR. BOUCHER. - The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775)

Return to Title Page for The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Subject Area: War and Peace
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO DR. BOUCHER. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. II (1758-1775) [1889]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889). Vol. II (1758-1775).

Part of: The Writings of George Washington, 14 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO DR. BOUCHER.

Mount Vernon, July 30th, 1770.

Dr. Sir,

The Books you wrote for I hope you will receive in good order by Joe, as I desired Lund Washington to pack them up carefully & see them put into the portmanteau. No thread came from Mr. Addison’s nor any from Mr. Digges, to which place I sent, thinking it might be arrived there along with Jack’s keys. We could easily have carried down, & most certainly should have done so, if it had ever got this length.

That there shoud be a dissatisfaction & murmuring at the Virginia Association (by those who are more strictly bound) I do not much wonder at, but it was the best that the friends to the cause coud obtain here, & tho’ too much relaxed from the spirit with which a measure of this sort ought to be conducted, yet will be attended with better effects (I expect) than the last, inasmuch as it will become general, & adopted by the trade. Upon the whole I think the people of Virgina have too large latitude & wish that the Inhabitants of the North may not have too little. What I woud be understood by it is, that their Public Virtue may not be put to too severe a Tryal to stand the Test much longer if their Importations are not equal to the Real Necessities of the People, whether it is or is not I cannot undertake to judge, but suppose they are not, by the defection of New York & attempts (tho’ unsuccessful as yet) in other places to admit a general Importation of goods, Tea only excepted.1 —As soon as you are able to get the Samples from Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Washington will be much obliged in having Joe sent with them. We set out this day for Fredericksburg. I expect to be back about the 9th or 10th of next month. My love attends Jack. I am &c.1

[1 ]He wrote to a correspondent in London in August, 1770:—“You will perceive, in looking over the several invoices, that some of the goods, there required, are upon condition, that the act of Parliament imposing a duty on tea, paper, &c. for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, is totally repealed; and I beg the favor of you to be governed strictly thereby, as it will not be in my power to receive any articles contrary to our non-importation agreement, which I have subscribed, and shall religiously adhere to, and should, if it were, as I could wish it to be, ten times as strict.”

[1 ]I am indebted to Miss Margaretta Hartley, of Carlisle, for the above letter.

“That my goods are for the most exceedingly dear bought, and the directions which are given for the choice of particular articles not always attended to. I have no scruples in declaring. The first is no otherwise to be proved than by a comparison of the prices and quantity: the second is to be evinced by numberless instances, two of which I shall give as the most recent and important. Having occasion for window glass for a house I was building I sent for my quantity 9 × 11, and got it in 8 × 10. This was a considerable disappointment, and no small disadvantage to me, but not equal to the one that followed upon the heels of it—I mean the chariot which I begged might be made of well seasoned materials, and by a masterly workman; instead of which it was made of wood so exceedingly grien that the panels slipped out of the mouldings before it was two months in use, split from one end to the other, and became so open at the joints, though every possible care was taken of it, that I expect very little further service from it with all the repairs I can bestow. Besides this, we frequently have slight goods and sometimes old and unsalable articles put off upon us, and at such advanced prices that one would be inclined to think the tradesmen did not expect to be paid in haste for them; for it is a fact, incontestably true, that linens and other articles that have their prices proportioned to their respective qualities are to be bought in the factor’s stores here almost as cheap as we import them, after the merchant has laid on a sufficient advance for his profit.”—To Robert Cary, 20 August, 1770.

In 1770 Washington had gone to the Philadelphia races, run under the auspices of the Jockey Club, an organization dating from 1766. The races were run in Center Square. In 1773 Washington and John Parke Custis were again in Philadelphia. In 1770 James Allen records in his Diary “Governor Eden and Colonel Washington are in Town come to the races. Water’s horse Herod won the £100 yesterday, and Mr. Delancey’s Sultana £50 to day The Town is very gay and invitations frequent. I asked Gov. Eden and Col. Washington to dinner, but they are engaged during their stay.”—Penn Mag. of Hist. and Biog. ix. 180, 181.