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TO JOHN WEST. - 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.
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TO JOHN WEST.Mount Vernon, 13 January, 1775. Sir,Your letter of the 8th, which is just handed to me, could not have given you more pain in writing, than it has given me in reading, because I never deny or even hesitate in granting any request, that is made to me, especially by persons I esteem, and in matters of moment, without feeling inexpressible uneasiness. I do not wonder at your solicitude on account of your only son. The nurturing and bringing him up in a proper course is, no doubt, an object of great concern to you, as well as importance to him; but two things are essentially necessary in the man to whom this charge is committed, a capacity of judging with propriety of measures proper to be taken in the government of a youth, and leisure sufficient to attend to the execution of these measures. That you are pleased to think favorably of me, in respect to the first, I shall take for granted, from the request you have made; but to show my incapacity of attending to the latter, with that good faith, which I think every man ought to use, who undertakes a trust of this interesting nature, I can solemnly declare to you, that, for a year or two past, there has been scarce a moment, that I could properly call my own. What with my own business, my present ward’s, my mother’s, which is wholly in my hands, Colonel Colvill’s, Mrs. Savage’s, Colonel Fairfax’s, Colonel Mercer’s, and the little assistance I have undertaken to give in the management of my brother Augustine’s concerns (for I have absolutely refused to qualify as an executor), together with the share I take in public affairs, I have been kept constantly engaged in writing letters, settling accounts, and negotiating one piece of business or another; by which means I have really been deprived of every kind of enjoyment, and had almost fully resolved to engage in no fresh matter, till I had entirely wound up the old. Thus much, Sir, candor, indeed the principle of common honesty, obliged me to relate to you, as it is not my wish to deceive any person by promising what I do not think it in my power to perform with that punctuality and rectitude, which I conceive the nature of the trust would require. I do not, however, give a flat refusal to your request. I rather wish you to be fully informed of my situation, that you may think with me, or as I do, that, if it should please the Almighty to take you to himself as soon as you apprehend (but I hope without just cause), your son may be placed in better hands than mine. If you think otherwise, I will do the best I can, merely as a guardian. You will act very prudently in having your will revised by some person skilled in the law, as a testator’s intentions are often defeated by different interpretations of statutes, which require the whole business of a man’s life to be perfectly conversant with them. I shall not, after what I have here said, add any thing more than my wishes, which are sincerely offered, for your recovery, and that you may live to see the accomplishment of your son’s education. With very great esteem, Sir, I am &c.1 [1 ]On 2 February, 1775, the citizens of Fairfax County met, George Washington presiding, and voted to enroll their militia, and to pay a tax of three shillings per poll to defray the expense of equipment.
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