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

TO JAMES McHENRY. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. X (1782-1785) [1891]

Edition used:

The Writings of George Washington, collected and edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford (New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890). Vol. X (1782-1785).

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 JAMES McHENRY.

Gratitude to a nation to whom I think America owes much and an ardent desire to see the country and customs of the French People, are strong inducements to make a visit to France; but a consideration more powerful than these will, I dare say, be an insuperable Bar to such a tour. An impaired fortune (much injured by this contest,) must turn me into those walks of retirement, where perhaps, the consciousness of having discharged to the best of my abilities the great trust reposed in me and the duty I owed my country must supply the place of other gratifications, and may perhaps afford as rational and substantial entertainment as the gayer scenes of a more enlarged theatre.

Dear Sir:

I shall always be happy to see you at Mt. Vernon. Mrs. Washington, who enjoys but a very moderate share of health, unites in best wishes for your health and prosperity. With, Dr. Sir, &c.1

After seeing the backs of the British Forces turned upon us, and the Executive of the State of New York put into peaceable possession of their Capitol, I set out for this place. On Monday next I expect to leave the city, and by slow traveling arrive at Baltimore on Wednesday, where I will spend one day and then proceed to Annapolis and get translated into a private Citizen. I am your &c.2

[2 ]Mr. J. W. M. Lee, of the Maryland Historical Society, gave me this from a printed copy, in a sale of autographs from the McHenry papers, at Baltimore, December, 1859, where the letter brought $21. It was printed in the HistoricalMagazine, xii., 361, and in the Magazine of American History, v., 129, but in the latter case it was not known to whom the letter was written.

[2 ]Mr. J. W. M. Lee, of the Maryland Historical Society, gave me this from a printed copy, in a sale of autographs from the McHenry papers, at Baltimore, December, 1859, where the letter brought $21. It was printed in the HistoricalMagazine, xii., 361, and in the Magazine of American History, v., 129, but in the latter case it was not known to whom the letter was written.