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

TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XII (1790-1794) [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. XII (1790-1794).

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 THE EARL OF BUCHAN.

Philadelphia, 1 May, 1792.

My Lord,

I should have had the honor of acknowledging sooner the receipt of your letter of the 28th of June last, had I not concluded to defer doing it till I could announce to you the transmission of my portrait, which has been just finished by Mr. Robertson, (of New York), who has also undertaken to forward it.1 The manner of the execution does no discredit, I am told, to the artist, of whose skill favorable mention has been made to me. I was further induced to intrust the execution to Mr. Robertson, from his having informed me, that he had drawn others for your Lordship, and knew the size which would best suit your collection.2

I accept with sensibility and with satisfaction the significant present of the box, which accompanied your Lordship’s letter. In yielding the tribute due from every lover of mankind to the patriotic and heroic virtues of which it is commemorative, I estimate, as I ought, the additional value which it derives from the hand that sent it, and my obligation for the sentiments that induced the transfer.

I will, however, ask, that you will exempt me from a compliance with the request relating to its eventual destination. In an attempt to execute your wish in this particular, I should feel embarrassment from a just comparison of relative pretensions, and should fear to risk injustice by so marked a preference. With sentiments of the truest esteem and consideration, I remain your Lordship’s, &c.1

[1 ]This portrait had been solicited by the Earl of Buchan. The artist, Archibald Robertson, came to America in October, 1791, and drew a miniature of Washington, 13 December, 1791, from which was painted a large picture in oil for the Earl.

[2 ]“Your letter of the 20th ultimo was presented to me yesterday by Mr. Williams, who as a professional man may or may not be, for aught I know, a luminary of the first magnitude. But to be frank, and I hope you will not be displeased with me for being so, I am so heartily tired of the attendance, which, from one cause or another has been given to these people, that it is now more than two years since I have resolved to sit no more for any of them, and have adhered to it, except in instances where it has been requested by public bodies, or for a particular purpose (not of the painters), and could not without offence be refused.

“I have been led to make this resolution for another reason, besides the irksomeness of sitting and the time I lose by it, which is, that these productions have in my estimation been made use of as a sort of tax on individuals, by being engraved, and that badly, and hawked about or advertised for sale.”—Washington to Henry Lee, 2 July, 1792.

[1 ]The box here alluded to was made of the oak that sheltered William Wallace after the battle of Falkirk. The following account of it is given in a letter from the Earl of Buchan, written subsequently to the one which was brought by Mr. Robertson.

“Sir; some time ago I did myself the pleasure to transmit to you by Mr. Robertson, of Aberdeen, a testimony of my sincere respect, contained in a box made of the oak, which sheltered our great Wallace after his defeat at Falkirk; which box was cut out of the tree by the proprietor and sent to the Corporation of Goldsmiths at Edinburgh, and by them presented to me with the freedom of their Company in the box above mentioned, and which I hope you will receive. It is a respectable curiosity, and will, I flatter myself, be a relic of long endurance in America, as a mark of that esteem with which I have the honor to be, &c.—Dryburgh Abbey, Septemer 15th, 1791.”

The Company of Goldsmiths had signified to the Earl of Buchan their approbation of the manner in which he proposed to dispose of the box. He accompanied the gift with the request, that Washington, in the event of his decease, would transmit it to the man in his own country who should appear in his judgment to merit it best. This circumstance explains the closing paragraph of Washington’s letter. The box was ultimately returned to the Earl of Buchan.