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

TO JOHN JAY. - 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.

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TO JOHN JAY.

Philadelphia, 30 August, 1794.

My dear Sir,

Your letter of the 23d of June from London, and the duplicate, have both been received; and your safe arrival after so short a passage gave sincere pleasure, as well on private as on public account, to all your friends in this country; and to none in a greater degree, I can venture to assure you, than it did to myself.

As you will receive letters from the Secretary of State’s office, giving an official account of the public occurrences as they have arisen and progressed, it is unnecessary for me to retouch any of them; and yet I cannot restrain myself from making some observations on the most recent of them, the communication of which was received this morning only. I mean the protest of the governor of Upper Canada, delivered by Lieutenant Sheaffe, against our occupying lands far from any of the posts, which long ago they ought to have surrendered, and far within the known and until now the acknowledged limits of the United States.

On this irregular and high-handed proceeding of Mr. Simcoe, which is no longer masked, I would rather hear what the ministry of Great Britain will say, than pronounce my own sentiments thereon.1 But can that government or will it attempt, after this official act of one of their governors, to hold out ideas of friendly intentions towards the United States, and suffer such conduct to pass with impunity?

This may be considered as the most open and daring act of the British agents in America, though it is not the most hostile or cruel; for there does not remain a doubt in the mind of any well-informed person in this country, not shut against conviction, that all the difficulties we encounter with the Indians, their hostilities, the murders of helpless women and innocent children along our frontiers, result from the conduct of the agents of Great Britain in this country. In vain is it then for its administration in Britain to disavow having given orders, which will warrant such conduct, whilst their agents go unpunished; whilst we have a thousand corroborating circumstances, and indeed almost as many evidences, some of which cannot be brought forward, to prove, that they are seducing from our alliance, and endeavoring to remove over the line, tribes that have hitherto been kept in peace and friendship with us at a heavy expense, and who have no causes of complaint, except pretended ones of their creating; whilst they keep in a state of irritation the tribes, who are hostile to us, and are instigating those, who know little of us or we of them, to unite in the war against us; and whilst it is an undeniable fact, that they are furnishing the whole with arms, ammunition, clothing, and even provisions, to carry on the war; I might go further, and, if they are not much belied, add men also in disguise.

Can it be expected, I ask, so long as these things are known in the United States, or at least firmly believed, and suffered with impunity by Great Britain, that there ever will or can be any cordiality between the two countries? I answer, No. And I will undertake, without the gift of prophecy, to predict, that it will be impossible to keep this country in a state of amity with Great Britain long, if the posts are not surrendered. A knowledge of these being my sentiments would have little weight, I am persuaded, with the British administration, nor perhaps with the nation, in effecting the measure; but both may rest satisfied, that, if they want to be in peace with this country, and to enjoy the benefits of its trade, to give up the posts is the only road to it. Withholding them, and the consequences we feel at present continuing, war will be inevitable.

This letter is written to you in extreme haste, whilst the papers respecting this subject I am writing on are copying at the Secretary of State’s office, to go by express to New York, for a vessel which we have just heard sails to-morrow. You will readily perceive, therefore, I had no time for digesting, and as little for correcting it. I shall only add, that you may be assured always of the sincere friendship and affection of yours, &c.

[1 ]American State Papers, Foreign Relations, i., 461.