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

TO BENJAMIN WALKER. - George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, vol. XIII (1794-1798) [1892]

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. XIII (1794-1798).

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

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TO BENJAMIN WALKER.

Philadelphia, 12 January, 1797.

Dear Walker,

Permit me once more to give you the trouble of forwarding the enclosed letters to their respective addresses. If you read the Aurora of this city, or those gazettes, which are under the same influence, you cannot but have perceived with what malignant industry and persevering falsehoods I am assailed, in order to weaken if not destroy the confidence of the public.

Amongst other attempts to effect this purpose, spurious letters, known at the time of their first publication (I believe in the year 1777) to be forgeries, to answer a similar purpose in the revolution, are, or extracts from them, brought forward with the highest emblazoning of which they are susceptible, with a view to attach principles to me, which every action of my life have given the lie to. But that is no stumbling-block with the editors of these papers and their supporters. And now, perceiving a disinclination on my part, perhaps knowing that I had determined not to take notice of such attacks, they are pressing this matter upon the public mind with more avidity than usual, urging that my silence is a proof of their genuineness.

Although I never wrote, or ever saw one of these letters until they issued from New York in print, yet the author of them must have been tolerably well acquainted in, or with some person of, my family, to have given the names and some circumstances, which are grouped in the mass of erroneous details. But, of all the mistakes which have been committed in this business, none is more palpable, or susceptible of detection, than the manner in which it is said they were obtained, by the capture of my mulatto Billy, with a portmanteau. All the army under my immediate command could contradict this, and I believe most of them know, that no attendant of mine, or a particle of my baggage, ever fell into the hands of the enemy during the whole course of the war.

It would be a singular satisfaction to me to learn, who was the author of these letters, and from what source they originated. No person in this country can, I conceive, give this information but Mr. Rivington. If, therefore, you are upon terms of familiarity with that gentleman, and see no impropriety in hinting this desire to him, you would oblige me. He may comply to what extent his own judgment shall dictate; and I pledge my honor, that nothing to his disadvantage, or the disadvantage of any of the actors of that time, shall result from it.1

I offer the compliments of the season and you will do me the justice to believe, they are warmer than the weather, to Mrs. Walker and yourself, of whose health and happiness we shall always be glad to hear. I am your affectionate, &c.

[1 ]A new edition of the spurious letters had lately made its appearance with the following title. “Epistles Domestic, Confidential, and Official, from General Washington; written about the Commencement of the American Contest, when he entered on the Command of the Army of the United States. New York, printed by G. Robinson and J. Bull. London, reprinted by F. H. Rivington, No. 62, St. Paul’s Churchyard, 1796.” To swell the volume into a respectable size, and to give the whole an air of genuineness, several important public despatches were added, which actually passed between General Washington and British commanders in America, and also a selection from addresses, orders and instructions. In this guise the work had an insidious aim, being intended to injure the reputation of Washington and weaken the influence of his character. This edition was sent out shortly after the two volumes of Washington’s Official Letters to Congress, which had been copied by permission in the office of the Secretary of State, carried to London by Mr. John Carey, and published there under his direction in the year 1795. This circumstance was made use of as an additional cover to the deception of the forged epistles, as will be seen by the following extract from the preface to the volume in which they were now introduced anew to the public.

“Since the publication of the two volumes of General Washington’s Original Letters to the Congress, the editor has been repeatedly applied to for the General’s Domestic and Confidential Epistles, first published soon after the beginning of the American war. These epistles are here offered to the public, together with a copious appendix, containing a number of Official Letters and Papers, not to be found in the General’s Original Letters lately published. The world is, without doubt, greatly indebted to the industrious compiler of the two volumes of Original Letters above noticed; but the collection must certainly be looked upon as in a mutilated state, so long as it remains unaccompanied with the Epistles, &c., which are now respectfully submitted to the patronage of the public, and which form a supplement absolutely necessary to render the work complete. That this collection of Domestic and Confidential Epistles will be regarded as a valuable acquisition, by a very great majority of the citizens of the United States, is presumable from the prevailing taste of all well-informed people. Men not precluded by ignorance from every degree of literary curiosity, will always feel a solicitude to become acquainted with whatever may serve to throw light on the characters of illustrious personages. History represents them acting on the stage of the world, courting the applause of mankind. To see them in their real character, we must follow them behind the scenes, among their private connexions and domestic concerns.” See Ford, The Spurious Letters Attributed to Washington, 1889.