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

TO MRS. SARAH FAIRFAX. 1 - 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.

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 MRS. SARAH FAIRFAX.1

Mount Vernon, 16 May, 1798.

My dear Madam,

Five and twenty years have nearly passed away, since I have considered myself as the permanent resident at this place, or have been in a situation to indulge myself in a familiar intercourse with my friends by letter or otherwise.

During this period, so many important events have occurred, and such changes in men and things have taken place, as the compass of a letter would give you but an inadequate idea of. None of which events, however, nor all of them together, have been able to eradicate from my mind the recollection of those happy moments, the happiest in my life, which I have enjoyed in your company.

Worn out in a manner by the toils of my past labor, I am again seated under my vine and fig-tree, and wish I could add, that there were none to make us afraid; but those, whom we have been accustomed to call our good friends and allies, are endeavoring, if not to make us afraid, yet to despoil us of our property, and are provoking us to acts of self-defence, which may lead to war. What will be the result of such measures, time, that faithful expositor of all things, must disclose. My wish is to spend the remainder of my days, which cannot be many, in rural amusements, free from the cares from which public responsibility is never exempt.

Before the war, and even while it existed, although I was eight years from home at one stretch, (except the en passant visits made to it on my marches to and from the siege of Yorktown,) I made considerable additions to my dwelling-houses, and alterations in my offices and gardens; but the dilapidation occasioned by time, and those neglects, which are coextensive with the absence of proprietors, have occupied as much of my time within the last twelve months in repairing them, as at any former period in the same space; and it is matter of sore regret, when I cast my eyes towards Belvoir, which I often do, to reflect, the former inhabitants of it, with whom we lived in such harmony and friendship, no longer reside there, and that the ruins can only be viewed as the memento of former pleasures. Permit me to add, that I have wondered often, your nearest relations being in this country, that you should not prefer spending the evening of your life among them, rather than close the sublunary scene in a foreign country, numerous as your acquaintances may be, and sincere as the friendships you may have formed.

A century hence, if this country keeps united (and it is surely its policy and interest to do it), will produce a city, though not as large as London, yet of a magnitude inferior to few others in Europe, on the banks of the Potomac, where one is now establishing for the permanent seat of the government of the United States, (between Alexandria and Georgetown, on the Maryland side of the river;) a situation not excelled, for commanding prospect, good water, salubrious air, and safe harbour, by any in the world; and where elegant buildings are erecting and in forwardness for the reception of Congress in the year 1800.

Alexandria, within the last seven years, since the establishment of the general government, has increased in buildings, in population, in the improvement of its streets by well-executed pavements, and in the extension of its wharves, in a manner of which you can have very little idea. This show of prosperity, you will readily conceive, is owing to its commerce. The extension of that trade is occasioned, in a great degree, by opening of the inland navigation of the Potomac River, now cleared to Fort Cumberland, upwards of two hundred miles, and by a similar attempt to accomplish the like up the Shenandoah, one hundred and eighty miles more. In a word, if this country can steer clear of European politics, stand firm on its bottom, and be wise and temperate in its government, it bids fair to be one of the greatest and happiest nations in the world.

Knowing that Mrs. Washington is about to give an account of the changes, which have happened in the neighborhood and in our own family, I shall not trouble you with a repetition of them.

I am, &c.

[1 ]Widow of George William Fairfax, now living in England.