ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF

MR. PRESIDENT,

CONGRESS.1

PRINCETON, 26 August, 1783.

I am too sensible of the honorable reception I have now experienced, not to be penetrated with the deepest feelings of gratitude.

Notwithstanding Congress appear to estimate the value of my life beyond any services I have been able to render the United States, yet I must be permitted to consider the wisdom, and unanimity of our national councils, the firmness of our citizens, and the patience and bravery of our troops, which have produced so happy a termination of the war, as the most conspicuous effect of the Divine interposition, and the surest presage of our future happiness.

Highly gratified by the favorable sentiments, which Congress are pleased to express of my past conduct, and amply rewarded by the confidence and affection of my fellow citizens, I cannot

1 When General Washington entered the hall of Congress, he was attended and introduced by two members, and the following Address (to which the above was a reply) was made to him by the President, Elias Boudinot :

“Congress feel a particular pleasure in seeing your Excellency, and in congratulating you on the success of a war, in which you have acted so conspicuous a part.

"It has been the particular happiness of the United States, that, during a war so long, so dangerous, and so important, Providence has been graciously pleased to preserve the life of a general, who has merited and possessed the uninterrupted confidence and affection of his fellow citizens. In other nations, many have performed eminent services, for which they have deserved the thanks of the public. But to you, Sir, peculiar praise is due. Your services have been essential in acquiring and establishing the freedom and independence of your country. They deserve the grateful acknowledgments of a free and independent nation. Those acknowledgments Congress have the satisfaction of expressing to your Excellency.

"Hostilities have now ceased; but your country still needs your services. She wishes to avail herself of your talents in forming the arrangements, that will be necessary for her security in the time of peace. For this reason your attendance at Congress has been requested. A committee is appointed to confer with your Excellency, and to receive your assistance in preparing and digesting plans relative to those important objects."

hesitate to contribute my best endeavors towards the establishment of the national security, in whatever manner the sovereign power may think proper to direct, until the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace, or the final evacuation of our country by the British forces; after either of which events, I shall ask permission to retire to the peaceful shades of private life.

Perhaps, Sir, no occasion may offer more suitable than the present, to express my humble thanks to God, and my grateful acknowledgments to my country, for the great and uniform support I have received in every vicissitude of fortune, and for the many distinguished honors, which Congress have been pleased to confer upon me in the course of the war.

TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM S. SMITH.

DEAR SIR,

ROCKY HILL, 31 August, 1783.

I received your favor of the 26th, and am much obliged by your attention in procuring the articles I had requested. I am also glad to find there is at length a prospect, that the British will in reality soon take their departure from the United States.

Whatever my private sentiments as an individual may be respecting the violent policy, which seems in some instances to be adopted, it is not for us, as military characters, to dictate a different line of conduct. But I should suppose the encouragement you have given to those British and foreign soldiers, who have been discharged, that they would be permitted to remain in the country, was very unexceptionable and proper. The same indulgence, however, cannot be extended to such natives of the country as have served in their new corps, without the particular interference

of the States to which they belong. And I thing if necessary you should be advised, that granting passports to citizens, of any description, for the purpose of giving protection in coming from New York into the country, may not only be considered as an assumption beyond the limits of any commission, which has been derived from Congress, but will probably be productive of altercations with the civil powers, and at the same time involve us in very disagreeable consequences in many other respects. I am, dear sir, with very great esteem yours, &c.1

TO MRS. RICHARD STOCKTON.2

ROCKY HILL, 2 September, 1783.

You apply to me, my dear Madam, for absolution as tho' I was your father Confessor; and as tho' you had committed a crime, great in itself, yet of the venial class. You have reason good-for I find myself strangely disposed to be a very indulgent ghostly adviser on this occasion; and, notwithstanding "you are the most offending Soul alive" (that is, if it is a crime to write

1 It was the opinion of Colonel Smith that there were not less than fifteen thousand persons in New York who wished to remain, and were not conscious of any other crime than that of residing within the British lines, but who would be driven from the country if rigid laws were put in execution against them; "in consequence of which," said he, "upon the evacuation we shall find a city destitute of inhabitants, and settlements made on our frontiers by a people, who (their minds being soured by the severity of their treatment,) will prove troublesome neighbors, and perhaps lay the foundation of future contests, which I suppose it would be for the interest of our country to avoid."

2 Mrs. Stockton was Annis Boudinot, a sister of Elias Boudinot, and wife of Richard Stockton, of New Jersey. She was the writer of the stanzas sung by the ladies of Trenton when Washington passed through that place on his journey to New York, to be inaugurated President.

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elegant Poetry,) yet if you will come and dine with me on Thursday, and go thro' the proper course of penitence which shall be prescribed, I will strive hard to assist you in expiating these poetical trespasses on this side of purgatory. Nay more, if it rests with me to direct your future lucubrations, I shall certainly urge you to a repetition of the same conduct, on purpose to shew what an admirable knack you have at confession and reformation; and so without more hesitation, I shall venture to command the muse, not to be restrained by ill-grounded timidity, but to go on and prosper. You see, Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences may be. You will, I dare say, recognize our being the genuine Descendents of those who are reputed to be our great Progenitors.

Before I come to the more serious conclusion of my Letter-I must beg leave to say a word or two about these fine things you have seen telling in such harmonious and beautiful numbers. Fiction is to be sure the very life and Soul of Poetry-all Poets and Poetesses have been indulged in the free and indisputable use of it, time out of mind. And to oblige you to make such an excellent Poem on such a subject, without any materials but those of simple reality, would be as cruel as the Edict of Pharoah which compelled the children of Israel to manufacture Bricks without the necessary Ingredients.

Thus are you sheltered under the authority of prescription, and I will not dare to charge you with an

intentional breach of the Rules of the decalogue in giving so bright a coloring to the services I have been enabled to render my Country; tho' I am not conscious of deserving any thing more at your hands, than what the purest and most disinterested friendship has a right to claim; actuated by which, you will permit me, to thank you in the most affectionate manner for the kind wishes you have so happily expressed for me and the partner of all my Domestic enjoyments--Be assured we can never forget our friend at Merven; and that I am, my dear Madam, with every sentiment &c.

SIR,

TO JAMES DUANE, IN CONGRESS.

ROCKY HILL, 7 September, 1783.

I have carefully perused the papers, which you put into my hands, relative to Indian affairs. My Sentiments, with respect to the proper line of conduct to be observed towards these people, coincide precisely with those delivered by Genl. Schuyler, so far as he has gone, in his Letter of the 29th July to Congress (which, with the other Papers, is herewith returned), and for the reasons he has there assigned; a repetition of them therefore by me would be unnecessary. But, independent of the arguments made use of by him, the following considerations have no small weight in my mind.

To suffer a wide-extended Country to be overrun with Land Jobbers, speculators, and monopolizers, or even with scattered settlers, is in my opinion