me on such an occasion; and how far, under these circumstances, it would be worth Mr. Bowie's while to spend time, which might be more usefully employed in other matters, is with him to consider; as the practicability of doing it efficiently without having free access to the documents of this war, which must fill the most important pages of the memoir, and which, for the reasons already assigned, cannot be admitted at present, also is. If nothing happens more than I at present foresee, I shall be in Philadelphia on or before the 1st of May, where it is probable I may see Mr. Bowie, and converse further with him on this subject. In the mean while, I will thank you for communicating these sentiments. I am, very truly, your affectionate friend, &c.1

1 Upon further consideration Washington decided against granting the application, and on March 8th, wrote to John Witherspoon: " From the cursory manner in which you expressed the wish of Mr. Bowie to write the memoirs of my life, I was not, at the moment of your application and my assent to it, struck with the consequences to which it tended; but, when I came to reflect upon the matter afterwards, and had some conversation with Mr. Bowie on the subject, I found that this must be a very futile work (if under any circumstances it could be made interesting), unless he could be furnished with the incidents of my life, either from my papers or my recollection, and digesting of past transactions into some sort of form and order with respect to times and circumstances. I knew, also, that many of the former, relative to the part I had acted in the war between France and Great Britain, from the year 1754 until the peace of Paris, and which contained some of the most interesting occurrences of my life, were lost, and that my memory is too treacherous to be relied on to supply this defect; and, admitting both were more perfect, that submitting such a publication to the world, whilst I continue on the theatre, might be ascribed, (however involuntarily I was led into it,) to vain motives. "These considerations prompted me to tell Mr. Bowie, when I saw him at Philadelphia in May last, that I could have no agency towards the publication of any memoirs respecting myself whilst living; but as I had given my assent to you (when asked) to have them written, and as he had been the first to propose it, he was welcome, if he thought his time would not be unprofitably spent, to take extracts from such documents as yet remained in my possession, and to

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, IN CONGRESS.

DEAR SIR,

MOUNT VERNON, 29 March, 1784.

It was not in my power to answer your favor of the 15th by the last post, for the reason then assigned. I wish I may be able to do it to your satisfaction now, as I again am obliged to pay my attention to the other company, the Governor being gone.

My opinion coincides perfectly with yours respecting the practicability of an easy and short communication between the waters of the Ohio and Potomac, of the advantages of that communication and the preference it has over all others, and of the policy there would be in this State of Maryland to adopt and render it facile. But I confess to you freely, I have no expectation, that the public will adopt the measure; for, besides the jealousies which prevail, and the difficulty of proportioning such funds as may be allotted for the purposes you have mentioned, there are two others, which, in my opinion, will be yet harder to surmount. These are (if I have not imbibed too unfavorable an opinion of my countrymen) the imavail himself of any other information I could give, provided the publication should be suspended until I quitted the stage of human action. I then intended, as I informed him, to devote the present expiring winter to arranging my papers, which I had left at home, and which I found a mere mass of confusion, (occasioned by frequently shifting them into trunks, and suddenly removing them from the reach of the enemy); but, however strange it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that, what with company, references of old matters with which I ought not to be troubled, applications for certificates and copies of orders, in addition to the routine of letters, which have multiplied greatly upon me, I have not been able to touch a single paper, or transact any business of my own in the way of accounts, during the whole course of the winter; or, in a word, since my retirement from public life."

practicability of bringing the great and truly wise policy of the measure to their view, and the difficulty of extracting money from them for such a purpose, if it could be done; for it appears to me, maugre all the sufferings of the public creditors, breach of public faith, and loss of reputation, that payment of the taxes, which are already laid, will be postponed as long as possible. How then are we to expect new ones for purposes more remote?

I am not so disinterested in this matter as you are; but I am made very happy to find that a man of discernment and liberality, who has no particular interest in the plan, thinks as I do, who have lands in that country, the value of which would be enhanced by the adoption of such a measure.

More than ten years ago I was struck with the importance of it; and, despairing of any aids from the public, I became a principal mover of a bill to empower a number of subscribers to undertake at their own expense, on conditions which were expressed, the extension of the navigation from tide water to Will's Creek, about one hundred and fifty miles; and I devoutly wish that this may not be the only expedient by which it can be effected now. To get this business in motion, I was obliged even upon that ground to comprehend James River, in order to remove the jealousies, which arose from the attempt to extend the navigation of the Potomac. The plan, however, was in a tolerably good train, when I set out for Cambridge in 1775, and would have been in an excellent way, had it not been for the difficulties,

which were met with in the Maryland Assembly from the opposition which was given (according to report) by the Baltimore merchants, who were alarmed, and perhaps not without cause, at the consequence of water transportation to Georgetown of the produce, which usually came to their market by land.1

The local interest of that place, joined to the shortsighted politics or contracted views of another part of that Assembly, gave Mr. Thomas Johnson, who was a warm promoter of the scheme on the north side of the Potomac, a great deal of trouble. In this situation I left matters when I took command of the army. The war afterwards called men's attention to different

'The failure of Maryland to co-operate with Virginia in the undertaking, and the outbreak of the Revolution, led to the abandonment of this early attempt to open the navigation of the River. In her first constitution (1776) Virginia, in substance, ceded to Maryland the entire jurisdiction over the River Potomac, reserving only the right of navigation,—a surrender the more extraordinary, as the patents of the N[orthern] Neck place, the whole river Potomac within the Government of Virginia; so that we were armed with a title both of prior and posterior date to that of Maryland. (Madison.) To determine the points in controversy Virginia proposed the appointment by each State interested, of commissioners, "for the general purpose of preserving a harmony and efficacy in the regulations on both sides." This proposition was accepted by Maryland; and Col. George Mason, Edmund Randolph, Alexander Henderson, and James Madison, Jr., were named by Virginia, to meet Thomas Johnson, Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase, and Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, on the part of Maryland. Through a series of blunders, only Mason and Henderson met Chase and Jenifer at Alexandria in March, 1785, and on the 25th, they proceeded to Mount Vernon, having been joined by Stone. Here their business was completed, and recommendations drawn for their respective legislatures, to provide for the establishment of a concurrent jurisdiction on the Potomac and Chesapeake, and for the appointment annually of commissioners to discuss the commercial regulations proposed by each State. This led to results more important than the conference could have foreseen. For Maryland extended an invitation to Pennsylvania and Delaware to join the annual meeting, and Madison thought a general meeting "naturally grew out" of this proposition. The Annapolis Convention of September, 1786, was the fulfilment of Madison's thought.

objects, and all the money they could or would raise was applied to other purposes. But with you I am satisfied that not a moment ought to be lost in recommencing this business, as I know the Yorkers will delay no time to remove every obstacle in the way of the other communication, so soon as the posts of Oswego and Niagara are surrendered; and I shall be mistaken. if they do not build vessels for the navigation of the lakes, which will supersede the necessity of coasting on either side.

It appears to me, that the interest and policy of Maryland are proportionably concerned with those of Virginia, to remove obstructions, and to invite the trade of the western country into the channel you have mentioned. You will have frequent opportunities of learning the sentiments of the principal characters of that State, respecting this matter; and I wish, if it should fall in your way, that you would discourse with Mr. Thomas Johnson, formerly governor of Maryland, on this subject. How far, upon mature consideration, I may depart from the resolution I had formed, of living perfectly at my ease, exempt from every kind of responsibility, is more than I can at present absolutely determine. The sums granted, the manner of granting them, the powers and objects, would merit consideration. The trouble, if my situation at the time would permit me to engage in a work of this sort, would be set at nought; and the immense advantages, which this country would derive from the measure, would be no small stimulus to the undertaking, if that undertaking could be made to comport