couraging; whilst one upon a more contracted scale would answer very valuable purposes, and might be enlarged as the practicability of the measure, and the advantages resulting from it, should be unfolded; appropriating the money, which shall arise from the toll, after principal and interest are fully paid, as a fund for the further extension of the navigation, which in my opinion would be exceedingly practicable, and would be found the readiest and easiest plan to bring it to perfection.

If this method should be adopted, I would very readily join my mite towards the accomplishment, provided the canal, which the State of Virginia is about to cut, should not render it an unnecessary or unprofitable undertaking. A more extended plan would be too heavy for my purse.

I agree in sentiment with you, that, whenever the public is disposed to reimburse principal and interest to the corporation, and will open a free passage of the canal, the charter should cease; but I do not think eight per cent is adequate, I mean sufficiently invit ing, nor ten either, unless government, in the act for incorporation, were to guaranty the expense, and be at the final risk of the success, and would have, though not an exorbitant, yet a fixed toll, and one which should be judged fully competent to answer the purpose; because it is not less easy than pleasing to reduce it at any time, but it would be found difficult and disgusting, however necessary and urgent, to increase it.

In other respects, my opinion differs not from yours, or the propositions you enclosed to, Sir, your most obedient, &c.

MADAM,

TO THE MARCHIONESS DE LAFAYETTE.

MOUNT VERNON, 4 April, 1784.

It is now more than ever I want words to express the sensibility and gratitude, with which the honor of your felicitations of the 26th of December has inspired me. If my expression was equal to the feelings of my heart, the homage I am about to render you would appear in a more favorable point of view, than my most sanguine expectations will encourage me to hope for. I am more inclined, therefore, to rely upon the continuance of your indulgent sentiments towards me, and that innate goodness for which you are remarkable, than upon any merit I possess, or any assurances I could give of my sense of the obligation I am under for the honor you have conferred upon me by your correspondence.

Great as your claim is, as a French or American woman, or as the wife of my amiable friend, to my affectionate regards, you have others to which the palm must be yielded. The charms of your person, and the beauties of your mind, have a more powerful operation. These, Madam, have endeared you to me, and every thing, which partakes of your nature, will have a claim to my affections. George and Virginia, the offspring of your love, whose names do honor to my country and to myself, have a double claim, and will be the objects of my vows.

From the clangor of arms and the bustle of a camp, freed from the cares of public employment and the responsibility of office, I am now enjoying domestic

ease under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig tree; and in a small villa, with the implements of husbandry and lambkins around me, I expect to glide gently down the stream of life, till I am entombed in the dreary mansion of my fathers.

Mrs. Washington is highly honored by your participations, and feels very sensibly the force of your polite invitation to Paris; but she is too far advanced in life, and is too much immersed in the care of her little progeny,' to cross the Atlantic. This, my dear Marchioness (indulge me with this freedom), is not the case with you. You have youth (and, if you should not incline to bring your children, can leave them with all the advantages to education), and must have a curiosity to see the country, young, rude, and uncultivated as it is, for the liberties of which your husband has fought, bled, and acquired much glory, where every body admires, every body loves him. Come, then, let me entreat it, and call my cottage your home; for your own doors do not open to you with more readiness than mine would. You will see the plain manner in which we live, and meet the rustic civility; and you shall taste the simplicity of rural life. It will diversify the scene, and may give you a higher relish for the gayeties of the court, when you return to Versailles. In these wishes, and in most respectful compliments, Mrs. Washington joins me. With sentiments of strong attachment, and very great regard, I have the honor to be, Madam, &c.

1 The children of her son, John Parke Custis.

DEAR SIR,

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

MOUNT VERNON, 8 April, 1784.

If with frankness, and the fullest latitude of a friend, you will give me your opinion of the institution of the Society of Cincinnati, it would confer an acceptable favor upon me. If to this opinion, you would be so obliging as to add the sentiments, or what you suppose to be the sentiments of Congress respecting it, I would thank

you.

That you may have the best materials on which to form a judgment, I send you a copy of the proceedings of the Society-consequent of their choice of me for President pro: tem:, and the direction therein; I sent the Institution to the French land and naval commanders, and to the Marquis de la Fayette (as the senior French officer in the American Army,)—whose proceedings thereon, I also enclose.

These papers you will please to retain for fear of accidents, till I shall have the pleasure to see you at Annapolis, the week after next, on my way to Philadelphia, where this and other business will take me, but the sooner I could receive your sentiments on this subject, the more pleasing they would be.

The pamphlet ascribed to Mr. Burke, as I am told, had its effect-people are alarmed, especially in the Eastern States-how justly, or how contrary to the avowed principles of the Society, and the purity of their motives, I will not declare; lest it should appear that I wanted to biass your judgment, rather than to obtain an opinion-which if you please, might

be accompanied with sentiments, under the information here given respecting the most eligible measures to be pursued by the Society at their next meeting.'

You may be assured, Sir, that to the good opinion alone, which I entertain of your abilities and candor, this liberty is to be attributed; and I can truly add, that, with very great esteem & regard, I am &c.2

1 A pamphlet had been published, entitled Considerations on the Society, or Order, of Cincinnati, which, although anonymous, was known to have been written by Judge Ædanus Burke of South Carolina. It was the author's chief purpose to show, that the society created a nobility, or what he called a class of “hereditary patricians"; and he predicted very direful consequences to the liberty and happiness of the people, if the institution were allowed to gain strength upon the plan of its original establishment. He recommended legislative interference to put a stop to a political combination of military commanders, fraught with principles so dangerous, and portending to the republic evils so alarming. The pamphlet was a local political attack, directed against the Carolina leaders who were members of the Society. Jefferson's reply to Washington is printed in his Works, i., 333.

"The choice of your delegates to the general meeting of the Society of Cincinnati gave me pleasure. I wish very sincerely you would all attend. Let me impress this upon you, with a request that you would impress it upon your brothers of the delegation.

"This meeting, considering the prejudices and jealousies which have arisen, should not only be respectable in numbers, but respectable in abilities. Our measures should be deliberate and wise. If we cannot convince the people, that their fears are ill founded, we should at least in a degree yield to them, and not suffer that, which was intended for the best of purposes, to produce a bad one; which will be the consequence of divisions, proceeding from an opposition to the current opinion, if this be the fact in the eastern States, as some say it is. Independent of this, there are other matters, which call for attention at the ensuing meeting.

"You will oblige me by having the enclosed advertisement inserted (twice) in a gazette of your State. The one, which is most diffusive among that class of people, whose views it is most likely to meet, will answer my purposes best.”— Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., 4 April, 1784.

The Society held a general meeting at Philadelpia, and Washington reduced to writing his ideas on the alterations to be made in the constitution.

"Strike out every word, sentence and clause, which has a political tendency. "Discontinue the hereditary part in all its connections, absolutely, without