purposes, is the only solution that can be given of his conduct. I sincerely wish that Mrs. [Lee] and yourself may soon and effectually recover your health; and with very great esteem and regard, I am, &c.1

SIR,

TO FRANCIS WILLIS.

MOUNT VERNON, 25 October, 1793.

Your letter of the 4th of August had to go to Philadelphia and come back, before I received it.

The mistakes which have happened respecting the Negroes of the late Mrs. Samuel Washington are somewhat singular; and it is not a little surprizing after the first mistake had happened, and so much pains had been taken to account for, and set it right, that now, after a lapse of five or six years, the whole matter should assume quite a different face. It should be Discovered at this late hour that, that lady herself had no right to the Negroes, which by the bye, I believe possession alone would give her.

If I had ever intended to avail myself of the Law for my own benefit (which made me heir to those Negroes,) I would not have relinquished my claim without a thorough investigation of the subject of defective title. For presuming that all Law is founded on equity, and being under a conviction that if Mrs. Washington had survived her husband,

1 The malignant fever in Philadelphia subsided, and the President and heads of departments returned to that city before the end of November. Congress assembled there on the 2d of December, being the day appointed by the constitution for the annual meeting.

she would have released nothing to which she would have been entitled by law, I saw no injustice or impropriety upon the ground of reciprocity of receiving for my Brother's Children that which in the other case would have been taken from them. But not having finally resolved in my own mind (as you may readily infer from my long silence) whether to take from Mrs. Washington's family for the benefit of my Brother's only daughter (who, from the involved state of his affairs, had left her by his will a very small pittance; and the obtainment of that, even doubtful) the whole or only part of what the law entitled me to, I let the matter rest till your second letter had revived the subject.

I now, in order to close the business finally, have come to the following conclusions. Pay me one hundred pounds which I shall give to my Niece for her immediate support, and I will quit claim to all the Negroes which belonged to Mrs. Saml. Washington, and will release them accordingly. I am, &c.'

"I do not as yet know whether I shall get a substitute for William : nothing short of excellent qualities and a man of good appearance, would induce me to do it—and under my present view of the matter, too, who would employ himself otherwise than William did—that is as a butler as well as a valette-for my wants of the latter are so trifling that any man (as William was) would soon be ruined by idleness, who had only them to attend to. Having given these ideas, if your time will permit, I should be glad if you would touch the man upon the strings I have mentioned, probe his character deeper-say what his age, appearance and country is what are his expectations, and how he should be communicated with, if upon a thorough investigation of matters you should be of opinion he would answer my purposes wellfor Kennedy is too little acquainted with the arrangement of a table, and too stupid for a butler, to be continued if I could get a better."-Washington to Lear, 3 November, 1793.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE.

DEAR SIR,

PHILADELPHIA, I December, 1793.

Is there no clue to Mr. Morris's meaning respecting Monsieur Merlino? The next paragraph of his letter is enigmatical to me from the want of my recollecting perfectly the subjects alluded to. What are

the orders given him, which he will implicitly obey, and which were, according to his account, received so very opportunely? Has not a letter of his, of subsequent date to that laid before me yesterday, acknowledged the receipt of the plans of the Federal City.

There can be no doubt, since the information which has come to hand from our ministers at Paris. and London, of the propriety of changing the expression of the message as it respects the acts of France. And if And if any bad consequences, (which I still declare I see no cause to apprehend,) are likely to flow from a public communication of matters relative to Great Britain, it might be well to revise the thing again in your own mind before it is sent in, especially as the Secretary of the Treasury has more than once declared, and has offered to discuss and prove, that we receive more substantial benefits (favors are beside the question with any of them, because they are not intended as such,) from British regulations, with respect to the commerce of this country, than we do from those of France; antecedent, I mean, to those of very recent date. We should be We should be very cautious, if

this be the case, not to advance any thing that may recoil, or take ground we cannot support.

Yours always.1

SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, DECEMBER 3D, 1793.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE

AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

Since the commencement of the term, for which I have been again called into office, no fit occasion has arisen for expressing to my fellow-citizens at large, the deep and respectful sense, which I feel, of the renewed testimony of public approbation. While, on the one hand, it awakened my gratitude for all those instances of affectionate partiality, with which I have been honored by my country; on the other, it could not prevent an earnest wish for that retirement, from which no private consideration should ever have torn me. But influenced by the belief, that my conduct would be estimated according to its real motives, and that the people, and the authorities derived from them, would support exertions having nothing personal for their object, I have obeyed the suffrage, which commanded me to resume the executive power; and I humbly implore that Being, on whose will the

"On a severe review of the question, whether the British communications should carry any such mark of being confidential, as to prevent the legislature from publishing them, I am clearly of opinion they ought not. Will they be kept secret, if secrecy be enjoined? Certainly not; and all the offence will be given (if it be possible any should be given), which would follow their complete publication. If they could be kept secret, from whom would it be? From our own constituents only, for Great Britain is possessed of every tittle. Why then keep it secret from them? No ground of support for the executive will ever be so sure, as a complete knowledge of their proceedings by the people; and it is only in cases where the public good could be injured, and because it would be injured, that proceedings should be secret. In such cases, it is the duty of the executive to sacrifice their personal interest (which would be promoted by publicity) to the public interest.

"The negotiations with England are at an end. If not given to the public now, when are they to be given? And what moment can be so interesting? If any thing amiss should happen from the concealment, where will the blame originate at least? It may be said indeed, that the President puts it in the

fate of nations depends, to crown with success our mutual endeavors for the general happiness.

As soon as the war in Europe had embraced those powers, with whom the United States have the most extensive relations, there was reason to apprehend, that our intercourse with them might be interrupted, and our disposition for peace drawn into question, by the suspicions too often entertained by belligerent nations. It seemed, therefore, to be my duty to admonish our citizens of the consequences of a contraband trade, and of hostile acts to any of the parties; and to obtain, by a declaration of the existing legal state of things, an easier admission of our right to the immunities belonging to our situation. Under these impressions, the Proclamation, which will be laid before you, was issued.

In this posture of affairs, both new and delicate, I resolved to adopt general rules,, which should conform to the treaties and assert the privileges of the United States. These were reduced into a system, which will be communicated to you. Although I have not thought myself at liberty to forbid the sale of the prizes, permitted by our treaty of commerce with France to be brought into our ports, I have not refused to cause them to be restored, when they were taken within the protection of our territory, or by vessels commissioned or equipped in a warlike form within the limits of the United States.

power of the legislature to communicate these proceedings to their constituents; but is it more their duty to communicate them to their constituents, than it is the President's to communicate them to his constituents? And if they were desirous of communicating them, ought the President to restrain them by making the communication confidential? I think no harm can be done by the publication, because it is impossible England, after doing us any injury, should declare war against us merely because we tell our constituents of it; and I think good may be done, because, while it puts it in the power of the legislature to adopt peaceable measures of doing ourselves justice, it prepares the minds of our constituents to go cheerfully into an acquiescence under these measures, by impressing them with a thorough and enlightened conviction, that they are founded in right. The motives, too, of proving to the people the impartiality of the executive, between the two nations of France and England, urge strongly, that while they are to see the disagreeable things, which have been going on as to France, we should not conceal from them what has been passing with England, and induce a belief that nothing has been doing."-Jefferson to Washington, 2 December, 1793.