iiiiiM till); I! I
!:*;.(,¦ II If Hill}

I ]l II I II

' II, .- |:|-,l>!  il Ml Wi'iu !iH!l>:ilillii!dlh1iiaMl

rvi-<'''"''::l!|'ii'!a • ¦' ¦¦¦'¦tl.v'i:: li
' ¦ !-¦'':¦¦' I'" w I

'. ..i:'.'iii!"

I nil

li III

i"i'i'!>;

ii I" ' II

"""¦!i'!!'::i i'ii''-'ii,V'

i ¦ Vi>' I ' ' I !i hiy I'll I
i ::<^ •¦¦'41

I'll
II* i' I

I'll!

ill

iWiri».H

'1 >F98

H'l.i' •

h

.H

I •¦'.(

'iiVi'i! ' 'i
llii'iii-.:!

!• Ill!'r=!:i'i

lll

,i!#i,;

;l lllli
;;!ii|l|.i':-'ill ¦:!

h j

i.i'-

B'^ -

"o" 0

¦'lf!',i?l'l'l'.Vil ¦ 'i. '"¦' "I 'i"'ii"l'll!'lii, I "f 'T'f h
•;;f;ir," "1. ^'^ .fftrH''- . ' . • h. wii i- iii'i "ili- "r "^i • I'WIii., jii M 'iil i" iniii. !"• liiiS.!'
¦¦•iVff: •• - \e«<i'L . ^A... *-1tSi^

L^^tC XO

^s:s.sm:i^^

fn r J »** ^ f*-

Y

Jhut^ _ CLtAjt^h-vrr-,^

lZ)t<^. isrjx.

REPLY

STRICTURES OF LORD MAHON AND OTHERS,

THE MODE OF EDITING

WRITINGS OF WASHINGTON,

By JARED sparks.

CAMBRIDGE :
JOHN BARTLETT,
JSootvseller to tje Knfbcrsit».
1852.

7./^

y^

CAMBRIDGE:
METCALF AND COMPANY,
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVEHSITY.

NOTICE.

Steictuees on the method pursued by the editor of
" Washington's Writings," in preparing that work for
the press, first appeared in the New York Evening
Post. Hence the following remarks, intended as a reply,
were directed in the form of letters to the editors of
that Journal, in which they were originally published.

REPLY.

LETTER I.
ON THE GENERAL CHAEGE OF TAKING AN UNWARRANTABLE
LIBERTY IN ALTERING THE TEXT OF WASHINGTON'S
LETTERS.
Some time ago there appeared in your paper sev
eral communications containing comments on two
or three letters in " Washington's Writings," ap
parently designed to show the incompetency of the
editor of that work for the execution of his task, and
to place his fidelity in a questionable light. Ill
health at the time prevented me from taking such
notice of those comments, as their character and
tendency might seem to require. From a recent
article in the Evening Post, I learn that Lord
Mahon, in a work lately published, has repeated
them, and added strictures of his own. I am con
strained, therefore, to ask the attention of your read
ers to a few remarks touching this matter.
The charge made by the writer in the Evening
Post, and adopted by Lord Mahon, is, that the

editor of " Washington's AVritings," in preparing
the manuscripts for the press, has taken an unwar
rantable liberty with the text, altering, omitting, and
adding, as might suit his caprice, and that, for the
purpose of embellishment and of conforming the
work to his own standard of taste, he has " tam
pered with the truth of history."
I deny that any part of this charge is true, in any
sense which can authorize the censures bestowed
by these writers, or raise a suspicion of the editor's
fidelity and fairness. It would certainly be strange,
if an editor should undertake to prepare for the
press a collection of manuscript letters, many of
them hastily written, without a thought that they
would ever be published, and should not at the
same time regard it as a solemn duty to correct ob
vious slips of the pen, occasional inaccuracies of
expression, and manifest faults of grammar, which
the writer himself, if he could have revised his own
manuscripts, would never for a moment have allowed
to appear in print.
This is all I have done in the way of altering or
correcting Washington's letters. The alterations are
strictly verbal or grammatical ; nor am I conscious
that, in this process, an historical fact, the expres
sion of an opinion, or the meaning of a sentence,
has, on any occasion, been perverted or modified. I'
can confidently affirm that the editorial corrections

were never designed to have such a tendency, and,
if such should anywhere appear to exist, it must be
accidental and of little significance. What possible
motive could there be for assuming such a license 1
Washington's character certainly did not require to
be protected by so unworthy an artifice; and least
of all could the editor derive from it either fame,
profit, or any other conceivable advantage.
These verbal alterations chiefly occur in the pri
vate letters, which were written in haste and not
intended by the author for publication ; and they
make but a comparatively small portion of the work.
In his official correspondence, and papers prepared
for the public eye, no man was more precise and
careful than Washington as to the selection of his
words and the construction of his language. His
private and confidential letters, like those of other
men, were often negligently written in regard to
these particulars. This class of letters, I thought
it the duty of an editor, as an act of justice to the
memory of the author, to revise with care for the
press. I am still of this opinion. I executed the
task according to my best discretion. I do not pre
tend to infallibility of judgment; probably no two
persons would decide alike in all cases of this kind,
some of which involve minute distinctions of no
great moment in themselves ; nor am I sure that I
should now in every instance approve my first de-

cisions ; but I feel that I have a right to claim the
credit of integrity of purpose, and of having faith
fully discharged the duty set before me, in strict
conformity with the principles explained at large to
the public in the Introduction to the first volume
that was published.
But the heaviest charge is that of making addi
tions. This charge is entirely without foundation.
Knowing that not a single line, or fragment of a
line, was intentionally added to the original text,
throughout the whole twelve volumes of the work,
I confess it was with no little surprise that I saw a
passage quoted from a letter to Joseph Reed, as
printed in " Washington's Writings," and declared
by the writer in the Evening Post to be an invention
of my own, the same not being found in what was
supposed to be an exact copy of the original, printed
in the " Life and Correspondence of Joseph Eeed."
The following is the quotation.
" The drift and design are obvious ; hut is it pos
sible that any sensible nation upon earth can he im
posed upon by such a cobweb scheme or gauze cover
ing ? But enough."
In his comment on this passage the writer says ;
" I assure you that the credit of all the rhetoric, all
«
the invective, all the fancy, all the logic, and all the
science of the lines here given in italics, belongs
exclusively to Mr. Sparks, and when he imputed

y

them to General W^ashington he robbed himself,
and, perhaps you will think, the General also."
Notwithstanding the writer's assurance, the quota
tion in italics, word for word as here printed, is in
the original letter written by Washington. It was
doubtless omitted in the " Life of Eeed," by an over
sight of the transcriber, or by some other accident.
Every one knows how frequently accidents of this
kind occur in the passing of manuscripts through a
transcriber's and printer's hands ; and the probabil
ity of errors from this source should teach caution
to a critic, who has not positive evidence of his ac
curacy. The charge was certainly a grave one, and
should not have been lightly uttered. It could not
fail to excite suspicion and distrust. If an editor
would allow himself to make an addition to the text
in one place, he might do it in another, and in many
others. No rules of editorial supervision could jus
tify such a proceeding. I must repeat, therefore,
that not a line has been anywhere intentionally or
knowingly added to the text, as contained either in
the letter-books or the originals from which the let
ters were copied for the press.
In the recent article mentioned above, Lord Ma
hon is quoted as saying ; " Mr. Sparks has printed
no part of the correspondence precisely as Washing
ton wrote it, but has greatly altered, and, as he
thinks, corrected and embellished it." So loose and
2

10

sweeping a charge needs only be met by a plain
denial of its truth, and a rebuke for its rashness.
How could Lord Mahon affirm, that " no part " is
printed as written, unless he had read the whole
work, and compared each letter with the original 1
Has he ever made this comparison 1 Certainly not,
because he has never seen the originals at all ; and
there is no proof that he has compared a fiftieth, or
even a hundredth part, with other printed copies
where they exist. His Lordship also undertakes to
inform his readers what the editor " thinks " ; but I
assure him that the editor never had such a thought,
nor ever dreamed of embellishing Washington's lan
guage in any manner whatever, nor of correcting it,
except for the press, as above described.
As to the general execution of the work, I cer
tainly had the best reason to believe, at the time of
its publication, and afterwards, that my labors were
satisfactory to the public, and merited praise, but I
shall again recur to this point. Meantime I may,
perhaps, be excused for inserting two letters, bear
ing upon it, from Chief Justice Marshall.
" Richmond, May 6th, 1834.
" Dear Sir ; Mr. Thompson has forwarded to me the
second and third volumes of the Writings of Washington,
for which I am greatly indebted to you. I have perused
them with much gratification. The work is greatly en
riched by the additions, which your careful researches have

11

enabled you to make to the papers you obtained at Mount
Vernon. Your notes of illustration are extremely valua
ble. But I have read no part of these volumes with so
much pleasure, as the series of maxims under the head of
' Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and
Conversation.' These rules, of which I had never before
heard, furnish a key with which to open the original char
acter of this truly great man.
" With great and respectful esteem,
" I am your obedient "J. Marshall."
After receiving three more volumes. Judge Mar
shall wrote again as follows. "EiCHMOND, April 29th, 1835.
" Dear Sir ; I have deferred acknowledging the receipt
of your favor of the 4th, until I should have it in my power
to look over three additional volumes of your great work,
which you have had the kindness* to forward to me through
Mr. Sanxay. I am much indebted to you for this con
tinued and gratifying attention.
" Our Washington appears himself, and consequently
to advantage, in the full-length portrait you have given of
him. Your illustrative notes are very interesting, and add
much, in my opinion, to the value of the text. That in
the Appendix to the fifth volume, which develops Con
way's Cabal, is peculiarly so. Many of the letters had not
previously been seen by the public.
" The papers in the Appendix to the sixth volume, which
show the difference of opinion between the King and Lord

12

North respecting the American war, disclose an historical
fact which was entirely unknown, at least in this country.
The obstinacy with which his Majesty pursued his original
plan, though previously pretty well understood, is presented
in a still stronger light than I had imagined. The more
rational views entertained by Lord North were not even
suspected. " The fact to which you allude, as to Charape, had been
noticed by me when originally perusing the letters. I
think it not improbable that the thing might have been in
contemplation before the execution of Andre, and that the
hope of saving him was at first mixed with that of punish
ing Arnold. That the first object had become unattain
able, was probably forgotten when the narrative was com
posed. " I wish you all the fame and success to which your
well-directed and laudable researches entitle you, and am,
dear sir, with great respect and esteem,
" Your obliged and obedient « J. Marshall."
These letters were written by a man, who, from
his intimate knowledge of Washington's papers, after
having had the originals in his possession for several
years, and studied them minutely, was more compe
tent than any other person to form a correct judg
ment of the manner in which they had been edited.
He had examined and approved the general plan
proposed for the work before it was begun, and here
is an unqualified approval of the details of its execu
tion, after the first half was completed.

13

LETTER II.
the PRINCIPLES AND RULES ADOPTED IN EDITING THE
WORK.
When a man is censured for his acts or opinions,
the reasons and grounds on which they rest, espe
cially if he has frankly and fully disclosed them,
ought, in all fairness, to be made known at the same
time. How else can an impartial judgment be
formed, or the real merits of a case be understood"?
These dictates of justice and candor were overlooked
by the writer in the Evening Post, as well as by Lord
Mahon, who seems to have followed closely in his
steps. No intimation is given, that the editor of
" Washington's Writings " had explained with pre
cision and fulness the plan of the work, and the
principles by which his editorial labors were to be
directed, and that he had carefully adhered to this
plan and these principles.
Readers kept in ignorance of these facts might
easily be led by the writer's charges and invectives
to entertain the suspicion, that the editor had prac
tised a deception upon the public, or at least had
taken liberties which were designed to be concealed.
As nothing can be further from the truth, such a

14

suspicion should have been prevented by the more
candid course of presenting the subject in its com
plete aspect and just relations.
The following passage, illustrative of these re
marks, and not even alluded to by the writer in his
strictures, is taken from the Introduction to the vol
ume of " Washington's Writings " that was first
published, being the second in the series.
" It has been a task of some difficulty to determine
what general principles should be adopted, in select
ing the parts for publication from the whole body of
papers left by Washington. In the first place, the
mass of manuscripts, which extends to eighty vol
umes, consisting chiefly of letters, is so large as to
preclude the idea of publishing more than a compar
atively small portion. Again, from the nature of
the correspondence, being mostly official, and many
of the letters having been written to different persons
on the same subject, there are necessarily frequent
repetitions, and numerous particulars constantly in
tervening, which, though essential at the time in the
transactions to which they relate, have no longer
any interest or moment. Of this description are the
innumerable details incident to the subordinate ar
rangements of an army, such as supplies, provisions,
clothing, camp equipage, arms, ammunition, and
other points of minor consideration, which engaged
the incessant care of the Commander-in-chief, and

15

entered largely into his correspondence even with
Congress, and the highest officers, both civil and
military. To print all the materials of this kind
would not only be useless in itself, but would add
so much to the size and expense of the work, as at
the same time to make it cumbersome and unattrac
tive to readers, and raise its cost above the means of
many individuals, who may wish to possess these
personal records and authentic memorials of the acts,
opinions, and character of the Father of his Country.
" Under these circumstances, I have endeavored to
pursue such a course as would the most effectually
attain the object to be desired, in bringing these
papers before the public ; namely, to exhibit the
writings of Washington in a manner that will render
strict justice to the imperishable name of their au
thor, and contribute the greatest advantage to his
countrymen, both at the present time and in future
ages. For this purpose I have laid down two rules,
which I have labored to follow with as much dis
crimination as possible ; first, to select such parts as
have a permanent value, on account of the historical
facts which they contain, whether in relation to
actual events, or to the political designs and opera
tions in which Washington was a leading or con
spicuous agent ; secondly, to comprise such other
parts as contain the views, opinions, counsels, and
reflections of the writer on all kinds of topics, show-

16

ing thereby the structure of his mind, its powers and
resources, and the strong and varied points of his
character. Upon this plan, it has been my study to
go carefully through the manuscripts, without regard
to what has heretofore been made public, and gather
from the whole, and combine into one body, the por
tions most important for their intrinsic value and
historical characteristics ; so that the work, in its
complete form, may be a depository of all the writ
ings of Washington which it is essential to preserve,
either as illustrating his political and private life, or
the history of his country during the long and bril
liant period of his public career.
" According to this plan, when a letter through
out bears the features above described, it will be
printed entire, as will, in every case, the addresses,
speeches, messages, circulars, and other state papers,
issued by him from time to time. But many of the
letters, both in the public and private correspond
ence, for the reasons already assigned, will neces
sarily be printed with omissions of unimportant pas
sages, relating chiefly to topics or facts evanescent in
their nature, and temporary in their design. Special
care will be taken, nevertheless, in all such omis
sions, that the sense shall not be marred, nor the
meaning of the writer in any manner perverted or
obscured. Nor is this difficult, because the omitted
passages usually treat upon separate and distinct

17

subjects, and may be removed without injury to the
remaining portions of the letter.
" It ought to be premised here, that, in preparing
the manuscripts for the press, I have been obliged
sometimes to use a latitude of discretion, rendered
unavoidable by the mode in which the papers have
been preserved. They are uniformly copied into
volumes, and this task appears to have been per
formed, except in the Revolutionary correspondence,
by incompetent or very careless transcribers. Gross
blunders constantly occur, which not unfrequently
destroy the sense, and which never could have ex
isted in the original drafts. In these cases I have,
of course, considered it a duty, appertaining to the
functions of a faithful editor, to hazard such correc
tions as the construction of the sentence manifestly
warranted, or a cool judgment dictated. On some
occasions, the writer himself, through haste or inad
vertence, may have fallen into an awkward use of
words, faults of grammar, or inaccuracies of style,
and when such occur from this source, I have equal
ly felt bound to correct them. It would be an act
of unpardonable injustice to any author, after his
death, to bring forth compositions, and particularly
letters, written with no design to their publication,
and commit them to the press without previously
subjecting them to a careful revision. This exercise
of an editor's duty, however, I have thought it allow-
3

18

able to extend only to verbal and grammatical mis
takes or inaccuracies, maintaining a scrupulous cau
tion that the author's meaning and purpose should
thereby in no degree be changed or affected."
These statements embrace the whole ground, and
they are so full and clear, so free from disguise and
ambiguity, so direct and explicit in their details, that
I cannot now perceive, upon a careful revision, how
any reader could misapprehend their meaning. They
went out to the world with the first specimen of the
work, and, during its progress of four years through
the press, no critic, friendly or hostile, no individual,
within my knowledge, ever hinted that the plan, or
the rules for executing it, were founded on errone
ous principles, or were perverted in their application.
If objections had been offered from any quarter in a
candid spirit, accompanied by adequate reasons, they
would have led me to reconsider the subject, and
perhaps to modify the plan ; for it must be evident,
that I could have no other motive than that of exe
cuting the work in such a manner as would be
approved by an enlightened public opinion. This
approval was expressed in numerous instances, and
without any censorious comments or qualifying sug
gestions, that have come to my knowledge.
In regard to omissions, it must be recollected
that the whole work is only a selection, and pur
ports to be nothing more. This is abundantly ex-

19

plained in the above extract from the Introduction.
I am certainly safe in saying, that more than two
thirds of the whole collection of manuscripts were
necessarily omitted, in consequence of the limited
extent to which it was proposed to carry the work.
Lord Mahon has discovered a passage in Mar
shall's Life of Washington, which he takes pains to
inform his readers is not found in the " Writings."
How was it possible to compress matter sufficient
for thirty or forty volumes into twelve, without
omissions 1 Or what improper motive can be imag
ined to have inffuenced the editor in omitting the
particular passage remarked by Lord Mahon 1
To decide what papers should be selected in pref
erence to others, where nearly all of them were in a
certain degree important and valuable, was felt to be
a responsible, delicate, and difficult task, requiring
a discriminating judgment, and perfect impartiality,
in estimating their contents. Moreover, it was pre
cisely one of those cases in which any two minds,
acting under different impressions, though aiming at
the same end, would be likely often to differ 1 Un
der these circumstances the course was taken which
was believed to be the best suited to guard against
erroneous decisions and estimates. The whole collec
tion of papers, including as well the letters written
by Washington as those received by him, was first
perused deliberately and with careful attention.

20

This was the labor of nearly a year. The letters
chosen during this perusal were transcribed, and
they formed a mass much too large for the intended
work. This mass was several times revised, and
was reduced to a smaller compass, with constant
reference to the letter-books for the purpose of com
parison and of substituting other letters, which,
upon further examination, might seem to have high
er claims, either as preserving a more connected se
ries of historical events, or as showing in a stronger
light the opinions, intellectual traits, and personal
characteristics of the author. In this way the selec
tion for the whole work was made ; and whatever
faults of judgment may appear as to the choice of
one letter instead of another, I can truly affirm that
the task was not performed with negligence or haste,
nor without due consideration of every case as it
arose. The selection was reduced by M. Guizot to
six volumes in the French edition ; Ton Raumer
comprised the German edition in two volumes ; and
a London editor thought the same number sufficient
for the British public.
The propriety of omitting parts of letters, and
retaining other parts, may, perhaps, at first view, be
thought questionable. But when it is considered
that parts of letters, treating upon totally distinct
and imconnected topics, are in reality the same as
so many distinct letters, it is obvious that to omit

21

such parts differs in no respect from omitting sepa
rate letters. Moreover, if entire letters had in every
instance been printed, it would have been neces
sary to leave out of the work much that was valuable
and important, which is now included, and frequent
ly to repeat the same matter, and sometimes in the
same language.
In the correspondence during the Revolution, it
often happened that several letters were written
nearly at the same time to different persons, the
President of Congress, the governors of States, offi
cers of the army, or other official characters, in which
not only the same facts were communicated, and the
same topics discussed, but whole paragraphs were
almost literally transcribed from one letter into
others. These repetitions grew out of the nature of
the business in hand, and could not have been avoid
ed without unnecessai-y circumlocutions and strained
attempts to seek a variety of language for expressing
the same ideas. As to letters of this description, it
was the practice to print some one of them entire,
and to select from the others such parts as were free
from repetitions. But in all omissions, whether for
these reasons or others, whether short or long, spe
cial care was taken not to break off in the midst of
a topic or train of thought, and not, by any abrupt
transition, to weaken or obscure the sense of the
author.

22

By these principles and rules I was guided in
selecting the papers for the press. That the work
is faultless in this part of its execution, or in any
other, I cannot suppose, being fully aware of the
innumerable chances of error in every undertaking
so extensive and complex. Letters may possibly
have been omitted through oversight, or a mistake
of judgment, or by accident, which might be advan
tageously substituted for some of those retained. It
would be strange if it were not so. But it was
never imagined that a letter would be lost to the
world because it was not comprised in this selection.
It was presumed that such of the large mass of pa
pers, still unprinted, as have any interest for the
public, would be brought out at some future time.
By the contract between Judge Washington and
Chief Justice Marshall on the one part, and myself
on the other, the copyright of the work belonged,
in equal shares, to them and to me ; and the rights
thus secured to them are now held by their heirs.
The Washington manuscripts were purchased by
Congress, several years after this contract was made,
and with a full understanding of its terms and con
ditions. All the papers not covered by this copy
right are as free to be published now, as any others
in the possession of the government.

23

LETTER III.
THE CONDITION IN WHICH MANY OF WASHINGTON'S LETTERS
WERE LEFT IN REGARD TO THE TEXT.
In this letter it is proposed to speak further of
the text of " Washington's Writings," as found in
his letter-books and in the originals sent to his cor
respondents. The following extract from the Pref
ace to the work bears directly on this point.
" In regard to the text, also, it is proper here to
repeat what has been said in another place, that
frequent embarrassments have occurred. It was
Washington's custom, in all his letters of impor
tance, first to write drafts, which he transcribed.
In making the transcripts he sometimes deviated
from the drafts, omitting, inserting, and altering
parts of sentences ; nor did he always correct the
drafts, so as to make them accord with the letters as
sent to his correspondents. These imperfect drafts
were laid aside, and from time to time copied by an
amanuensis into the letter-books. Hence the drafts,
as now recorded, do not in all cases agree precisely
with the originals that were sent away. My re
searches have brought under my inspection many
of these original letters. Regarding them as con-

24

taining the genuine text, I have preferred it to that
in the letter-books, and it has accordingly been
adopted wherever it could be done.
" But the discrepancies are of little moment, re
lating to the style, and not to the substance. For
the most part, I have been obliged to rely on the
letter-books ; and, for the reasons here mentioned, it
is probable that the printed text may not in every
particular be the same as in the originals, that is,
the corrected copies, which were sent to his corre
spondents. These remarks apply chiefiy to private
letters, written when Washington was at Mount
Vernon, and to those written during the French
war. In the periods of the Revolution and the
Presidency, much more exactness was observed ;
and, as far as my observation has extended, there
is generally a literal accordance between the original
letters and the transcripts in the letter-books."
These remarks were intended distinctly to explain
the actual state of the case, and the embarrassments
attending it, with the view both of conveying proper
information to the public, and of removing every
ground of suspicion and misapprehension in regard
to the manner in which these embarrassments were
met by the editor.
As an illustration of the above statement, and as
an evidence of the facility with which hasty criti
cism may deceive itself and run to false conclusions.

we may recur to a prominent passage selected by the
writer in the Evening Post, in support of his charge
of alteration and perversion of the text. He quotes
the following extract from one of Washington's let
ters, as printed in the " Life of Joseph Reed," dated
December 12th, 1778.
" What did or could prompt the knight (Sir Henry
Clinton) to this expedition, is beyond the reach of my con
ception, considering the unseasonableness of it. Three
things only appeared to me probable ; a rescue of the Con
vention troops, a stroke at the rear of our army, or a sur
prise of the posts in the Highlands. The two first I had
seen perfectly out of his reach before I left the North
River, and not conceiving that he could miss it so much in
point of intelligence as to mistime matters so egregiously,
(if either of the other tivo was his object,) it followed of
consequence, that the last must be his aim; and though
I had left him, as I thought, in a state of security, and in
the hands of a good officer, McDougall, I could not help
being uneasy, lest some disaster might befall them. I post
ed back from Elizabethtown on the morning of the 5th,
and got within twelve or fifteen miles of King's Ferry,
when I was met by an express informing me that the
enemy had landed at that place, set fire to two small log'd
houses, destroyed nine barrels of spoiled herrings and had
set sail for New York."
In contrast with this passage, the writer produces
the following, as printed in " Washington's Writ

ings.

4

26

" What did or could prompt the knight to this expe
dition, I am at a loss to discover, considering the unseason
ableness of it. Three things only appear to me probable ;
a rescue of the Convention troops, a stroke at the rear of
our army, or a surprise of our posts in the Highlands.
The two first I had seen perfectly out of his reach before
I left the North River; and, not conceiving that he could
be so much out in point of intelligence, as to mistime mat
ters so egregiously, if either of the two first was his object,
it followed, of consequence, that the last must be his aim ;
and, though I had left them, as I thought, in a state of
security, and in the hands of a good officer, McDougall,
I could not help being uneasy lest a disaster might hap
pen ; and I posted back from Elizabethtown at four u^ clock
in the morning of the 5th, and got within twelve or fifteen
miles of King's Ferry, when I was met by an express, in
forming me that the enemy had landed at that place,
burned two or three log-houses, with nine barrels of spoilt
herrings, and had re'embarked and sailed for New York

The editor is charged with having made all the
alterations here indicated by the italics. To this
charge no other reply is necessary, than that it is
erroneous. The extract from the letter in " Wash
ington's Writings " is printed exactly as it is record
ed in the letter-book, from which it was transcribed
for the press, except in two instances. Before disas
ter the letter a is inserted ; the original text reads
" lest disaster." In the letter-book are the words

27

logged houses, (not log'd houses, as in Mr. Reed's
copy,) and this was printed log-houses. Whether
these corrections were made by me, or by the proof
reader, I cannot now undertake to determine. Nor
am I bound to reconcile the discrepances between
the two copies. I followed the only one in my pos
session. Take another example from Marshall's " Life of
W^ashington," (Vol. V. p. 15,) where is an extract
from a letter to Governor Harrison, of Virginia,
dated October 10th, 1784, and printed in the words
following. " I need not remark to you. Sir, that the flanks and rear
of the United States are possessed by other powers, and
formidable ones too ; nor need I press the necessity of ap
plying the cement of interest to bind all parts of the Union
together by indissoluble bonds ; especially of binding that
part of it which lies immediately west of us, to the Middle
States. For what ties, let me ask, should we have upon
those people, how entirely unconnected with them shall
we be, and what troubles may we not apprehend, if the
Spaniards on their right, and Great Britain on their left,
instead of throwing impediments in their way, as they now
do, should hold out lures for their trade and alliance ?
When they get strength, which will be sooner than most
people conceive, what will be the consequence of their
having formed close commercial connections with both, or
either of those powers ? It needs not, in my opinion, the
gift of prophecy to foretell."

28

In " Washington's Writings," this letter is print
ed from the letter-book, in which the above para
graph is word for word as follows.
" I need not remark to you, Sir, that the flanks and rear
of the United States are possessed by other powers, and
formidable ones too ; nor hoiv necessary it is to apply the
cement of interest to bind all parts of the Union together
by indissoluble bonds, especially that part of it, which lies
immediately west of us, ivith the Middle States. For what
ties, let me ask, should we have upon those people ? How
entirely unconnected with them shall we be, and what
troubles may we not apprehend, if the Spaniards on their
right, and Great Britain on their left, instead of throwing
stumbling-blocks in their way, as they now do, should hold
out lures for their trade and alliance ? What, when they
get strength, which will be sooner than most people con
ceive, [from the emigration of foreigners, who ivill have no
particular predilection toiuards us, as ivell as from the re
moval of our oivn citizens,) will be the consequence of their
having formed close connections with both or either of
those powers, in a commercial way ? It needs not, in my
opinion, the gift of prophecy to foretell."
Here are what may be considered important vari
ations. Whence do they arise X It would be diffi
cult to ascertain ; or to decide what text was adopted
by Judge Marshall. I had no other than that in
the letter-book.
We may draw another illustration from a letter to
Richard Henry Lee, dated December 14th, 1784.

29

The following paragraph is taken from the original
letter. " Individual States opposing the measures of the United
States, encroaching upon the territory of one another, and
setting up old and obsolete claims, is verifying the predic
tions of our enemies, and in reality is truly unfortunate.
If the western tribes are as well disposed to treat with us
as the northern Indians have been, and will cede a compe
tent district of country northwest of the Ohio to answer
our present purposes, it would be a circumstance as unex
pected as pleasing to me ; for it was apprehended, if they
agreed to the latter at all, it would be reluctantly ; but the
example of the Six Nations, who, if they have not relin
quished their claim, have pretensions to a large part of
those lands, may have a powerful influence on the western
gentry, and smooth the way for the commissioners, who
have proceeded to Fort Pitt"
The same paragraph transcribed from the letter-
book is as follows.
" Individual States opposing the measures of the United
States, encroaching upon the territory of each other, and
setting up old and obsolete claims, is verifying the predic
tion of our enemies, and is truly unfortunate. If the west
ern tribes are as well disposed to treat with us as the Six
Nations have been, and will cede a competent district of
land northwest of the Ohio to answer our present pur
poses, it will be a circumstance as unexpected as pleasing
to me ; for it was apprehended that they would agree to the
latter reluctantly, if at all; but the example of the northern

30

Indians, who, if they have not relinquished their claim,
have pretensions to a large part of those lands, may
have a powerful influence on the western gentry, and
smooth the way for the commissioners, who have pro
ceeded to Cuyahoga.''
These specimens wUl serve to show the state of
the text in a large portion of Washington's letters,
as they now exist in manuscript, particularly those
written at Mount Vernon, and others of a private
nature written elsewhere. The originals sent to his
correspondents seldom agree throughout in phrase
ology with the copies retained on record. More
over, these copies are constantly marred by the
blunders or mistakes of illiterate or careless tran
scribers. For the most part, there was no resource
for the editor but to foUow the letter-books. Hence
the text of many letters in '¦ Washington's Writ
ings," compared with other copies, whether found
in print or in manuscript, must necessarily afford
abundant materials for the kind of criticisms in
which the writer in the Evening Post, and Lord
Mahon, have indulged themselves with so much
freedom of censure.
Another example, still more striking, may be
mentioned. Washington kept a copy of his official
correspondence during his military services in the
last French war before the Revolution, written on
sheets loosely stitched together. Some twenty or

31

thirty years afterwards he revised this manuscript,
making numerous erasures, interlineations, and cor
rections in almost every letter. This corrected copy
was then transcribed into bound volumes under his
own diri^tion. Which is now the genuine text ]
Which would Washington himself have printed 1
The one in the letter-books was adopted, because
it seemed obvious, that, after the pains he had taken
to prepare it, he intended that copy for permanent
preservation and use. It would be easy to cavil
here, and say that we have not the precise lan
guage employed by Washington to convey his
thoughts at the time the letters were written, but
a garbled substitute introduced at a much later
day. Yet this was an act of his own, and cer
tainly no editor would be justified in disregarding
it. In these letters, therefore, the same kind of
discrepancies will necessarily appear, as in the cases
alluded to above, between the printed text and
that of the originals sent out to his correspond
ents. Before closing these remarks, I may perhaps be
pardoned for adding a few other particulars re
specting the execution of the work.
General Washington bequeathed all his papers
and books to his nephew, Bushrod Washington, by
whom they were retained at Mount Vernon. It is
well known that Chief Justice Marshall had the

32

free use of these papers while writing his " Life of
Washington." For many years afterwards they
were not consulted for any historical purpose,
although some progress was made by Judge Wash
ington in selecting a portion of them for the press.
This design was abandoned, however, and, by a
contract with those gentlemen, the task of carry
ing out a similar design on a larger scale than
had been contemplated was assigned to me, under
certain regulations and conditions agreed upon by
the parties, and defined in the contract. Imme
diately after signing this contract in the city of
Washington, I was engaged three months at Mount
Vernon in a general inspection and arrangement
of the papers, which were ultimately transferred
to Boston. They remained in my possession ten
years, till the publication of the work was com
pleted. It was an essential feature of the plan, that the
work was not to be merely a compilation of W^ash-
ington's letters, but was to comprise additional and
illustrative matter gathered from various original
sources, which would give a new value to the let
ters, and afford new developments of the private
and historical character of the author. Fully
aware of the importance of being prepared to ex
ecute the work thoroughly and faithfully, accord
ing to the plan proposed, by previous research

33

and study, I visited the public offices of all the
old Thirteen States, and personally inspected the
papers in them relating to the Revolution, and
particularly such as would illustrate Washington's
letters, and the events with which he was more
or less connected. Copies of the most valuable of
these papers, constituting a rich collection of his
torical materials, were obtained. With the same
object in view, and vnth similar results, I sought
out and examined the private papers, then remain
ing, of many of the chief actors in the Revolution.
Having thus procured such aids as my opportuni
ties would permit in this country, I then made a
voyage to Europe for the express purpose of contin
uing my researches there. I passed a year in the
public offices of London and Paris, diligently em
ployed in examining the voluminous collections of
papers contained in them relating to the American
war, and treating both of political and military
affairs. By the courtesy and liberality of the gov
ernments of Great Britain and France, I was al
lowed to have free access to these papers, and to
procure copies of such as were suited to my ob
ject. These facts are briefly stated, to show that the
work was not undertaken with a narrow estimate
of its importance ; that neither time, nor labor,
nor expense was spared in the preparation ; and

34

that in these respects the editor cannot be charged
with haste or negligence. The original materials
thus collected from many sources, and possessing
the highest degree of authenticity, furnished the
notes and appendices to the several volumes. Good
judges have not failed to see in them a large body
of interesting facts, which had not before been
made public, and which contribute to elucidate at
once the character and deeds of Washington, and
that portion of the history of the country with
which these are so intimately blended. It was
my steady aim throughout, while enlarging the
bounds of historical knowledge, to elicit truth as
far as it could be done by bringing together con
temporary testimonies of unquestionable authority,
and thus to render justice to the designs, conduct,
and character of the principal actors, to whatever
side or party they might belong.
The contest between England and her former
colonies partook of many of the characteristics of
a civil war, inflaming the passions and perverting
the judgment of both parties ; and it was a neces
sary consequence, that there should be erroneous
opinions and false impressions in this country con
cerning the motives, policy, and plans of the Brit
ish ministry, as well as of their military officers
commanding in America, and that these should
give a coloring to the correspondence of the time.

35

In cases of this kind, special care was taken, when
practicable, to correct such errors, as well as oth
ers derived from a defective knowledge of facts,
by a free use of the materials procured from the
British offices, in which the ministers and the
military commanders speak for themselves. A
British historian might perhaps find something to
commend in the results of these attempts, which
were at least prompted by a high motive ; and I
am persuaded that every American reader will be
pleased to see the name of Washington associated
with any historical illustrations tending to estab
lish truth and justice.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 03262 7953

W-iK'W-'.:^

¦p- lie,"' ,/.
I'll "'ill'!" '!LljI- '-'^'i ^ ri
.illililll! ¦ jiMnii:". ': , -1