—410* Letter from General Wajhington.— Mr. Carte. [June 1, 
excurfion, on the coaft of Portugal; had 
undergone fome fevere gales of wind, and 
having little or.no {kill in any. other than 
littoral navigation, \oft herfelf in the main 
ecean, and was driven on the Englith coat 
in a ftorm. 
Penzance, May 145 1804. ite 3 
—EE 
To the Editor of ibe Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N the fecend volume of Biffet’s Hiftory 
of George II{. the aurhor, in com- 
menting’ on the declaration of American 
Independence, obferves, that ‘* General 
Wahhington, though fo ftrenuous and effi- 
cacious a fupporter of American refiiiance 
to what he confidered oppreffion and ty- 
ranny, was far from approving of an en- 
tire diffolution of the connection.” And 
to prove this affertion, he quotes a letter 
which he fays was written by the General 
to his friend, Mr. Lund Wafhington. 
That the hiflorian may be informed, 
that in making this quotation he has 
given credit to a forgery, I take the It- 
berty to requet you to publifh in the 
Monthly Magazine the enclofed letter from 
General Wathington to the Secretary of 
State, which was publifhed at the time in 
all the Gazettes in America, but which 
it feerms never came to the knowledge of 
Dr. Biflet. 
Your’s, &c. 
New York, Anr. BLEECKER. 
March 12,3304. 
SIR» Philadelphia, March 3, 1797. 
“AT the conclufion of my public em- 
ployments, I have thought it expedient to 
notice the publication of certain forged let- 
ters, which firft appeared in the year 1777, 
and were obtruded upon the public as mine. 
They are faid ‘by the Editor to have been 
found in a fmall portmanteau, that I had 
left in the care of my mulatto fervant, named 
Billy, who it is pretended was taken prifoner 
at Fort Lee, in 1776. The period when thefe 
letters were firft printed will he recollected, 
and what were the impreffions they were in- 
tended to produce on the public mind. It 
was then fuppofed to be of fome confequence 
to ftrike at the integrity of the American 
commander in chief, and to paint his inclina- 
tions as at variance with his profeffions and 
his duty. Another crifis in the affairs of 
America having occurred, the fame weapon 
has been reforted to, to wound my character, 
and deceive the people. 
- 66 The letters in queftion have the dates, 
addreftes, and fignatures, here following :— 
New York, June 12, 1776-, To Mr. Lund 
Wafhington, at Mount Vernon.—To John 
P. Cutis, Efq. June 18, 1776.—New York, 
July 8, 1776. To Mr. Lund W afhington.— 
New York, July 16, 1776. To Mr. Lund 
Wathington.—New York, July 15, 1776. To 
Mr. Lund Wathington.— June 24,1776. Te 
Mrs. Wafhington. 
‘© At the ‘time. when thefe letters firit 
appeared, it was notorious to the army im- 
mediately under my command, and particu- 
larly to the gentlemen attached to my perfon, 
that my mulatto-man, Billy, had never been 
one moment in the power of the enemy. It 
is alfo a faét, that no part of my baggage, or 
any of my.attendants, were captured during* 
the whole courfe of the war. Thefe well- 
known fa@s made it unneceffary during the 
war, to call the public attention to the 
forgery by any exprefs declaration of mine; 
and a firm reliance on my fellow-citizens,’ 
and the abundant proofs they gave of their 
confidence in me, rendered it alike unnecef- 
fary to take any formal notice of the revival 
of the impofition during my civil adminiitra- 
tion. But 3s I cannot know how foon a more 
ferious event may fucceed to that which wiil 
this day take place, I have thought it a duty 
that I owe to myfelf, to my country, and to 
truth, now to detail the circumftances above’ 
recited, and to add my folemn declaration, 
that the letters herein defcribed are a bafe 
forgery; and that I never faw or heard of: 
them until they appeared in print. 
“¢ The prefent lezger I commit to your care, 
and defire it may be depofited in the Office 
of the Department of State, as a folemn tetti- 
mony of the truth to the prefent generation, 
and to poiterity. Accept, &€s 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
To Timothy Pickering, E/q- 
Secretary of State. 
a 
* 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sikh fx ; 
6 he very interefting correfpendence ” 
in your lJaft month’s Magazine, re- 
Jative to the papers formerly in the Scotch 
College at Paris, induces me to inform 
yeur illuftrious correfpondent, _ and the 
other gentlemen who have obliged. the 
public by their communications, that the 
indefatigable biftorian, Mr. Cariz, in con- 
fequence of an allowance of zoool, a year. 
from feveral noblemen and gentlemen, 
wert to Paris, ard tranfcribed the whaie 
of the materials relating to Englith hiftory 
which were then in that library. Thefe 
papeis were, after Mr. Carte’s death, pur- 
chafed by the late Mr. Cadell, who lent 
them to Mr. Macpherfon, when compofing 
his Hifory, and by whonr, I believe, they 
were never returned. As the exiftence of 
thefe invaluable documents is at prefent 
matter of confiderable doubt, it is poilible, 
that if enquiries are made, Mr. Carte’s 
tranferipts may be found in the hands of 
the reprefentatives of the former gentle- 
man, or at leaft in the cuftody of tho'e te 
-whom the care of his papers devolved 
upon his death. 
Iam, Sir, &c. jj. Wee 
Ta 
