SYNOPSIS

OF A FEW FAMILIAR LETTERS OF

WASHINGTON,

TO HIS PRIVATE SECRETARY, COLONEL LEAR,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS DOMESTIC LIFE;

WITH SOME REFLECTIONS.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

FOUR LETTERS IN FULL.

TO CHARLES J. INGERSOLL.

THIS literary trifle is hardly worth a dedication; yet it has dared to touch, though with incompetent hands, a high subject, and, trifle as it is, I dedicate it to you. At an agreeable little dinner at your table lately, where we had the new Vice-President, Mr. Breckinridge, whose maternal stock, the Stanhope Smiths and Witherspoons, so rich in intellect, we knew at Princeton, you said we had been friends for upwards of sixty years. You were right, for we were merry boys together in Philadelphia before our college days at Princeton; and I may here add, that our friendship has never been interrupted.

RICHARD RUSH.

26

INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATION.

THE manuscript or paper here published was prepared from a collection of original letters from General Washington on matters, for the most part, purely domestic and personal, addressed to Colonel Tobias Lear, his private Secretary for a part of the time he was President; and then, and during periods much longer, his confidential friend. They came into my hands through the voluntary kindness of Mrs. Lear, of the city of Washington, the estimable relict of Colonel Lear, and niece of Mrs. Washington, whose friendship it was my good lot and that of my family to enjoy; as we did that of Colonel Lear while he lived. The latter died in Washington in 1816. Mrs. Lear first informed me of these letters ten or twelve years ago when in Washington, and offered them to my perusal and examination, telling me to take them home and retain them as long as I chose, and use them as I thought best, for I trust she knew I would not abuse this privilege. I brought them home as requested, being then too much engaged in the business of the Smithsonian Institution, as one of the Regents on its first organization, to examine them while in Washington. She afterwards read, ap

proved, and for some time had in her hands, the paper I drew up from them.

It consisted of notices of, and extracts from, these original letters, the matter being abridged, connecting links used, and omissions made, where the illustrious author himself marked them private, or, from parts otherwise not necessary to go before the world. So guarded and prepared, and with a commentary interwoven, Mrs. Lear left its publication to my discretion. I returned the original letters, in number more than thirty, in the state I received them from her. I never allowed any one of them to be copied; but gave one away, or two, for I am not at this day certain which, to Mr. Polk while he was President of the United States, having first asked and obtained Mrs. Lear's consent. She also gave me two of them not very long before her decease, which I value the more as her gift. I have other original letters from the same immortal source, derived from the son of Colonel Lear.

This excellent lady, who long honored me with her friendship and confidence in the above and other ways, after surviving Colonel Lear forty years, died last December in Washington. There she had continued to live as his widow; beloved as a pattern of the Christian virtues, and enjoying the esteem of the circle around her, as an interesting survivor of days becoming historical, but ever elevating in the associations they recall. Now that she is gone, I am induced to give to the public the paper in question. In doing so I have the best grounds for believing that I perform an act that would have been grateful to her were she living. She was fully informed of my intention to publish it, and could not

but be sensible that the long respect and affectionate attachment of General Washington which her husband enjoyed, as so indelibly shown in these letters, is a record of his probity, capacity and worth, than which none could ever be more precious, or likely to be more enduring. This consideration it might be thought affects only the descendants of Colonel Lear, or others devoted to his memory; but I have ventured to think that the publication may not be wholly unacceptable on broader grounds. Nothing, indeed, in authentic connection with Washington's great name, can ever be unwelcome to the American people; and, although it may have happened that some few of these letters have heretofore found their way into print, in whole or in part, the number, as far as was known to Mrs. Lear, is believed to be very small. Hence the publication need not be forborne on that account; more especially if it should be found to carry with it the slightest general interest in the form now presented. The brevity of the commentary will the more commend it to indulgence.

In regard to the narrative of Arnold's treason, as given by the great Chief at his table at Mount Vernon, and afterwards written down by Colonel Lear, which I have appended to the synopsis of the letters, it was not within Mrs. Lear's knowledge, nor is it within mine at present, that it has ever been in print before.

RICHARD RUSH.

SYDENHAM, NEAR PHILADELPHIA, February, 1857.