THE LAST PAGE OF THE LETTER OF THOMAS LYNCH, JUN., ONE OF THE AMERICAN "SIGNERS," WHICH FETCHED 7,000 DOLLARS.
Letters of George Washington often find their way into the English sale-rooms. During the first decade of the present century they have varied in price from £6 to £60. Mr. Cuyler enables me to give my readers not only one of the finest letters of Washington's in existence, but one hitherto unpublished. I need not point out either its characteristic style or historic value, but will only observe that Lund Washington, his cousin and manager of his Virginia estates, possessed his confidence before any other person, excepting perhaps Mrs. Washington.
Camp at Cambridge Augt 20th 1775
Dear Lund,—Your Letter by Captn Prince came to my hands last night—I was glad to learn by it that all are well.—the acct given of the behaviour of the Scotchmen at Port Tobacco & Piscataway surpriz'd & vexed me—Why did they Imbark in the Cause?—What do they say for themselves?—What does other say of them?—are they admitted into company?—or kicked out of it?—What does their Countrymen urge in justification of them?—they are fertile in invention, and will offer excuses where excuses can be made. I cannot say but I am curious to learn the reasons why men, who had subscribed, and bound themselves to each other, and their Country, to stand forth in defence of it, should lay down their Arms the first moment they were called upon.
Although I never hear of the Mill under the direction of Simpson, without a degree of warmth & vexation at his extreame stupidity, yet, if you can spare money from other purposes, I could wish to have it sent to him, that it may, if possible, be set a going before the works get ruined & spoilt, & my whole Money perhaps totally lost.—If I am really to loose Barran's debt to me, it will be a pretty severe stroke upon the back of Adams, & the expense I am led into by that confounded fellow Simpson, and necessarily so—in seating my Lands under the management of Cleveland.—
Spinning should go forward with all possible dispatch, as we shall have nothing else to depend upon if these disputes continue another year.—I can hardly think that Lord Dunmore can act so low, and unmanly a part, as think of seizing Mrs. Washington by way of revenge upon me; howevr as I suppose she is, before this time gone over to Mr Calverts, & will soon after retug, go down to New Kent, she will be out of his reach for 2 or 3 months to come, in which time matters may, and probably will, take such a turn as to render her removal either absolutely necessary, or quite useless.—I am nevertheless exceedingly thankful to the Gentlemen of Alexandria for their friendly attention to this point and desire you will if there is any sort of reason to suspect a thing of this kind provide a Kitchen for her in Alexandria, or some other place of safety elsewhere for her and my Papers.
The People of this Government have obtained a character which they by no means deserved—their officers generally speaking are the most indyferent kind of People I ever saw.—I have already broke one Col. and five Captains for Cowardice, and for drawing more Pay and Provisions than they had men in their Companies there is two more Cols now under arrest, and to be tried for the same offences—in short they are by no means such Troops, in any respect as you are led to believe of them from the accts which are published, but I need not make myself Enemies among them, by this declaration although it is consistant with truth.—I daresay the men would fight very well (if properly officered) although they are an exceeding dirty & hasty people.—had they been properly conducted at Bunkers Hill (on the 17th of June) or those that were there properly supported, the Regulars would have met with a shameful defeat, & a much more considerable loss than they did, which is now known to be exactly 1057 killed & wounded—it was for their behaviour on that occasion that the above officers were broke, for I never spared one that was accused of Cowardice but brot'em to immediate Tryal.
Our Lines of Defence are now compleated, as near so at least as can be—we men wish them to come out as soon as they please, but they (that is the enemy) discover no Inclination to quit their own Works of Defence, & as it is almost impossible for us to get to them, we do nothing but watch each others motions all day at the distance of about a mile, every now and then picking off a stragler when we can catch them without their Intrenchments, in return they often attempt to Cannonad our Lines to no other purpose than the waste of a considerable quantity of powder to themselves which we should be very glad to get.—
What does Doctr Craik say to the behaviour of his Countrymen, & Townspeople? Remember me kindly to him & tell him that I should be very glad to see him here if there was any thing worth his acceptance, but the Massachusets People suffer nothing to go by them that they can lay hands upon.—