CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HEBREW CITIZENS.
[Papers collated by Lewis Abraham, Esq., and presented at the meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society, at Washington, December 27th, 1894.]
When Washington had concluded his labors in the field of war and had attained deserved civic honors, and when laurels were showered upon him from all quarters the Hebrews joined their fellow-citizens in felicitating the hero and statesman.
The following correspondence is collated from The United States Gazette, of 1790; a partial file of this paper can be found in the Congressional Library. It is strange that the letters are not all to be found in books in which the Washington correspondence are compiled.
The original letter addressed to the "Beth Elohim" congregation of Charleston, S. C., was carefully preserved among the many other valuable records of that city, but was destroyed by the great fire of 1838. The Mayor of Charleston endeavored to obtain a copy from the general government, but after a thorough examination of the records, no such document could be found. After a prolonged search, however, the present writer was enabled to discover the missing document, and was well rewarded with the thanks of the authorities of Charleston. (Year-Book of the City of Charleston for 1884, page 280.)
The "Address from the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah, Ga., to George Washington, the First President of the United States," presented by Mr. Jackson, one of the representatives from Georgia.
Sir: We have long been anxious of congratulating you on your appointment, by unanimous approbation, to the Presidential dignity of this country and of testifying our unbounded confidence in your integrity and unblemished virtue. Yet however exalted the station you now fill, it is still not equal to the merit of your heroic services through an arduous and dangerous conflict which has embosomed you in the hearts of her citizens.
Our eccentric situation, added to a diffidence founded on the most profound respect, has thus long prevented our address, yet the delay has realized anticipation, given us an opportunity of presenting our grateful acknowledgements for the benediction of Heaven through the magnanimity of federal influence and the equity of your administration.
Your unexampled liberality and extensive philanthropy have dispelled that cloud of bigotry and superstition which has long, as a vail, shaded religion—unrivetted the fetters of enthusiasm—enfranchised us with all the privileges and immunities of free citizens, and initiated us into the grand mass of legislative mechanism. By example you have taught us to endure the ravages of war with manly fortitude, and to enjoy the blessings of peace with reverence to the Deity and with benignity and love to our fellow-creatures.