Mercy Otis Warren: Selected Letters

77. To Martha Ball Custis Washington, April 1785

2. Richard Henry Lee (1732–94) of Virginia, who in 1785 was the president of Congress under the Articles of Confederation. For Lee-Warren correspondence, see wal. 3. As mow has alluded to in previous letters, part of the financial crisis of the 1780s had to do with lack of circulating money. People simply could not turn fixed assets into liquid ones, stalling the economy and leaving people like the Warrens land-rich but cash-poor. 4. mow may refer to Captain George Folgier, in the brig Three Cranes, who was shipwrecked off Newfoundland Banks in August 1784 and arrived in battered condition in Antigua on September 30. See Massachusetts Centinel, January 1, 1785. 5. The Continental Congress met in Trenton, New Jersey, from January 11 to November 4, 1785, there being no permanent capital at the time. 6. Henry Knox was in fact appointed as secretary of war in March 1785 and later served in that capacity under Washington’s first administration. Baron Steuben is Frederick Wilhelm von Steuben (1730–94), the Prussian military officer who came during wartime to advise and serve under General George Washington and who, unlike Lafayette and many other European officers, remained in America as a United States citizen after the war. 77 to martha ball custis washington [A common social practice in the eighteenth century was carrying letters of introduction to distant places. ww took them with him to Europe, and others, well known and not, often carried such letters as a form of cultural currency. In the two letters below, mow provides them for Catharine Macaulay Graham who, though famous, would find her introductions to Martha Washington in Virginia and Janet Montgomery in New York smoothed by a few lines from one old friend to another.] Milton April 1785 My dear Madam, Though it is some time since I did myself the honour of addressing you, it is with pleasure I resume the pen to convey a line at her request through the hand of a lady whose literary productions will immortalize her name. The truly republican spirit of Mrs Macaulay Graham awakened a curiosity in her to see the American world which has done so much to establish their principles among mankind. She thinks she should neither do justice 198
to martha washington, april 1785 to herself or to the opinions she has disseminated by her writings if she finished her excursion without paying her compliments to a gentleman whose name stands at the head of a list of heroes, who have ventured their all, in a cause which has entailed on them a degree of glory, that neither time nor the adventitious circumstances of future revolutions will ever erase. Their taste for the accomplished and their relish for the conversation of the learned, would ensure, the most cordial reception to Mrs Macaulay , without the ceremony of recommendatory letters, from those of her friends who have been happy in a more early acquaintance. Yet I had no inclination to decline her request, to introduce her at Mount Vernon. I have no doubt her visit will be mutually agreeable, to herself, and my friends there. If General Washington has not forgotten his old associates, who first laboured with him in the public cause, he will recognize the character of General Warren who now desires most respectful compliments. He has retired to private life, but with the same patriotic principles, which laid the foundation of the late revolution, with the same feelings for the universal freedom and happiness of mankind, and with unimpaired esteem for the uniform supporters of the glorious cause which warmed his bosom when first honoured with General Washington’s friendship. He desires me to say he should more frequently have affixed his name to the testimonials of his regards, but the man and great avocations of the commander in chief of the American Armies, led him to consider letters merely complimentory or friendly, as rather an intrusion on his time, than a mark of kindness, when both his exertions, and his time, were every moment required by the public. These gentleman are now both in another line making improvements for the benifit of mankind, but promoting the arts of agriculture and peace. Nothing would give Mr Warren greater pleasure, than either a personal interview , or a continuance of their literary intercourse. Be assured Madam, every friendly attention has accompanied you through the painful and pleasing events of public or domestic life, since we bid adieu...