From George Washington to William Wootton Brewer, 29 September 1793
To William Wootton Brewer
Mount Vernon 29th Septr 1793.
Sir,
A Letter from you of the 20th inst: has been received, stating the distressed & truly affecting situation in which you are.1 Could my ability to do it, keep pace with my sincere desire to relieve the wants of the distressed, the request made in your letter to me would be chearfully complied with; but the numerous & pressing calls upon me for pecuniary aid from real objects of charity, & from those who are more immediately within my own knowledge, are such2 that I am under the necessity, however repugnant to my feelings, of declining to comply with your request3 but I can have no doubt however, that all those who are acquaintd with your merits and knowing to the circumstances as stated in your letter would readily contribute to make up such a sum as you require to commence business with. sincerely wishing4 that you may find means to extricate yourself from your present embarrassments, as represented in your Letter, I am Sir, &c.
Df, in the writing of GW and Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DLC:GW. The draft was addressed to Brewer at Annapolis. In 1799 he submitted a petition to the Maryland legislature praying for an act of insolvency, and the House committee reported in favor of his application (Votes and Proceedings of the House of Delegates of the State of Maryland. November Session, 1799, Being the First Session of this Assembly [Annapolis, 1800], 29, 99). His insolvent estate papers from chancery court, 27 Feb. 1800, are in MdAA.
1. Brewer’s letter to GW of 20 Sept. has not been found.
2. GW inserted “are such” above the line.
3. GW inserted the rest of this sentence.
4. Dandridge had written “praying,” but GW struck that word and wrote “wishing” above the line.