From George Washington to James Maury, 5 December 1796
To James Maury
Philadelphia 5th Decr 1796.
Sir,
I have received several letters from you in the course of this year, but as none of them required a particular acknowledgment—and as my time is generally very much occupied I have been silent until now.1
The object of my writing to you now, is to request that the balance of £105.8.7 due to me, as appears by your account current dated the 23d of February in the present year may be remitted in the ⟨ar⟩ticles contained in the Invoice enclosed herewith.
I pray you to send them (Insured) by the first good opportunity to Alexandria or George Town on Potomac.2 Accept my thanks for the Tarriers you had the goodness to send me by Captn Butts who took great care of them, & delivered them in good order.3 With esteem—I remain Sir—Your most Obedt Servt
Go: Washington
ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW. Where the letterpress copy is illegible, the text in angle brackets is taken from the letter-book copy. No reply to GW from Maury has been found.
1. Maury’s letter to GW of 26 Dec. 1795 is the only extant letter that GW received from him in 1796. GW, however, may have also received Maury’s letter to him dated 16 Dec. 1795, which has not been found (see GW to Tobias Lear, 29 April 1796, and n.1).
2. The enclosed invoice, signed by GW and dated at Philadelphia on 5 Dec., begins: “Invoice of Goods to be Shipped for, and consigned to, the Subscriber at Mount Vernon in Virginia by James Maury Esqr. and sent by the first Vessel bound to the Port of Alexandria, or George Town on Poto[mac]k.” The invoice lists the following items: “300 Wt of White lead ground in Oil;” 2 pieces of “very fine Cambrick;” and a total of 9 pieces of Irish linen, one measuring 60 yards, and most costing between 2 and 4 shillings per yard. The invoice also called for “6 large & handsome Table cloths—All to be of the same size—finess—and figure;” and two dozen “handsome Napkins.” At the end of the document, GW wrote the following directive: “The surplus of the balance of £105.8.7 due to me, pr your acct current after Commission & charges—freight and Insurance on the above Goods are added to the cost thereof, is to be sent to me in good British Oznabrigs” (ALS [letterpress copy], DLC:GW). GW may have requested these items for the large-scale renovations intended for Mount Vernon (see William Pearce to GW, 13 Nov., and notes 7 and 10; and GW to Pearce, 14 Nov., 20 Nov., and 4 Dec.).
GW’s account with Maury under 22 Feb. 1797 indicates that Maury had shipped the requested items aboard the Commerce, “Tristram Cleveland Master.” The articles shipped to GW included six “Damask” tablecloths, two dozen “Damask” napkins, and pieces of cambric and Irish linen at the amounts specified in the invoice (, 18). The Columbian Mirror and Alexandria Gazette for 11 Feb. 1797 reported the expected arrival in Alexandria of the brig Commerce, Captain Tuttell, which had been scheduled to sail from Liverpool, England, where Maury was a merchant.
3. Maury must have shipped the terriers aboard the brig Virginia, Capt. Mark Butts, which had sailed from Liverpool in August 1796 and was expected to arrive in Virginia later that fall (see Argus, or Greenleaf’s New Daily Advertiser [New York], 11 Oct. 1796). These may be the terriers for which GW recently gave mating instructions (see GW to William Pearce, 4 Dec.).
Born in London, Mark Butts (1768–1843) purchased a lot on Duke Street in Alexandria in 1796. Butts was a merchant, shipmaster, and later a harbormaster at that port.