From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 12 April 1793
To Alexander Hamilton
Mount Vernon 12th April 1793.
Dear sir,
In due course of Post I have received your Letters of the 5th and 8th instant. & thank you for the information contained in them.
Tomorrow I leave this for Philadelphia. the advices which I may receive this Evening by the Post, will fix my route by Baltimore (as usual)—or by the one I intended to have come—that is, by Reading, the Canals between the Rivers, Harrisburgh, Carlisle &a—In either case ten day, I expect, will land me in the City.1
Hostilities having commenced between France & England, it is incumbent on the Government of the United States to prevent, as far as in it lies, all interferences of our Citizens in them; and immediate precautionary measures ought, I conceive, to be taken for that purpose, as I have reason to believe (from some things I have heard) that many vessels in different parts of the Union are designated for Privateers & are preparing accordingly. The means to prevent it, and for the United States to maintain a strict neutrality between the Powers at war, I wish to have seriously thought of, that I may as soon as I arrive at the Seat of the Government, take such steps, tending to these ends, as shall be deemed proper & effectual.2 With great esteem, I am &c.
Geo: Washington
LB, DLC:GW.
1. GW probably traveled through Baltimore, for he arrived in Philadelphia on 17 April ( 107). The alternate, and slower, route would have allowed GW to examine the progress by the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company on a canal that eventually would extend from the Susquehanna River near Middletown, Pa., to the Schuylkill River near Reading, Pennsylania. For GW’s proposed alternate route, see GW to Tobias Lear, 8 April, and note 6.
2. On this date GW sent to Thomas Jefferson a similar request. On 18 April, GW sent to the cabinet a list of questions concerning the proper conduct of the United States toward the belligerent powers in Europe. The cabinet members had difficulty reaching a consensus, although they did agree to a general policy of neutrality (Minutes of a Cabinet Meeting, 19 April, Neutrality Proclamation, 22 April, Jefferson to GW, 28 April, Hamilton and Henry Knox to GW, 2 May, Edmund Randolph to GW, 6 May).