To George Washington from Alexander White, 15 December 1796
From Alexander White
Woodville [Va.]1 15th December 1796
Sir
Mrs White2 remained three weeks in Washington without coming to a determination respecting her future residence; the business of the City pressing I did not accompany her home. And altho’ I expected to be informed of the result of her reflections by letter after her arrival at her own House, she declined giving an opinion till we should meet again—Last thursday3 I arrived at this place, and found her mind so strongly bent against a removal, that my resignation must be the consequence, unless my personal attendance may be considered as sufficient[.] My Court business is so far disposed of and I shall make such Arrangements with respect to my property, that I have no doubt of being able to perform my full share of the duties of the office, if under existing circumstances, the residence of my Family ought to be dispensed with.4 I shall chearfully acquiesce in whatever you may determine in that respect, and shall ever retain a grateful sense of the honor done me in appointing me a Commissioner of the Federal Buildings, and by the terms in which you have more than once expressed your wishes for my continuance in that Office.5
My Colleagues were of opinion, that my presence in the City would not be necessary till about the 10th of January—I shall remain at home till near that time unless I should be particularly called upon—I presume it will be proper for me to continue in Office till a successor is appointed or at least fixed on so as to succeed immediately on my resignation6—but an early intimation of your decision on the principal point will oblige me, as my domestic Arrangements will be regulated accordingly.
It is with extreme regret that I intrude one moment on that time which is so fully engrossed by objects more impo[r]tant—I am with Sentiments of the highest Respect Sir Your most Obt Servt
Alexr White
ALS, DLC:GW; ALS, enclosed in White to GW, 9 Jan. (misfiled with White to GW, 5 Jan.), DLC:GW.
GW replied to White from Philadelphia on 26 Dec.: “Your letter of the 15th instt was not received until friday last [23 Dec.]—too late for the Post of that day—of course the receipt of it could not meet an earlier acknowledgment than by the Mail of this Morng.
“I wish Mrs White’s determination had been otherwise than is announced in your letter, but if I understand the expression of it, as it respects yourself, I do not see what more the Public could reasonably require of you, than you are disposed to give, when after saying this determination must occasion your resignation you add, ‘unless my personal attendance may be considered as sufficient’ and then subjoin, ‘My court business is so far disposed of, and I shall make such arrangements wit⟨h⟩ respect to my property, that I have no doubt of being able to perform my full share of the duties of the Office, if under existing circumstances, the residence of my family ought to be dispensed with.’
“However desirarable on your account, and wished by others, that Mrs White could have reconciled it to her inclination to have become a resident in the federal City, yet, tho’ her not doing it is to be regretted, I am well disposed to accept the continuance of your services upon the terms I understand they are offered—the resid⟨ence⟩ there yourself. It never was expected that a Commissioner should never be absent from his Post—though presumed always that such absence would be so timed as to produce no dereliction of, or inconvenience to, the public concerns which are entrusted to their management— and while there are three in Commission (if harmony prevails) matters may, certainly, be so arranged as to avoid these, as well as the unpleasant animadversions which otherwise might attach themselves.
“I am perfectly satisfied that your own sense of propriety, will never suffer you to neglect any trust you wd accept” (ALS [letterpress copy], DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW; mutilated material in the ALS is supplied in angle brackets from the letter-book copy). White had written GW on 29 July 1796 about his absence from the Federal City due to his court attendance in Virginia and his wife’s health issues (see White to GW, 29 June 1796, n.1).
Not having received GW’s 26 Dec. reply, White again wrote him from Woodville on 5 Jan. 1797: “Annexed is the copy of a letter written 15th Ulo to which I have received no answer; had I been certain that it had reached your hands I should not have presumed to trouble you again, and although I am sensible, that the necessary attention to more important transactions might well justify the delay, yet your general punctuality in business, and your pointed attention to my letter on the same subject last summer induce me to suspect (though I know not how it could happen for I put the letter in the Post-Office with my own hands) that my letter must have miscarried.
“I shall set out for Washington Tomorrow, where I hope you will favour me with your decision as soon as convenient” (ALS, DLC:GW).
White again wrote the president from Washington, D.C., on 9 Jan.: “The enclosed was intended to go by the Winchester Mail, but recollecting that if any accident had happened to my former letter, it was owing to the inattention of that office I concluded to bring it wit⟨h⟩ me and forward it from hence—I have not much doubt with respect to your answer, but with the matter determined, that I may make my final Arrangements agreeably thereto” (ALS, DLC:GW). This letter is docketed “15 Decr ’96 & 9 Jany ’97.” White enclosed a copy of his letter to GW of 15 Dec. 1796.
GW wrote White from Philadelphia on 13 Jan. 1797: “Your letters, one from Woodville, & the other from the Federal City, were received by the Post of yesterday.
“Enclosed is the copy of a letter I wrote to you agreeably to its date, and dispatched it accordingly, to the care of the Postmaster in Winchester—How it has happened that you have missed it, I know not” (ALS [letterpress copy], DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW). GW enclosed a copy of his letter to White of 26 December. The copy has not been found.
1. Located near Winchester, Frederick County, Va., Woodville served as White’s country estate. He died there in 1804.
2. White’s wife was Sarah Cotter Hite White.
3. The previous Thursday was 8 December.
4. GW had directed the D.C. commissioners to reside within the limits of the Federal City (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 22 May 1796).
5. GW had offered White the office of D.C. commissioner in late April 1795. White accepted the appointment that May and presented his commission to the board in July of the same year (see GW to White, 28 April 1795; White to GW, 11 May 1795; and GW to Daniel Carroll, 17 May 1795). White cited the demands of his law practice and his required attendance at court as potential obstacles to the appointment, but GW encouraged him to remain in his duties as commissioner (see White to GW, 8 June 1795; and GW to White, 15 June 1795 and 5 June 1796).
6. White continued to serve as a D.C. commissioner until the board was abolished in 1802.