To George Washington from Jonathan Boucher, 18 August 1770
From Jonathan Boucher
Annapolis, Augt 18th 1770.
Sir
Jack comes a Day or two sooner than I intended, in Consequence of an Invitation from Mr Galloway, & Mr Magowan, to go to West River, which He does this Day.1 He brings You some Samples, which I hardly expect will please. Mr Antho. Stewart has a Cargo just arriv’d, not yet opened, in which, He says, are Assortmts of Coating: Shou’d you rather incline to wait for a choice out of These, if You will be so good as to give Me yr Directions, I will endeavour to attend to Them. Their common Rate of selling, for ready Money, is at 100 ⅌Cent, which I think is cheaper than with You.2 A Vessel will clear out from hence for London, in abt a Week or ten Days. I will be careful of any Letters You may want to put on Board.
They are still going on wth thr Subscriptn for clearg the Potomac, &, as I am told, wth Spirit. Four hundred pounds are subscribed in this City; nor have They yet got all They xpect. Messrs Jacques & Johnson set off for Frederick to-morrow, & talk of fixing a Day for a general Meeting, before They return.3 Will it be convenient & agreeable to You to attend—about a Month hence, if You have Notice in Time—at the Spot, i:e: at, or near Semple’s?
Dr Ross yesterday shew’d Me a Letter He had just recd from Croghan at Pittsburg, which informs Him that a new Government is certainly determin’d upon in that Western World—& that either Coll Mercer or one Mr Wharton are to be appointed Governor. He speaks of its Boundaries &c. wth Certainty, as a Matter of Fact. Have You heard of it—& the Particulars? It will be an immense Acquisition, if not immediately to the Wealth, certainly to the Strength of these Governments—& a fine Field for a projectg Spirit to adventure in.4 I am, Sir, Yr most Obedt Hble Servt
Jonan Boucher
ALS, DLC:GW.
1. Samuel Galloway (1720–1785) of Tulip Hill, West River, Anne Arundel County, Md., had three sons: John (1748–1810), Samuel (b. 1751), and Benjamin (1752–1831). For further correspondence about the Galloways, see Boucher to GW, 18 Dec. 1770.
3. See Thomas Johnson to GW, 18 June 1770, and notes. Lancelot Jacques, a Huguenot living in Annapolis, was Thomas Johnson’s associate in various business enterprises and settled on their tract of land at Indian Spring near Fort Frederick in Maryland.
4. Samuel Wharton (1732–1800) of Philadelphia went in early 1769 to London with William Trent to promote the claims of a group of Pennsylvanians, among them George Croghan (d. 1782), to lands ceded at Fort Stanwix by the Iroquois for the “Suffering Traders.” After an initial rebuff from Lord Hillsborough, secretary of state for the southern department, Wharton, with the aid of Benjamin Franklin, enlisted the support of Thomas Walpole and other influential Londoners for his land schemes. The consequence of this was the formation at the end of 1769 of the Walpole Company, or Grand Ohio Company (see GW to Botetourt, 9 Sept. 1770, n.3). The Walpole Company sought to absorb the old Virginia Ohio Company by holding out to that company’s compliant agent in London, George Mercer, the prospect of his becoming the first governor of a new colony on the Ohio and of his receiving stock in the new company, one share for himself and two shares for the rest of his fellow stockholders (, 48).