1. The date is taken from GW’s docket of the letter, which reads: “Thursday 6th October 1796.”

Hope Park, a 2,000-acre estate located several miles west of Alexandria in Fairfax County, Va., served as the home of David and Eleanor Calvert Custis Stuart.

2. Eleanor Stuart’s letter has not been identified, but her “indisposition” probably was a pregnancy-related illness (see David Stuart to GW, 18 Dec., and n.2).

3. Visitors to Hope Park in October included Law, his wife Elizabeth Parke Custis Law, and Thomas and Martha Parke Custis Peter. Eleanor Stuart’s younger children, Eleanor Parke “Nelly” Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, also figured among the Stuarts’ guests (see GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 14 Oct.).

4. The enclosed letter from Law, dated “Mount Vernon Augt,” reads: “Since my arrival here, I have been rather unwell, but the kind attentions of Mrs Washington & the assiduous Care of Eliza soon restored me.

“As I lay on my bed after a walk in the Garden where I saw the Nankeen Cotton plant & the Bamboe, it occurred to me what an advantageous import of seeds & plants might be introduced at this period from Asia, but too soon this pleasing idea was discouraged, by a doubt where they could be deposited.

“In Calcutta a Botanical Garden is established (with a sensible Superintendant), from which almost every district in Bengal & Bakar [Bakarganj] now produces the Cinnamon & the most valuable of Spices & the Teak a large Tree superior to the Oak for Shipbuilding as it lasts near an 100 Years—I have a Book to prove this which I will submit to perusal.

“at present individuals in America have many curious & useful plants, but they perish with their Owners by the neglect of their Successors. The French Nation have lately sent a Collection of plants to New York but they will be lost for want of a public Garden & a City of Merchants will not readily purchase & support one.

“That such a Garden must be some where soon established is certain, In England each University has one & there are several public ones. but when or where will be the Question after 1797—& it may be forgotten that an extensive Centrical Spot is already appropriated in the Capital of the United States for that purpose; which may receive annual additions from Mount Vernon & whilst it imparts comfort to you in your walks may receive the aid of your information.

“When a Botanist is appointed he should I think receive Lres & Packages duty free or be repaid the expence of his Lres (which is better). & thus he will collect information & plants from all Quarters—& may convey the same to every State of the Union.

“Pardon the presumption of this address & be assured that no private motive would ever induce me to intrude one moment upon your public or domestic concerns.

“When I consider that my mind may here after condemn me should I not avail myself of this happy opportunity & when I know that your mind must be occupied with remote considerations I feel as if I had discharged a duty in thus addressing You” (ALS, DLC:GW). For the proposed establishment of a botanical garden in the Federal City, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 1 Oct. (first letter), and notes 3 and 19. The book mentioned by Law has not been identified, but Law forwarded GW seeds of various exotic plants in 1799 (see Law to GW, 9 April 1799, and n.4, in Papers, Retirement Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series. 4 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1998–99. description ends 3:472).

5. See Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 1 Oct., first letter.

6. This public address has not been identified, but it likely refers to the unfound address from the proprietors to GW of 24 May, which related to the locations of the D.C. commissioners’ residences. The address may have consisted of, or have been related to, a petition circulated in spring 1796 by Law and the proprietors living near the U.S. Capitol. That petition called for new loans to fund construction on the Capitol and in the surrounding area, and demanded that the commissioners reside in downtown Washington, D.C. (see William Deakins, Jr., to GW, 27 May, and n.1 to that document; see also Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 372).

7. Law enclosed an undated petition in his writing, docketed “Jocular Petition from the Capitol,” which contained a list of complaints against the D.C. commissioners: “1st That your Petr under a republican Govt conceived the pleasing & natural expectation that the Presidents House would be a secondary consideration, but with grief has beheld himself neglected & a preference given to the other.

“2 That your Petr expected that the Commrs of the City & the public Superintendant of the works & other public Officers would reside near him, with a view to accelerate the works & by forming a Society around him to promote private buildings for Congress, but with indignation he sees them prefer a little Town [Georgetown] three Miles off.

“3rd That your Petr hoped the Commrs would improve some of the Avenues for the convenience of Waggonage, but with surprise he saw them expend the public money in a Causeway & a Bridge out of the City.

“4 That your Petr has with astonishment heard that the head Commr has built an house out of the City near the little town aforesaid, & of the second Commr having purchased Lots & buildt almost as far off near the little town aforesaid, & is wounded to the soul to have it artfully circulated that the President has bought a Square there for his private residence, & that he means to remove the University as far from your Petr as possible.

“5. That your Petitioner with regret hears that the spot destined for an Arsenal & for a Citadel because it is near the river & calculated for securely depositing Stores & for easy removal of them is proposed to be done away, & that a University is proposed to be fixed in its stead as if the Society of Seamen would improve morals, & your Petr verily believes that some Wharf or Whare-house in the little town aforesaid or near it will be purchased for an Arsenal hereafter at a great expence, because there ought to be one near the President who is Commander in Chief.

“6. That your Petr is informed that the foreign Embassadors who are offered Lots are not to have the choice of the most healthy & convenient spots but are to be lumped together between the Canal & the Potowmac & your Petr has only to remark that if the South Side of the Canal is as unhealthy as that of the North last year the sickness was as fatal there as a Yellow fever, the foreign Embassadors will be frequently changed & a prejudicial impression against the health of the City will be made abroad.

“7. That your Petitioner with sorrow understands that the Spot destined for an Hospital on the Eastern branch where invalids & such persons may be landed witht going thro’ the City, & which the Doctors approve of for its healthy Situation is now to be done away, from a false œconomy to save 25£ ⅌ Acre (which is to be paid for it by the Commrs) & to increase the number of private building Lots, now your Petr has to observe that the Lots are already too numerous & that by encreasing them they will be more depreciated, & that Ground which now costs the Commrs 25£ ⅌ Acre is worth about 500 & cannot soon be bought for 1000, if the City prospers & that by doing away appropriations public confidence is shaken. Lastly your Petr sees two Commrs residing at a distance & the third not fixed, & from the above mentd meditated changes is led to fear that the design is to push on the part of the City three Miles off from ⟨illegible⟩ the Capitol near the little town, & to have him deserted—The Prest not long ago ordered the Commrs into the City & immediately property rose in value, & Your Petitioner got a start but your Petr now is told that the Commrs have parried that judicious Order & your Petr is apprehensive that they mean to give him a side blow by doing away the appropriation to the East-ward, & by removing the University, & the Embassadors to the Westward—the money Chest has been once emptied witht your Petrs foundation being finished & the general expectation is that the funds will fall short before your Petr is finished—The Prests House is further advanced than your Petr & the Head Commr proposes finishing a room or two & removing the Office there & openly avows a partiality to the end of the City near the little Town in short the public mind is impressd with a consciousness of the predominating bias & everyone is deterred from building near your Petitioner lest the report once industriously circulated should be realised by Congress meeting in the Presidents House—Your Petitioner acknowledges with gratitude that he has received peculiar attention this Year, & he does not doubt of having plenty of Houses about him, if Embassadors are allowed to build where they may chuse, & if the Commissioners are obliged to live in some centrical Situation—Your Petitioner would scorn to request any improper partiality, but humbly suggests that the prosperity of all & the existence (he may say) of the City depends upon his being ready for the reception of Congress, & that all doubts & suspicions of the reverse whether well or ill founded should be done away, & every future Cause of avoided, which can only be by the Commrs residing in the City” (DLC:GW).

For plans to rebuild a bridge over Rock Creek at K Street, and for a proposed bridge over the Potomac River at the Little Falls, see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 17 March 1796; and Bryan, National Capital description begins Wilhelmus Bogart Bryan. A History of the National Capital: From Its Foundation through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. 2 vols. New York, 1914–16. description ends , 1:242–43, 290–91, 359–60. D.C. commissioner Gustavus Scott had purchased a house, Rock Hill, close to Georgetown, and was likely the target of the petitioner’s complaints about the commissioners’ residences outside the Federal City (see Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial description begins Bob Arnebeck. Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800. Lanham, Md., and London, 1991. description ends , 372–73). At the time of his appointment, D.C. commissioner Alexander White had a residence in Georgetown in addition to his country estate in Frederick County, Va. (see GW to Alexander White, 17 May 1795; and White to GW, 15 Dec. 1796, and n.1 to that document). GW had directed the commissioners to reside within the limits of the Federal City so that they could better oversee construction and other public projects (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 22 May 1796).

8. GW left Mount Vernon on 25 Oct. and arrived in Philadelphia on 31 Oct. (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 5 Oct., n.3). GW’s cash accounts show that he was in Georgetown and the Federal City from 25–27 Oct., but they do not record a visit to Law’s residence (Cash Memoranda, 1797–99 description begins “Cash + Entries & Memorandums,” 1 Sept. 1797–3 Dec. 1799. Manuscript in John Carter Brown Library, Providence. description ends ). For the location of Law’s home, see Martha Parke Custis Peter to GW, 18 Jan. 1797, n.1.