Spectacular ALS signed "Go: Washington," three pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.25 x 8.75, June 2, 1784. Handwritten letter from Mount Vernon to David Humphreys, his former aide-de-camp, who was to join John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin on a commission to negotiate treaties of commerce with European nations. In full: "I very sincerely congratulate you on your late appointment. It is honorable, and I dare say must be agreeable. I did not hear of it until I arrived at Annapolis, where I remained but one day, and that occasioned by the detention of my Carriage & Horses on the Eastern shore. Genl. Knox not reaching that place before I left it, your letter of the 18th, only got to my hands on Sunday last, by the Post & I am now writing by its return.
I now send you, under flying seals, letters to Mr. Jefferson, Doctr. Franklin and Count de Estaing; the letter to the Chevr. Chartellux also mentions you and your appointment. My former corrispondence [sic] with England ceased at the commencement of hostilities with that Country, & I have opened no new ones since, but I enclose you a letter to Sir Edward Newenham of Ireland, from whom I have lately received several very polite letters, and a pressing invitation to correspond with him. He has been a warm friend to America during her whole struggle, he is a man of fortune, of excellent character as I am told; and may, if you should go to Ireland, be a valuable acquaintance.
It only remains for me now to wish you a pleasant passage, and that you may realize all the pleasures wch you must have in expectation. It cannot be necessary to add how happy I shall be at all times to hear from you. You will have it in your power to contribute much to my amusement and information; and as far as you can do the latter consistently with your duty & public trust, I shall be obliged, further I do not require, and even here, mark private what you think not altogether fit for the public ear, and it shall remain with me. Mrs. Washington adds her best wishes for you, and you may rest assured that few friendships are warmer, or professions more sincere than mine for you. Adieu. "
Washington also adds a brief postscript which reads, "Just recollecting my old neighbour Colonel (who may now be Lord) Fairfax, I have added a letter to him also, in case you should go to England." In very good to fine condition, with professional restoration and repairs to intersecting folds, and partial separation along the fragile hinge.
Enjoying his hard-earned peace at Mount Vernon following the Revolution, Washington remained acutely aware of and involved in the country's progress and development. As the commission formed to begin negotiating the first treaties of the new independent nation, he received notice of his former aide-de-camp David Humphreys's appointment as secretary. Hoping to immediately unite the members and secure Humphreys place among giants, he includes his letters of introduction to Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, key figures in the commission. In re-establishing relations with the nation they just defeated, the commission has a long road ahead: "My former corrispondence with England ceased at the commencement of hostilities with that Country, & I have opened no new ones since." While he has no new friendly relations to name, there is one important figure from his past who returned to England before the war: his old neighbor—and the husband of his lifelong love—Lord Fairfax. In an incredible postscript, he returns to this past relationship, offering a letter of introduction on Humphreys's behalf.
Addressed to a man who stood by Washington's side at the most important moments of his life—as he earned victory at the Battle of Yorktown, as he resigned his post as commander-in-chief to the Continental Congress, and as he took the oath of office and became America's first president years later—this is a wonderfully personal and unusually lengthy letter. Not only does it present incredible introductions to America's founding fathers, direct reference to conflict with England, and a return to his lost friends the Fairfaxes, but also it is one of the cleanest and most finely penned we have seen—an incredible letter in every regard!
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