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From George Washington to Joseph Whipple, 28 November 1796

To Joseph Whipple

Philadelphia 28th Novr 1796.

Sir

Upon my return to this City the latter end of October, after an absence of some weeks at Mount Vernon,1 Mr Wolcott presented me with your letter of the 4th of that month.2

I regret that the attempt you made to restore the girl (Oney Judge as she called herself while with us, and who, without the least provocation absconded from her Mistress) should have been attended with so little success. To enter into such a compromise,3 as she has suggested to you, is totally inadmissible, for reasons that must strike at first view: for however well disposed I might be to a gradual abolition, or even to an entire emancipation of that description of People (if the latter was in itself practicable at this moment)4 it would neither be politic or just, to reward unfaithfulness with a premature preference; and thereby discontent, beforehand, the minds of all her fellow Servants; who by their steady adherence, are far more deserving than herself, of favor.

I was apprehensive (and so informed Mr Wolcott) that if she had any previous notice, more than could be avoided, of the intention5 to send her back, that she would contrive to elude it; for whatever she may have asserted to the contrary, there is no doubt in this family, of her having been seduced and enticed off by a Frenchman, who was either really, or pretendedly deranged; and under that guize, used frequently to introduce himself into the family; & has never been seen here, since the girl decamped.6 We have indeed lately been informed, through other channels, that she did go to Portsmouth with a Frenchman, who getting tired of her, as is presumed left her, and that she had betaken herself to the Needle—the use of which she well understood—for a livelihood.

About the epoch I am speaking, she herself was desirous of returning to Virginia; for when Captn Prescot was on the point of Sailing from Portsmouth for the Federal City with his family,7 she offered herself to his Lady as a waiter—told her she had lived with Mrs Washington (without entering into particulars)—and that she was desirous of getting back to her native place & friends. Mrs Prescot either from having no occasion for her services,8 or presuming that she might have been discarded for improper conduct (unluckily for Mrs Washington) declined taking her.

If she will return to her former Service, without obliging me to resort to compulsory means to effect it, her late conduct will be forgiven by her Mistress; and she will meet with the same treatment from me, that all the rest of her family (which is a very numerous one) shall receive. If she will not, you would oblige me, by pursuing9 such measures as are proper, to put her on board a Vessel bound either to Alexandria or the Federal City; Directed in either case, to my Manager at Mount Vernon, by the door of which the Vessel must pass; or to the care of Mr Lear at the last mentioned place, if it should not stop before it arrives at that Port.10

I do not mean however, by this request, that such violent measures should be used as would excite a mob or riot, which might be the case if she has adherents, or even uneasy sensations in the minds of well disposed Citizens. rather than either of these shd happen, I would forego her services altogether; and the example also, which is of infinite more importance. The less is said before hand, and the more celerity is used in the act of Shipping her, when an opportunity presents, the better chance Mrs Washington (who is desirous of receiving her again) will have to be gratified.

We had vastly rather she should be sent to Virginia than brought to this place; as our stay here will be but short; and as it is not unlikely that she may, from the circumstance I have mentioned, be in a state of pregnancy.11 I should be glad to hear from you on this subject, and am Sir Your Obedt Hble Servt

Go: Washington

ALS, CSmH; ADfS, MB; ADfS (photocopy), DLC:GW. Whipple replied to GW on 22 December.

1GW returned to Philadelphia on 31 Oct. following an approximately one-month stay at Mount Vernon (see GW to the Fairfax County, Va., Court Justices, 28 Sept., n.1; and GW to Alexander Hamilton, 2 Nov., and n.1).

2The letter from Whipple, a merchant and customs official, to Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott, Jr., written from Portsmouth, N.H., on 4 Oct., reads: “On the 10th Ultimo in answer to your letter of the 1st I advised you of the Presidents Servant’s being in this Town—Having discovered her place of residence, I engaged a passage for her in a Vessel preparing to Sail for Philadelphia avoiding to give alarm by calling on her untill the Vessel was ready, I then caused her to be sent for as if to be employed in my family.

“After a cautious examination it appeared to me that she had not been decoyed away as had been apprehended, but that a thirst for compleet freedom which she was informed would take place on her arrival here or Boston had been her only motives for absconding.

“It gave me much Satisfaction to find that when uninfluenced by fear she expressed great affection & reverence for her Master & Mistress, and without hesitation declared her willingness to return & to serve with fidility during the lives of the President & his Lady if she could be freed on their decease, should she outlive them, but that she should rather suffer death than return to Slavery & liable to be sold or given to any other persons. Finding this to be her disposition & conceiving it would be a pleasing circumstance both to the President & his Lady should she go back[.] without compulsion, I prevailed on her to confide in my obtaining for her the freedom she so earnestly wished for—She made preparation with cheerfulness to go on board the Vessel which was to have sailed in a few hours and of her own accord proposed concealing her intention of returning from her acquaintance least they should discourage her from her purpose. I have recited this detail to show the girls good dispos[i]tion when expressing her uncontroulled Sentiments and acting without bad advisers—I am extremely sorry to add, as I conce⟨ive⟩ the Girl is a valuable Servant to her Mistress, that the Vessel being detained by a contrary wind, in the course of the next day her intentions were discovered by her acquaintance who diswaded her from returning and the Vessel Sailed without her.

“I am informed that many Slaves from the Southern States have come to Massachusetts & Some to New Hampshire, either of which States they consider as an Asylum; the popular opinion here in faver of universal freedom has rendered it difficult to get them back to their masters: In the present case if the Presidents Servant continues inflexible & will not return voluntarily (which at present there is no prospect of) I conceive it would be the legal & most effectual mode of proceeding that a direction should come from an Officer of the Presidents Household to the Attorney of the United States ⟨in⟩ New Hampshire & that he adopt such measures for returning her to her master as are Authorized by the Constitution of the United States—and I shall be happy to facilitate the business to the utmost of my power in obedience to whatever shall be the pleasure of the President and it is with great regret that I give up the prospect of executing the business in that favourable manner that I at first flattered myself it would be done” (DLC:GW). Article IV, section 2 of the U.S. Constitution declares: “No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due” (1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 18–19). The “Act respecting fugitives from justice …,” 12 Feb. 1793, further authorized slaveholders or their agents “to seize or arrest such fugitive from labour” and force the apprehended slave to appear before a judge who could direct his or her return to the master (1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 302–5).

Martha Washington’s dower-slave maidservant Ona Maria “Oney” Judge had fled GW’s Philadelphia executive mansion on 21 May 1796 (see Thomas Lee, Jr., to GW, 28 June 1796). Her decision to run away may have been prompted by Martha’s alleged plan to bequeath Judge to Elizabeth Parke Custis Law, Martha’s granddaughter, who was reputed to have a volatile temperament (see Dunbar, Ona Judge description begins Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. New York, 2017. description ends , 95–98). For GW’s attempts to recover Judge, see his letter to Wolcott, 1 Sept., and n.4 to that document.

3On the ADfS, this word is followed by “with her.

4For other statements made by GW in favor of a gradual abolition of slavery, see GW to Robert Morris, 12 April 1786, in Papers, Confederation Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1992–97. description ends 4:15–17; see also GW to Lawrence Lewis, 4 Aug. 1797, 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 1:288–89.

5On the ADfS, GW wrote “an attempt” instead of the two previous words.

6On 24 May 1796, Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia) published an advertisement headlined “Ten Dollars Reward,” which reported the escape of a “Frenchman” by the name of “William Bouffaret” (possibly Boussaret) “from his employ” at “the Snuff and Tobacco Shop at the sign of the King of Prussia in Market street.” Described as a man “of a middle size” with “reddish hair … and … a mark on one cheek,” the Frenchman evidently ran away shortly after being sent on business. The 24 May issue of Claypoole’s also printed the runaway ad for Ona Judge.

7Newspapers reported a number of ship captains with the surname Prescott. “Captn Prescot” may have been Capt. Benjamin Prescott, who had married Hannah Sheafe of Portsmouth in 1795. A man by that name was a Georgetown, D.C., merchant in spring of 1797 (see Oracle of the Day [Portsmouth], 10 Oct. 1795; and Centinel of Liberty and George-town Advertiser, 25 April 1797).

8Instead of the six preceding words, the ADfS reads “not wanting a Maid Servant.”

9GW wrote “resorting to” instead of this word on the ADfS.

10GW’s directive to have Judge placed aboard a ship violated the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which required slaveowners or their agents to bring their apprehended slave before a magistrate with proof of ownership before relocating the slave to another state (1 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends , 302–5).

GW’s Mount Vernon farm manager was William Pearce. “Mr Lear” refers to Tobias Lear, a resident of the Federal City.

11GW suspected that the “Frenchman” had impregnated Judge. There is no record of Judge having given birth in 1797. The first child that she evidently delivered was her daughter Eliza, born around 1798 (see Whipple to GW, 22 Dec.; see also Dunbar, Ona Judge description begins Erica Armstrong Dunbar. Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. New York, 2017. description ends , 160–65, 222).

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