From George Washington to David Stuart, 9 July 1792
To David Stuart
Philadelphia July 9th 1792.
Dear Sir,
Although I did not acknowledge the receipt of the letter you wrote to me some time ago respecting Bowl[e]s, I was not unmindful of the contents:1 but upon consulting2 some Professional Gentlemen I was informed that his being brother to the noted Bowls was not, without some overt act of his own, sufft to lay hold of him.
If nothing more happens than I am aware of at present, I shall leave this City on thursday, with Mrs Washington and the Children for Mount Vernon; and if the weather is tolerable, and ourselves and horses keep up, I shall be, I expect, at George town on Monday or tuesday of the week following.3
I shall bring with me, or send on if I am likely to be delayed, the plans for the public buildings which were sent (I believe) by the Commissioners, to Mr Jefferson; but, if none more elegant than these should appear4 on, or before the 16th instt the exhibition of Architecture will be a very dull one indeed.5 My best wishes to Mrs Stuart & the family—& I am—Dear Sir Yr Obedt & Affecte Hble Servt
G.W——n
ADfS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters; LB, DLC:GW.
1. Stuart had informed GW in his letter of 4 June of the visit of William Augustus Bowles’s brother John to Georgetown.
2. At this place on the draft manuscript, GW wrote and then struck out the phrase: “advising with some of the gentlemen learned in the Law.”
3. GW left Philadelphia on the afternoon of Wednesday, 11 July. He was in Georgetown during the first part of the following week (see GW to Thomas Jefferson, 17 July, to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 8 June, n.3).
4. At this place on the draft manuscript, GW wrote and then struck out the phrase: “it matters not.”
5. On 6 June the D.C. commissioners sent Jefferson “for the Presidents view, a Draft for the Capitol by Wm. [Philip] Hart of Taney Town, and an imperfect Essay of Mr. [Abraham] Faw. These are all we have yet received” ( 24:36). On 5 July the commissioners informed Jefferson that “We have received several plans for the public Buildings, which we had prepared to send forward; and expect several more will be presented; but as we have just heard, from the Presidents Steward, that he may be expected here, by the 15th Instant; we shall. . . retain them for his inspection and choice here” (ibid., 159).