To Thomas Jefferson from the Earl of Buchan, 4 February 1804
From the Earl of Buchan
Edinburgh, February fourth 1804.
Sir,
Your letter of the tenth of July last is just what I expected from the figurative as well as official reppresentative of the virtuous Washington.
I perused it, and re-perused it with sensibility as containing fully, & emphatically the uniform opinion I have entertained concerning the subjects of it.—retired as I am, & have long deliberately been from the busy world of politics I enter not the less into the interesting contemplation of what may be eventually productive of good or of evil to mankind and by means not perceptible to common eyes I have constantly endeavoured to do good to my country and to society. May I beg your acceptance of the enclosed token of my esteem. It is the ribbon and badge of our family order of the cross crosslet of Marr & being revived on the anniversary of Washington last year when it was celebrated here in my house on the 22d. of February in the presence of the Americans then resident at Edinburgh is bestowed on those who venerate the memory and emulate the conduct of that distinguished Citizen and Statesman.
accept illustrious President of the assurances of my high consideration & respect.
Buchan.
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ (torn). Recorded in SJL as received 15 May 1804. Enclosed in George W. Erving to TJ, 8 Mch. 1804.
Buchan, a distant relative of the Fairfax family, liked to claim kinship ties to George washington. In 1791 the earl sent his “cousin” a snuff box presumably carved from the wood of an oak tree in which William Wallace had taken shelter during the battle of Falkirk. Until at least 1817, Buchan continued his custom of giving annual Washington birthday addresses to Americans in Edinburgh (, Pres. Ser. , 11:255n; Harvard Library Bulletin, 5 [1951], 367-8; Vol. 16:xxxii-iii).
The heraldic crest of the cross crosslet of marr, or a combination of a cross and a sword, symbolized unshakeable faith (John Burke, Encyclopædia of Heraldry, or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 3d ed. with suppl. [London, 1844], n.p.).
my house: Dryburgh Abbey (Vol. 40:709n).