From George Washington to La Luzerne, 26 April 1780
To La Luzerne
Head Qrs Morris-town 26th of April 1780
Sir,
I am just returned from a visit to Mr D’Miralles, and am happy to inform your Excellency, that if he has experienced any change since you left him, it is for the better.
His Fever & pulse, tho’ he had a very restless night the last, are now moderate & regular, and his hic-cough has entirely left him. These are symptoms which the Doctor considers as rather favourable, but I am unhappy they are not such as enable him to determine that the prospect of his recovery is either certain, or flattering.1
I pray you to make an offer of my respects to Mr Marbois—& do me the justice to believe that, with much consideration, & great personal attachment—I have the honor to be Yr Excellencys Most Obedt & obligd Hble Servt
Go: Washington
ALS, FrPMAE; Df (final paragraph and closing in GW’s writing), DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
GW again wrote La Luzerne from Morristown on 27 April: “I have the honor to inform your Excellency, that Mr De Miralles had a more refreshing Night, the last, than usual, attended with other favourable symptoms; but his pulse, at times, is irregular & fluttering.
“Upon the whole, the Doctors think him better, though they dare not pronounce him past danger. If he should continue well through this day, & the succeeding night, I shall entertain the pleasing hope of his recovery” (ALS, FrPMAE; ADf, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW).
1. For La Luzerne’s recent visit to Morristown and the illness of Spanish observer Juan de Miralles, see GW to Jedediah Huntington, 20 April, source note; see also GW’s first letter to La Luzerne, 28 April, and the source note to that document.
William Smith, royal chief justice of New York, wrote in his memoirs for Monday, 1 May: “A Woman last Night from Jersey says the French Ambassador was buried at Morris Town last Friday Afternoon. Others say the Spanish Ambassador was at the Point of Death on Wednesday. People in General favor the first Report and that Monsieur Luzerne died by the Hand of Violence” ( [1971], 259–60).