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To George Washington from Elizabeth Willing Powel, 8 February 1797

From Elizabeth Willing Powel

[Philadelphia] 8th February 1797

My very dear Sir

With Pleasure should I accede to your Proposal respecting your Coach, was I to be the possessor of the Horses; but when I assure you that they are for my Nephew you will see the Necessity of the Union being dissolved between them and their espoused Coach.1 I have deferred answering you Sir until I had an Opportunity of sounding him on the Subject, without directly telling him it was for Sale; but he is young—loves Fashion—prefers the Moderns to the Ancients; although the latter have been proved, and may have Excellences that the former have no pretentions to.2 In this Instance I am certain it is precisely the Case. Your Coach is an excellent Piece of workmanship; and I have not a Doubt that it will out wear a new Carriage built in America. Was I to have been the Purchaser of it—the low Price would not have been an Object, when you was the Vender. I should certainly have paid any Thing you had asked under a full Confidence that you would not ask more than the Value.

I understand that your Successour in Office is this Day legally Announced;3 and if Mr Adams lays the same stress on the association of Ideas that I do, both with respect to our Pleasures, and our Consequence, I think he will gladly become the Purchaser of not only your Coach, but of every Article that the World have been accustomed to see you make use of; and that you are disposed to part with.4 I know if I had any pretensions to his Confidence or feelt any Solicitude for him as an Individual I should most certainly advise him to do so.

If my dear Sir it will be any accommodation to you to anticipate the payment for the Horses, intimate it to me, it will at any Moment be perfectly convenient to me to draw a Check on the Bank for the Amount, as I do not Speculate I am always in Cash.5 I was so desirous that you should have the Price you had asked; and that my Nephew should be gratified by having the finest Carriage Horses in Phila. that I offered to advance the Money for him, as he is in an extensive Scene of Trade,6 I well knew it would facilitate the Objects I had in View; but this I communicate to you in Confidence and to convince you that I am only an Agent in the Business. With Sentiments of Respect & Esteem I am ever your affectionate Friend

Eliza. Powel

ALS, DLC:GW; ADfS, ViMtvL.

1For Powel’s offer to purchase GW’s coach horses for her nephew, Thomas Willing Francis, and for GW’s proposal to sell her his coach, see GW to Powel, 6 February.

2Powel alludes to the ancients-moderns debate prevalent in Europe in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. During that period, intellectuals began to question the authority of classical antiquity in the fields of literature, science, and other areas. They claimed that the modern era, with its many scientific advances, was equal, if not superior, to antiquity. Familiar with the intellectual currents of her day, Powel appropriated this debate for a more whimsical purpose.

3On this date, Congress counted the votes cast by each state’s electors and officially declared John Adams to be GW’s successor to the U.S. presidency (see U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to GW, 10 Feb.).

4Instead of the previous twenty-four words, the ADfS has: “I think he will gladly become the purchaser of your Coach.”

Adams did not purchase GW’s ceremonial coach; instead, he ordered a new coach by early February, though it was not completed until several months later (see John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 Jan.; Abigail Adams to John Adams, 28 Jan.; John Adams to Abigail Adams, 5 March; and Abigail Adams to William Smith, 10 June 1797, in Adams Family Correspondence description begins Lyman H. Butterfield et al., eds. Adams Family Correspondence. 13 vols. to date. Cambridge, Mass., 1963–. description ends , 11:496–97, 520–23; 12:9–11, 154–56). GW inventoried and offered for sale many items in the presidential household (see GW to Henry Knox, 2 March, n.6). Adams took only a small number of those items, due to the run-down state of many articles. In a letter to GW of 15 March 1797, Tobias Lear wrote in part: “The furniture of the Green Drawing Room & other Articles sold at Auction went off very low indeed. The numbers attending the Auction was considerable; but they were disappointed in an expectation which they had formed that the Painting, P⟨r⟩ints &c. were to have been sold. The Lustres—Stoves & other fixtures in the House will be taken by the President at cost or a fair valuation. There is nothing to be sold of the public furniture” (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 1:36–37; see also GW to Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., 14 Oct. 1796, and n.2 to that document; GW to Mary White Morris, 1 May 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 1:130–31; and John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 March 1797, in Adams Family Correspondence description begins Lyman H. Butterfield et al., eds. Adams Family Correspondence. 13 vols. to date. Cambridge, Mass., 1963–. description ends , 12:7–8).

5The previous nine words do not appear on the ADfS. Powel sent GW a check for $1,000 in March (see GW to Powel, 6 Feb.).

6Powel’s brother, Thomas Willing, and her nephew, Thomas Willing Francis, counted among the partners of the Philadelphia firm of Willing & Francis, which engaged in the China trade.

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