From George Washington to the New London, Connecticut, Citizens, 2 September 1793
To the New London, Connecticut, Citizens
[2 September 1793]1
Fellow Citizens,
The motives which have induced a public expression of your sentiments at the present juncture, are such as naturally operate upon good Citizens, when points which materially concern the happiness of their Country are the subjects of discussion.
Your approbation of my conduct on the occasion, to which it relates, could not fail to give me particular pleasure, and to serve as a support to my confidence in pursuing measures which, dictated by official duty, have for object the peace & happiness of our common Country.2
Sentiments sincerely friendly to the French Nation, & the most cordial wishes for their welfare, unite, I doubt not, all the Citizens of the United States; but it cannot be incompatible with these dispositions to give full weight to the great & commanding considerations which respect the immediate welfare of our own Country.
Experienced as we have lately been in the calamities of war, it must be the prayer of every good Citizen that it may long be averted from our land, and that the blessings which a kind providence has bestow’d upon us, may continue uninterrupted.
Go: Washington
LB, DLC:GW. This letter was published in the Connecticut Gazette (New London), 12 Sept. 1793.
1. This document is undated, but GW enclosed it in a letter to Richard Law of 2 Sept., which reads: “I enclose to you an answer to the Address, transmitted by you to me, of the Inhabitants of the City of New London; & beg leave thro’ you, to communicate it to them” (LB, DLC:GW).
2. The address of 22 Aug. from the citizens of New London expressed approval of GW’s Neutrality Proclamation of 22 April.