To George Washington from John Sinclair, 18 July 1795
From John Sinclair
Duplicate
Whitehall [England] 18th July 1795
Sir,
As you are a member of the Board of Agriculture,1 I can, without impropriety, transmit to you, for your private information, the printed papers herewith sent, which however imperfect, yet will give some Idea of the nature and importance of Mr Elkingtons discoveries in the Art of Draining[.]2 If a committee were appointed to take the inclosed printed Plan of an Agreement,3 together with Mr Elkingtons merits, into consideration, I have no objection that your Excellency should lay the inclosed extracts before the committee and if it were judged a proper measure, for America to enter into the proposed Agreement, and if the grant of such a Sum as £300 could be procured to induce Mr Elkington to teach his Art, either to some American, or to some native of this country recommended by the Board of Agriculture who would afterwards settle in America, I am satisfied, that it would be productive of the most important consequences.
I have great reason to beleive that the powers in Europe will agree to the proposed measure. With great truth and regard, I have the honour to be Sir Your Excellencys faithful and Obedient Servant
John Sinclair
LS (duplicate), DLC:GW.
1. For GW’s membership, see British Board of Agriculture to GW, 6 April.
2. Sinclair enclosed Extracts from the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Board of Agriculture, respecting Mr. Elkington’s Mode of Draining; together with Copies of such Papers as have been communicated to the Board upon that subject (London, 1795), a copy of which was in GW’s library at the time of his death (see 90). Joseph Elkington (c.1740–1806), an illiterate farmer of Warwickshire, England, gained fame as an agriculturalist who specialized in the reform of land drainage. In 1795 the Board of Agriculture awarded him £1,000 for his discovery, and appointed John Johnstone to observe and record his methods. The latter compiled a report, An Account of the Most Approved Mode of Draining Land; According to the System Practised by Mr. Joseph Elkington … (Edinburgh, 1797).
3. Sinclair was referring to his Plan of an Agreement among the Powers in Europe, and the United States of America, for the Purpose of rewarding Discoveries of general Benefit to Society (London, 1795). He wrote a second letter to GW on this date, enclosing the plan which he believed “will have the good fortune of meeting with the approbation of one So well disposed as Your Excellency is to promote the happiness of Society.”
Sinclair sent several copies of the plan in expectation that GW “would have the goodness to communicate the Same to Such as were likely to interest themselves in the Success of Such a measure, and if it were not inconsistent with any rules & Standing orders of that Respectable Assembly, I should be glad that it could be brought under the Consideration of Congress” (ALS, DLC:GW; ALS [duplicate], DLC:GW).
GW received the items in December, and two copies of the plan were still in his library when he died (see GW to Sinclair, 31 Dec., DLC:GW; and 90).