To George Washington from Henry Pendleton, 10 January 1784
From Henry Pendleton
Charleston [S.C.] January 10th 1784
Dear Sir
I take the Liberty of Introducing to you Mr Shuttleworth a Gentleman of very ancient Family and Large fortune in England who arrived here in his own Yacht about two months since and proposed to make a kind of maritime tour thro’ America by sailing coastways and up the principal rivers as far as the Water will suffer his vessel to go; His Family in Yorkshire & Lancashire has several members in Parliament, all of whom have uniformly reprobated and opposed the Conduct of the English Ministers in the prosecution of the American War, and venerate the band of American patriots who have triumped over their flagitious designs, he is very desirous to pay his respects to the man who stands at the head of these, to whom he thinks England is nearly as much indebted for the preservation of her Liberties as America the loss of the Latter by Military Subjugation necessaryly producing that of the former by Ministerial power & Corruption. I have taken the Liberty to announce him, as he will sail up Potowmack by Mount Vernon as far as Alexandria.1
Amid the General Joy and Congratulations which every where meet you from an Empire, almost entirely owing its Political existence to your Courage and Virtues, I beg leave to add my own, and to wish you every happiness of which human Nature is Capable. I request the honor of my most respectfull Complts to Mrs Washington, & to be permitted to assure you that I am with every Sentiment of Respect & Esteem Yr Mo. Obedt and Most Hble Servt
Hy Pendleton
ALS, PHi: Gratz Collection; Sprague transcript, DLC:GW.
Henry Pendleton, who died in 1788, was elected one of the South Carolina state judges in 1776. Chastellux on 30 Nov. 1780 had this to say about him:“Mr. Pendleton, a judge from South Carolina, a remarkably tall man, with a very distinguished countenance; he had the courage to hang three Tories at Charleston, a few days before the surrender of the town, and was accordingly in great danger of losing his life, had he not escaped out of the hands of the English, though included in the capitulation” ( 1:131). Pendleton was one of the few South Carolina leaders who in 1788 opposed the ratification of the federal Constitution. He was the nephew of GW’s friend Edmund Pendleton of Virginia.
1. For the identity of Robert Shuttleworth, see Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to GW, 14 Jan. 1784, and note 1.