From George Washington to Jonathan Loring Austin, 23 August 1786
To Jonathan Loring Austin
Mo[un]t Vernon 23d Augt 1786.
Sir,
I have received your Oration of the 4th of July, which you did me the honor to send me; & am much obliged to you for so polite a mark of attention. I have perused it with a great deal of pleasure, & hope that the anniversary of that day will ever be commemorated in this Country as the era from which we may date our happiness & importance.1 I am Sir, &c.
Go. Washington
LB, DLC:GW.
1. The Oration Delivered July 4, 1786, at the Request of the Inhabitants of Boston (Boston, 1786) by Jonathan Loring Austin (1748–1826) was listed in the inventory of GW’s library taken after his death. Austin spent most of the war in the employ of the American commissioner in Paris. He at this time was a partner of his brother Benjamin Austin (1752–1829) in a mercantile firm in Boston.