To George Washington from Gouverneur Morris, 3 March 1789
From Gouverneur Morris
Paris 3d March 1789
Dear Sir
The above is Copy of what I had the Honor to write the twenty third of last Month.1 Since that Period there are Advices here which announce the ReEstablishment of the King of Great Britain’s health,2 but from a Letter I have just now received from the Marquis de la luzerne, I am disposed to Doubt of the fact.
The other Day I saw the Duc de Castries who served in America under the Title of the Comte de Charlu he desired to be remembered to you and so did General DuPlessis who has been promoted lately and who desires that you and every Body else should be informed of it.3 Our friend the Marquis de la fayette is now in Auvergne attending his Election. This Country presents an astonishing Spectacle to one who has collected his Ideas from Books and Information half a dozen Years old. Every Thing is a l’Anglois and a Desire to imitate the English prevails alike in the Cut of a Coat and the form of a Constitution. Like the English too all are engaged in Parliamenteering and when we consider how novel this last Business must be I assure you their Progress is far from contemptible.4
Poor Genl de Chattellux is no more. I have seen his Widow an amiable Woman who is not the less lovely for the Tears she sheds to his Memory. A fine Boy remains as the Pledge of connubial Tenderness.5 I think it would give her great Pleasure if you took the Trouble to mingle in a short Letter Condolence for one Event, and Congratulations for the other. You would in that Case oblige me by confiding the Letter to my Care. Excuse me I pray for dropping this Hint and do me the Justice always to beleive that with sincere Esteem & Respect I am yours
Gouvr. Morris
P.S. My most respectful Compliments await Mrs Washington.
ALS, DLC:GW; LB, DLC: Gouverneur Morris Papers.
3. Armand-Charles-Augustin de la Croix de Castries, comte de Charlus (1756–1842), came to America with Rochambeau’s army in October 1780 and accompanied the army on the march to Virginia in 1781. He returned to France shortly after Yorktown and served as a major in the corps of the French gendarmerie. By 1789 he had received the title duc de Castries. Thomas-Antoine, chevalier de Mauduit du Plessis (1753–1791), came to America in 1776, received a commission from Congress, and took part in the battles at Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He went back to France in 1779 but returned the next year with Rochambeau’s army and took part in the Yorktown campaign. He left the French army in 1785. Both Castries and Mauduit du Plessis were members of the French Society of the Cincinnati.
4. Elections were held in the French provinces in the spring of 1789 in preparation for the convening of the Estates General in May.
5. See GW to Chastellux, 27 Nov. 1788, n.2. The child, Alfred, comte de Chastellux (1789–1856), was born four months after his father’s death.