George Washington Papers

To George Washington from George Cabot, 24 October 1789

From George Cabot

Beverly [Mass.] October 24th 1789

Sir

The public papers having announced “that the President of the United States is on his way to Portsmouth in New Hampshire,” it immediately occurred to me that your rout wou’d be thro’ this village, & that you might find it convenient to stop here & take a little rest: shou’d this prove to be the case, permit me Sir to hope for your acceptance of such accomodations & refreshment as can be furnished in my humble dwelling, where 2 or 3 beds will be at your disposal.

I am fully aware that by indulging this hope I expose myself to the imputation of vanity as well as ambition, & therefore shou’d hardly dare to have my conduct tried by the cool maxims of the head alone, but wou’d rather refer it to the dictates of my heart, where I gratify a sensibility which, in the most affecting concerns of life, I believe to be a sure guide to what is right.1 I have the honor to be Sir with sentiments of the most profound respect your devoted & most obedient Servant

George Cabot

ALS, DLC:GW; copy, MHi: W. C. Endicott Papers.

1GW stopped only briefly in Beverly on 30 Oct., visiting the Beverly Cotton Manufactory of which Cabot was one of the founders (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 5:485–86).

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