George Washington Papers

To George Washington from Joseph Mandrillon, 9 January 1790

From Joseph Mandrillon

Amsterdam 9 [January] 1790.

I have the honour of sending to your Excellency a Copy of my letter to the National Assembly1—it is a part of my patriotic wishes to which I pray your Excellency to add it after the preface—Mr Cazenove who has saild from London for America, is charged to offer a copy of my wishes to your Excellency,2 and I pray you to accept them with the same indulgence and the same goodness with which you honor me. I am with the most profound respect Your very humble and very obedt3

Jh Mandrillon

ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters. The text of this letter is taken from a contemporary translation made for GW.

1The enclosure has not been identified.

2Mandrillon had informed GW as early as June 1789 that Theophile Cazenove was carrying a letter and a book from him to the president. See Mandrillon to GW, 15 June 1789. Cazenove arrived in the United States in March 1790, and Franco Petrus Van Berckel, the Dutch minister to the United States, informed GW that Cazenove was carrying letters for him, “which he wished to deliver with his own hands and requesting to know when he might be presented for that purpose. It was thought, before this should be done, it might be proper to know whether they were of a public nature, and whether he was acting in a public character. If so, then to let them come to me through the Secretary of State—if not, then for him to send them, that the purport might be known before he was introduced, which might be at the next Levee when he might be received & treated agreeably to the consequence he might appear to derive from the testimonial of the letters. It being conceived that etiquette of this sort is essential with all foreigners to give respect to the Chief Majestrate and the dignity of the Government, which would be lessened if every person who could procure a letter of introduction should be presented otherwise than at Levee hours in a formal manner” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 6:49).

3The original version of this letter reads: “J’ai l’honneur d’envoyer à Votre Excellence un Exemplaire de ma Lettre à l’Assemblée Nationale, elle fait partie de mes Voeux Patriotiques, aux quels je prie Votre Excellence de l’ajouter après l’Avant-Propos. Mr Cazenove qui a du faire voile de Londres pour l’Amérique S’est chargé d’offrir un Exemplaire [de] mes Voeux à Votre Excellence, et je la prie de les accueillir avec la même indulgence et la même bonté dont elle m’honore.”

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