To George Washington from James Rennell, 29 April 1795
From James Rennell
London 29th April 1795
Sir
I have long had the Ambition to offer You the Tribute of a Copy of my Work on the Indian Geography; but until I had the pleasure of knowing from Mr Jay, that such a Liberty might be allowed, I hesitated to take it. This Advantage, however, has attended the Delay, that the work has been improved by repeated Additions.1 Should it be deemed worthy of your Acceptance,2 I shall be highly gratified.
No one, Sir, can be more conscious than myself of the Importance of Your Time; & therefore, even whilst I am intruding on it, I feel a Pang of self-condemnation: but Sir, Respect & Veneration for Your high Character, has so long occupied a Mind, which has ever been in pursuit of honest Fame; & which values itself on its Independance of Sentiment; that I cannot resist the opportunity of expressing that Homage, which Virtue, united with Talents, ever commands from the common Sense of Mankind.
May Providence grant You length of Days, to promote the Comfort & Happiness of the Millions who have entrusted themselves to Your Councils & Guidance: and to enjoy that heartfelt Satisfaction which is the Reward of Conscious Integrity, and of useful Services.3 I am with Respect & Esteem Sir, Your most obdt Sert
J: Rennell
ALS, PHi: Dreer Collection—English Prose Writers; ADf, owned (1996) by Mr. Joseph Rubinfine, Cocoa, Florida.
James Rennell (1742–1830) served in the British navy. He joined the British East India Co. in 1762 as a draughtsman and worked in Bengal. Robert Clive appointed him surveyor general there in 1764, and for the next thirteen years Rennell studied and mapped the region. When Rennell returned to England, he published A Bengal Atlas: Containing Maps of the Theatre of War and Commerce on that Side of Hindoostan, generally available in its 1781 printing, followed by a Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan; or the Mogul Empire … (London, 1783). In addition, Rennell studied the Gulf Stream, mapped ocean currents, and became known as the “father” of oceanography.
1. Rennell sent GW the 1793 London edition of his Memoir of a Map of Hindoostan. The book remained in GW’s library at the time of his death (see 507).
2. Rennell wrote “Notice” here in the draft.
3. GW acknowledged the receipt of Rennell’s gift in a letter to him of 9 July. While at that time he had not found “leisure … to look over them, with attention,” the president assured Rennell, “I am persuaded that there is a fund of interesting information to be found in the work” (ALS, owned [1996] by Mr. Joseph Rubinfine, Cocoa, Florida; ALS [letterpress copy], NN: Washington Papers; LB, DLC:GW).