To George Washington from William Linn, 16 December 1795
From William Linn
New-york, Decr 16th 1795.
Sir,
Amidst the weighty cares & business which occupy your mind, particularly at this moment, I can hardly hope to be excused in offering for your perusal a sermon preached here, on the late thanksgiving day. Much less, I fear, will I be excused for the liberty taken in attempting an encomium upon you.1 I can only plead in my defence that shameful & cruel abuse with which some public papers have lately teemed, & which excites a becoming indignation in the breast of every friend to virtue & good order.
That Almighty God would give you wisdom & firmness, & continue you long as a blessing to your country, is the ardent prayer of, Sir, your obedient and humble servant
Wm Linn
ALS, DLC:GW.
Linn enclosed A Discourse, Delivered on the 26th of November, 1795; Being the Day Recommended by the Governor of the State of New-York to be Observed as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, on Account of the Removal of an Epidemic Fever, and for Other National Blessings (New York, 1795), which was in GW’s library at his death ( 125). On page 33 of that sermon, Linn wrote: “Can the man who toiled and fought for years to secure our liberty and independence; the man whom unanimous suffrage raised to the first seat in our new government; the man who has long since arrived at the summit of fame; the man who is the admiration and envy of the world; the man to whom crowns and sceptres would be empty baubles; the man with whose virtues future historians shall blazon their page, and all generations shall arise to call blessed; can such a man betray us? ’Tis impossible. ’Tis too like the whisper of misguided zeal, of discontent, or of malevolence. ’Tis a tale too much calculated to undermine, and to bring into disrepute all republican governments.”