From George Washington to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 30 October 1795
To the Commissioners for the District of Columbia
Philada October 30th 1795.
Gentlemen,
Your Letter of the 26 Instant covering one from Genl U. Forrest of the 24th came to me by the last post1—& as the subject thereof is important, & as there is no time [to] lose, I delay not in giving you my opinion.
From Genl Forrest’s communication there appears to be every probability that a Loan from the State of Maryland may be effected for the purposes of the Federal City, to the extent you wish. If therefore, upon more mature consideration & enquiry, you concur in opinion that it can be done, I think you ought not to hesitate to make the attempt. I would have you, however, to be fully assured (as far as is possible) of success, before the attempt is finally determined upon; as a failure might be attended with disadvantage to the interests of the City. If the attempt should terminate unfavorably, it will then be time enough, if it should be thought expedient, to make application to the Genl Government.
The papers which were transmitted to you on Wednesday last by Mr Dandridge, by my direction, will shew you that your attempt for a Loan in London has issued without success.2 I am Gentlemen, Your obedt Servt
Go: Washington
LS, DLC: U.S. Commissioners of the City of Washington records; LB, DLC:GW.
1. The surviving letter-book copy of the commissioners’ letter is dated 27 October.
2. The previous Wednesday was 28 October. However, GW probably is referring to the letter from Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., to the commissioners dated 26 October. Dandridge, “In compliance with the direction of the President,” sent the commissioners a “copy of a note from & Extract of a Letter to Richard Wells” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Received). The extract was from a letter written by Wells’s attorney in London on 14 Aug. that, as Wells explained in his note to Timothy Pickering of 14 Oct., was “respecting the final issue of a service he was employed in by the Commissioners of the City of Washington for procuring a Loan of £100,000 sterling. The improbability of its success was communicated to Secretary Randolph in July last, with the objections made in England by the monied men” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Received). The attorney reported that obtaining a loan was “impracticable, at this time, on any Terms I had to propose.” There were objections not only to the terms, “but to the nature & solidity of the security” (DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Letters Received).