The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

PREFACE. ix
as sent to his correspondents. These imperfect drafts were laid aside, and from time to
timne copied by an amanuensis into the letterbooks. Hence the drafts, as now recorded, do not in all cases agree precisely with
the originals that were sent away. My researches have brought under my inspection
many of these original letters. Regarding
them as containing the genuine text, I have
preferred it to that in the letter-books, and
it has accordingly been adopted whenever it
could be done. But the discrepances are
of little moment, relating to the style, and
not to the substance. For the most part
I have been obliged to rely on the letterbooks; and, for the reasons here mentioned,
it is probable that the printed text may not
in every particular be the same as in the
originals, that is, the corrected copies, which
were sent to his correspondents. These rermarks apply chiefly to private letters, written
wwhen Washington was at Mount Vernon, and
to those written during the French war. In
the periods of the Revolution and the Presidency, much more exactness was observed;
and, as far as my examination has extended, there is generally a literal accordance between the original letters and the transcripts
in the letter-books.
voL. I, b