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.

PARTII.] THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 73
to remain here for the above reasons, should the enemy evacuate New York, and transfer the whole war
to the southward. To this I answer without hesitation,
that we must in such case follow them at every expense, and under every difficulty and loss; but that,
while we remain inferior at sea, and there is a probability of giving relief by diversion, and that perhaps
sooner than by sending reinforcements immediately to
the point in distress, policy dictates the trial of the
former.
Allow me, before I take leave of your Excellency in
your public capacity, to express the obligations I am
under for the readiness and zeal with which you have
always forwarded and supported every measure, which
I have had occasion to recommend through you, and to
assure you, that I shall esteem myself honored by a
continuation of your friendship and correspondence,
should your country permit you to remain in the private walk of life. I have the honor to be, &c.*
* It was the strong desire of the people of Virginia, that Washington
would take command of the army in that State. In the letter, to which
the above was a reply, Mr. Jefferson had written; —:" We are too far removed from the other scenes of war to say whether
the main force of the enemy be within this State; but I suppose they
cannot anywhere spare so great an army for the operations of the field.
Were it possible for this circumstance to justify in your Excellency a
determination to lend us your personal aid, it is evident from the universal voice, that the presence of their beloved countryman, whose talents have been so long successfully employed in establishing the freedom
of kindred States, to whose person they have still flattered themselves
they retained some right, and have ever looked'up as their dernier resort
in distress, that your appearance among them, I say, would restore full
confidence of salvation, and would render them equal to whatever is not
impossible. I cannot undertake to foresee and obviate the difficulties,
which stand in the way of such a resolution. The whole subject is before you, of -which I see only detached parts, and your judgment will be
formed in view of the whole. Should the danger of this State, and its
consequence to the Union, be such as to render it best for the whole,
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