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.

334 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [AET. 28.
TO CAPTAIN ROBERT MACKENZIE, AT VENANGO.
Mount Vernon, 20 November, 1760.
DEAR SIR,
Had your favor of the 17th of August come to
my hands before the 18th instant, I should not have
given you the trouble of perusing my answer to it at
this late season. I am sorry, that you should think it
necessary to introduce a request to me, which is founded
on reason and equity, with an apology. Had you claimed that as a right, which you seem to ask as a favor, I
should have thought myself wanting in that justice,
which is the distinguishing characteristic of an honest
man, to have withheld it from you.
But how to answer your purposes, and at the same
time to avoid the imputation of impertinence, I am, I
confess, more at a loss to determine. That General
Amherst may have heard of such a person as I am, is
probable, and this I dare venture to say is the chief
knowledge he has of me. How then should I appear
to him in an epistolary way? And to sit down and
write a certificate of your behaviour carries with it an
air of formality, that seems more adapted to the case of
a soldier than that of an officer. I must, therefore, beg
the favor of you to make what use you please of this
letter.
For, Sir, with not more pleasure than truth, I can
declare to you and the world, that while I had the honor
of commanding the regiment, your conduct, both as an
officer and a gentleman, was unexceptionable, and in
every instance, as far as I was capable of discerning,
such as to merit applause from better judges. Since
my time, Colonel Byrd has been witness to your
behaviour, and his letter recommendatory must, I am
persuaded, do you more service than my sanguine en