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.

368 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [ET. 50.
TO COUNT DE ROCHAMBEAU.
Newburg, 14 December, 1782.
I cannot, my dear General, permit you to depart
from this country, without repeating to you the high
sense I entertain of the services you have rendered to
America, by the constant attention, which you have paid
to the interest of it, by the exact order and discipline
of the corps under your command, and by your readi-,
ness, at all times, to give facility to every measure,
which the force of the combined armies was competent to.
To this testimony of your public character, I should
be wanting to the feelings of my heart, were I not to
add expressions of the happiness I have enjoyed in
your private friendship, the remembrance of which will
be one of the most pleasant circumstances of my life.
My best wishes will accompany you to France, where
I sincerely hope, and have no doubt, you will meet with
the smiles and rewards of a generous prince, and the
warmest embraces of affectionate friends. Adieu. I
have the honor to be, with great personal attachment,
respect, and regard, your obedient and most humble
servant.*
* After Count de Rochambeau left the camp for Philadelphia, General Washington wrote to him as follows.
"It is with infinite satisfaction, that I embrace the earliest opportunity of sending to Philadelphia the cannon, which Congress were pleased
to present to your Excellency, in testimony of their sense of the illustrious part you bore in the capture of the-British army under Lord Cornwallis at York in Virginia. The carriages will follow by another conveyance. But, as they were not quite ready, I could not resist the
pleasure, on that account, of forwarding these pieces to you previous
to your departure, in hopes the inscription and devices, as well as the
execution, may be agreeable to your wishes." - December 29th.
This letter was answered by Count de Rochambeau from Annapolis,
in Maryland, just as he was on the point of sailing from that port to