The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-03-12
The Authorship of NNashinston's Farewell
Address,
From the Philadelphia Ledger.

PHlLApELPHIA, Feb. q, 1852.
No. 3I3 Chesnut Street.
MEssRs. EDIToRs Upon 4th of July, few
years previous to the death of the late David Clay
POOLE ! called upon that gentleman TO tender him
my respects The day naturally awakened our re-
collections Of Washington-his personal appear
ance his decds, his Farewell Address, and the dis
pute which existed then, as it does now, as to who
4. author.
Mr. Clsypoo,e took from his escrioire and put
into my hand manuscript, which, since his death
has been sold at auction, and bought by Mr..
Lenox, of New York, IL consists of several sheets
of paper, every page Of which is numbered. ] re.
cognised, Immediately, the hand writing of George
Washington, the Father of these United States,
with where hand writing ] am well acquainted,
having often seen it-having then, and still having
Ia my possession, letter written by him. There
are eratures and interlineations on some pages of
the manuscript. The ensures are complete; what
was writ cannot be dcciphercd; taken all to-
ycher. they do not cover many lines, and do not
frequently occur The intorlineations are few,
and FAR between; they, as well az the whole text
OF the manuscript, are the handwriting Of Wash
fngton.
After had long and rcverently examined H. /
returned IL to Mr.. Claypooe. He then detailed TO
Inc the following testimony of his ownership, and
oi his belief that Washington was the author of
The address, and that the manuscript then before Us
was the original:
81 received a message from President Washing
ton expressive Of a desire 90 me. ] waited
upon him Immediately. lie lived in Market street.
1.-The houso Is now known as Tower Hall The
President told me he had prepared "A Farewell Ad-
dress TO his countrynen, and bad selected my news.
paper for lite fret appearance. At the same time
he handed 90 me the manuscript now before us,
md requested me 10 bring TO him proof sheet i'm
precision Of the Newspaper, previous to my putting
II in circulation. This did. lie pcruscd the
printed paper very atentvcly, altered some Of the
punctuation, heightened some Of the spaces be-
tween concluding and beginning sentences, then
returned II TO me, with request that | would
ffstr~f IA I'm rnftr int "A he
following day. He examined IL atentvely. and,
on his expressed approval Of il, returned TO him
this manuscript, from which The compositor had
set the types, saying III your ercelency would
allow me to retain this manuscript Ishould esteem
il great favor he Replied 'Sir, If you desire
90 keep IL do 80, and here IL is >
On the subject Of its authorship, Mr.. Claypoole
told me he had received from the family Of John
Jay (chef justice OF the United States) the follow
ing accounts
president Washington sent on 20 John Jay n
manuscript in biz own hand writing, purporting TO
be a farewell address TO his counirymen. with a
requcsl that Mr.. jay would call on Alexander Ham.
iton and show it ~ BIN, aud that they should take
IT under their consideration and return it 20 him,
with sucb amendments, additions, or alterations,
NJ they might propose. Mr.. Jay called on Mr.
Hamilton, and they too, agreed to form their sep
arnc opinions the address; and, after they had
done go, 20 meet and TO confer together upon IL,
and upon their own opinions lit. To enable them
o do so, John Jay left the manuscript Washing
w.
take a copy from b, and return the original TO John
Jay Tor his consideration. On an appointed day
they met, Rad over the original manuscript; CON
sidcrcd il sentence By sentence, separately, and
then considered the fruit Of their own opinions,
framed apart, separately; and having come 20 a
conclusion az regarded the whole, they agreed not
20 dishgurc the manuscript, written and sent on by
Washington, by iuterlincatons or orasures upon it,
bot 90 put their reflections on separate paper.
This they did, and returned the whole to Wash-
inrton.
Mr.. Claypooe declared TO me his own belief wes
that the erasurcs and interlincations the manu-
script before us-whioh he believed to be the origi
nal manuscript sent by Washington TO Jay-werc
the result Of Wnshington's judgment on, and
adoption Of such OF the sentiments and opinions Of
Jay aud Hamilton, Transmitted 20 him. as met
with his own approval
Certainly did then, and do now consider Mr.
Claypoolcs con Illusions just and true. What rea-
sona6lo decision, on Mr.. Claypoole's testimony
can be arrived at save THE THAT George Wash,
ington then the President If the United Statcs
was the sole author Of bic Farewell Address, and
that, previous TO giving publicity to IT, he wisely
sought the counsel OF John Jay and Alexander
Hamilton and that the ensures and interlinea.
tons Gin the hand writing OF Washingtun) upon
the original manuscript, (few &C they arc,) given
10y the hand of Washington to David Claypoole.
and now owned by Mr.. Lcnox, Of New York, con.
tain such Of the suggestions Of Jay and Hamilton
ne were approved by his own judgment.
The Gum Of the whole matter is, that the Fare
well Address IL WasbinCton's composition, ap-
"a synod Of wisdom1 with some OF the suggcs.