Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-14
THE WEEKLY STAR
American Ana.

/ have heard il frequently ren.,S.s 3.
| conversation, that General Washington cbaI-
lenged Mr. Jefferson to fgbt a duel In oons.-
| quence Of certain expressions used by the lat
ter in letter to Mazzei. But the following
passage In letter from Mr.. jefferson dated
1923, from Martin Van Buren, puts the charge
/ at rest
The other allegation respecting myself, is
equally false. In page 81, he Pickering
quotes Or Stuart as having. twenty years ago
informed him that General w ashing gton, when
ue became private citizen, called me 10 ac-
S9unt for expressions used in a letter 20
hazTel, requiring, in n tone of upusua al saver
lty, an explanation Of that letter. he adds
OF himself, that In what manner the latter
humoled himself and appeased the lust resent
ment oil ashlngton, will never be known. as
some time after his death, the correspondence
was not to be found, and diary for An i'm.
portant period OF his presidency was alse msss-
l:s. me olary oeing OF transactions during
his presidency, the letter to Ma1lei not knov5
here until some time after he became a p,tpot,
ctttzeH, and the pretended correspondence, of
course, after that, know not why this lost
diary and supposed correspondence are brought
together here, unless for insinuations worthy
OF the letter itself. The correspondence could
not be found indeed, because IL had never ar
ls,ed. L do not affirm that there never passed
a word, written or verbal, directly or indi.
rectly, between General Washington and my
self on the subject Of that letter. He would
never have degraded himself so far as TO take
to himself the imputation in that letter on the
Sampsons in combat The whole story is a
fabrication, and L defy the trainers Of il, and
all mankind to produce a scrip of A pen be-
tween General w Washington and myself on the
subject, or any other evidence more worthy of
credit than the suspicious. suppositions and
presumptiors of the two persons here quoting
ana quoted for 1T. With Doctor Stuart had
not much acquaintance. 1 supposed him to
be an honest man, knew him to be a very
weak one, and, like Mr.. Pickering, very prone
to antipathies, boiling with party passions,
and, under the dominion of these, readily wei.
coming fancies as facts. But come the story
from whomsocveri it might, it is an unqualified
falsehood"
Within few days, said Mr. jefferson 10 De
Nemours, retire TO my family, my books and
farms; and having gained the harbor myself,
L shall look on my friends still buffsting tho
storm, with anxiety indeed, but not envy
Never did prisoner, released from his chains
feel such relief as / shall on shaking off the
shackles Of power Nature intended me for
the tranquil pursuits Of science, by rendering
them my supreme delight But the enormi-
ties of the times in which L have lived, have
forced me to take part in resisting them and
to commit myself on the boisterogs ocean Of
political passions l thank God for the op-
portunity Of retiring from them without cen
sure, and carrying with me the most consoling
proofs of public appreciation.
sometimes previous to the evacuation Of
Charleston, Colonel Menzies, Of the Pennsyl-
vania line, received a letter from a Hessian
officer within the garrison, who had been
prisoner, and treated him with great kind
ness, exposing an earnest desire to show his
gratitude, by executing any commission with
which he would please to honor him Colonel
NenZies replied to it, requesting him to send
twelve dozen cigars. but being a German,
aad little accustomed to express himself in
English, he was not very accurate In his Or
typography, AID wrote SIzarS. Twelve dozen
pairs of scissors were accordingly sent him,
which for time Occasioned much mirth in
the camp at the Colonel's expense; but no
man knew better how TO profit from the mis-
take Money was not at that period in crcu-
lation; aud by the aid Of a woman distribut-
ing his scissors over the country, in exchange
tor poultry, Colonel Menzies lived luxuriously,
while the fare Of his brother officers was a
scanty pittance Of famished beef, bull-frogs
from ponds, and cray-fsh from the neighbor-
ing bitches es.-MobEke Tribune