to him who was its object. The treasurer had been
instructed to subscribe, in behalf of the state, for a specified
number of shares in each company. Just at the close of the session,
when no refusal of their offer could be communicated to them, a bill
was suddenly brought in, which received the unanimous assent of both
houses, authorizing the treasurer to subscribe for the benefit of
General Washington, the same number of shares in each company as were
to be taken for the state. A preamble was prefixed to the enacting
clause of this bill[24] in which its greatest value consisted. With
simple elegance, it conveyed the sentiment, that in seizing this
occasion, to make a donation which would in some degree testify their
sense of the merits of their most favoured and most illustrious
citizen, the donors would themselves be the obliged.

[Footnote 24: It is in these words; "whereas it is the
desire of the representatives of this commonwealth to
embrace every suitable occasion of testifying their sense of
the unexampled merits of George Washington, esquire, towards
his country, and it is their wish in particular that those
great works for its improvement, which both as springing
from the liberty which he has been so instrumental in
establishing, and as encouraged by his patronage, will be
durable monuments of his glory, may be made monuments also
of the gratitude of his country. Be it enacted, &c." This
bill is understood to have been drawn by Mr. Madison.]

However delightful might be the sensations produced by this delicate
and flattering testimony of the affection of his fellow citizens, it
was not without its embarrassments. From his early resolution to
receive no pecuniary compensation for his services, he could not
permit himself to depart; and yet this mark of the gratitude and
attachment of his country, could not easily be rejected without
furnishing occasion for sentiments he was unwilling to excite. To the
friend[25] who conveyed to him the first intelligence of this bill,
his difficulties were thus expressed.

[Footnote 25: Mr. Madison.]

[Sidenote: He declines accepting a donation made to him by his native
state.]

"It is not easy for me to decide by which my mind was most affected
upon the receipt of your letter of the sixth instant--surprise or
gratitude. Both were greater than I had words to express. The
attention and good wishes which the assem