er conviction. His conspicuous station had rendered
him peculiarly sensible to their claims; and he had unavoidably been
personally instrumental in the creation of a part of them. All the
feelings of his heart were deeply engaged in the payment of some of
the creditors, and that high sense of national honour, of national
justice, and of national faith, of which elevated minds endowed with
integrity can never be divested, impelled him to take a strong
interest in the security of all. Availing himself of the usage of
communicating on national subjects with the state governments, and of
the opportunity, which his approaching resignation of the command of
the army gave, impressively to convey his sentiments to them, he had
determined to employ all the influence which the circumstances of his
life had created, in a solemn recommendation of measures, on which he
believed the happiness and prosperity of his country to depend. On the
eighth of June, 1783, he addressed to the governors of the several
states respectively, the paternal and affectionate letter which
follows.

[Sidenote: Letters of General Washington to the governors of the
several states.]

"Sir,

"The great object for which I had the honour to hold an appointment in
the service of my country being accomplished, I am now preparing to
resign it into the hands of congress, and to return to that domestic
retirement which, it is well known, I left with the greatest
reluctance; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh through
a long and painful absence, and in which (remote from the noise and
trouble of the world) I meditate to pass the remainder of life in a
state of undisturbed repose. But before I carry this resolution into
effect, I think it a duty incumbent upon me, to make this my last
official communication; to congratulate you on the glorious events
which heaven has been pleased to produce in our favour; to offer my
sentiments respecting some important subjects which appear to me to be
intimately connected with the tranquillity of the United States: to
take my leave of your excellency as a public character: and to give my
final blessing to that country in whose service I have spent the prime
of my life, for whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and
watchful nights, and whose happiness, being extremely dear to me, will
always constitute no inconsiderable part of my own.

"Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion,