Facsimiles of Letters From His Excellency George Washington President of the Un

correspondcncc wbich displayed to such advantage the superior talents, the generous vicws, and the urlbounded pl ilanthropyo itliat cclcbrated stutcsruan. The peculiar predilection wliich General WASHISGT 11 U as N s o stro lglya nd so frcqucn tly cxprcsacd, iri the subsequent letters, for agricultural improvement, wl1ic11 he preferred to every other pursuit, is another circurnstnncc which I was anxious should bc rccordcd for the bcncfit both of the present and of future times, from a desire that it maj-nlakc a duc impression upon the r inilosf those who miglit otl erlvisc be it rluccd to dcdicatc tllc l sclve e s n tirely, either to ttlc pllarltoil s of military fame, or the tortures of political ambition. The praises wliich this distitiguishcd etatcsmnn has bestowed on the establislimcnt of the Ilrjtish Boatd of hgriculture, an Institution, 11c remarks, of the utilitx of rtilicl h c entertained the most hvomablc idea from the first intimation of it and that thc morc llc had scen and reflected on tlic plan since, the nlorc conrinced he was of its importance, in a national point of view, not only to Grcat 13ritair1, but to all other co mtrics, L was solicitous to record, l3 011 rn cans of protecting thnt valuable establishment from the risk to rthich it may he csposed from tbe ignorance or inattention of future ministers, who, incapnblc of estimating thc mcrits of such an Institution tl cmselvcs, o r concciring the advantages that may bc dcrivcd from it, might hccdlesslp, eithcr diminid tim sphere of its utility, or terminate its clistcnce. The wisllcs which the foundcr of thc hmcrican Republic has expressed for bavi ig a similar cstablishmcnt in America, I also judged it, erpcrlicnt to publish, in thc lope that the recommendation of so great a Inan mill ultimately be arloptcd a eoon as the necessary arrangcrnents Ibr that purpose can bc mndc by the government of the United Sl tes. It may now bc propcr to give a brief account of the origin of the following correspondcncu. About thc ycnr 1790, I began to bc cngaged in those eltensive inquilics relating to the general etate of my natiuc coarltry, and the rrlcans of promoting its improvement, which W-ere not on rntcresting to Grcat Britain, lmt to cvcry civiIized part of tlie world and ha ing re solvcd to send the first papers vhich w ere See 1, cttcr KO. III., l0lh July, 1795...