To Rawleigh W. Downman
Fredericksburg October 8th. 1790
D. Sir
I am extremely sorry for the cause which has prevented our meeting so early as I wished— I have been much disappointed, but concluded that you were sick, being too well assured of your honor to suppose that our agreement had escaped your memory. I shall be very happy to hear that you are on the recovery.
The payment of the mony, or the rect of the Bills is of so much consequence to me, and indeed to your Brother, that I have prevailed upon Mr Mason to go down. Every day that it is withheld from me, burthens me with an accruing Interest upon the debts which I owe to the amount which they would discharge. This Loss I could not bear, & I suppose you would be unwilling to pay it. It is therefore our Joint concern to have the matter immediately settled. Another reason is that a Gentleman has agreed to purchase them at the Current Exchange provided he recieves them immediately— shoul<d> he refuse it might reduce me to some difficulties independent of a breach of promise which I should be guilty of. The Exchange is 33 1/3 not a farthing more, and not a Merchant who will give that in Cash. I am under the necessity of giving four mon<mutilated> in order to get that, the person paying lega<mutilated> By this mean I shall suffer no other inconvenience that being dunned by my creditors since the Interest which I recieve will be equal to that which I shall have to pay. I asked every Mercht in Alexandria seperately, & they all agreed that the Exchange was not a farthing above par & that Cash at that Exchange could not be obtained— My enquiries in this Town have all been answered in the same Manner. You will observe that it is as much my Interest almost as yours to get as much as possible, since it will encrease the prompt payment which is of the greatest consequence to me.
I enclose two setts of Exchange—One for £300 Stg and the other for £200 Stg which at 33 1/3 is £666.13.4—the Balance for which the Bonds will be given will be £733.6.8 which equally divided will be £244.8.10 1/2 to be put into each Bond– if the Bonds are already filled up (which I presume they are with security) in the sums mentioned in the agreement;1 If the Bonds are already filled up with the sums of £244.13.4 you will percieve that they will be too much by 13/4 which you can Just credit on one of the Bonds which <mutilated>ke them right— if they are not filled up, & <mutilated>ed with security I must beg you to do it and <sen>d them to me by the first safe opportunity. Mrs Washington came down with me an<mutilated> until a few days past in order to execute <mutilated> I would send it down by express, If I did not concieve it necessary that you should first see it before it is executed— However my Contract is sufficient for you & the Deed shall be executed at any time— She will be with me during the whole Dumfries Court, so that if you can come or get mr Chinn or some friend to come up it can then be done. The money which you have for me, please send up by Mr Mason. If you should have any doubts about the rate of Exchange, I hereby bind myself that if on enquiry you find that more could be obtained than 33 1/3 that the over plus shall be credited on your Bonds. I am with Esteem Your very obt Sevt
Bushrod Washington
N.B. It will be necessary I think for you to write some Letters to accompany the Bills, to insure their being honoured in case of your Brothers absence— if you can only write one, You may get some friend with you to Copy them— there had better be Six that one may accompany each Bill— You will observe that the day of the month in each Bill is left for you to fill up—as also the direction & signing of your Name.2
Source Note
ALS, ViU: Papers of the Washington Family. On the letter cover, BW added the following note: "Since writing the within your Servant informs me that you have returned home, so that mr Mason declines going— this is very unfortunate indeed— You will I hope get some person to come up immediately to Dumfries with the Bills & Bonds, as it is of so much consequence to me. The Exchange may get down if the business is delayed. I shall expect to hear from you most certainly in a few days. B. W." A notation below the address line reads, "fav[ore]d by Mr Mason"; the letter was endorsed.
1. After the word "agreement" BT wrote the following text before crossing it out: "the Balance for which your Bond <will be> sufficient, will be £3<3>.6.<illegible>."
2. On the right margin of the page BW appears to have written another word beginning with the letter "P" but it has faded into illegibility.
Note: Because this document is only a verified first-pass transcription, it and the document metadata may still contain errors.