“From the first I laid it down as a maxim, that no person who possessed Lands adjoining, should hold any of mine as a Lease, and for this obvious reason, that the weight of their labour, and burden of the crops, whilst it was in a condition to bear them, would fall upon my Land, and the improvement upon his own, in spite of all the covenants which could be inserted to prevent it.”
c) To JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON, Mount Vernon,
March 27, 1786.
“I had established it as a maxim to accept no Tenants that did not mean to reside on the Land; or who had land of their own adjoining to it, not expecting, in either case, much improvement on, or much justice to mine under these circumstances.”
d) To JOHN LAURENS, July 10, 1782.
“It is not the public, but the private interest, which influences the generality of mankind, nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception.”
6. Time
a) To DOCTOR JAMES ANDERSON, Philadelphia,
December 24, 1795.
“The truth, is so little time is at my disposal for private gratifications, that it is but rarely I put pen to paper for purposes of my own.”
b) To JAMES MCHENRY, September 14, 1799.
“What to me is more valuable, my time, that I most regard.”
c) To JAMES ANDERSON, December 10, 1799.
“Time is of more importance than is generally imagined.”
7. Time and Money
a) To JAMES ANDERSON, Mount Vernon, December 21, 1797.
“The man who does not estimate time as money will forever miscalculate; for altho’ the latter is not paid for the former, it is nevertheless a sure item in the cost of any undertaking.”
8. Workmen
a) To JAMES ANDERSON, Federal City, May 22, 1798.
“I had no intention then, nor have I any desire now, to part with you as a manager; but having made this declaration I shall add (what I believe I then did) that I have no wish to retain any person in my Service who is discontented with my conduct . . . Strange, and singular indeed would it be, if the Proprietor of an Estate . . . should have nothing to say in, or controul over, his own expenditures; Should not be at liberty to square his oeconomy thereto; Nor should, without hurting the feelings of a Manager, point to such alterations . . .
“Where have I been deficient? or in what have you just cause to complain? If I cannot remark upon my own business, passing every day under my eyes, without hurting your feelings, I must discontinue my rides, or become a cypher on my own Estate. . . If your feelings have been hurt by my remarks on the bad clover Seed that was purchased, I cannot help that; my views and plan have been much more hurt by it . . . it is not my wish to hurt the feelings of any one, where it can be avoided, or to do injustice in any respect whatsover;”
b) To WILLIAM GORDON, October 14, 1797.
“Workmen in most Countries I believe are necessary plagues—in this [country] where entreaties as well as money must be used to obtain their work and keep them to their duty they baffle all calculation in the accomplishment of any plan or repairs they are engaged in;—and require more attention to and looking after than can be well conceived.”
c) To HENRY KNOX, September 24, 1792.
“My observation on every employment in life is, that, wherever and whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.”
d) To TENCH TILGHMAN, March 24, 1784.
“If they are good workmen, they may be from Asia, Africa or Europe; they may be Mahometans, Jews or Christians of any sect, or they may be Atheists. I would, however, prefer middle aged to young men, and those who have good countenances, and good characters . . . to others who have neither.”
C. Finances
1. Borrowing
a) To SAMUEL WASHINGTON, July 12, 1797.
“You may be assured that there is no practice more dangerous than that of borrowing money . . . . For when money can be had in this way, repayment is seldom thought of in time; the Interest becomes a moth; exertions to raise it by dint of Industry ceases—it comes easy and is spent freely; and many things indulged in that would never be thought of, if to be purchased by the sweat of the brow.—In the meantime the debt is accumulating like a snowball in rolling.”
2. Debt
a) To JOHN AUGUSTINE WASHINGTON, Newburgh,
January 16, 1783.
“…how did my brother Samuel contrive to get himself so enormously in debt? Was it by making purchases? By misfortunes? Or sheer indolence and inattention to business? From whatever cause it proceeded, the matter is now the same, and curiosity only prompts me to the enquiry, as it does to know what will be saved, and how it is disposed of. . . . I have lately received a letter from my mother, in which she complains much of the knavery of the overseer at the Little Falls quarter.”
b) To JAMES WELCH, April 7, 1799.
“To contract new Debts is not the way to pay old ones.”
c) To ROBERT STEWART, April 27, 1763.
“I wish, my dear Stewart, that the circumstances of my affairs would have permitted me to have given you an order . . . for £400 . . . or even twice that sum . . . But, alas! To show my inability in this respect, I enclose you a copy of Mr. Cary’s last account current against me, which upon my honor and the faith of a Christian, is a true one. . .
