Autograph letter signed : Mount Vernon [Va.], to Sir Edward Newenham, 1788 Aug. 29.

Thanking him for sending the Irish Parliamentary Papers, but telling him that the "Edition of [James] Cooke's Voyage" never reached him; mentioning conditions in Ireland; noting that "instead of the disconsolatory idea that everything is getting worse, [he] would fain cheer [him]self with a hope that everything is beginning to mend"; commenting on the menace of wars in Europe; expressing his hope that "the United States of America will be able to keep disengaged from the labyrinth of European politics & wars; and that before long they will, by the adoption of a good national government, have become respectable in the eyes of the world"; discussing conditions in the United States, including the country's excellent "natural advantages for agriculture & commerce" and the "unequalled priviledge of choosing our own political institutions"; giving his opinion of the Constitution: "I was convinced it approached nearer to perfection than any government hitherto instituted among men"; reporting that ten states have "adopted the proposed Constitution; and as the concurrence of nine states was sufficient to carry it into effect ... it is expected the government will be in complete organization & execution before the commencement of the ensuing year"; explaining that he is trying to obtain the oppossums and birds Newenham requested and hopes to have more luck in the autumn.