Washington and its Romance by Thomas Nelson Page

Author:Thomas Nelson Page [Page, Thomas Nelson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2019-02-20T23:00:00+00:00

Law, having set his affection on Washington, appears to have been stopped by no obstacles, however great they may have appeared; he seems to have flung his heart over the fence, and gone over after it. His correspondence with James Greenleaf and others at this time shows how he had been carried away by the alluring prospect on the banks of the Potomac and how enthusiastically he entered into the speculations going on there. Toward the close of 1794, we find him writing to Greenleaf every few days on matters relating to the development of the Federal City, or more properly to the speculation in the lands on which it was to rise. When Greenleaf proposed to go abroad to float his great loan, or interest otherwise foreign capital, Law wrote a letter of introduction to his friend, William Blane, of London (on December 5,1794) stating that Mr. Greenleaf was "a most respectable man of abilities and integrity," and begging him to "pay particular attention to his statements." "The President," he adds, "confides in him and you will find him a man intelligent and understanding. I will give you particulars in my next—it is sufficient, however, to observe that if a few of us sit down in Washington City, that numbers more will join us" and that "land worth 1,000 dollars now, will soon rise to 1000£ Stg." Expressing his sorrow at the "embarrassments at home," he says that he had only once congratulated himself on taking this step in time, for, he adds," Here all the people are prospering. The land only wants men. If a man with cash is only prudent he cannot help but benefit." To reassure his friend, he informs him that "Mr. Greenleaf is not an American, therefore you may have impartial accounts from him." That Law was able to convey his enthusiasm to his friends at a distance is shown by a letter which he wrote to Greenleaf, ten days later, in which he informed him that he had been "desired by two gentlemen, of East India, one acting for David Scott, the Great Bombay merchant, East India Director, and friend of Dundas, and an acqu'e of mine, to let them have a share in my Washington purchase," and he inquires of Greenleaf whether he was resolved not to part with any more lots on the same terms."

Scott, "the great Bombay merchant, East India Director, and friend of Dundas," seems to have come himself to Washington sometime later; but there being no Miss Custis to blind his eyes, the city of Washington was too much of a wilderness to allure him, and he turned his back and went his way. Meantime, Thomas Law wrote his sister, Lady Rumbold (December 15, 1794) in a letter of introduction sent by Mr. Greenleaf, suggesting that she herself should come over and settle, and giving his belief that "if Tom came over for three or four years, he could double his fortune to a certainty." He gives a touch of Washington in December which is as true to-day as it was then.

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