“ consideration. Not long since, I happened, in a coffee-house, to fall into conversation with a sensible, well-informed gentleman,--an American, I believe,--but, at least, well acquainted with American affairs, & with the characters of those who conduct them. Speaking of Genl. Washington, this gentleman mentioned his “ Official Letters”, and, without knowing my connexion with them, strongly condemned the editor for having “ suppressed a number of the most interesting passages, and presented the public with little better than the chaff.” These, as nearly as I can recollect, were his words: and this he delivered, not as his own private opinion only, but as that of the most competent judges in America,--mentioning, at the same time, some very respectable names, as coinciding with him in sentiment. I felt to deeply interested in the affair, to suffer it to pass over thus in general terms; and accordingly I endeavoured to bring him to particulars;--when, to my very great surprise, he accurately repeated the substance of some very material passages which I had omitted, and pointed out, in one instance, the omission of an entire letter . . .

"P.S. I hope, Sir, you have safely received a set of the “ Official Letters”, which I desired Mr. Rice (bookseller, Philadelphia) to send to you immediately on receipt of the books. As I have not heard from him since their arrival in Philadelphia, I am of course, uncertain whether the intended set ever reached your hands.”

Jefferson replied from Monticello, on November 10: “ . . . with respect to the passages omitted in the official letters I am totally uninformed of their nature: for tho’ I recieved from m ( ^~r ) Rice the copy you were so kind as to send me, & for which I return you my thanks, yet, having gone over the letters in their MS. state, I have not read them as published; and indeed had I read them, it is not probable my memory would have enabled me to judge of the omissions. I am therefore prepared to give but one opinion, which is that the whole of the M.S.S. examined & passed by myself, and the doubtful passages referred to the President & passed by him, were proper for publication. for tho’ there were passages which might on publication create uneasiness in the minds of some, & were therefore referred by me to the President, yet I concurred fully in the opinion he pronounced that as these things were true they ought to be known. to render history what it ought to be the whole truth should be known. I am no friend to mystery & state secrets. they serve generally only to conceal the errors & rogueries of those who govern . . . ”

On May 21, 1798, Carey wrote from London to Rice, the bookseller of Philadelphia, explaining that he had not heard from him for three years or received any money from him, and suggesting that he send to Mr. Jefferson, who would see that it was forwarded, any sums belonging to him that he should have in his hands, including £115. 16s. for 237 copies of Washington’s letters. His letter closes: “It has been further suggested to me that Mr. Jefferson, in his zeal to promote ye cause of literature, may perhaps think of some person who can assist in disposing of any copies that remain: at least I know that something of ye kind is hinted to him at ye same time with ye request respect ^g ye money. If, therefore, he sh ^d point out any such person, and empower him to take them off yr hands, I beg you will at once rid yourself of ye incumbrance, by deliver ^g to him all that remain of ye General’s letters . . .”

John Carey, 1756-1826, brother of Mathew, was born in Ireland, spent a few years in the United States, and lived a great part of his life in London, where he was a teacher of the classics, French and shorthand. An edition of this book was printed in Boston in 1795, the same year as the London edition, and is erroneously described by the bibliographers as the first edition, the London edition being placed second. The American edition appears not to have been copyrighted.

In a letter to James Monroe, addressed from London on August 7, 1805, Carey gave many details as to the publication of the book, and explained that the London edition was the first and that the American booksellers “printed two or three cheap rival editions; so that mine hardly in the end defrayed its own expenses, without yielding me any compensation for my time, labor, and risk.”