go to no place," he said, "where you will be more
welcome, nor to any where you can live at less expense or trouble."

The young widow appears to have declined the offer of a home at Mount
Vernon, preferring to keep house in Alexandria, but offering to resign
the charge of her eldest son, Fayette, into Washington's keeping. In
March the president wrote to her, saying:--

"The carriage which I sent to Mount Vernon for your use I never
intended to reclaim; and now, making you a formal present of it, it
may be sent for whenever it suits your convenience and be
considered as your own. I shall, when I see you, request that
Fayette may be given up to me, either at that time or as soon after
as he is old enough to go to school. This will relieve you of that
portion of attention which his education would otherwise call
for."--_Mount Vernon and its Associations_, pages 264, 265.

[44] _The Life of Thomas Jefferson_, by Henry S. Randall, LL.D., ii, 128.

[45] Sparks's Washington, x, 533, 534.

[46] The following is copy of the proclamation:--

"Whereas it appears that a state of war exists between Austria,
Prussia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands, on
the one part, and France on the other; and the duty and interest
of the United States require that they should, with sincerity and
good faith, adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial
toward the belligerent powers;

"I have therefore thought fit by these presents to declare the
disposition of the United States to observe the conduct aforesaid
towards those powers respectively; and to exhort and warn the
citizens of the United States carefully to avoid all acts and
proceedings whatsoever, which may in any manner tend to contravene
such disposition.

"And I do hereby also make known, that whosoever of the citizens of
the United States shall render himself liable to punishment or
forfeiture under the laws of nations, by committing, aiding, or
abetting hostilities against any of the said powers, or by carrying
to them any of those articles which are deemed contraband by the
modern usage of nations, will not receive the protection of the
United States against such punishment or forfeiture; and further,
that I have given instructions to those officers to whom it
belongs, to cause prosecutions to be instituted