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Lear, Tobias, 1762-1816 to Buchan, the Earl of Erskine re: a portrait of President George Washington by Trumbull and American neutrality.

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02794.036 Author/Creator: Lear, Tobias, 1762-1816 Place Written: Liverpool, England Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 1794/02/23 Pagination: 3 p. : docket : Height: 23.5 cm, Width: 19.5 cm Order a Copy

Buchan, the Earl of Erskine, an English liberal in Edinburgh, Scotland, writes: "I am much pleased to find that the Portrait of our great good Washington meets your Lordship's approbation [. . . .] There is now with Mr. [Benjamin] West in London (lately sent over) a full length painting of the Rendering by Trumbull, which is perhaps the best ever taken of him-- and an engraving is to be made from it." "I find a pretty general apprehension occasion in this Country by the military preparations making in the U.S. as tending of a rupture with this Kingdom; but sure I am that the only object of such preparations is to enable the U.S. to preserve with dignity & energy that System of neutrality which they have adopted." A draft was kept by Lear.

Lear, Tobias, 1762-1816

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