6 OCTOBER 1917, Page 11

WASHINGTON ' S DISLIKE OF SLAVERY.

(To am EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.") Si—In the issue of July list your reviewer of The Life and Times of David Humphreys says, after quoting from a letter of General Washington on war: "Only seventy-six soars after that letter was written by the Virginian planter, firmly convinced of thin necessity and harmlessness of slave labour," Le. Permit me, in the interest of historical accuracy, to correct the impression conveyed by these words. In a letter to Robert Morris, Washing- ton wrote: "There is no man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery]." Writing to John F. Mercer, Washington said "1 never mean to possess another slave by purchase, it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by whkh slavery shall be abolished by law." It is only just that Waallington's opinions should be learned from his own dear and repeated expressions.—! am,

Pittsburoh, U.S.A., September 7th.