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Early Access > 1780s > 1783 > August 1783 > August 21, 1783 > To George Washington from Elias Dayton, 21 August 1783
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To George Washington from Elias Dayton, 21 August 1783

Sir, Elizabeth Town August 21st 1783

The Magistracy and the Inhabitants of the Borrough of Elizabeth beg leave to assure your Excellency that they want words to express the high satisfaction they feel on again beholding in their village, after a war of eight years, the Restorer of their freedom and the Father of his Country. During the awful suspence of that long and cruel period our hopes of success were centered in you—We adore the divine Providence which covered your head in the day of battle, which has crowned your endeavours with such signal and unexampled success, and now gives you to retire from the field of war amidst the universal applause of your country—May your enjoyment of the sweets of peace, and your domestic happiness be proportionable to the fatigues and hardships which you have born and the sacrifices you have made, to procure unto us those invaluable Blessings.

And may the united States of America, throughout all their generations enjoy the happy fruits to be derived from the illustrious Legacy bequeathed to them in your last circular Letter.

May your Excellency with your amiable Consort long live to enjoy every blessing in which a free and grateful people ardently wish you to share—and in a good old age be received into the realms of everlasting peace and happiness. Signed by order of the Magistracy and the Inhabitants of the Borrough of Elizabeth

Elias Dayton Chairman

DLC: Papers of George Washington.

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