I owe you an apology for not having returned an earlier answer to your letter of the 20th June. The truth is, that at the time I recd it, and another from brother Thompson, I was engaged in a piece of business which required dispatch, & which induced me to postpone my answers to a period when it would be more in my power to reflect upon the decisions which you & he had made & to examine cases. But before that period had arrived our domestic misfortunes commenced. My nephew in law & friend, Mr Herbert, & his three children, were attacked by bilious fevers which terminated in his death, & that of two of his children, within 12 or 15 hours of each other. My Niece then required all my care & attention to save her from hopeless despair & distraction. As soon as her only surviving son was sufficiently convalescent to travel, I fled to the mountains with them & Mrs W. hoping that change of scene & the sympathy of her brothers & their wives might gradually alleviate her afflictions. I could not well account for my silence, my dear Sir, without troubling you with this short detail of domestic sufferings.

I am much pleased with your decision in Wild vs. Bank of Passamaquoddy, having decided the second point in the same way in more than one case. How the unfounded notion that payment must be demanded of the drawer or endorser immediately or within a reasonable time after due notice has been given of nonacceptance has arisen, is inconcievable to me, and yet it is certain that the law is so holden by many persons & even by some lawyers. I perfectly agree also in your decision of the other point that the Cashier of a bank is to be considered prima facie as the general agent of the company to manage the funds & to make endorsements of their papers & funds in the ordinary course of its business. If he is restricted, it should be shown on the other side.

The libel case for assault & battery on the high Seas was new to me, as no such suit has ever been brought in any of the Courts in which I have presided. I can see no reason why the Jurisdiction should not be supported— it would indeed be much to be regretted that no remedy should exist in such cases. The point of Jurisdiction as to the appeal was I think clearly well decided.

Upon the other case I can express no opinion as the mode of proceeding is quite new & depends upon local law.

I commence my labours today, but expect to be delayed here only for a few days. I look for a long Court in Philadelphia.

I feel more & more anxious about the election of my friend Griffith to the Office of clerk of the S.C. of the U.S., not merely because it will place him & his interesting family in a state of comfort, but because of his entire fitness for the Office & the satisfactory manner in which its duties will be discharged. I hope that brothers Tod (who by the bye is much better & was dayly expected in Jefferson when I left that County) & Thompson will unite their votes with ours in his favor—but the vote of either of them will be sufficient.

Wishing health & happiness to yourself & to all those whom you most love I am my dear Sir most sincerely yr friend & affect. Servt