I have succeeded in obtaining for you the services of George Cooper, the bearer of this letter, should you be able to agree with him on terms. He can stay with you six weeks, during which time he will be able to make an excellent groom & coachman of any of your own servants, whose genius does not lie in an opposite direction. He is a free black of the most gentlemanly deportment, the most fashionable manners, and may add the purest morals of any citizen of color in this metropolis; being quite at the head of his profession as a waiter & coachman, & cutting no inconsiderable figure within the bar of the house of representatives, to which Honorable body he serves out journals, reports, & blank bills with a grace & punctuality equalled only by the great Claxton himself. Such a man is not to be found every day.

Permit me now to use the freedom of an uninterrupted friendship of 14 Years, and to speak very freely to you on a Subject of some delicacy, but upon which I am sure I shall not give you offence. I will begin at once, & without ceremony.

I happened yesterday, the day after my return from Mt Vernon to dine in company with one of the principal officers of government, a man whose character stands so high with all parties, that all his opinions are worthy of attention. I was descanting on the beauties of the situation of Mt Vernon, when he suddenly interrupted me, and asked whether Judge Washington had provided a decent place of interment for his uncle from whom he had inherited so elegant an estate. The short conversation which passed between us on Friday fortunately enabled me to answer this blunt question very decidedly, & as the company generally took an interest in the Subject, I felt myself exceedingly happy in giving an ample explanation of the whole fact, the purport of which was to state: that the subject was a source of vexation & distress to you beyond what any other person could possibly feel, but that it was wholly out of your power to act on it: that another of the executors had begun & half finished a new Vault, quite as mean in its construction as the old one, altho more roomy; that General Washington by his will having directed this new Vault to be erected at the expence of his Estate, no individual executor could act in it with propriety, not even at his own expence, & that as the Vault directed by the Will was to be a family Vault, the case became still less at the disposal of an individual Executor or of an individual member of the family, every one interested having in courtesy, & perhaps in law, a right to object to any measure taken by another individual. that it was well known that a disagreement had arisen after the General's death between the Washington & the Custis branch of the family, so that a cordiality of cooperation could not be expected: that you, as the possessor of Mount Vernon, were particularly withheld by delicacy from expending the money of the Estate on your own Property in any family object in which yourself were interested: that as to the estate of Mt Vernon left to you by your uncle I believed that it operated rather as a deduction than as an addition to your wealth: that I was certain that considering your peculiar disposition & habits, and the too frequent indisposition of your Lady, the publicity in which you were obliged to pass the time left to you from your official labors, could not be otherwise than irksome to you & especially, that the circumstances which forbid the most appropriate manner of depositing the body of your uncle by your agency, rendered your exposure to public censure hightened & rendered more rancorous by party feeling, & of which you could not be wholly ignorant, peculiarly painful to you while you necessarily resided on the spot, on which they arose.

Everything that I said on this subject by way of explanation was welcome & convincing to the company, but I also found that it was new. The Gentleman who began the subject thanked me most cordially, & acknowledged, that he had felt a prejudice against you, amounting almost to aversion which had its rise only in the state in which the body of General Washington was suffered to remain as he had hitherto believed, by your fault. That he hoped in future to respect as much as he had disliked you personally, and as he already admired your talents, & your professional character. He at the same time expressed most forcibly his sentiments on the disgraceful conduct of the American public of which he felt exceedingly ashamed, in relation to the sepulture of General Washington.

The impression made on the mind of Mr Hamilton (whose name I mention entre nous) I found however to be the general impression, as respects your being to blame for not providing a more decent Vault or monument for your Uncle. There were several of your friends present, who endeavored to defend you on the ground of the extreme unproductiveness of the property left to you, & of the expense it forced You to incur, while the labor, which was necessary to the cultivation of the Land has been taken from You by the emancipation of the General's Slaves after the death of Mrs Washington. This defence admitted, altho it accounted for, & excused, the main fact.

Upon my mind, as sincerely feeling for every thing that concerns you, all this has had a very depressing effect. Your maxim & consolation may indeed be Virtule meâ me involvero: but it is a cold comfort: Cannot something better be done. Pray let me hear from you. In the meantime believe me, with the truest friendship Yours faithfully