I have just received your letter inclosing your notes on the parts of the life which you have read. I am sorry they are not more ample—but I hasten to advert to the circumstance mentioned by Mr Wayne which is of real importance. I had designed barely to hint at Braddocks defeat in the first volume & to detail the circumstances minutely in the second & thought I had done so, but on looking into what I believe is the 12th chapter I find I have been much more particular than I thought myself or woud wish to be. There is certainly a repetition which is improper & ought to be avoided. It appears to me extremely difficult to part with what is inserted in the 2d volume as it bilongs to the life of General Washington & there will be a chasm shoud it be omitted. I do not know whether it is possible to leave out what is inserted in the first. If it is possible I very much wish it to be done. There woud be no difficulty in it if the work shoud be in a situation which admits the alteration. I woud propose after stating the arrival of Braddock at fort Cumberland "from whence the army destined against fort Du Quesne was to commence its march." to proceed with a new paragraph—thus.

["]The difficulty of opening a new road through a very rough country having been at length surmounted, Braddock left his heavy baggage with the rear division of his army under²Colonel Dunbar, & pressing forward himself at the head of about twelve hundred men, proceeded against the enemy, as if entirely unapprehensive of danger.³ Within about seven miles of the fort he fell into an ambuscade laid for him by a party of French & Indians, & was defeated with immense slaughter. The General⁴ himself & several officers⁵ of rank were killed; & the remnant of the detachment fled in confusion & dismay to the camp of Dunbar. The terror excited by this unexpected calamity &c" Then to proceed as in the copy originally sent. If this alteration can take place it must also be made with Mr Morgan. If it cannot be so good as to give me immediately information that I may change those parts of the first chapter of the second volume which relate to the same transaction in such a manner as to diminish if it shoud be impossible to remove the palpable & almost verbal repetition which at present appears. If the copy is delivered to Mr Morgan before this correction is made you will of course inform him of it and request him to retain the copy for the correction. It shall be forwarded the second part after I know its necessity. Indeed I will forward it in a few days to be used eventually.

Your conjecture respecting the chapters is right. The 1st chap. in the sheets sent you is to be is designed to be the first of the 2d vol. & the 14th and 15th Chapters formerly sent Mr Wayne to be the 2d & 3d of the 2d vol. On this account the 2d chap. of the sheets sent you is marked as the 4th of the vol. & those which succeed it are marked the 5th 6th &c. I have mentioned to Mr Wayne a change in what will be the 3d chapter of the 2d volume. The appointment of General officers must be omitted & the sentence must stop I think with the statement that Congress proceeded to organize the higher departments of the army. The appointments of the other officers may be mentioned in a note to that part of the 4th chapter which states the appointment of General Washington. This change you will please to super intend & you will of course communicate it to Mr Morgan. The last sentence in the chapter was forwarded to Me by Mr Wayne. It is that which states the determination of each party to appeal to the sword. That sentence will remain as it is & will conclude what will be the third chapter of the 2d volume.

I very much regret that the manuscript is so voluminous. Had I suspected this circumstance at first I coud have diminished it to advantage, but it is now impossible without recomposing the whole. The history of the war cannot be completed in the 3d volume. The 4th must comprehend a part of it but it may also embrace all those circumstances which relate to the organization of the present government so that the civil administration may be comprized in one volume. It is however necessary for me to know precisely where the 2d volume will end & the sooner I know the better, as it will have an effect on what I am now engaged in copying & what I have yet to write. I woud propose that it shoud terminate with that chapter which details the battles of Trenton & Princeton. The only objection to it is that there may be more than 500 pages in the volume shoud it extend to the close of that chapter. Shoud this be the fact, let me know how many pages will be comprized in the volume including that chapter & also let me know with what that chapter begins. This is necessary because I am not sure that the copies conform in this particular to the original manuscript in my possession. In the manuscript that chapter is a very long one. It commences with the first operations in New York & probably the 2d volume woud be too much abridged by giving the whole of it to the third. Let me have immediate & precise information on this subject.

If Mr Short is still in Philadelphia present with my compliments & my thanks for the aid he has been so good as to give you & tell him the obligation woud have been much greater if he woud more freely have corrected the inaccuracies which must have presented themselves to him as well as you. Indeed my dear Sir I am persuaded that I have reason to complain of you. I feard that you woud not censure & alter freely & therefore particularly requested that you woud do so. I do not think you can have complied with my wishes. You mistake me very much if you think I rank the corrections of a friend with the bitter sarcasms of a foe, or that I shoud feel either wounded or chagrined at my inattentions & inaccuracies being pointed out by another. I know there are many & great defects in the composition—defects which I shall lament sincerely & feel sensibly when I shall see the work in print. The hurried manner in which it is pressed forward renders this inevitable.  

Of the two copies which you have one is copied by a single person, the other by several. That copied by a single person you will readily distinguish by the sameness of the hand & the continuity of the copy. It is the most correct & where the two copies differ that is to be your guide.

There is a note in one of the chapters which will probably be thought to convey a malignant & unnecessary opinion on the author of the farmers letters. I am myself disposed to think so, & unless you are desirous of returning it I wish it to be expunged. I hesitated when I inserted it & my subsequent reflections lead me to disapprove it.

I must see you at our circuit court in may.

I would make a slight alteration in the sentence which mentions the circumstance of Colo. Washingtons joining Braddock. Instead of saying "Colonel Washington joind Braddock immediately after his setting out from Alexandria" I woud say "Colo. Washington joind Braddock immediately after his departure from Alexandria."

After this let the text remain unaltered till that part is reachd where after his sickness he rejoind the army. Then say

He rejoined the General in a covered waggon the day before the action on the Monongahela, an account of which has been given in the preceding volume.⁶

Tho very weak he immediately enterd on the duties of his station. In a very short time after the action had commenced he was the only aid remaining alive & unwounded. On him alone devolved, in an engagement⁷ with marksmen &c continue the text till Dunbar retired to Philadelphia—then strike out the state of the loss & the reflections on the conduct of General Braddock & resume the txt with the words

"Colo. Washington was greatly disappointed & disgusted &c" & make no other alteration except in that part of his letter to governor Dinwiddie which states that near sixty of the officers were killed & wounded. The fact is that above sixty were killed & wounded & I think we may take the liberty to strike out the word "near" & insert either—"above" or "upwards of." This however I leave entirely to you. It is probable the name of the river may be often improperly spelled. It should be Monongahela.

Dear Sir

In the expectation that no change can with convenience be made in the first volume I send you the alterations in the second which will avoid improper repetition as far as possible & will retain what immediately respects General Washington. It woud probably be not less⁸ difficult to correct the copy of the first volume actually sent to England, than to correct that which remains. I therefore think on reflection we had better not attempt it, but content ourselves with reforming the second.

I enclose you a copy of General Lees letter for the note & am astonished at its having been omitted. Perhaps I had designed not to insert it, but I think it was copied & transmitted with the papers. I may however be mistaken. Perhaps it is in one copy & not in the other. You will please to have it inserted in both copies.

I am very anxious to know where the 2d volume may stop. I woud prefer its ending with the chapter containing the battle of Princeton. If it cannot let me know whether it must end with the preceding chapter & let me know in either case how many pages will remain for the 3d volume.

What number of copies will Wayne strike off for his first edition & what is the intelligence respecting subscribers? your