I have had a Visitation of my old Enemy the Vertigo. It is periodical, & continuous every Year, thro’ February & March, less or more vindictively, accordingly as good or bad Luck attends me; No Care or Attention will repel it entirely. It has been very oppressive & destressing to me. I am getting the better of it; but it retreats sourly. I should have acknowledged the Receipt of your Favour of the last of January, sooner, but for this embarrassing State of Pericranium. I cannot now satisfy myself on the Points you say you shall differ with me in. I am fortunate, considering the short time I had to think or prepare that the Points of Difference are so few. I hate the Subject of Treason. It is commonly an Engine of Oppression, I may therefore be too straitlaced. But I never would commit a Person charged with this offense, without two Witnesses. I sent Sedgwick & Hamilton down from the Whiskey Country, in 1794, with only one Witness. Rather they were smuggled into my d<i>st. The Supreme Court U.S. discharged them. I shall not, however, be stiff on these Points. But you had better state them, as being Matters about which there are Differences of Opinion.

Yesterday I went into Town to bear Testimony, as the Quakers express it, to the Faith I profess in the Washingtonian Creed. I went in a Procession, with my Brethren of the Cincinnati, composing a Part of a most numerous Train (probably 2000) of Washingtonians, with Banners & all Manner of Pageantry. We showed ourselves thro’ the City, neither courting nor fearing Martyrdom; & were peaceably suffered to pass on our Way to the Olympic Theatre; where perhaps double the Number mentioned, heard an excellent Oration, from a Mr Condy Raguet, the Orator of the Day. I was delighted, beyond Measure, with what I saw; & rejoiced that so great a Number of the faithful were permitted to assemble, & publicly profess their political Creed. This Society of political Christians increases much. I mean the Washington Benevolent. They consist now of about 2600. There is also a numerous Society of young Men, called the Washington Association. I know not their Numbers; but there is a great Show of excellent Stuff among them. Not a single Rudeness, Noise, or Indecency appeared; Tho’ the Crowd of Spectator was immense; & consisted of all Sorts & Conditions of Bipeds.

The only disagreeable & painful Circumstance occurring to me was what I heard of your Non attendance at the Supreme Court; occasioned, as it was said, by Illness. I am very uneasy under this Intelligence; & hope you will be enabled to contradict it. I beg you to let me know the State of your Health. We have both lived long enough to see the “esto perpetua” of the Constitution, a mere Piece of Irony.

I allow that you reason well on the Point of one Witness to the Grand Jury, to find the Bill. But you reason like a Crown Lawyer. Yet not without legal Force. It certainly is a Case omitted in our Constitution & Laws. One may therefore feel, as well as think, differently; salvo contenemento. I know you have no Desire, one Way or the other. If I have any, it is, that Prosecutions for Treason may not be rendered too easy; by admitting one prejudiced or mistaken Witness, to fix a Charge even before a Grand Jury. A “Conviction” may not follow; but Persecution & Ruin may be the Consequence to some who are even charged. I would always take Bail, where only the Witness supported a Charge.

As to the Confession out of Court, proved by one Witness to the Grand Jury, I do not think I did give, or wished to give, an Opinion. So you may let that Point be considered as relating to the Trial: And I agree that in this, as well as other Points not necessary to enlighten a Grand Jury, it is best to say Nothing; when the Points may be discussed on the Trial. You know that I did not approve of premature Decisions, tho’ I had nearly been ‘peached for them; when I was chased, & Chase hunted.

I shall be glad to hear your Charge in the Spring. Not that I delight in such Homilies, per se. But it will be a Proof that you have no Occasion for Charges of Physicians & apothecaries; which, tho’ they may be ever so legal, are always nauseating. yours very truly & affectionately