I should have written you a long time ago, if I had completed the duties of my last circuit, so as to give you all the results. But I am as yet scarcely free from all the cases, which have been under advisement.

Yesterday my February Stated Court was opened. To that day I had adjourned the Circuit Court. Copies of the draft of the Decree in Le blanc's or White's Case had been delivered to each party. I found a reluctance on the Side of one party to do anything. It seems the whole of the Seven Comy to view appraise & value the property, & report the practicability of specifically dividing it, had signed the report; but only 6 had viewed it together.

Your favor of the 25th inst., recd today, induces me to do immediately what I had mentally arranged to do after my return from Trenton—answer your interesting letter of the 4th July. But first allow me to excuse myself from the censure to which I am apparently obnoxious for having postponed the performance of this duty to this late day. I took that letter out of the office in Alexa.

I owe you an apology for my long silence & especially as I have two letters of yours unanswered. My Cirt. did not end until the latter part of June, & I have ever since been overwhelmed with pressing private or public concerns, which have obliged me to postpone all other business. In addition to my other labours I have been obliged to prepare a Discourse to be delivered this month before a Literary society (the P. B.

I was concerned to hear that you were indisposed by a rheumatic attack which had fixed its venom in your right hand. I hope it has departed from that indispensable part of your judicial machinery; & that, at all events your tongue may be clear of it. I have had a long & irksome spell of the Influenza, which has reduced me to almost a Skeleton; but I have completely recovered from the malady, tho still debilitated by its effects.

With this I send you a letter for Judge Washington, and another for Judge Marshall. I have referred them both to you for any further explanations they may desire. You are already so thoroughly possessed of my views and plans, that I have nothing more to say as to the main points. I am sure, if Judge Washington can be brought to see the thing in all its bearings, he will not withhold his approbation; and the business certainly could not be in better hands than your own.

Your three letters of the 25th Jany, 6 & 22d february have been recd, but not duly, the first written having been detained at the Alexandria post office until three days ago, when it was forwarded to me. As to the one containing observations upon the case of Conn. vs. Penn., I must postpone an answer until I can look again over my notes, which I left at Mount Vernon, as also the opinion in extenso.

Your letter of the 11th July found me upon a bed of sickness, from which I was not very soon relieved. I had scarcely become convalescent, before others of my family were taken down— finally, I determined to abandon the Country, which was becoming universally sickly, and to take refuge with Mrs W. in this place, which has, thus far, been unusually healthy. I trouble you with this account of my past troubles, as it furnishes the only legitimate apology for my long Silence since the rect of your favor.

Before I proceed to business, I must account for my long but involuntary silence. During the second day of the April term of this Court, I was, whilst on the Bench, attacked by a violent pleuresy which terminated the Session, as it had nearly done the life of your friend. I anticipated that event myself, as did most of my friends.

Yesterday was the first day that I was at liberty to read your letter of the 19th July with the attention it deserved, and to look into a few Cases. I regret that is not in my power to devote more time¹ in examining the authorities before returning you an answer; but this is prevented by the necessity I am under of leaving home in a day or two for the Springs, whence I shall proceed on my circuit.

The storm which has been for some time threatening the Judges has at length burst on their heads & a most furious hurricane it is. The author is spoken of with as much confidence as if his name was subscribed to his essays. It is worth your while to read them. They are in the Enquirer under the signature of Hampden.

The grand Sachem, one of your acknowledged Uncles, not having been much accustomed to admiralty proceedings has propounded a question to me, about which he entertains some doubt, and wishes to know whether it has occurred in any of the Courts of my Circuit. I informed him that you would be the most likely of all our brethren to have met with the case & perhaps decided it, & I promised to mention it to you.

Your letter of the 12th was not answerd whilst I was in Phila. in consequence of my not receiving until a day or two before I left it, a conclusive reply from Mr Waln to my application respecting your sons.

I did not recieve your Letter of the 22d Feby 'till yesterday. I am much obliged by your Attention to my Request relative to the Enquiries on Plaister of Paris. I find that taking an Airing, or indeed a Gallop, now & then on some of my old Hobby Horses, relieves me from the small & sometimes the great Maladies of the Mind. If I can make these Excursions useful to others, a double Purpose will be answered. The Account given by Mr L. Lewis is exactly as I expected. Your Land is not of the Quality calculated for Plaister.

I am happy in being able to remove [your] the uneasiness, expressed in your letter of the 9th, respecting what has been done. – Mr. Morgan is Satisfied. I explained fully to him what I long before had stated to him on the Subject. – I hope no censure will attach to Mr. Marshall but that I alone may be considered in fault. tho' I confess I cannot conceive of there being any thing dishonorable in the business.

Your letter of the 31st. Decr. mentioning that one of the manuscript Copies has been delivered to you to [act partially] upon gives me great uneasiness. I am at a loss to account for Mr Marshall's having done so inconsiderate a thing after the letter which I wrote him upon that subject. – I was so particular in my directions to him, as to forbid the delivery of the manuscripts to you even sealed up, unless Mr Morgan consented thereto, & in case of his refusal, I requested him to deposit them so sealed with Mrs. Powel. –

     I recd a day or two ago yr favr of the 23d. Being much hurried at present, & expecting to write you a long letter as soon as I hear from Mr Marshall, I mean at present only to assure you that we have every disposition to gratify all your reasonable wishes & will do so. The moment I recieve Mr Marshalls' letter, I shall send you on every thing necessary to enable you to commence your Operations.

Your two letters under the dates of Dec 22 & Dec. 27, came to hand in course of the mail. I have recently receivd two letters from the Chief Justice, in which he permits me to conclude the first vol, at the end of the 13th Chapter, terminating with the War of 1763, & to carry the Surplus to the 2d vol. He also desires me to strike out two or three long notes, which he designates & requests me to suggest to him such others as I think might be dispensed with. I write to him, next Mail, fully on the subject.

Your favor of the 16 came to hand this evening as did also one from the Chief Justice covering the title page & preface to the history. I communicate to him by this post your sentiments respecting the proper period at which to close the 1st. vol. and also as to the name of the Author being inserted, upon both which points I entirely concur in opinion with you. I have therefore urged the necessity of adopting them. – But as he has commenced his Journey to Raleigh, my letter must follow him there, & of course I cannot expect his answer in less than 8 or 10 days.

Your letter of the inst came to hand in course of the mail, but as I had to write to Mr Marshall & to await his answer, I have not been able sooner to acknowledge it. – The complaints which you mention on account of the delay in the publication, give me great pain, particularly as it is unavoidable, and were the subscribers still more clamorous than they are, the work could not go on faster. If they had any conception of the labour & time required to examine many trunks of papers, they might perhaps be more considerate, tho' of this I should doubt.

Mr. Marshall requests that you will endeavour to procure for him from the editor of the Lancaster Journal or of the federal paper in that place the original letter from Genl Washington, which he has published.

Your letter of the 3d. inst. I have received, and hope that my acknowledgment of one or both of your former letters has reached you before this. If I have not been as punctual in answering letters for a month past as usual, the painful sickness & death of Major Blackburn to whom my whole time was devoted must be my apology.

The first vol. will be copied this month & if it were not necessary to take another copy for Mr Morgan it would be immediately sent on. I expect however that the delay from this circumstance will not be considerable. I shall write Mr Marshall upon the subject & will let you know when you may expect it. The 2d vol. Mr M. will bring with him to Washington in February.