On my return from Fauquier a few days past I received the copy of a letter addressed to you by Mr Sparks respecting the removal of the papers of General Washington to Boston. As a decision on that proposition rests exclusively with yourself my first intention was not to intrude any opinion of mine upon you.

I am satisfied from the enqueries my friends have made for me that The Calm Observer, if ever published in a pamphlet, is no longer to be found in that form. Mr Hopkinson was kind enough to make the enquiry for me and to communicate the result. In my answer acknowledging the receipt of his letter I requested him to look into the files of the Aurora & to let me know the date of the first & of the last number. He has never noticed this letter, & I have suspect¹ that it has miscarried.

I had the pleasure of receiving your letter written immediately after your return from Philadelphia and am much obliged by your kind enquiries for “The Calm Observer.” I now believe that those papers were never in the pamp[h]let form, or if ever so published, are no longer to be found. I will thank you, if General Washington ever took & preserved that precious deposit of democratic patriotism.

I received this morning your favour of the 29th of Septr and concur with you perfectly in the course which ought to be pursued in the very unpleasant affair which Mrs Hamilton has so unwisely brought before a court of chancery. I do not think the most remote opposition ought to be made by the friends of General Washington to the publication of any correspondence respecting his farewell letter. I firmly believe Mr Jays statement to be correct.

I received a few days past your letter of the 29th of June and am much grateful at its contents. It is extremely fortunate that Mr Jay was privy to the whole transaction and that he has lived long enough to explain it.

I have just received a letter from Colonel Troup of New York which surprised me a good deal. It seems that a correspondence took place between General Washington and General Hamilton respecting the Farewell address which shows perhaps, for the letter to me does not state the fact positively, that it was written by General Hamilton. This correspondence was placed by Mr Pendleton one of the exrs of General Hamilton, confidentially in the hands of Mr King.

I am closely engaged in preparing my corrections of the life, and have no doubt they will be in perfect readiness by the winter, should any printer be disposed to engage in the publication. This however is a business which we can not press. My present employment has brought to my recollection a letter which I think ought to be suppressed but which I forgot to mention to you in Washington.

I have not heard from you since your letter informing me that you had discharged your juries in Philadelphia, & cannot help being a little apprehensive that your health is not so firm as I could wish it to be. I hope my fears will soon be removed.

Soon after receiving the box containing the correspondence copied at this place I commenced a careful reperusal of it & have just finished that part which concerns the old war of 1754. I find that the last letter is dated the 25th of July 1758 & consequently breaks off in the midst of the interesting transactions which preceded the capture of fort Du Quêsne. Before I made this discovery I had packed up all the books & sent them to you so that it is not in my power to supply this chasm. The last letter is to Colo.

The court which has just terminated has furnished some business for your Honors at Washington. I have had some new & intricate questions on one of which, that goes up to the Supreme court, I decided on reflection differently from my first impression.¹ That judgement will probably be reversed.

I did not receive your letter of the 22d. till yesterday.

I recollect but very indistinctly to have seen among the papers of Genl. Washington a letter from some foreigner respecting lands or to have seen Genl. Washingtons answer to the letter I forget which. I am now much occupied in court, &, when the term is over, will examine for the letter.

Yesterday on my return from the upper country I found your letter of the 8th. of April & immediately deposited with the clerk of the district court the copy of the title of your reports.

I thank you for the opinion you have been so good as to give me in the case on which I consulted you. I have from the first thought it doubtful but shall decide it in conformity with your opinion.

While at Mount Vernon I delivered you the affidavit of T. Marshall stating that he never received the certificate which you were so obliging as to obtain for him & I now enclose you mine that I have lost it. I have no doubt that they will be sufficient to obtain the renewal of the certificate; but I believe that some bond must be executed before it can issue. I do not know how this is to be filled up & suppose it must contain a description of the certificate which I cannot make.

I had the pleasure of receiving on my return from the upper country your letter dated in August. I had not seen Brown¹ & had formed an opinion of the civil admiralty jurisdiction from the character of a case of piracy not from precedent A pirate being an enemy of the human race & at war with the civilized world I had considered a libel for the condemnation of his vessel as partaking rather of the character of a prize cause than of one belonging to the civil admiralty side of the court. But I bow to precedent.

On receiving your letter I made the necessary inquiries respecting the lands for which taxes have not been paid. The money can no longer be received in the auditors office but must be paid in the county to the sheriff. If not paid before August they will then be sold. The sooner payment is made the better as the arrears accumulate very fast they carry an interest of ten percent & I am not sure that it is not compounded.

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 mentiond 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.