Mr Gardner, who has been owing me money for some time has offered me an order upon you for the amount which I accept without difficulty, & non mention it, not with a view of asking payment, but for the purpose of notice to you. You will consult your own convenience as to time. Will you have the goodness to send me your account for bricks & glass furnished, charging the former at $6 the price at which I purchased a large quantity in Alexa—Gardner's order is for $130.55.

     I have within the course of 3 weeks past finished a hot house the body of brick & covered with wood within a few feet of the Green house & quarters insured in the mutual insurance Office, the Size 32 feet long & 16 wide. It has Just occurred to me that possibly this circumstance ought to be reported to the office, that in case any additional premium on the property already insured should be thereby demandable, or may be paid.

     I return you my best acknowledgments for the three Speeches which you were so good as to enclose me some days ago. I have read them with great pleasure, and shall preserve them not only for the sake of the strong arguments, but for the valuable statements which they contain. I am very anxious to see the debates which took place upon Mr Giles' bill which I am surprised to hear has passed your house without any alteration of consequence in the 5th 9th & 11 Sections. Surely it will not, with all its present imperfections, pass into a law.

This will be handed you either by Mr Dupont or Mr Banduy, who are manufacturers of gunpowder on Brandywine. The object of the visit which one or the other of those gentlemen purpose making to your part of the Country is to procure a supply of Saltpetre for their works, and understanding that you make considerable quantities of this article they will certainly call upon you.

     Your Letter of the 20th anticipated one which I had intended to address to you on the same Subject. I have been a good deal surprised that so little has been said upon it in the federal prints, and concluded either that the success of the measure was too generally doubted by the well informed men of the federal party to induce them to make the experiment, or that it was deemed unwise to stir in the business until the public Sentiment could be more certainly ascertained.

     Your letter of the 9th I recd a day or two ago. From one recd from Mr Hopkins I have no doubt that the mony was paid to the Cashier of the Company & when he comes up which I expect w[i]ll be by the time I return from Jefferson (say 10, or 12 days) I will get the cashiers rect & forward it to you. If from any circumstance it has not been paid, I will immediately after knowing this to be the case, remit the mony in some safe way, or procure a draft on yr town.

     I take the liberty to enclose you a bill at 60 days drawn by C. P. Wayne of this city on Ezra Sargeant of New York for $500. which you will much oblige me by having presented to the drawee. Should it be accepted, you will please recieve the money at maturity for my account; if refused, I will thank you to return it under protest to the drawer. I must beg the favour of a letter addressed to me at Mount Vernon informing me of its fate. With very great regard I am dear Sir sincerely & respectfully yrs

I will thank you to send me the answer I drew to the bill in chancery brought agt Ashton & us, as I wish to alter it so as to state the accounts of the legatees, more specially in order to draw from the Court the principle on which all the accounts shall be settled.

     I yesterday saw Mr Lewis and found that by a strange mistake, Hicks bonds had not been taken to you, but to the heirs of Fielding Lewis. When I was urged by Mr Lewis in August to allow Robt Lewis to settle with the heirs of F.L. and to assign the debt from Hicks to you, I refused, not thinking ourselves at liberty to force the exchange upon you. But as I was clear that it would be to your advantage to accede to the proposal, I promised to write to you on the subject & to state my opinion.

I recollect with shame how long you have been in advance for the wine you were so good as to import for me. On my return from the Northward in July, I was informed by Mr Forest of its arrival, & I then requested him to procure from you an account of its cost & to enclose it to me that it might be immediately paid. This however, from some course or other, was not done, and my subsequent absence from home, together with the sickness & deaths in our family have hitherto prevented me from writing to you on the subject.

Since my return from Phila. I had the honour to receive your letter of the 25th Oct. together with the box containing the medals sent to your care by Mr Eccleston. In a few days I shall be favoured with a safe conveyance to the chief Justice of the one intended for him. I am sir very respectfully yr mo. ob. servt

     The motive which induced me to postpone f<or> so long a time an answer to your favor of the 5th of March, will I hope be accepted as a sufficient Apology for the delay.

     Mr Davis, the district Attorney of Kentucky, and a brother in law of Chief Justice Marshall, wishes to remove to this City with professional views, provided the information he has requested of me should not render such a plan unadvisable.

     I wished very much to have called at Rock hill yesterday, but Mrs Washingtons' anxiety to see her sister & our apprehension that it would be too late after a regular dinner to get to Greenwood, induced us to stop at Crawfurds whilst an early cut was provided for us, immediately after which we left Georgetown and with difficulty got here before night.

     Intending to be from home during the summer & fall, I shall find it convenient to anticipate the quarter salary which will be payable the 1st of July, for which purpose I enclose you my note for $875 which you will much oblige me by endorsing & getting discounted. I am Dr Sir sincerely & respectfully yrs   

     Genl Washington in his life time sold to Archd McClain, what was call'd the round bottom tract, on the Ohio, containing 587 acres, with a general Warranty, at the price of ten dollars an Acre. He was bound to take in part payment a House in Alexa. at valuation, The house has been valued, (very high as we think) and possession deliver'd to us. McClain has been sued by Tomlinson for a considerable part of this land, and a judgment was render'd against him as we understand, upon the ground that the survey was made prior to the warrant.

     I have not read over the report of the Hab. Corp. case decided in the supreme Court, as pub[l]ished in the National intelligencer & other papers; but I presume it to be correct. I am very sure however, that if any inference can be drawn from the opinion given in that case, to favor the idea that prosecutions at common law cannot be sustained in the federal Courts, such was not intended by the Judges. That point was never glanced at in or out of court, nor do I know what are the sentiments of my brethren respecting it.

     Genl Washington in his life time sold to Arch. McLain what was called the round bottom tract on the Ohio, as containing 587 acres, with a general warranty, at the price of ten dollars an acre. He was bound to take in part payment a house in Alexa. at valuation. This house has been valued, (very high as we think,)  and possession delivered to us. McLain has been sued by Tomlinson for a considerable part of this land, and a Judgt was rendered against him as we understand upon the ground that the survey was made prior to the warrant.

     Being about to leave home for a considerable time it will be necessary for me to provide the means of supplying my two nephews John & Bushrod Washington, now at School at Mr Oneils with such clothes & other articles as they may stand in need of during my absence.

It may be proper to send the enclosed letter to the gentleman who may be applied to to bring the suit agt Saml Washington. I am very uneasy about the taxes due on our Kenhawa & ohio lands lest they may be forfeited & wish you could come up at once that we may consult on the proper steps to be taken. We have only till the first of March to save them. In haste yrs sincerely

     At a time when we hoped to recieve mony from you & thought it not unreasonable to expect it, we were greatly disappointed in getting an argumentative letter in which you endeavor to prove that we cannot legally call upon you for payment of any sum until some future period. The ground upon which you seem solely to rely is that for want of a deed, you have not been legally in possession of the land.

Immediately upon the rect of your favor of the 8th. I wrote to a friend in Alexandria to enquire of the principal of the Academy at that place whether a gentleman possessing the qualifications of Mr Aigster could be employed in that seminary upon such terms as he ought to accept. or whether there was a fair prospect for his succeeding at the head of a school to be formed by himself. A few days after this Mr A. did me the favor of a visit, when I informed him what I had done, and promised to write to him should anything offer worthy of his notice.

     I read your letter of the 15th. Please inform Mr Caldwell that we have no bond or other instrument from Mr Parks on which a suit can be found against him in Maryland. I think his best way would be to bring a suit in the Chancery court of Virginia against the land or in Maryland agt Mr Parks personally & only resort to the Chancery suit in case it Should become necessary which I presume certanly would not be the case as Mr P. must be suffisient for a much larger sum than what he ows the estate what I mean to express is that Mr P.

     Your letter of the 29th Octr came to the hands of Mr Lewis during my absence from home & could not be answered effectually till my return which was only three days ago. I have lost no time in complying with your request, & now enclose a Copy of the Survey of the Ashbeys bent tract taken by myself this day with all the accuracy in my power. The map, if not perfectly correct is nearly so & will give a tolerably Just idea of the form of the tract; the boundaries are truly copied. I would have sent the original survey if Colo.

I only returned home three days ago and after consulting with Mr Lewis. I lose no time in giving our answer to your letter of the 10th of November.