Mrs Hamilton has passed a fortnight with us lately & recd from me the letters in the enclosed list which are marked by a Cross.¹ I had no others. Will you have the goodness at yr leisure to look amongst the letters in your possess. for the balance & forward them to her?

     I send you Mr Lees letter Just recd by express, & will thank you after you have considered it, to inform me your opinion. Mr Alexander is entitled to no favor from us; but it may be a serious question whether the interest of ourselves & of those we represent will not be promoted by yielding to the proposition which is made or something like it?

     I recd many months ago your esteemed favor of the 10 June 1817 together with the portfolio for both of which I beg you to accept my grateful thanks.¹ I cannot with truth, and therefore I shall not attempt altogether to excuse the protracted acknowledgment of these favors; but I can assure you with perfect sincerity that it has not proceeded from insensibi[li]ity to your kindness which has made a warm & lasting impression upon my heart.

     You ask me to give you a detailed, choronological Sketch as near as I can of my life. This is impossible at this time & at this place. I will however, as well as my memory will enable me, and the uninterrupted occupation of my time by my official duties, endeavour to answer your various questions, leaving it to you to put them into method.

     Above is a check on the Bank of Alexa. for $900 which is intended to encrease are 15 of my $40 Shares in the Bank of Col[umbi]a— The Certificate for 26 of those Shares is enclosed for this purpose— Please acknowledge the rect of the draft & Certif.? I am very respectfully Dr Sir Yr mo. ob. Ser. 

     It is with peculiar satisfaction that I meet the founders and patrons of the American Colonization Society, after the experience of a year has ascertained that their wise and benevolent purpose will be seconded by the voice of our common country.

     I send you Circulars for the Legatees, to which, if approved, you will affix your Signature, Direct & forward them. So far as I can recollect the names of the Legatees to whom letters need be sent I will state them below—

     Mr Aug. Washingtons heirs—

     We wrote you some time ago respecting Mr. Henry Banks' claim to the Kentucky land, which formed a part of Gen. Washington's estate, and stated the apparent validity of his title.

     I acknowledge the rect of your favor of the 20 together with a copy of the reports or cases argued & adjudged in the Supreme Court of the U.S. at Feby term 1817 for which you will please accept my thanks. I have the honor to be Sir very respectfully yr mo. ob. Servt

     Upon my return from Philadelphia I had the honor to recieve your letter of the 23d Octr together with a Copy of the Documents printed by order of Congress during its session ending the 4th March last. I have the honor to be very respectfully Sir yr mo. ob. Servt

     You have been appointed the agents of the “board of managers of the American Society for colonizing the free people of color of the United States,” for the purpose of visiting England and Africa on a mission of inquiry.

     The board of managers of the American Society for colonizing the free people of color of the United States have appointed you their agents, on a mission to explore a part of the west coast of Africa, for the purpose of ascertaining the best situation which can be procured for colonizing the free people of color of the United States.

     My official duties, which for a few days past, have been very intense, must be my apology for not having sooner acknowledged & thanked you, as I now do, for your polite letter with the enclosures— I shall read the Copy designed for me, with pleasure, &, I am persuaded with advantage to myself; the o[t]her I will forward to Chief Justice Marshall as soon as I return to Mount Vernon— I am very respectfully Dear Sir Yr mo. ob.

     Mr E. B. Caldwell goes to Phila. at the request of the Committee of the Colonization Society for the purpose of aiding in the formation of an auxiliary Society in that City which, it is believed, many of its¹ more respectable Citizens desire to establish. I beg leave to introduce this distinguishd member of the above Society to your acquaintance & to solicit for him your countinance & patronage. I am Dear Sir with sincere respect & esteem yr mo. ob. Servt

     I recd your letter of the 21st June and am very much pleased to understand that there is a chance of your recovering the missing volumes of "the Subterranean Cavern" & "Crimes & characters," as Mrs W. thought them the best in the collection. I shall deduct for the present $6.66 (The Stg Cost £1.10) and shall be very glad to be called upon for that amount should the books be found. This would make the balance due you $85.44; but Mrs W.

     I recd last night your favor of the 20th Ulto in which you inform me that you expect the engraving of my portrait will be finished in a few weeks & not agreable to my request you will have 100 impressions struck off for me. As to the number, you have misunderstood me, as I did not mean to take¹ more than would suffice to present to a few relatives & friends. Be so good <mutilated> to inform me what will be the price of them that I may determine how <mutilated> order.

     In Consequence of your letter of the 18th of May <mutilated> my Nephew, I have authorised my friend Mr Andrew Parks of <mutilated> County to dispose of my 400 acres of Land on Kenhawa on such <mutilated> as you & he can agree. My ignorance of the value of Land in your part of the Country has induced me to prefer this mode to a¹ correspondence with you upon the subject which at so great a distance that we are from each other might be tedious & inconvenient.

     Soon after my return from Phila. I recd the box of books mentioned in your letter of the 10th April. I find all the volumes of "Conviction"; but of "Crimes & characters" and "The Subterranean Cavern" there is one volume of each missing. These I shall return to you by the first safe opportunity. I packed the books myself when they were sent to you, and can therefore assert with confidence that their was not one volume deficient. After deducting the price of the above books viz. £ 1.10 Llg. you can draw upon me at any time for the balance payable at sight.

I am requested [b]y¹ two of my friends to write to you in their behalf for some of your Tunis Sheep which, Livingston & Humphreys, to the contrary notwithstanding, they prefer to Merinos. There are many Sheep of the Tunis breed in our State equal to yours perhaps in Size, & for aught I know, in flavor; but my friends say that yours excel them decidedly in the fineness & weight of the fleece. One of these gentlemen wishes to obtain two rams & one Ewe about 12 months old—the other, one ram & one Ewe.

After my return from Phila. I recd your letter requesting me to furnish you with the opinion delivered in the above case. Most fortunately I had preserved a rough copy of that opinion, or I am perfectly satisfied that it would not have been in my power to comply with your request. As this is the case I am rather pleased that you have been compelled to call upon me, since it has enabled me to correct a mistake in the opinion which was delivered, into which I was led by depending upon an abridgement for the want of the full reports of cases.

     I recd some days ago your letter without a date, in which you say that the purchase of the books amounts to almost a total loss. I have but one answer to give in addition to what I have formerly written— return the books as you recieved them, and draw upon me for the Sum you paid, with interest & the freight & expenses of their transportation to you.

     Were it inconvenient to me to take back the books I should still make you this offer. But this is not the case, as Mrs Washington is desirous to replace them in her library.¹

If Richard does not pay you $365.51 before the 7th inst you may on any day after that draw a check on the Bank of Potomack for that Amt to enable you to pay the two claims agt the Generals estate. Richard has the Acct you sent me.

I highly approve of your plan for the future settlement of the free negroes.

I write in great haste, but hope in a fortnight to return home & then to see you. Affectly yrs

    I have written to Mr. Fox for a copy of Colo Washingtons mortgage to you, and am much surprised to understand from him that the deed tho lodged in the office has never been recorded. The Consequence is that I cannot get a copy to make an exhibit of, and therefore the original must be produced. You are the only person who can call it out of the office. As I am in fact prosecuting the suit agt. Beverley for your advantage, I trust you will do every thing in your power to enable me to obtain as early a decree as possible.

MEMORIAL

Of the President and Board of Managers of the American Society for Colonizing the free people of colour of the United States.

January 14, 1817.
Read and ordered to lie upon the table.

     Since the rect of your letter, Mrs Crawford has made us a visit, and I am now authorised to write the thanks of herself—& Son with my own for your kind acquiescence in our wishes to place the latter in your Compting house & and under your care. Mrs C. leaves this place earlier than she intended to do in order to make the necessary preparations for her Son & to hasten his departure for Baltimore where he will probably arrive in the Course of a week.