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.

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 have just returned home from a meeting of the Proprietors of the D. S. land Company which was held at Suffolk last week; and now forward to you the managers Dft on their Treasurer at Norfolk for eighteen hundred Dollars. The Dividend would have been much greater if the Agent could have disposed off the Shingles now on hand. There appears to be some difference in Opinion at present between the Buyers & Sellers respecting the price of Shingles, which has produced shorter Sales to be made than is usual at this Season of the year.

     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.

I have at length succeeded in collecting together your letters to Genl Washington and some copies of his to you, which it affords me great pleasure to have accomplished & still greater to forward them to you. I shall apply to the Secretary of State to afford them a Conveyance to you by the first vessel which shall be charged with dispatches from our Government to France.

     I have waited for the performance of your kind promise to make me a visit until my patience is exhausted. I can practice forbearance no longer, and now express the hope I sincerely entertain that you will come down as early in this month as you can. I shall be happy to see any friend of yours who will do me the favor to accompany you. Mr Sergeant, I presume is far, far at Sea. Inform me on what day I may expect you that I may not be out of the way.

     I have read over all the cases in my note books to the end of the fall term of 1809, with some attention, and now enclose you some observations upon such of the cases as seemed to merit criticism. You will observe that the corrections which I have suggested are principally such as qualify expressions more general than it was safe to use, or tend to expunge dicta which were unecessary to the points decided, the correctness of which might be doubted.

I am desirous of Putting to rest intirely all possibility of future dispute respecting the conflicting claims in which the Heirs of the late Genl Washington and myself are concerned— I therefore propose to purchase of the Heirs a relinquishment of their claim under L.O. Military Warrant No. 3753. for 3000 Acres as<signe>e of John Rootes for Services in the year 1763— as the Law now Stands I could withdraw my claims to those lands and leave the claim under Warrant No.

Directions for making Muffins

I have not yet completed my Circuit & shall defer to a future time a statement of the decisions which have been already made— My present object in writing is to ascertain what has been the practice, if any, in the District or circuit Courts of Pennsylvania & New Jersey upon Summary applications to repeal patents under the 10th Sect. of the Patent act 1793. A case is now before me from the District Court upon a writ of error from its decisions under that Section— Several questions have arisen. 1.

     Not having heard from you in answer to my letter dated about the last of Septr, I apprehend that either that or your answer has miscarried. I now beg leave to trouble you again with the request stated in my former letter that you will have the goodness to enclose to me, at this place, the Treasurers draft on the Bank of Virga for my Salary due the 1st inst. I am Dear Sir very respectfully yr mo. ob. Servt

     You will oblige me by enclosing to me, in Philadelphia, the Treasurers draft on the Bank of Virga for my quarter's salary as soon as you recieve it. This I intended to have requested you to do whilst I was in George Town on my way hither, but forgot it— I am Dr Sir very respectfully yr mo. ob. Serv. 

Permit me to introduce to you general Bernard, an officer whose military merit, altho it Has no Superiors and few equals in His line, is still Surpassed By the liberal, Candid, and Unassuming disinterestedness of His temper. His Lady and family accompany Him. I much wish He may be Welcomed in the US Because I am sure that when he is known He will be Universally Beloved.

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.

     Not having it in my power to procure a draft on Richmond, I have deposited in the bank of Alexandria $50 to your credit; a certificate whereof is enclosed. This is a fee in the last appeal of McLane vs Tomlinson, which you will have the goodness to acknowledge as it is on acct of the Generals estate. With great regard I am Dear Sir very sincerely & respectfully yrs

     I have this moment recd your letter of the 17th, and I am sorry to observe that you have not recieved the books. They were packed and sent to Alexa. before the 14th of June with directions to Adams & Herbert to forward them by the first conveyance to Baltimore to T. & S. Vance (as you requested) to whom I wrote by post informing them that they were for you. They were soon afterwards put on board of the Sloop Union Capt. Middleton, who recd a special charge to be careful of them, & I understand that he is a man of excellent character.

     Upon enquiry made of the Clerk of the Merchant who imported the Novels for Mrs Washington, I understand that no duties were paid on them. How this has happened I cannot understand, not having seen the person myself; but I think it probable that as the gentleman who brought them over took the privilege of reading them on the passage, he put them into his trunk & treated them as a part of his own baggage —this however is mer[e]ly conjecture.

     You will please discontinue my advertisement respecting the sale of a part of this estate. This direction I supposed, until lately, Mr Snowden had long since given I am yr ob. Servt

I recd a letter yesterday from the Treasurer informing me that a<s> my Attorney you had recd a draft on Richmond for the amount of my salary due the 1st instant. Will you have the goodness to point out to me the manner in which I am to draw so as to have the benefit of recieving bank notes of the Bank of Virginia at Richmond? I am Dr Sir very respectfully yr ob. Servt

     I have the honour, in compliance with the Direction of the Managers of the American Bible Society, to inform you, that You have been elected one of the Vice Presidents of that Institution.

     Trusting that this great National Society for the circulation of the Word of God without Note or Comment will meet with your cordial approbation, I am Sir Your's respectfully