I have to acknowledge the rect of your letter of the 6th of Augt which, having had to travel after me from Alexandria to this part of the state did not reach me 'till long after its date.

Since my last to you I have received your two favors of May 31 and June 14th. I could find no papers whatever relating to Mr David M. Randolph's case. I wrote to him on the subject immediately.

Enclosed you have a copy of three of Genl Washington's letters to Genl Andrew Lewis, according to your request; they are all I can find, but they do not seem to meet your views. 

I duly recd your favor of the 4th from Phila. and within a few days thereafter, I had the balance of the papers packed in a box, and sent to Alexandria, where they arrived Just in time to be put on board to the schooner Alexandria as she was leaving the wharf. I shall not feel entirely at ease until I hear of the safe arrival of both parcels, which be so good as to announce to me as soon as the event is known. 

Since I left Mount Vernon, it has forcibly occurred to me, that it will be best to have all the letters received by General Washington sent to Boston. Those remaining are comparatively unimportant, but I shall occasionally wish to refer to them, and the inconvenience of not having them at hand will be much greater than the trouble of shipping them. You will observe that they are all contained in the case next to the outer door, and are tied up with brown paper over the ends of the parcels and lettered.

Your favor of the 29th ultimo has reached me, and I need not say that I am gratified with your consent to have the papers removed, on the conditions stated in my last letter. I have, also, received an answer from Chief Justice Marshall, which accords so entirely with yours that I consider the arrangement as now settled.

Since the rect of your favor of the 17th inst. I have had every moment of my time so intensely employed in attending to a cause of peculiar interest & perplexity that I could not withdraw my mind from it with sufficient freedom to devote it usefully to other business. This must be my apology for my long silence.

The difficulty you mention of progressing with your work whilst the papers continue at Mount Vernon presented itself to my mind at the time when your first proposition was made, & it was that which mainly operated with me to decline that offer.

By a letter just received from the Chief Justice, I find that he has had in his possession the copies you mentioned of General Washington's letters during the French war, which he has sent to Alexandria. My doubts on this subject are thus cleared up. 

He informs me, moreover, that he has sent a volume of letters for the year 1787, which he had retained by accident. The third volume of Orders does not yet come to light.

Having been here two weeks, very diligently employed in taking a general survey of the papers, I am happy to inform you, that my expectations in regard to their extent and value are fully realized. As yet I have been able to give them only a cursory examination, preparatory to a more particular inspection of their several parts.

I write merely to remind you, that I shall be prepared to visit Mount Vernon in the first week of March, and propose to spend about three months in close application of examining the papers.

It will be proper I presume, that some written instruments should exist between us, and I hope you will have it prepared when I call on you in passing through Washington.

Before I left Boston I received your favor of the 24th. Novr stating that you had under consideration my proposal respecting the papers of General Washington, and that you had written to Chief Justice Marshall on the subject. I also soon after received a letter from the Chief Justice, in which he expressed a full approbation of my plan, and sad he had communicated his opinion to you. In a few days I shall be in Washington City, which I visit for the purpose of prosecuting my researches in the public offices.