Soon after my return home from Phila., I copied into my note book all the written decisions which were delivered, & which constituted about two thirds of all the cases which were tried.

     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.

     As the calls of the Chesapeak & Ohio Canal Co. will probably continue to be for monthly payments by the stock holders,¹ I am anxious, on account of my long & frequent absences from home, to make some provision by which the sums which shall be required of me may be paid without my immediate agency at the respective times designated. But I do not know how this is to be contrived; and if you will have the goodness to suggest a plan which may answer, you will much oblige me.

     I recd a day or two ago yr favr of the 23d. Being much hurried at present, & expecting to write you a long letter as soon as I hear from Mr Marshall, I mean at present only to assure you that we have every disposition to gratify all your reasonable wishes & will do so. The moment I recieve Mr Marshalls' letter, I shall send you on every thing necessary to enable you to commence your Operations.

     I got home yesterday & am now engaged in packing up the books which I shall send to Alexandria tomorrow to be forwarded by the first Vessel to your friend in Baltimore. Below is a list of the books with the Stirling Cost which I discharged at 15 pr ct. above par which I understand is lower than the present rate—if so, you will neverthless take the books at what I paid for them. I am sir respectfully your ob. Servt

     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.

     I have made such amendments to your Bill as appear to me proper— they are as follows.

     1. I refer to yr fathers Will as part of the Bill— you will therefore furnish me with a Copy of it.

     2d Your mothers will, whereby she devises to you all her Estate except some Legacies which have been discharged— I shall also want a Copy of that Will.

     I find that Judge Johnson, in his life of General Greene, has mentioned my Father as one of the leading men of the Party in Congress who were at one period of the revolution opposed to General Washington, and desirous of advancing General Lee or General Gates to the command of the army in his place. This assertson of the Judge has excited much surprize not only in myself but in the friends of my Father here.

     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.

     In answer to your letter, requesting such information on the Subject of the valedectory address which was published in 1796, with the signature of George Washington as it may be in my power to give, I beg leave to state, that the papers bequeathed to me, so far as I have examined them, afford no ground whatever for attributing the composition of that paper to any other than the person whose Signature it bears.