I wish you would <illegible> read the enclosed letter from me, & seal it, & then write our friend Van Scholten, & send the package to him through the firm of Rogers & Co.

It did not enter into my imagination whilst considering your plan in regard to your future course, with the single view of ascertaining what would best promote your own happiness, & that of your family, that there was any thing in the case which more than malice of my enemies could torture into matter of censure. I do not think so now but reflecting upon your Kind and considerate observations, and mindfully as Mr. Duane says of the consciousness of the age, I have thought the subject of them of sufficient importance to suggest the propriety of your coming to a conclusion without any advice from me. I would on no account omit to advise with your connextions and make them sensible of the propriety of the course you adopt; and the more you reflect upon it, the more, I am persuaded, you will be convinced, that propriety and your own happiness will be best consulted by separating the present, from the Hereafter entirely, leaving the latter wholly to the control of time & circumstances.

You see how the wind blows at Washington, & that we, who cannot but be in the fight, will have a rough sea. So be it. What cannot be cured must be endured.

Sincerely wishing you better health I am