The distresses of our country, produc[ed first] by the flood, then by the ebb of bank paper are such [as cannot] fail to engage the interposition of the Legislature. [Many] propositions will of course be offered, from all of which [some]thing may probably be culled to make a good whole. I exp[lained] to you my project, when I had the pleasure of possessing yo[u] here; and I now send its outline in writing, as I believe I promised you. Altho' preferable things will I hope be offered, yet some twig of this may perhaps be thought worthy of being engrafted on a better stock. But I send it with no particular object or request, but to use it as you please. Suppress it, suggest it, soun[d] opinions, or any thing else at will, only keeping my name unmentioned, for which purpose it is copied in another hand, bein[g] ever solicitous to avoid all offence which is heavily felt when retired from the bustle and contention of the world. If we suffer the m[oral] of the present lesson to pass away without improvement, by the e[ternal] suppression of bank paper, then indeed is the condition of our coun[try] desperate, until the slow advance of public instruction shall give to [our] functionaries the wisdom of their station. Vale, et tibi pers[uade] carissimum te mihi esse.