1. The letter has not been found; on 9 Dec. young Spotswood declared it to be a forgery, in these terms: “Your favor of the 22nd Ultimo, in answer to one of the 13th of the same, (Which from the signiture you have justly attributed to me) I have received—I now declare on my honor, and as I hope, (when I depart from this world of trouble) to enter the holy mansion of almighty God that the sd Letter, dated the 13th, bearing my signiture, is an infamous forgery, And that I never saw, or read, the publication under the signiture of Gracchus, nor did I ever know, that such a publication was in being, untell I received your favour; It gives me infinite pleasure, when I figure to myself from the import which your Letter bears, of the impropriety of the one receivd, by you, conceived to be an address of mine, that it might be personal regard alone, which could have induced you to condecend an answer—Which has afforded me, an opportunity, of makeing known to you, my sentiments, as being the reverse of that ungenerous Scrip, evidently calculated, to answer some ungenerous purpose, that I cannot divine—politicks which from the provoked circumstances of the present times, I may be induced to pay some attention to, so far, As may be necessary to form a just opinion, (are quite foreign to my present happy pursuits) and be assure’d, when I reflect upon the present contamination of principals, which pervades some parts of our southern Country, It endears to me, more, and more, that domestic repose, which you yourself have so justly caress’d; I am well apprised of the happy prospects which were to have been expected from the Resolution, as also the most principal attendant circumstances, and so far as the slight documents I have seen, authorizes me, I am convinced, that nothing but those constitutional principals, as maintained by the firmness, of some of our Worthy Citizens, who aided by public, and private virtue, and who have ever been under the Just influence, of the support of Government, and cultivation of peace—possessing a determination at the same time not dareingly to be insulted, That has preserved us from being drawn into that Unhappy European conflict, Which we have so unjustly been invited, to participate in, and as yet have so wisely evaded—So far, have I erected a monument in my mind to such discription of Men. The Sedition, and Alien Laws, as being the offspring of necessity and safeguard of our Rights, I do, and ever have approved of, for should any discription of men, be induced to stir up dissentions in our Government, thereby, Alienating the affections of the people, from those rules of Civil Order, as prescribed, by general consent; and as a preservative of our Liberty, The plain principals of justice in my mind, dictates that some cure should be found for the disease; the necessity of the present ⟨Area⟩, demanding a direct, and immediate one, Which I hope will be found in those Laws—The above are the reflections of a calm, and undisturbed mind, And I trust, so long as my reason remains with me, and opposite oppinions not accompanyed with truth, I shall remain as I am, Leaving you to Judge the motives of that Letter I have in truth denied. . . .

“P.S. I will thank you to fo[r]ward me the forged Letter, with the assistance of my friends I may possib[l]y be able to fix it on the person who wrote it, present my respects to Mrs Washington” (ViMtvL).