I had the honor to write to you on the occasion of your elevation to the presidency of the U.S. to congratulate you on it. Today, I have the honor of asking you to accept my sincere compliments on the tranquil situation that you have achieved by your own will, having desired not to be reelected. You take with you into your retirement the regards and the gratitude of all good citizens, and you are going to rest in the shade of your laurels.—

My plan to return to France is still the same as soon as I am able to execute it. But like a tree that has been transplanted on this soil for almost fifteen years I am holding on to it through deep roots. It is difficult to pull myself out, because despite myself, I am left with a lot of objects of which I could sell only a few, and as they are French articles and superfluous it is impossible to sell them except at an almost total loss. It is better to take them back where they will be appreciated.

The Non-Intercourse Act will probably not prevent parlementaires, notably those for France, but they only want to take a trunk or two. However as they travel East they have room for much more than just my furniture, such as books, trunks, paintings, tapestries, linen &c (but no merchandise)—To leave these belongings here would be to expose them to damage in storage and by a host of other events such as I have experienced with objects sent here ahead of me.

Almost all of these possessions, especially the books, I will need in France.

May I solicit from you, with trust in your kindness, to obtain for me permission to take these possessions with me on the same ship, as well as a few objects of natural history, like Mr. Michaux who was authorized by your government to transport several boxes on the ship the Union last fall. I wish to have this permit in hand in advance or to be assured that I will obtain it. The collector of this port or of the one from which I will leave being authorized in advance to fill in the name of the ship.

Please, Sir, be assured of my complete discretion in this regard, by handing over this permit to nobody but the collector. I absolutely need this permit, as without it I would find myself drowning in almost insurmountable new losses because, as I had the honor of telling you, I find myself having lost 25 thousand dollars here or about as much through the malpractice of Swanwick to whom I had sent merchandise to be used as resources here, as well as through other circumstances.

As for my lands, the contract for which you were so good as to witness and sign, could you be kind enough to indicate to me some means of making them profitable. The person who bought most of them for a miserable amount of taxes, (through the fault of M. Fowler from Kentucky who had promised to pay them and who let them be sold) agrees according to what Mr. Madison from Frankfort wrote me to return them to me for 200 dollars. I have heard that they had not been advertised, nor bought according to law and that your tribunals severely repress these frauds. But the scarcity of my financial resources does not allow me to make a trip to Kentucky and stay there awhile and the necessity of returning to France as soon as possible does not allow me time for this. What to do in such circumstances? Your opinion would be essential to me. To leave someone else in charge is to lose just about everything. My experience is that an absentee landlord may regard as worthless what he abandons to others, at such a distance! You will see from the following extract that I wanted until the last moment to prove my attachment to the U.S. with a memoir on a most important rural topic. I have the honor, while very respectfully awaiting the honor of your response, to be