From the month of May till September or October, including what is here called the long vacation, very little Business can be done in London; it being the custom of almost all official Characters to pass the summer in the Country, and to visit London as seldom as they can.

I am not aware that anything very pressing will, in the course of the summer, especially if the Peace be definitively settled, be likely to require my Services: and I should like, if I could do so without interfering with my official Duties, to employ the time in seeing a little of France and some parts of the neighbouring Countries. This I should not think of doing, if my visit at Washington shall be thought advantageous, nor in any event without the permission of the President. With sincere Esteem, &ca.