Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1815
From Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours
Eleutherian Mill near Wilmington delaware 24 Juillet 1815.
Très cher et très respectable Ami,
Nous devions partir demain le bon Corréa et moi pour vous voir à Mounticello. Nous n’avons pu être plus tot prêts l’un et l’autre.
Mais comme il fallait passer à Washington, et nous y arrêter un peu, nous avons craint que le moindre accident arrivé en route ne nous retardât, et ne nous fit nous présenter à votre Porte qu’après votre départ que vous nous avez annoncé pour le 6 august, ou Si près de ce moment que nous vous gênassions ou vous dérangeassions.
Nous remettons ce Voyage, qui nous fera tant de plaisir, jusqu’à votre retour Sur lequel nous comptons du 6 au 10 octobre.
J’ai un extrême désir de vous voir: et j’espere le pouvoir tous les ans, car je ne quitterai plus l’Amérique.
DuPont (de nemours)
Editors’ Translation
Eleutherian Mill near Wilmington delaware 24 July 1815.
Very dear and very respectable Friend,
The good Corrêa and I were to leave tomorrow to come see you at Monticello. Neither of us were ready any earlier than this.
As we need to pass through Washington and stay there awhile, we feared that the slightest accident on the road would delay us and cause us to present ourselves at your door either after your departure, which you had told us would take place on 6 August, or so close to that time that we would bother or upset you.
We are therefore postponing this trip, which will give us so much pleasure, until your return, which we expect will be between 6 and 10 October.
I want very much to see you, and I hope to be able to do so every year, as I will never leave America again.
DuPont (de nemours)
RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 28 July 1815 and so recorded in SJL. RC (MHi); address cover only; with PoC of TJ to Henry Sheaff, 11 Aug. 1815, on verso; addressed: “Th. Jefferson, Esqre late President of the United States, Mounticello”; franked; postmarked Wilmington, Del., 25 July. Tr (DeGH: Henry A. du Pont Papers, Winterthur Manuscripts); posthumous copy. Translation by Dr. Genevieve Moene.