I receive with perfect satisfaction the Address of the Citizens of New Brunswick, and acknowledge with great sensibility that their sentiments of my character & services are favorable beyond my fondest expectations.

If any thing could add to my happiness, at the present auspicious period, it would be the testimony of esteem & veneration which you, Gentlemen, have just exhibited towards those Worthy & deserving Men who have so eminently contributed to the glorious termination of the War; and the protestation you have made of affording your influence & example, in rendering full & ample compensation for their important services. Altho I now am returning to a much wished for retirement, yet I cannot bid adieu to the Acquaintances & Connections I have formed while acting in a public character without experiencing a certain pleasing melancholly sensation—pleasing because I leave my Country in the full possession of Liberty & Independence; melancholly because I bid my friends a long, perhaps, a last farewell.

You must permit me Gentlemen to return you my best thanks for your benevolent wishes, and to assure you that the prosperity of the Citizens of New Brunswick will ever afford me the sincerest pleasure