It has given me much pleasure to have received a letter from you,1 and to hear that yourself & Mrs Jay are well. I hope this will find Mrs Jay perfectly recovered from her indisposition.

I sincerely rejoice in the prosperity of your Country. That is to say in the return of prosperity by the abatement of the war. I think America was equally free to every effect of prosperity before her declared independence as since. The British claims of taxation & legislation did disturb the prospect for a time, but those claims being relinquished, all future life is now freely opened before you. You must not expect to find it otherwise than checquered with good & ill, such as is the lot of human life. To be as happy as any people in the world is a lot that you must not expect to exceed.— You will doubtless have heard of the revolution in france. The rights of mankind wch have been withheld for many centuries from the Subjects of that kingdom, have been claimed ceded & confirmed by the King in a trice of time, not exceeding a few days. Whatever may be the result in the end, as to detail, the principle of unlimited monarchy is abolished for ever. We must all rejoice in this example for the universal benefit of all future ages. The indelible principle is written by providence in the hearts core of his creatures. Other Kingdoms will soon catch the example & spread universal liberty over the face of the earth, with peace & good will among men. All memory of hostilities is abated in this Country towards America. I hope & trust the same in yours. I beg to be kindly remembered to yourself & family & to all the friends & inheritors of liberty in your Country. I am ever Dr. Sir Your sincere & affecte friend

A thought has just occurred to me, to subjoin a postscript to my letter wch you will receive by Mr Johnston.3

The Object of this postscript is to you as a private gentleman not as secretary of State for your Country, altho it is a public thought.— You know how much I wish amity & Concord between our two Countries. I assure you there is no hostility in this Country towards yours, tho I fear in America it is thought otherwise. Perhaps too we may suspect that your Country is not favourable to us, and thus jealosies may create what they suggest.— I think it would have a benevolent effect to receive from your Country some token of returning charity. You know the unhappy infirmity under wch our Sovereign in this Country was for some months afflicted, & from which by the favour of heaven he has been happily relieved & reestablished. Would not a word of affectionate congratulation, on such an event, to a King once yours and still the Sovereign of the Country from which you are derived, and to which you are once more restored in Amity and Peace— would not such a word from your Country do honour to humanity & to yourselves as holding forth an example of true & dignified magnanimity in the oblivion of past resentments and the return of Goodwill!—4

But! you have no minister. Let not a punctilio obstruct the exercise & display of the first of human virtues. Let it be your ambition, to take the first step to universal peace and charity amongst men. Such an act of respectfull attention & benevolence to your parent state (for such we must always remain) and to its sovereign, will make every british heart glow with sympathetic humanity in the reception & reciprocity. Our present age will be reunited, and future ages will be cemented in consanguinity & future sympathy of affections.—Let not a punctilio obstruct. If you have no minister you may find a friend thro whom you might drop the sweet words of Peace. Amicitiæ sempiternæ, Inimicitiæ placabiles.5 Let me hear from you & your Country. You know me to be a sincere friend to both our Countries. and ever yours,