It is always to me a most gratifying cordial, & delightful antidote to the “ills that flesh is heir to”1 when I receive an affectionate remembrance from an old & highly valued friend. There are so few left of those we loved in “olden times”, that it seems as if, like other precious commodities, they become the more estimable, in proportion to their scarcity.

When I wrote to you on the subject of your letter, recent transactions roused old feelings; & memory pointed to an antiquated page, which had been better torn from even our secret history.2 I admired at the round assertions of some of the eastern orators, that no proofs existed of french maneuvring, on which to ground the eulogy pronounced on your surviving coadjutor exclusively. We who lived & acted in the scenes of that day, know better; & could easily turn to incontestable memorials, were any solid advantages to our country to be gained by their development. Yet it is an excitement to patriotic exertion, to preserve the personal merit of individuals who have performed virtuous & eminent services, as stimulants to imitation, & objects of public gratitude.

The official letter from St Ildenfonso,3 a copy whereof you are pleased to send me, I well remember in substance. It was the subject of discussion, some whereof was acrimonious, but more of it laudatory, when a vote of censure was attempted in the Congress of 1783, to gratify the french diplomacy. And some of the Members who had no personal enmity to you, were misled into a condemnation of the measure you so happily effected, by a mistaken policy of appeasing, by unjustifiable flattery, the french administration. Your remarks strike me forcibly, as traits in the human character, which appear in all times when occasions draw them forth. The modern votaries of expediency, have imitated the vacillations of their predecessors. Such trimming & balancing never yet reflected credit on individuals, nor gained advantages to a country. On the contrary, those who were served by the accomodations, despised the tergiversators.4 A few of our present public men, have proved the obliquities of human nature, in the question of admitting Missouri into our national family;—a question which has consumed the time of two sessions of our national legislature, most lamentably & disreputably; & the subject has ended in proof of the imbecillity of opposition to deep rooted prejudices, & widely spread interests.5

After all, the approbation of our minds yields more solid satisfaction, than the plaudits of the million on the idol fame, so much worshipped by those who sacrifice internal enjoyment, to exterior acclamation. It is happy to enjoy, as you do, both, with complacency; under an indifference to unmerited censure, & a contempt of extravagant praise.

When we were labouring in Adversity, during our revolutionary struggle, we were content to count on the acquisition of independence & safety, but none of us foresaw the Prosperity & Wealth which our successful efforts achieved. But few of the labourers in the Vineyard partook of the exuberant Vintage, which, however, has inebriated those who revelled in excessive indulgences; & they are now suffering the consequences of their debauch. In our church, we pray for deliverance in the time of our Prosperity; when the assistance of a benevolent providence is peculiarly required. We seem now to be languishing under the debility produced by the violence of a ruinous fever, which has left us feeble & dispirited, with no immediate prospect of reinvigoration. My favorite employment Agriculture, is so depressed in the regions of plenty, that no profitable results can be obtained by the Culture of our farms applied to the Articles of subsistence. We must change our objects—tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur cum illis.6 I send to you a report of the Currators of our Agricultural Society, on the subject of Flax. If we can obtain the Machines we are seeking; there is no doubt of our success in establishing a formidable rival to the cotton, which still continues to enrich the southern planters. Every effort should be made by Agricultural Societies, to set American Genius at work; so as to produce at home, what we cannot obtain from abroad. Let the New York & Eastern Societies offer premiums; & the hot bed of inventive genius, the eastern quarter of our Union, will soon produce a plentiful crop of machines, some good, & many indifferent; but out of the whole we may gain our object.

Although our Agriculture is languishing, it is not hopeless; & I continue to nurse it, for the good it has done; & with the persuasion that it will yet revive, at least to afford plenty within our own borders; & thus we shall avoid poverty, tho’ we may not acquire wealth. Our country advanced too rapidly; disdaining the old maxim festina lente.7 The check we now experience will teach us wisdom, & alter our habits. Too many of the present Generation have learnt wisdom too late to profit by it; But the next will, perhaps, proof[?] take lessons from our errors. I say perhaps; for, with similar temptations, mankind commit the like follies; & so they will continue to do, until the blowing of the last Trump. Your letter from St Ildenfonso was prophetick of the danger we should incur under french direction, had you obeyed most improvident instructions. And yet what a mass of madness appeared in Genet’s time, to yield to french influence & intrigue.

I lament the ill state of your corporeal health— you have the mens sana; & I sincerely wish it resided in corpore sano.8 I have heard of wonders performed by wearing oiled silk, on parts affected by Rheumatism. I thank God I have been preserved in health; & without any of the pains afflicting old age. Last winter I dipped my feet in cold water, every morning as soon as I got out of bed; & I attribute my escaping Colds, which were epidemic, to this practice; which I shall continue until I take again to my cold bath.

Our Assembly have begun the career of public improvements, after your wiser heads have gained the advantage of us. It seems that in this, & the subject of Agriculture, there exists a more general concurrence of sentiment among the people of N York, than in politicks; for I perceive political rancour is rife. Among us it is not so venemous, but it is not extinct. Let the Jarrings & Enmities which agitate the world, continue to afflict the mass of men; it is the more necessary to preserve private affection; that it may not be said—terras astrsa reliquit—9 Under the influence of this feeling, be assured of my ever remaining most affectionately yours,

Your letter from Spain prognosticates the Storm; but by whom or how it was dissipated, appears only in your Journal, which I read when in Congress; & is no doubt in the Office of State.