I was so much engaged in preparing for a post [. . . .] that I could not answer by your servant the letter he brought, requesting me to settle the accounts between Colo. Lewis & yourself. I might state as a good reason for declining it, that I am by no means sufficiently versed in matters of account to undertake that office with the necessary consciousness that I could properly discharge it. but independent of this, my excessive occupations render it quite impossible. in addition to the ordinary duties of the government which are heavier on me here, alone, then when at Washington with my associates, the extraordinary occurrences in the Chesapeake, the state of things that brings on, & the correspondence produced by the volunteer conscriptions, really occupy my pen through the day & my mind through the night, insomuch that tho’ I am here, I cannot pay the least attention to my own affairs lying directly around me. under these circumstances I hope Colo. Lewis & yourself will see the impossibility of my undertaking what you desire. I salute you with great esteem & respect.