John Armstrong to Thomas Jefferson, 11 June 1809
From John Armstrong
Paris 11th of June 1809.
Dear Sir,
I received the letter you did me the honor to write to me by M. Coles, whom I found to be everything that you had said of him,—well informed & confidential & therefore an excellent supplement to1 letters both public and private. In discharge of this new obligation, I employed myself in writing to you a long letter, filled with facts, conjectures and forebodings. On looking over it, I found it’s color much too somber for my own taste, and I recollected, that you were not prone to despair of the Republic. I therefore committed it to the fire, and am now obliged to substitute for it these few & hurried lines, which have no Object but to assure You, of the high respect and constant attachment of, Dear Sir,
John Armstrong
RC (DLC); at foot of text: “M. Jefferson, Monticello”; endorsed by TJ as received 3 Aug. 1809 and so recorded in SJL. Enclosed in James Madison to TJ, 3 Aug. 1809.
1. Armstrong here canceled “my.”