1

Randolph's of the third instant. When I wrote to him last week, I hoped to have been soon rid of the periodical headache which had attacked me. It has indeed been remarkably slight since that, but I am not yet quite clear of it. I expect every fit to be the last. I inclose the newspapers for Mr. Randolph. He will probably judge, as the world does, from the style and subject of the Discourses on Davila, that they are the production of the VicePresident. On Monday last the President was taken with a peripneumony, of threatening appear ance; yesterday (which was the fifth day) he wa thought by the physicians to be dying. However, about 4 o'clock in the evening, a copious sweat came on, his expectoration, which had been thin and ichorous, began to assume a well digested form, his articulation became distinct, and in the course of two hours it was evident he had gone through a favorable crisis. He continues mending to-day, and from total despair we are now in good hopes of him. Indeed, he is thought quite safe. My head does not permit me to add more than the affectionate love to you all, of yours,

cousin, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr., eldest son of Col. Thomas Mann Randolph, of Tuckahoe, by whom she had ten children. She died September 27, 1836.-EDS.

1 The Discourses on Davila were first published in the Gazette of the United States, at Philadelphia, in 1790. See Works of John Adams, vol. i. pp. 454, 618; vol. vi. p. 225.—EDS.

TO EDMUND PENDLETON.1

PHILADELPHIA, July 24, 1791. DEAR SIR,-I received duly your favor of the 13th, and communicated it to the President. The titles of your relation were unquestionably strong of themselves, and still strengthened by your recommendation; but the place was before proposed to another, whose acceptance will probably fix it.

The President is indisposed with a tumor like that he had in New York the year before last. It does not as yet seem as if it would come to a head.

We are wonderfully slow in receiving news from General Scott. The common accounts give reason to hope his expedition has succeeded well. You will have seen the rapidity with which the subscriptions to the bank were filled; as yet the delirium of speculation is too strong to admit sober reflection. 'It remains to be seen whether in a country whose capital is too small to carry on its own commerce,

1 Edmund Pendleton was born in Caroline County, Va., September 9, 1721. His early advantages were small, and he began his career in the office of the County Clerk. In 1744 he was admitted to the bar; and in 1752 he was elected to the House of Burgesses. From that time down to his death, October 23, 1803, he filled a conspicuous place in public life as legislator and jurist, and was described by Jefferson as "taken all in all the ablest man in debate I ever met with." (See Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, vol. iv. pp. 708, 709; Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 198.) The letter which follows is printed from the collection of Jefferson's letters given to the Historical Society by Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Washburn.-Eds.

2 General Charles Scott, a native of Virginia, who had removed to Kentucky, was then serving in St. Clair's unfortunate expedition against the Indians.-EDS.

to establish manufactures, erect buildings, etc., such sums should have been withdrawn from these useful pursuits to be employed in gambling. Whether it was well judged to force on the public a paper circulation of so many millions, for which they will be paying about 7 per cent. per annum, and thereby banish as many millions of gold and silver for which they would have paid no interest. I am afraid it is the intention to nourish the spirit of gambling by throwing in from time to time new aliment.

The question of war and peace in Europe is still doubtful. The French Revolution proceeds steadily, and is, I think, beyond the danger of accident of every kind. The success of that will ensure the progress of liberty in Europe and its preservation here. The failure of that would have been a powerful argument with those who wish to introduce a king, lords, and commons here, a sect which is all head and no body. Mr. Madison has had a little bilious touch at New York, from which he is recovered, however. Adieu, my dear Sir. Your affectionate friend and servant.

TO SAMUEL BIDDLE.

PHILADELPHIA, December 12, 1792.

SIR,-Having asked the favor of Mr. Hollingsworth to look out for a person in his neighborhood who would be willing to go to Virginia and overlook a farm for me, he informs me that you will undertake

it for a hundred and twenty dollars a year. He seems to have mistaken me in the circumstance of time, as he mentions that you would expect to go about the new year. I had observed to him that I should not want a person till after the next harvest. The person who now takes care of the place is engaged for the ensuing year, which finishes with us about November; but I should wish you to be there by seed time in order to prepare the crop of the following year. The wages are a good deal higher than I expected, as Mr. Hollingsworth mentioned that the usual wages in your neighborhood were from £25 to £30 Maryland currency. However, I consent to give them, and the rather as there will be some matters under your care beyond the lines of the farm. I have a smith and some sawyers who will require to be seen once a day, and the first year of your being there I shall have some people employed in finishing a canal, who will also be to be attended to.

The place you are to overlook is that on which I live, and to which I shall return in March next. It is 70 miles above Richmond, on the North branch of James River, exactly where it breaks through the first ridge of little mountains, near the village of Charlottesville, in Albemarle county. It is 225 miles from Elkton, a southwest course. From this description you may find it in any map of the country. The climate is very temperate both summer and winter, and as healthy as any part of America, without a single exception.

The farm is of about five or six hundred acres of cleared land, very hilly, originally as rich as any highlands in the world, but much worried by Indian corn and tobacco. It is still however very strong, and remarkably friendly to wheat and rye. These will be my first object. Next will be grasses, cattle, sheep, and the introduction of potatoes for the use of the farm, instead of Indian corn, in as great a degree as possible. You will have from 12 to 15 laborers under you. They will be well clothed, and as well fed as your management of the farm will enable us, for it is chiefly with a view to place them on the comfortable footing of the laborers of other countries that I come into another country to seek an overlooker for them, as also to have my lands a little more taken care. For these purposes I have long banished tobacco, and wish to do the same by Indian corn in a great degree. The house wherein you will live will be about half a mile from my own. You will, of course, keep bachelor's house. It is usual with us to give a fixed allowance of pork; I shall much rather substitute beef and mutton, as I consider pork to be as destructive an article in a farm as Indian corn. On this head we shall not disagree, and as I shall pass Elkton in March, I will contrive to give you notice to meet me there, when we may descend to other details. But for the present I shall wish to receive your answer in writing, that I may know whether you consider yourself as engaged, so that I need not look out for another. I