hardly know what expense would be too great for the object in question.
Probably, negotiation with the Indians, perhaps even settlement, must
precede the execution of the Cayahoga canal. The States of Maryland
and Virginia should make a common object of it. The navigation, again,
between Elizabeth River and the Sound is of vast importance, and in
my opinion, it is much better that these should be done at public than
private expense.

Though we have not heard of the actual opening of the new Congress,
and consequently, have not official information of your election as
President of the United States, yet, as there never could be a doubt
entertained of it, permit me to express here my felicitations, not
to yourself, but to my country. Nobody who has tried both public and
private life, can doubt but that you were much happier on the banks of
the Potomac than you will be at New York. But there was nobody so well
qualified as yourself, to put our new machine into a regular course of
action; nobody, the authority of whose name could have so effectually
crushed opposition at home, and produced respect abroad. I am sensible
of the immensity of the sacrifice on your part. Your measure of fame was
full to the brim; and therefore, you have nothing to gain. But there are
cases wherein it is a duty to risk all against nothing, and I believe
this was exactly the case. We may presume, too, according to every rule
of probability, that after doing a great deal of good, you will be found
to have lost nothing but private repose.

In a letter to Mr. Jay, of the 19th of November, I asked a leave of
absence to carry my children back to their own country, and to settle
various matters of a private nature, which were left unsettled, because
I had no idea of being absent so long. I expected that letter would have
been received in time to be decided on by the government then existing.
I know now that it would arrive when there was no Congress, and
consequently, that if must have awaited your arrival at New York. I hope
you found the request not an unreasonable one. I am excessively anxious
to receive the permission without delay, that I may be able to get back
before the winter sets in. Nothing can be so dreadful to me, as to be
shivering at sea for two or three months, in a winter passage. Besides,
there has never been a moment at which the presence of a minister here
could be so well dispensed with, from certainty of no war this summer,
and t