n. I shall always be glad to assist you with any books you may have
occasion for, and you may count with certainty on every service I can
ever render you, as well as on the sincere esteem of, dear Jack, yours
affectionately.

TO ALEXANDER DONALD.

PARIS, July 28, 1787.

DEAR SIR,--I received with infinite satisfaction your letter of the 1st
of March; it was the first information I had of your being in America.
There is no person whom I shall see again with more cordial joy,
whenever it shall be my lot to return to my native country; nor any one
whose prosperity in the meantime will be more interesting to me. I
find, as I grow older, that I set a higher value on the intimacies of
my youth, and am more afflicted by whatever loses one of them to me.
Should it be in my power to render any service in your shipment of
tobacco to Havre de Grace, I shall do it with great pleasure. The order
of Bernis has, I believe, been evaded by the Farmers General as much as
possible. At this moment, I receive information from most of the
seaports, that they refuse taking any tobacco, under the pretext that
they have purchased their whole quantity. From Havre I have heard
nothing, and believe you will stand a better chance there than anywhere
else. Being one of the ports of manufacture, too, it is entitled to a
higher price. I have now desired, that the Farmers may make a distinct
return of their purchases, which are conformable to the order of
Bernis. If they have really bought their quantity, _on those terms_, we
must be satisfied; if they have not, I shall propose their being
obliged to make it up instantly. There is a considerable accumulation
of tobacco in the ports.

Among many good qualities which my countrymen possess, some of a
different character unhappily mix themselves. The most remarkable are,
indolence, extravagance, and infidelity to their engagements. Cure the
two first, and the last would disappear, because it is a consequence of
them, and not proceeding from a want of morals. I know of no remedy
against indolence and extravagance, but a free course of justice.
Everything else is merely palliative; but unhappily, the evil has
gained too generally the mass of the nation, to leave the course of
justice unobstructed. The maxim of buying nothing without the money in
our pockets to pay for it, would make of our country one of the
happiest upon earth. Experience during the war proved this; as I think
every man will re