I was much obliged to you for your kind Letter by Mr: Temple which I received in London; but having been called from thence to the Hague, & from thence again to Paris by the public Service, and much employed with the Cares of my Family as well as the public Business I have not been able to answer it sooner.1

Mr: Temple is now appointed Consul General from the King of Great Britain to the United States, and much will depend upon his Prudence, Patience & Wisdom. he is in a Situation of much Delicacy, and must proceed with great Caution. he will therefore stand in need of the Advice of his Friends. His Knowledge of the Commerce and his respectable Connections will be of great Service to him if he setts out right. if I should go to England, as by the late Letters from Congress I must, I should be glad to have a friendly Correspondence with him. it may be usefull to both Countries as well as to us.

Whether it will be possible to accomplish the Views of Congress in England I know not. if the same Blindness & Delusion should continue there, so much the worse for them. Our Country is in a Situation, to make her friendship much more Essential to the English than theirs can be to us, important as it is.

I hope soon to have the Pleasure of reading your new Work which has a great Reputation and is upon a most interesting Subject—2 This Letter will be delivered you, by J. Q. Adams my eldest Son, who after seven years Travel is returning home where I hope he will find Friends and become in Time a usefull Man.

With great & sincere Respect &c

I am like other Debtors, afraid to look into my Affairs lest I should find the balance against me. it is so with you, I very much Suspect.

You may not be sorry to be uninterrupted, for I suppose you are busy in writing your History.1 I should be glad to see it, because it is time there should be some sketch or full Draught in which there may be some Resemblance, when there are so many abroad which are called Pictures, but which have no likeness at all. indeed it is my Opinion that to collect the Materials and compose the work of a full, compleat, & impartial History, is the Labour of thirty years for a Writer of the first Talents. It is not, besides, as yet safe to publish the whole Truth. There are popular prejudices, aristocratical Jealousies, and despotic Terrors in the way, which will prevent the naked Truth from being seen by the Public for these fifty years. indeed I sometimes think that so much Quackery, and Exageration, so much Puff and Vapour has been mixed in that the Truth can never be fully distilled from the Dreggs.

I hope for the Future to have a more frequent Communication with my Friends, with less Apprehension of spies, & Copyers, and Decypherers in the post office. Letters from good authorities say that I am appointed to England. I tremble at this trust, for I know how much depends upon it. Not so much however as has depended, and has not very fatally failed. so I shall undertake it with Chearfullness, be sure to do my own Duty and leave the Event to that Providence which will decide it, as it should be.

Dr: F’s infirmity the stone, has confined him these 18 months. his Grandson is now sick of a Fever but is better, and I hope out of Danger. Mr: Jefferson is an excellent Citizen, Philosopher and Statesman, with whom I promise myself the most friendly and Cordial Correspondence, altho’ I shall leave him with regret. Mr: Humphreys our Secretary, is an accomplished Man, and when he ripens a little with years, & wears off a few Notions contracted in the Army, 59 60 will make a Figure in a higher Sphere. The Office of foreign Affairs is in so good Hands that I think our Affairs abroad were never so likely to be well managed. Where is my Friend Mr: Dana? Will he come abroad, or be promoted at home? surely our Countrymen love themselves and their own Interests enough to employ him somewhere in distinguished Service— My Son takes this Letter, for whom suffer me to solicit your good Will.2

I am Sir &c