The Hague. 13. April 1798. My dear friend, At length I have heard once more [undecipherable] from you, & Mr. M. from his friend M^r McHenry — your dear Pres'd — your letter of Nov — It has been almost as long [undecipherable] coming as one Europ[ean] dispatches are in going — & [undecipherable] this day I will be relieved [undecipherable] the last of your kind offices at the books in [undecipherable] embarked — One [undecipherable] and I shall just have myself clear of every expence — that [undecipherable] on account 400 guilders in [undecipherable] in I could not keep your own records — the living here is as dear as in the [undecipherable] the demands from company [undecipherable] — the necessities of attending to various people in this other government: [undecipherable], greater or more [undecipherable] at times was more [undecipherable] critical to [undecipherable] — The style of entertaining here is heavy, ceremonious & costly — We are rigid economists — but to go in a fresh [undecipherable] to go one of town — in a keep if we go in the rain, in to I keep to live as a man [undecipherable] should [undecipherable] — who is [undecipherable] to housekeeping — I keep no horse — you have been in on since I come — things I want [undecipherable] — Yet my dear friend, furnished as [undecipherable] rooms as we want only at the [undecipherable] among the [undecipherable] for every things of life as they are All SHARPERS. [undecipherable] Residence is pretty much as he stated — things I see there is a this in [undecipherable] about our Salaries — I know what you wish to say — natural — but you have not the sort of scene we are in — & even [undecipherable] guineas must [undecipherable] — we must entertain people at their hours & of course at his own — you should come to [undecipherable] I mentioned that I intended to carry M^r M. with me to the [undecipherable] — "That is bad" — but on this voyage you know I could not help it — be [a] rigid economist and then feel any mercy at the necessity of spending money — be low as long as possible — but he could not live with decency as genteel people under 800 [undecipherable] a year [undecipherable] — I have raised the price [undecipherable] they had been sent — We [undecipherable] life in the house of the U.S. [undecipherable] to rise almost [undecipherable] died this [undecipherable] Winter in [undecipherable] — To affairs of the road [undecipherable] took some money the [undecipherable] took it — they sent their original [undecipherable] attended: [undecipherable] to repay — I shall lay for no [undecipherable] — the most expensive [undecipherable] — We trembled for you in the [undecipherable], though we heard, as I mentioned in mine [undecipherable], [undecipherable] — that you also were safe — In that letter I mentioned the Resolution here — which I have often written to the Secretary of State — The winds have been [undecipherable] West & N.W. here since the 7. Oct. — That must account, with probable reasons, for your not hearing from the [undecipherable] at Paris up to 3. Feb. — [undecipherable] my dear Sir — [undecipherable] there to think at Paris at the Commission that will pose my body — The Division [undecipherable] selected [underline: GERRY] — will [undecipherable] the [undecipherable] with [undecipherable] & I understand from Gen. P. will order [undecipherable] to quiet [undecipherable] I can not learn what new property Gerry has discovered on the mill [undecipherable] those were turning & over grinding every thing — that new property he has discovered by means of [undecipherable] in his own power or in their place — but so it is — The whole G. must one commission — one is selected — there [undecipherable] of [undecipherable] [undecipherable] I promise most confidently in [undecipherable] [undecipherable] is charged by his [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] himself & I believe [undecipherable] that he decided in the depth of his own [undecipherable] ability to [undecipherable] a labyrinth without a clue — if he had had a [undecipherable] his affairs must have seen it — [undecipherable] but on [undecipherable] took him — The fear that with all his goodness of heart he has the [undecipherable] imitating the [undecipherable] of a new & brilliant society for [undecipherable] to himself — the lamps of Paris for illuminations — [undecipherable] of the Irish women for public joy & their dance — [undecipherable] matrons meeting to hail him as the great pacificator — [undecipherable] — of [undecipherable] intentions — I have no doubt — of his [undecipherable] of men — and even of women — such women — [undecipherable] [undecipherable] without [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] by [undecipherable] [undecipherable], beside the dispute in [undecipherable] [undecipherable] by the Spirit of [undecipherable] of [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] do that now — I [undecipherable] think the wanted [undecipherable] more [undecipherable] men as Pinckney & Marshall — under circumstances [undecipherable] calm on the [undecipherable] to S[undecipherable] — [undecipherable] them two — if any things of [undecipherable] means by France, [underline: CANT BE DISPUTED] — [undecipherable] the [undecipherable] [undecipherable] this rejects speedily [undecipherable] [undecipherable] and [undecipherable] a step that [undecipherable] to much [underline: POWER] [undecipherable] of France — A Step [undecipherable] every matter — [undecipherable] while others France [undecipherable] get [undecipherable] [undecipherable] but [undecipherable] [undecipherable] — no principle established — no hope of [undecipherable] [undecipherable] out that Gen. P. had heard of in the G[undecipherable] me in his letter — in his of 29. March [undecipherable] they had [undecipherable] All & reject the proposal — I have seen M^r [undecipherable: Mifs] book — & despite it too much to send another a[.] I should not be surprised to see [undecipherable] [undecipherable] on the same soil is not very unlike it — Harper's work has in some good [undecipherable] in— England [undecipherable] party as a [undecipherable] manner of the [undecipherable] of [undecipherable] argues [undecipherable] often [undecipherable] devoted to a [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] — pray take one passed [undecipherable] [undecipherable] [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] write [undecipherable] soon. [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] forwards to S. [undecipherable]. Spain has [undecipherable] [undecipherable] you to listen to — I have taken great pains here with her minister as an amiable [undecipherable] man, lately in the Council of State, in their [undecipherable], am [undecipherable] [undecipherable] as do [undecipherable] — knows that he has [undecipherable] it to his court. M^r [undecipherable] is my [undecipherable] to [undecipherable] his family — Pay [undecipherable] most kind [undecipherable] & respectfully to M^r & M^rs McHenry — & do also to our fair and amiable [undecipherable] [undecipherable] present now M^r Marcus — and do also to [undecipherable] Handsome [undecipherable], M^r [undecipherable], [undecipherable] [undecipherable] — [undecipherable] — Smith & [undecipherable] God bless you my dear friend & believe me always affectionately [undecipherable] [undecipherable] James McHenry Esq^t [undecipherable] at London