War department, Trenton, Oct^r [undecipherable], 179[8] Sir, Enclosed are two Post Notes; one for eight hund[red] dollars, on account of building a Grist Mill and Church at Oneida; and the other [strikethrough: Post] Note for one hundred and twenty five dollars, for your Salary from the 31^st March to the 30^th June 1798: You will please to transmit me separate Receipts for the same, under cover to the Secretary of War —— This Money would have been transmitted to you, some time ago, had not the City of Philadelphia been again visited with the Yellow fever, whose ravages have been more fatal than either last year or even 1793 — It has occasioned the removal of all the public Offices of Government to this place; and the Banks to Germantown — this has made a considerable derangement in transacting Money matters — the Cashier, the Assistant Cashier, and several Clerks in the United States Bank have been dangerously ill with the fever — some of the latter have died — Philadelphia has been almost deserted, in consequence of the great number of deaths, amounting, from the 1^st of August, to the 2^d instant, to 2779, ex- clusive of very many who have died from the City — having taken the fever previ- ous to leaving Philadelphia — thousands have fled, in almost every direction, to escape the dreadful Calamity — We have not lost any one in the War Office, though four have died in some of the other public Offices —— Politics takes a very serious aspect — M^r Gerry, one of our Envoys to France, has arrived safe in England — M^r Pinckney another Envoy is, perhaps still in the south of France, with his daughter, who was ill — I inclose you the last Letter from Talleyrand to M^r Gerry, which you will find full of [underline: French Art], and a continued specimen of [underline: their diplomatic Skill] — but heaven grant their Schemes may prove abortive, and that they may be foiled in their own Net; and be taught, by Americans who know how to value that Independence which cost them dear, that their insolence and attempt at universal dominion and power, it was left for us to check, and probably to destroy —— I am, Sir, with respect and esteem, Your Obedient Servant, Samuel Lewis Sen^r Israel Chapin Esq^r [docketing notation, rotated, partially undecipherable: Sam^l Lewis / Oct [undecipherable] 98 / Rec^d [undecipherable]]