Mr. Brush and Mr. Allen have given me the favors you entrusted to them;1 and I shall answer at greater leisure later on since we are about to get into the carriage—these gentlemen, Miss Nancy, and I—to go to Rotterdam and dine with Mr. Van Berckel.2

Your son has still not arrived.

The main topic of the present note is a message that secretary Fagel sent me yesterday by Mr. Tynne,3 to find out what title the United States have adopted, or how they are addressed by other powers. I told him I had no idea, unless it was their Sovereign and Absolute Independence; whereupon I was asked to write to you about it, because they need to know in order to draw up Mr. Van Berckel's commission and letter of credence. I acquit myself in haste and am with great respect, your excellency's very humble and very obedient servant