By my Several Letters to Mrs: Smith since my departure1 your Excellency will have been regularly informed of my progress and the cause of my checks at Paris & Bourdeaux and the reason of the length of my stay here, which I doubt not will prove satisfactory— I shall proceed on Tuesday to compleat my Journey to Lisbon, from whence if an oppertunity offers I shall communicate to Mr. Jay my progress and the situation of the affairs with which I am charged—

By Letters from our unfortunate Countrymen at Algiers of the 12th. inst. addressed to Mr. Carmichael, we learn that they still preserve their health, tho’ the Country in general is groaning under a most violent plague, it has already carried off near twenty thousand of the inhabitants & does not in the least abate—2 the Pearl frigate has lately arrived there with a present from the King of England to the Dey consisting of cannon and warlike stores— the algerines notwithstanding the immense sums paid by the spaniards for the attainment of a peace and the release of their prisoners, have taken very lately two Spanish Vessells some say 4— they have been 100 condemned & sold and the seamen sent into slavery, it produces a very disagreable sensation here, and I think it (very probably) will occasion a declaration of War on the part of this Court— since the arrival of this news orders have been sent to the squadron in the Mediterranean, to gain a perfect knowledge of the Barbary coast—its soundings & currents, but without any display of their intentions— this can only be effected by their Light boats and at night— what appears to me most extraordinary on this subject is—that such orders at this period should be necessary, and that the officers of the Spanish Navy have not yet made themselves sufficiently acquainted on these subjects— the Neapolitan Ambassador after redeeming the Captives of his Nation has retired without being able to obtain a peace, & the Minister from Portugal has not been more successfull— Mr. Lambs visit to algiers has not, that I can learn been productive of the least advantage, he has not made any deposit of any part of those sums which he drew for, for the support & maintenance of our Prisoners— they are supplyed by the spanish Consul & are under his protection upon principles which Mr. Carmichael will state & request your opinion of— he sailed about 4 weeks past from alicant bound for newYork. and there is some reason to suppose that the greatest part of the Money which he drew on your Excellency for has been employed in some commercial speculation, of which perhaps he will give an account Current when he arrives in America— we may however thank our stars it is no worse—& that he has at last finished his diplomatic career in Europe— from every thing that I can collect of his conduct from his acquaintance & those within whose observation he came, a man more capable of disgracing our Country could not have been, in a short time found— I am apprehensive his negotiations with the Dey of Algiers (if We should again seek for a treaty of peace with him) will hereafter embarass us & I am pretty fully convinced, the unfortunate captives will be detained longer or our Country be obliged to pay more for them, than if he had never been employed but it is done, and we must get over it, as well as possible by Letters from New York of the 12th. of May3 I learn that they anxiously expect his return—

I forwarded in a Letter to Mrs: Smith the account of the Death of the Marquis of Senora—Don Gulver Minister of the Indies and have now to inform you that the Department is to be connected with the Marine under one minister—seperating the department of finance and attaching it to those other national points under the general direction of the Prime Minister—at least this is the wish of the King 101 the Minister of Marine however refused the acceptance of this appointment when offered to him by the Comte de Florida Blanca in the Kings Name—but it is supposed at the personal request of the King he will be under the necessity of accepting— the administration of the last minister is severely censured, and orders have been issued to the several ports of the Kingdom to stop all officers who were going out under his appointment, & it is expected that the whole of his system in that Country will be overturned— during his administration he increased the oppressions in south america and added upwards of two thousand officers of the Customs & excise which was the cause of the last revolt and commotion there— he was a most violent opposer of the opening of the Missisipi—and set his face against every liberal & generous measure— I have great reason to believe that if some material alterations take place relative to the system of the Court respecting America the nation would in general approve of it—for they are now frequently spoken of as a people who have been oppressed by wicked Ministers, who have sacrificed the general prosperity of the Nation to their private agrandizement and who might more materially benifit spain—if a more generous and extensive policy was adopted towards them— there is a new Packet, arrived at Corunna from NewYork—built there by the spanish Minister, she is said to be a very handsome fine Vessel— She brings dispatches for Government, & it is expected will return immediately— your Excellency is doubtless sufficiently inform’d on the subject of the negotiations pending between this Court and the Court of London relative to a Commercial treaty, the existing difficulties are supposed to be neither few nor small, and it is at present the received opinion here that they will not readily be accomodated— If England should fail in her negotiations here, & should not give into the demands of the Empress of Russia relative to her full share of an active Commerce & the admittion of the principles of the armed neutrality—it may be possible that the United States may yet be courted by the misguided Cabinet of England—

It is with pleasure I mention to your Excellency the marked politeness and attention I have been honoured with by the Comte De. Florida Blanca, who has given me a letter of introduction to the Chargé des affairs of Spain at Lisbon, wherein he informs him that it is the King’s pleasure that he should endeavour to make my stay at Lisbon agreable—and that he will render me every service in his power and exert himself to forward my business at the Court of Lisbon, on those points which I think proper to consult him upon—

The whole of the Corps diplomatic have also been extreamly attentive particularly the Russian, Imperial Danish—Genoese, Prussian and English Ministers, the Latter has sent me the following Letter to Sir Robert Walpole at Lisbon—4

I have received your Favour of May the fifteenth, and am greatly obliged to you for your kind Attention to my little Affairs.

Let me pray you to purchase Mr Borlands Place for me at the best 104 Price you can and draw upon me for the Cash. Your Bills Shall be honoured, at ten days Sight. if Mr Borland is about purchasing Mr Vassals Place, he may remit the Cash in this Way. but you will however sell the Bills, at as good an Advance as you can.— I wish you to purchase Veseys Place too, if you can have it for 300£ lawful Money and as much cheaper as you can and draw upon me, in the Same manner. The Cash shall be ready and your Bills punctually paid. I Suppose, I could Speculate in Paper to much greater Profit, and I wish you to go on as opportunity presents.— You need not fear any Protest of your Bills, if you cannot have Veseys Place for 300£. omit that Purchase, and draw upon me for that Sum, and vest it in Such Notes as you think most advantageous.— I Should much rather purchase Mr Allens Place than Mr Borlands, if to be Sold at a moderate Price.1 a House to put my head in I must have, for my little hut at the foot of the Hill, is so small in all the appartements, and the air so bad of course, that I Should not be able to preserve my health. I have found So much benefit, by a better Air and larger Rooms, that I should dread returning to that. But I must do that, if you cannot procure me a better.

If my Volume, Serves to hold up the Mirror, and set Men a thinking, it will do good. Yet I have the Same Anxieties and Apprehensions with yours.

All the Voyages to America made in the Month of February, have proved so long that I am afraid of the health of my Family as well as my own, which is ill calculated for the boisterous scenes it has passed through. Altho my Commission expires in February, I dont think it would be prudent to embark before the latter End of March or the Beginning of April; in all May I hope to have the Pleasure of seeing you. I regret the Loss of Brother Cranch from the senate.— I am very sorry you did not send one of my Books to Brother shaw: but I will endeavour to supply the omission.2

And now for Retirement among the Rocks and Hills of Old Braintree. The Plough, the Spade, the Ax and the Hoe. stone wall and fresh Meadow Ditches. a Præceptor to my own Boys, and a Writer Perhaps of History, Memoirs and Biography to be printed, twenty Years after my death.— What Say you to this? Shall I feel, the Stings of Ambition, and the frosts of Neglect? Shall I desire to go to Congress, or the General Court, and be a Fish out of Water? I Suppose so, because, other People have been so. but I dont believe So.— I am proud enough to think that I can be a Philosopher, if I never have 105 been. I cannot remain longer in Europe with honour, without a Change in Affairs, of which there is no Appearance of Probability, and my dear Boys have claims upon me, that I will fulfill as well as I can.— if I can do it, no other Way, it shall be by returning again to the Bar, at least so far as may be necessary, to introduce my Sons to Practice. To be the Slave and Drudge, that I have been for thirty Years Strength nor Spirits for it. To be the Football of Faction, I never was, and never will be. I will neither be Rebel nor Despot: Aristocrate nor Democrate: and if the Brains of my Countrymen are So far turned, as to insist upon one or the other: I will be a private Man, and a Brewer of Compost for my Farm.— if they will Shackle and trammel their Executive Government: if they will Split into Parties and wrangle and fight, let them: I will blow rocks.— Experience and Reason must be lost upon them, if they dont See the Necessity, of raising the Dignity, and maintaining the Independence of the Executive.— But Mr, Untell, is a great Patriot, and he is afraid of an unqualified Negative. Mr, such a one is a hero, and he is afraid of a privy Council, appointed by the first Magistrate— Mr Somebody is a good son of Liberty—and he is afraid of giving the Governor the Appointment of Militia Officers.3 Thus the Executive is fettered, and the Laws insulted, and no Mans Life, or Property or Honour safe. If Miseries in Abundance, do not convince them of their Ignerance & Error, I shall be happily disappointed.—

I am my dear sir Yours