I have just been honoured by the receipt of your favor of the 8th. instant— I have not time, as I must soon leave town, to observe now on that part of it which is in answer to a sentiment of mine on which we seem to differ—1

There is no proposition, to which I can more fully accede than to the one which affirms how important it is to People that the President, the vice President, the Senate and the house of representatives of the Union should in the first instance, take the most elevated stand and that they should be supported in their respective situations with great firmness dignity & splendor. The tone given at the commencment of the government will controul all future proceedings; it is therefore of great importance that the first, should be the proper impressions and that no circumstance of right though it may be considered small and unimportant should be surrendered by the Union, precedents are influential and often prove dangerous—

Under these impressions permit me sir to solicit your opinion on a matter which by some may be considered as of no importance. Our artillery election is as usual to be on the first monday of June a public entertainment will be given on the occasion, a number of toasts will be expected, for the propriety and the arrangment of which, as commanding officer I must be responsible. I shall have to combat old prejudices, unless I shall alter my opinion, and place the State and its officers in a different rank than that they have been used to enjoy— You know sir that the States have been tenacious of their sovereignty and the several Governours have carefully nourished the idea and will I suspect, at the least some of them, be among the last 464 to surrender so much of it as may be indispensible to the general good— It has been considered, by some, that a governour in his own State is there the greatest of all created beings and I apprehend that this opinion will be held with too much avidity. While this is the case we shall not properly reverence the general government. The seperate governments must be subservient to the national one if subservient inferiour if inferiour neither the government nor its officers can expect the first rank— How than ought our toasts to be arranged the day I mentioned on which will be given the first public dinner. The mode we adopt may, & probably will, be urged as a precedent on future occasions it is therefore of some importance that we do right I have no doubt what would be a proper line of conduct I can however better rely on your judgment than on my own, I have had little experience in etiquete— will you be so good as to drop me, for my own use only, a line on the subject by the next post—

The packet men call I cannot add Only that I am with the highest / esteem Dr sir your / affectionate friend / and humble / servant

Your very obliging & confidential Letters of the 3d. and 9th. of May I received on the 15. I mention their coming to my Hands together only to mark the Difference between the Dispatch of the Post & the Punctuality of Individuals.

I am rejoiced to find You, Sir, pronouncing the upper House of Congress a wise, mild and noble Body of Men. From such a Body we must find dignified, firm & national Measures. But young as our Country is, with every Thing in national Rule & Revenue to be experimented, a considerable Period must elapse before the united States can arise to Greatness. And we have Politicians in every State in the Confederacy, who think it is better we never should. Men who think that Titles, Distinctions & Ranks in Society ought not to exist. 465 And that the Ideas & Wishes of the People, (which are founded in Nature & Policy) that encourage & expect such Distinctions, ought to be checked & counteracted. Were we deprived of all Intercourse with Europe, & commercial Interchanges with the rest of the Globe, this Quixotte System might last for many Years perhaps. Untill we do have great Distinctions I mean as far as respects our National great Officers, there will be neither a promptitude of Obedience or national Pride in the Citizens. And untill our partial Politicks, & State localities are lost in an energetic, & the confederated Government, we shall feel like Colonists & continue to act so.

There appears a good Disposition at present in our Seaports to meet & assist the Revenue on moderate and equalized Rates. And the People in the Country have not yet learnt the Language of Complaint against Taxes where the Merchant is the Paymaster.

We hear nothing of the Proceedings of the most honorable Senate, but suppose them engaged in digesting, defining, & systemising the Judicial Department. This among your numerous perplexing Labours, will be not the least difficult. And after all, much must be left to be aided or altered by subsequent Statutes, as Experience shall point their Necessity.—

And will You now give me leave, my dear Sir, to express a Wish to be remembered by You, when the Appointments of Law Officers shall be made. I confess that the Office of federal Advocate for this State, or any Post in my professional Line, which You may think my Education & Principles may qualify me to fill, would be a very pleasant Thing. I am so little used to the Language of Sollicitation, that to You only, my earliest & ablest Friend, would I submit a Hint which I am not perhaps intitled to offer. I never sought, or for a moment wished for any Place political or civil in this Commonwealth (or what I would rather now call it, Corporation) but I acknowlege, that I should hold a national Appointment, truly honorable.1

I am, Dear Sir, / your faithful hble Servant