I have recd. yours of the 12th and thank you for your Congratulations and kind Wishes of Success. As Congress have not yet dissolved my Relation to the Republick of the United Netherlands, I cannot yet take Leave, but I hope to have Leave to go over from London for that Purpose, upon the Arrival of my Letter of Recall or of another Minister to Succeed me. I have received So many personal Civilities, and have Seen so much honest Friendship for my Country, in the United Provinces that I can never quit Europe contented without making another Visit, and I assure you my Family have not less Zeal for Such a Journey than I.

We propose to leave Auteuil for London, on Fryday the 20. but We Shall not travel very fast. My Son left Us, the 12. and will Sail from L’Orient probably on the Same day, that We shall depart from Auteuil.

What Shall I do, in London, for my Garden my Park, my River and my Plain. You See I call all the Environs of Auteuil mine and with good Reason, for I will lay a Wager, they have given me more Pleasure, in a few Months than they ever afforded their legal Proprietors for a Century.1

Mr Jefferson had Yesterday his Audience of the King and presented his Credentials as Minister Plenipotentiary to his Majesty. Mr Jefferson lives in the Cul-de-Sac Tête bout. pres les Boulevards. Dr Franklin is packing up his Effects and proposes to embark next month.

No Alteration has been made in our Commissions to treat with other Powers, So that Mr Jefferson and I Shall proceed after Dr Franklins Departure to compleat the Negotitiations already begun, Several of which are far advanced. We Shall communicate with each other by Letters, by private Hands or by Couriers, when We cannot trust the Posts and perhaps meet together in London or Paris, once or twice, a Year, to finish any Thing which cannot be done Seperately.

I made my Court to the King and Royal Family for the last time, Yesterday was a Week,2 and my Packages are all made, and every Thing arranged for our Departure, the day after tomorrow. Yet I do not take my Leave of France, any more than of Holland; I hate to think that I shall never See a Country again, because it feels like giving up a Part of one’s Liberty.

My kind Regards to all our Friends, with whom We used to pass our Social Hours, and those of my Family to yours

Adieu

We left Auteuil the 20th. afternoon and have made easy Journeys. indeed We could not have done otherwise, because the Posthorses were engaged, by the unusual Number of Travellers, in Such Numbers that We have been Sometimes obliged to wait. The Country is an heap of Ashes. Grass is Scarcely to be Seen and all Sorts of Grain is Short, thin, pale and feeble while the Flax is quite dead. You See indeed more green Things than in some of our Sharp Drouths in America, but as the Heat of this Clymate is not Sufficient to destroy vegetation so effectually as with Us, it is not enough neither to produce so rapid a Revivication of the Universe, upon the Return of Rains, So that their Prospects are more melancholly than ours upon Such Occasions. I pity this People from my Soul. There is at this Moment as little appearace of a Change of Weather as ever.

Tomorrow We shall reach Calais, but I cannot calculate how long 117it will take Us to cross the Channel. I allow two days from Dover to London as I am determined to be in a hurry about nothing from the Beginning to the End of this Adventure. it is best to give myself as well as others time to think.

The Ladies join in respects to you and Mr Humphreys and Mr Williamos,1 the Marquis & his Lady & all other Friends.— Be so good as to inform me, if you learn any Thing of the Sailing of the Packet, and of the Health of my Boy.

I thank you kindly for your Book. it is our Meditation all the Day long.— I cannot now Say much about it. but I think it will do its Author and his Country great Honour. The Passages upon Slavery, are worth Diamonds. They will have more effect than Volumes written by mere Philosophers. The Ladies Say you should have mentioned West and Copeley at least among your American Genius’s, because they think them the greatest Painters of the Age. Madam [. . .] I have not expressd her Sentiment politely enough. it should run thus The Ladies desire that in the next Edition you would insert West and Copeley &c.2

The melancholly Face of Nature, added to the dull political Prospect before Us, on the other Side of the Channell, coming upon the Back of our natural Regretts at parting with our son and our fine Summer Situation at Auteuil, and all our Friends in and about Paris, make the Journey rather triste, but We have passed through Scænes bien plus triste encore.

Adieu