In a letter to Mr. Jay, of the 19th of November, I asked a leave of
absence to carry my children back to their own country, and to settle
various matters of a private nature, which were left unsettled, because
I had no idea of being absent so long. I expected that letter would have
been received in time to be decided on by the government then existing.
I know now that it would arrive when there was no Congress, and
consequently, that if must have awaited your arrival at New York. I hope
you found the request not an unreasonable one. I am excessively anxious
to receive the permission without delay, that I may be able to get back
before the winter sets in. Nothing can be so dreadful to me, as to be
shivering at sea for two or three months, in a winter passage. Besides,
there has never been a moment at which the presence of a minister here
could be so well dispensed with, from certainty of no war this summer,
and that the government will be so totally absorbed in domestic
arrangements, as to attend to nothing exterior. Mr. Jay will, of course,
communicate to you some ciphered letters lately written, and one of
this date.
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