Trenton, 25 January,
1783.
DEAR SIR,
BEING just returned to this place from a journey to the
eastern parts of the State, I find myself honoured with your very kind and
obliging Letter of the 3d instant. My host here having neglected to transmit it
to me from his daily expectations of my return, I fear that this letter will
not find you in America, and in such case I have desired the President of
Congress to do me the favour of directing it accordingly, and of sending it to
France by the first opportunity.
And now, my dear sir, give me leave to assure you, that I am
not only extremely sensible of the politeness of your offer to be the bearer of
my Letters to Mr. and Mrs. Jay, but that I am particularly flattered by the
value you are pleased to set on the acquaintance you contracted with me, in
Philadelphia: An acquaintance, which I most earnestly wish to cultivate to my
dying day, tho’ like the rest of the world, that is too much actuated by
motives of self-interest, this wish of mine partakes, I fear, too much of that
inglorious passion: as the benefits that will result from our intimacy (which I
pray you to perpetuate by your correspondence) will be altogether on my side.
Heaven grant you a prosperous voyage and a safe return: and
be assured that I am with the greatest sincerity, your most humble
Friend and Servant.
WIL: LIVINGSTON.
_______________
* William Livingston (1723—1790), son of Philip Livingston
and Catharine Van Brugh, and brother-in-law to William Alexander, Lord
Stirling. The letter to which this is a reply is printed in part in Sedgwick,
Life of William Livingston, 373.
SOURCE: William Keeney Bixby, Thomas Jefferson
Correspondence: Printed from the Originals in the Collections of William K.
Bixby, p. 3-4
