I thank you my dear Billy for your Favour of 5 Inst. Before I enter on the subject of it give me leave to exculpate myself; I assure you my dear Friend I have never ceased to have the fullest Confidence in you, & my silence relative to my affairs proceeded more from an unwillingness to affect your sensibility than any Distrust; I knew you had Friendship enough for me to be afflicted at my affictions, and I did not wish to add to my own sufferings those of my Friend; besides this Consideration I was then in hopes to surmount my Difficulties, and why give you uneasiness on my acct. when I had hopes to arrive safe in Port? Pardon mon cher & soyez certain que personne ne peut vous aimer, ni avoir plus de Confiance dans votre amitié, que moi.—

I receive your professions as I receive everything from you, To thank you for them is a small return & inadequate to my sense of them, yet Thanks is all I can give or express; but believe me they have raised in me sensations which I cannot discribe, & which can only be conceived by such a Soul as yours; you therefore can better judge, than I can tell you, how much I value your Affection, & how much I am obliged to your kindness.

I have found more Indulgence & Proof of Confidence than is common to find in such Cases as mine. I send you inclosed a number of Letters from which I have made Extracts, which I mean to accompagny my Memoire to the Count de Vergennes. I send you the Originals to compare in Case it is required, but I beg you not dispossess yourself of the Originals but return them to me immediately after you have confronted them so as to certify the Truth of them. Pray show the Extracts to the Doctor Mr. Alexander and Mr. Grand, I trust it will give pleasure to them all to see how I am treated. In short my dear Billy I draw a Pleasure from my misfortunes to enjoy, yet it is more exquisite than any I knew in affluence; it is to see my Reputation stand the Shock, and the only Persons who have a Right to complain of me, each one at a Distance from the other, breathing together the same kind sentiments in my Favour.

Inclosed you will find with the Extracts before mentioned my memoire to Mr. de Vergennes written over again & backed by all my Creditors who were at the assembly except one who is in the County & whose sum is small, I beg you to assure the Count that the signatures to my memoir, & the writers of the Letters, with Mr. Grand, (who I suppose will not oppose the Measure) form the majority of what I owe in France. I request you my dear Friend to return me my Answer as early as possible. I am with the warmest affection ever Yours