I would have wanted with all my heart to be useful to Monsieur Gouverneur Morris, especially in the first few days after his arrival, when doubtless he had more need of company. Now he has a crowd of acquaintances, and he is flying with his own wings, but I was in bed, very ill from the effects of a fall I had in leaving Madame Helvétius's, and besides I received your letter from December 10 only yesterday, although it has been close to three weeks that M. Morris is in Paris. Having known from my brother-in-law, the director of the artillery in Le Havre, who had seen him during his passage, that he was bringing me letters, and having learned his address, I dragged myself to his house without finding him. I was unable to meet him until Thursday at dinner at Madame la Duchesse d'Enville's, and with his permission I sent yesterday to find my package. I am all the more upset not to have received it earlier, since the opportunity to send you this letter does not extend beyond today, and I can barely write you anything but the reception of your letter.

M. Morris, by the way, seemed quite likable, very learned and possessing good judgement, and I will do all I can to see frequently a man who knows you and whom you like.

We are all overjoyed by the return of your health; the news that we had had, and especially the alteration of your beautiful handwriting, had greatly worried us. Our health, aside from your absence, which is a great and incurable illness for us, is fairly good; my children assure you of their respects, and their good mother embraces you tenderly. As I write to you, she is in the corner at the fire, working on a purse which she will send you via M. Saugrain, who brought me your letter of Oct. 24, and whom we have seen since with great pleasure. He only speaks of you, and the kindnesses you lavished on him, with tears in his eyes. This young man is quite interesting, and will certainly make a good American.

I thank you for the work to which you are putting your leisure time; there is nothing that I wish for and expect with as much impatience. Whatever fear I have to trouble you, I will never cease to press you on this point, and you are going to say once again that I am unbearable in reading the following remark: in October, you write to Monsieur the Duc de la Rochefoucauld and to me that you are up to your 50th year in your memoirs, and you inform him on December 10 that you are still working and that you have reached your 50th year. M. Jefferson will go next summer to America, and he should come back after the September equinox. I beg you that he not return without Monsieur Franklin from his birth up to 1789.

I congratulate you on the good state of your affairs, and I have no doubt that they will improve to a very high degree, but I cannot stomach the high chamber and the possibility of remaining in office for life presiding over the Congress for life. If by a new law, this position was determined to be for life, you would have a stadtholder, soon a king, etc. A big step towards this is to be able to remain in office for life.

Our affairs are far from being as satisfying as yours; however, they seem to proceed for the better. Our Estates General are convoked for April 27. I don't think it possible that they could occur so soon; the elections are not yet begun, not even those of the electors. The general wish is for the best, and there are rays of light, but the small number of those who believe their interest lies in the opposition, those are quite rich, quite strong, and quite powerful, while he who should and seems to want to support the suffering party is so weak! In the middle of the current chaos, nobody dares give orders with the certainty that they will be executed. The interests and the opinion of the military are so divided that it appears neutral, although the largest number is inclined towards the people. In the innumerable multitude of writings, one cannot read a single one in the small number of those which have been written against the people; almost all of them are in their favor and good, as the people are so clearly right. You will receive one of the most striking, that of M. Target, a lawyer who belongs to the Académie Française, if it can leave at the same time as this letter.

Your writing, entirely founded on the Gospels, on the difficulty of establishing a good constitution, even when God intervenes, has greatly edified me; it has been translated and printed in Paris.

Aside from our political misfortunes, we have had, like you, physical misfortunes: the hail last summer, and the excessive cold this winter. Réaumur's thermometer descended below 18 degrees, and the thaw caused the greatest damage. The beautiful bridge in Tours, newer than the one in Neuilly and just as beautiful, was swept away; the floods of the Loire and the Rhine were terrible. We have been treated like spoiled children in Paris, the ice melted peacefully, there has been the most beautiful sunshine in the world, and the river did not overflow its banks. Everywhere in the kingdom, production has suffered little, the wheat fields are very beautiful, the olive trees and even the fig trees have been saved. Very tender plants did not freeze, but the carrots, which have never frozen, all perished. Seeds costs 14 the liter; you would give us great pleasure by sending some, for, as this plant will only seed after the first two years, we will not have any next year.

Misery has been widespread, but charity has been abundant, and I hope that the service done by potatoes will help them to be generally adopted. Several priests in Paris, notably the one at Ste. Marguerite, who has a large quantity of poor, fed them very well at 2 sous a head, providing a soup sufficient for 40, made with two bushels of peeled potatoes reduced to a purée, 12 bushels of bread, a quarter of a bushel of onions, a half-pound of fat, the same quantity of salt and 30 pints of water, contained in a kettle put into an oven; only a very small quantity of wood is needed to cook it, and the charcoal produced continues to heat for 24 hours.

In the next few days I will deliver music and songs to Madame Brillon. We will try to translate the fifth for her in verse; it is quite fitting that she should enjoy the first American productions of this genre.

Please give my respects to Monsieur and Madame Bache, my affections to Benjamin; to all your grandchildren, to all those who are close to you, but above all to you, to whom I am entirely devoted for life!