I received but a few Days since your Favour of Nov. 30. 1787. in which you continue to urge me to finish the Memoirs. My three Years of Service will expire in October, when a new President must be chosen; and I had the Project of retiring then to my Grandson’s Villa where I might be free from the Interruption of Visits, in order to compleat that Work for your Satisfaction; for in this City my Time is so cut to pieces by Friends and Strangers, that I have sometimes envied the Prisoners in the Bastille. But considering now the little Remnant of Life I have left, the Accidents that may happen between this and October, and your earnest Desire, I have come to a Resolution to proceed in that Work tomorrow, and continue at it daily till finished, which if my Health permits, may be in the Course of the ensuing Summer. As it goes on I will have a Copy made for you, and you may expect to receive a Part by the next Pacquet.

It is very possible as you suppose, that all the Articles of the propos’d new Government will not remain unchanged after the first Meeting of the new Congress. I am of Opinion with you that the two Chambers were not necessary, and I dislik’d some other Articles that are in, and wish’d for some that are not in the propos’d Plan; I nevertheless hope it may be adopted, tho’ I shall have nothing to do with the Execution of it, being determined to quit all public Business with my present Employment. At 83 one certainly has a Right to ambition Repose.

We are not ignorant that the Duties paid at the Customhouse on the Importation of Foreign Goods are finally reimburs’d by the Consumer, but we impose them as the easiest Way of levying a Tax from those Consumers. If our new Country were as closely inhabited as your old one, we might without much Difficulty collect a Land Tax that would be sufficient for all purposes. But where Farms are at 5 or 6 Miles distant from each other, as they are in a great part of our Country, the going of the Collectors from House to House to demand the Taxes, and being oblig’d to call more than once for the same Tax, makes the Trouble of Collecting in many Cases exceed the Value of the Sums collected. Things that are practicable in one Country, are not always so in another, where Circumstances differ. Our Duties however are generally so small as to give little Temptation to smuggling.

I am glad to hear that my quondam Femme is so well married. Two Years Widowhood was sufficient for Decency, after I was departed to another World, and as much as I had any right to expect.

Allow me to say to your good Wife and amiable Daughter that I still love them dearly. Temple is at his Terre. Benjamin presents his Respects, and joins with me in best Wishes for the whole Family. Believe me ever, my dear Friend, Yours most affectionately