I am exceedingly obliged to you my dear Friend for the Horses which you sent me by Tincker:1 & am only afraid, from their answering my Purpose so well, that Mrs: Jay has sustained much inconvenience in parting with them. When you assure me that such is not the Case, we will drive them with more Pleasure. That Circumstance alone is wanting to make them perfectly to my Mind. They arrived in very good order, & shall be always taken Care of; were it for no other Reason than that they were once yours.

Our Assembly are to adjourn to day; & may say with the repenting Sinners, that they have done those Things they ought not to have done, & left undone what they should have done. If however it is any Comfort to them, they will be kept in Countenance by most of the Legislatures on the Continent.

But tho’ they might have done more good, & less evil; yet I can plainly perceive an alteration for the better. They evinced a Disposition to be honest; & to place the Means within their Reach, I effected at last one Point which I had long labour’d in vain. I prevailed on them to stop the importation of Negroes at least till they are out of Debt. You see I take the Merit of this Business to myself; I do so, because I have long had a large Share in attempting to accomplish this Matter, & am considered here as the Father of it—The Motion however was made by my Brother; it met with much opposition, & we carried it at first but by 2; but the opposition tho’ continued thro’ every Stage was at last very feeble indeed—2 We have chosen Delegates to the Constitutional Convention. My Brother, Genl: Pinckney, Major Butler, & C: Pinckney, with Mr. Laurens were nominated. They will all attend but the last. He is precluded by the want of Health.3 Our domestic appointments do Us credit. But yet our Government has been so amazingly relaxed, that it will be as difficult to restore it to vigor, as it would be to restore the discipline of a licentious Army. Time, Vigilance, Perseverance, & a readiness to embrace every opportunity which presents its-self, to promote the returns of Virtue, will at last, accomplish the Business.

I thank you for the Copy of Mr: Adams’s Letter.4 It was not wanted to convince me of your Integrity. I have known you from the earliest Period of your Political Life; and I have seen too many Proofs of your inflexible Attachment to Justice, & your sacred Regard to Truth, to be moved from my good Opinion of you, by the scurrilous Reflections of an impudent, & thankless Boy. But others, may have formed a less worthy Opinion; in this Part of the World however, such an Opinion shall not take Root. Indeed the Youth is censured for his Ingratitude, where-ever the Subject is mentioned. It is truly my Friend, a melancholy Consideration, that such Returns as you have experienced, are too frequently made for the Kindest Action. But whilst they afford a disagreeable Picture of Human Nature, they heighten the Merit of our Conduct, by giving to Virtue no other Reward, than the Reflection; of having done well, from the most upright & dis-interested Motives—This Consolation will never leave you: and so long as it remains, you will preserve the Friendship of those, whose Esteem you value the most. Mrs. Rutledge5 unites her best Wishes to mine for Mrs: Jay’s Health, & Happiness; for yours & that of every part of your Family: Our Sons continue to remember each other—Adieu my dear Friend & believe to be such to you for ever.