extracted in his own words from the Evangelists, and leaving out every
thing relative to his personal history and character. It would be short
and precious. With a view to do this for my own satisfaction, I had sent
to Philadelphia to get two Testaments (Greek) of the same edition, and
two English, with a design to cut out the morsels of morality, and paste
them on the leaves of a book, in the manner you describe as having been
pursued in forming your Harmony. But I shall now get the thing done by
better hands.

I very early saw that Louisiana was indeed a speck in our horizon, which
was to burst in a tornado; and the public are un-apprized how near this
catastrophe was. Nothing but a frank and friendly developement of causes
and effects on our part, and good sense enough in Bonaparte to see that
the train was unavoidable, and would change the face of the world, saved
us from that storm. I did not expect he would yield till a war took
place between France and England, and my hope was to palliate and
endure, if Messrs. Ross, Morris, &c. did not force a premature rupture
until that event. I believed the event not very distant, but acknowledge
it came on sooner than I had expected. Whether, however, the good sense
of Bonaparte might not see the course predicted to be necessary and
unavoidable, even before a war should be imminent, was a chance which
we thought it our duty to try: but the immediate prospect of rupture
brought the case to immediate decision. The denouement has been happy:
and I confess I look to this duplication of area for the extending a
government so free and economical as ours, as a great achievement to
the mass of happiness which is to ensue. Whether we remain in one
confederacy, or form into Atlantic and Mississippi confederacies, I
believe not very important to the happiness of either part. Those of
the western confederacy will be as much our children and descendants
as those of the eastern, and I feel myself as much identified with