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some of my warmest feelings, as the friendships of my youth are those which adhere closest to me, and in which I most confide. My principal happiness is now in the retrospect of life.
I thank you for your notes of your operations on the Pennsyl vania boundary. I am in hopes that from yourself, Madison, Rittenhouse or Hutchings, I shall receive a chart of the line as actually run. It will be a great present to me. I think Hutch- ings promised to send it to me. I have been much pleased to hear you had it in contemplation, to endeavor to establish Ritten house in our college. This would be an immense acquisition, and would draw youth to it from every part of the continent. You will do much more honor to our society, on reviving it, by placing him at its head, than so useless a member as I should be. I have been so long diverted from this my favorite line, and that, too, without acquiring an attachment to my adopted one, that I am become a mongrel, of no decided order, unowned by any, and incapable of serving any. I should feel myself out of my true place too, to stand before MoLnrg. But why withdraw yourself? You have more zeal, more application, and more constant attention to the subjects proper to the society, and can, therefore, serve them best.
The affair of the Emperor and Dutch is settled, though not signed. The particulars have not yet transpired. That of the Bavarian exchange is dropped, and his views on Venice defeated. The alliance of Russia with Venice, to prevent his designs in that quarter, and that of the Hanoverian Elector with the King of Prussia and other members of the Germanic body, to prevent his acquisition of Bavaria, leave him in a solitary situation. In truth, he has lost much reputation by his late maneuvres. He is a restless, ambitious character, aiming at every thing, persevering in nothing, taking up designs without calculating the force which will be opposed to him, and dropping them on the appearance of firm opposition. He has some just views, and much activity. The only quarter in which the peace of Europe seems at present capa ble of being disturbed, is on that of the Porte. It is believed that the Emperor and Empress have schemes in contemplation, for driving the Turks out of Europe. Were this with a view to re establish the native Greeks in the sovereignty of their ow r n coun try, I could wish them success, and to see driven from that delight ful country a set of barbarians, with whom an opposition to all science is an article of religion. The modern Greek is not yet so far departed from its antient model, but that we might still hope to see the language of Homer and Demosthenes flow with purity, from the lips of a free and ingenious people. But these powers VOL. i. 37
