problematicalevent，isnownear，&certain，&determinedinthemindofeveryman。Iexpectedtohaveseensomejustificationofarmingonepartofthesocietyagainstanother；ofdeclaringacivilwarthemomentbeforethemeetingofthatbodywhichhasthesolerightofdeclaringwar；ofbeingsopatientofthekicks&scoffsofourenemies，&risingatafeatheragainstourfriends；ofaddingamilliontothepublicdebt&deridinguswithrecommendationstopayitifwecan&c。，&c。Butthepartofthespeechwhichwastobetakenasajustificationofthearmament，remindedmeofparsonSaunders’demonstrationwhyminusintominusmakeplus。AfteraparcelofshredsofstufffromAesop’sfables，andTomThumb，hejumpsallatonceintohisErgo，minusmultipliedintominusmakeplus。Justsothe15，000menenterafterthefables，inthespeech——
However，thetimeiscomingwhenweshallfetchuptheleewayofourvessel。Thechangesinyourhouse，Isee，aregoingonforthebetter，andeventheAugeanherdoveryourheadsareslowlypurgingofftheirimpurities。Holdonthen，mydearfriend，thatwemaynotshipwreckinthemeanwhile。Idonotsee，inthemindsofthosewithwhomIconverse，agreaterafflictionthanthefearofyourretirement；butthismustnotbe，unlesstoamoresplendid&amoreefficaciouspost。ThereIshouldrejoicetoseeyou；IhopeImaysay，Ishallrejoicetoseeyou。Ihavelonghadmuchinmymindtosaytoyouonthatsubject。Butdoubledelicacieshavekeptmesilent。Ioughtperhapstosay，whileIwouldnotgiveupmyownretirementfortheempireoftheuniverse，howIcanjustifywishingonewhosehappinesssIhavesomuchatheartasyours，totakethefrontofthebattlewhichisfightingformysecurity。Thiswouldbeeasyenoughtobedone，butnotattheheelofalengthyepistle。
Letusquitthis，andturntothefineweatherwearebaskingin。Wehavehadoneofourtropicalwinters。Onceonlyasnowof3。
inchesdeep，whichwentoffthenextday，andneverasmuchiceaswouldhavecooledabottleofwine。Andwehavenowbutamonthtogothroughofwinterweather。ForFebruaryalwaysgivesusagoodsampleofthespringofwhichitistheharbinger。Irecollectnosmallnewsinterestingtoyou。Youwillhaveheard，Isuppose，thatWilsonNicholashasboughtCarr’sCarrsgroveandHarvey’sbarracks。
Irejoiceintheprosperityofavirtuousman，andhopehisprosperitywillnottainthisvirtue。PresentmerespectfullytoMrs。Madison，andprayhertokeepyouwhereyouareforherownsatisfactionandthepublicgood；andacceptthecordialaffectionsofall。Adieu。