Mount Vernon, January 15, 1799.
Dear Sir: You would oblige me by forwarding the enclosed letters to their respective Addresses, by such opportunities as you may think safest and best; and if you should hear of their miscarriage (by Capture of the Vessel) that you would be so good as to inform me thereof. I am etc.49
[Note:From a photostat of the original in the Bibliothèque Municipale, Nantes, France. It is indorsed by Pickering: "With one letter to Mr. Murray and one to Lafayette, to be forwarded." ]