Mount Vernon, October 14, 1791.  In this letter he begins by saying he is glad of the intimation given of the intentions of the minister of France [not stated what they are], and pleased though distressed at the information that the 24th instant is the day for the meeting of Congress.  He had supposed it to be the 31st, and intended to spend Monday and possibly Tuesday in Georgetown; but now he would endeavor to reach Bladensburg on Monday night and lose no time afterwards in pursuing his journey onward to Philadelphia, as scarce any time would be left to him for preparing his communications when the session opened, if the members were punctual in attending.  This makes it the more necessary, he says, that Mr. Lear should look with accuracy, and without delay, into his speeches and the laws of the past sessions; that all might be at hand for his own review and consideration.  And he requests Mr. Lear, should anything else have occurred to him as fit for recommendation or communication in his speech to Congress, to note it, that it might be ready for his consideration in case it should not be among his own memorandums.  The conclusion is in his usually cordial way.

This session of Congress passed over.  It was the long one, and ran into May 1792.  I find in the collection only three letters to Mr. Lear dated in that year.  The first is from Mount Vernon, July 30, ’92, soon after he had left Philadelphia, and is familiarly descriptive of his journey homewards.  His horses plagued him a good deal, he says, and the sick mare, owing to a dose of physic administered the night he reached Chester, was so much weakened as to be unable to carry Austin [one of the postilions] further than the Susquehannah; had to be led thence to Hartford, where she was left, and two days afterwards, “gave up the ghost.”  As he travelled on, he heard great complaints of the Hessian fly, and of rust or mildew in the wheat, and believed that the damage would be great in some places; but that more was said than the case warranted, and on the whole the crops would be abundant.  On arriving in Georgetown, he found many well-conceived plans for the public buildings in the new city, and remarks that it was a pleasure to him to find in our new country so much architectural ability displayed.  Concludes, “I am your affectionate friend, G.W.”

The second is dated Mount Vernon, September 21, ’92.  He tells Mr. Lear that he had written him but one letter since arriving at Mount Vernon, but was on the eve of writing a second when his of the 5th of August got to hand, with such information of his movements (Mr. Lear having been away from Philadelphia) as might now enable him to direct a letter to him without danger of its “reverberating back.”  He thanks him for the information afforded in his letter of the 5th of August and in another of the 21st of July; says he has nothing agreeable of a domestic nature to relate.  Poor George [the General is here supposed to allude to Mr. George Lewis, one of his nephews,