“I shewed my father [then, probably, living in Kentucky] that part of your letter which respects the western country. He says he will render you every service of the kind you mention which is within his power with a great deal of pleasure. He says, though, that Mr. Humphrey Marshall, a cousin and brother of mine,[40] is better acquainted with the lands and would be better enabled to choose for your advantage than he would. If, however, you wish rather to depend on my father I presume he may avail himself of the knowledge of his son-in-law. I do not know what to say to your scheme of selling out. If you can execute it you will have made a very capital sum; if you can retain your lands you will be poor during life unless you remove to the western country, but you will have secured for posterity an immense fortune. I should prefer the selling business, and if you adopt it I think you have fixed on a very proper price. “Adieu. May you be very happy is the wish of your J. MARSHALL.” * * * * * In another letter to Monroe, while the latter was Madison’s Secretary of State, dated Richmond, June 25, 1812, just as the war was beginning, he says:-- “On my return to-day from my farm, where I pass a considerable portion of my time in _laborious relaxation_, I found a copy of the message of the President, of the 1st inst., accompanied by the report of the Committee of Foreign Relations and the declaration of war against Britain, under cover from you. “Permit me to subjoin to my thanks for this mark of your attention my fervent wish that this momentous measure may, in its operation on the interest and honor of our country, disappoint only its enemies. “Whether my prayer be heard or not, I shall remain with respectful esteem, “Your obedient servant, “J. MARSHALL.” * * * * * When Marshall went to France as envoy in 1797, he wrote several long and interesting letters to Washington, acquainting him with whatever foreign intelligence might interest him.[41] The following passages from the first letter, a very long one, will show the interest of these papers, and the exactness of the information they convey:-- “THE HAGUE, 15th Sept., 1797. “DEAR SIR,--The flattering evidences I have received of your favorable opinion, which have made on my mind an impression only to wear out with my being, added to a conviction that you must feel a deep interest in all that concerns a country to whose service you have devoted so large a portion of your life, induce me to offer you such occasional communications as, while in Europe, I may be enabled to make, and induce a hope that the offer will not be deemed an unacceptable or unwelcome intrusion.