My old friend is a good deal better; but I, after many days of premonition, from pains in the right side, &c., have had a very smart attack. My constitution is so worn out that it can resist nothing, and cannot recover itself as it once could. It seems to be the prevailing opinion here that the friends of the powers that be are somewhat despondent. Pennsylvania they say has given the most decisive indications of her adherence to Jackson. The dinner, although the military men slunk away from it, was attended by a formidable array of adversaries.

The weather is excessively gloomy, and sheds its malign influence upon my spirits. I can't read, and my old friend's cough is excited by talking; so we sit, and look at the fire together, and once in half an hour some remark is made by one or the other.

Saturday, Jan. 13, 1827.

Your letter of Thursday gives me much relief, although it contains intelligence of a very unpleasant nature. I allude to the publication you mention. I know that such things-to one especially not at all inured to them-are most unpleasant; but I trust that the impudent excuse of the printer will not be entirely thrown away, for it is as true as it is shameless. My good friend, I have long been of the opinion, that we are fast sinking into a state of society the most loathsome that can be presented to the imagination of an honorable man. Things, bad as they are, have not yet reached the lowest deep. If I had health and strength, I think that I would employ a portion of them in an inquiry into the causes that propel us to this wretched state. Why is it that our system has a. uniform tendency to bring forward low and little men, to the exclusion of the more worthy? I have seen the operation of this machine from the beginning. The character of every branch of the Government has degenerated. In point of education and manners, as well as integrity, there has been a frightful deterioration every where. In this opinion I am supported by the experience of one of the most sagacious and observing men, himself contemporary with the present system from the commencement. My dear friend, I cannot express to you the thousandth part of the disgust and chagrin that devour me. When I landed at New-York the complexion of the public journals made me blush for the country. There was a respectable foreigner, my fellow-passenger, and I thought I could see the dismay which he attempted to conceal, at certain matters that passed, as things of course, in one of the first boarding houses in that city. To me, the prospect is as cheerless and desolate as Greenland. Yourself, and one or two others, separated by vast distances and execrable roads, form here and there, as it were, an oasis in the Sahara. My soul is "out of taste," as people say of their mouths after a fever. I dream of the snow-capped Alps, and azure lakes and waterfalls, and villages, and spires of

Switzerland, and I awake to a scene of desolation such as one might look to find in Barbary or upper Asia. But the morale, as the French would say, is worse than the physique and the materiel. I remember well when a member of Congress was respected by others and by himself. But I cannot pursue this theme.

The Government is as you describe it to be. They have nearly monopolized the press; and if the opposition prints lend themselves to their views the cause is hopeless. However, such is the growing conviction of their depravity, that I believe the people will throw them off at the next election. I shall expect your letters. of course, with eagerness. Yours truly, J. R. OF R.

Sunday morning, January 14, 1827. Your letter of Friday is just received. The artifices resorted to are worthy of the tools of such an administration as ours. By this time to-morrow I shall know the result. Be it what it may, it will exercise a very decisive influence over what may remain of my life to come. Success I know cannot elate me, and I hope that defeat will not depress me: but I have taken a new view of life, of public life especially; and if I am not a wiser and a better man for ny last year's experience, you may pronounce me an incorrigible, irreclaimable fool.

Yesterday Mr. Chief Justice paid me a very friendly visit. His manner said more than his words. I am not vain but proud of the distinguished marks of regard which I have received on many occasions from this truly good and great man. Our conversation was interrupted by the unexpected and undesired visit of another person. Yours truly, J. R OF R. Friday, January 19, 1827. Your most welcome letter of Wednesday is just now received. Every syllable in the way of anecdote is gratifying in a high degree.

My first impression was to resign. There were, notwithstanding, obvious and strong objections to this course; my duty to my friends, the giving of a handle to the charges of my enemies that I was the slave of spleen and passion, and many more that I need not specify. There was but one other course left, and that I have taken, not without the decided approbation of my colleague, and many other friends here. I find, too, that it was heartily desired by my enemies that I should throw up my seat. They even propagated a report on Monday, that I had done so in a rage, and left the city. Numerous concurring opinions of men of sense and judgment, who have had no opportunity of consulting together, have reached me, that fortify me in the line of conduct that I have taken. Nothing, then, remains but a calm and dignified submission to the disgrace that has been put upon me [his ejection from the Senate]. It is the best evidence that I can give my friends of the sense which I feel, and will for ever cherish, of their kind and generous support. J. R. OF R.

Saturday, January 20, 1827. "Bore me?" Your letter has become more necessary to me than my breakfast; and it is almost as indispensable for me to say a few words to you upon paper, as soon as I have finished it. It consists of a cup of tea and a cracker, without butter, which I never touch. My constitution is shaken; nerves gone, and digestive powers almost extinct. I look forward to hopeless misery. As to a "firm and dignified" discharge of my duty, I hope that I shall be equal to it, so far as attendance and voting goes. I can't go farther, because I am unable. What I shall do with myself I am at a loss to conjecture. I have already found the solitude of Roanoke insupportable. With worse health, and no better spirits, how can I endure it? But too much of this egotism.

I would give not a little to know the reply of Mrs. B. to the member in question. The tear shed by her eyes for my defeat is more precious in my own than the pearl of Cleopatra. I beseech you not to omit writing whenever you can. I require all the time that you can bestow upon me. Except Mr. M., I am desolate.

Sunday morning, February 11, 1827. I have not written as usual, because I almost made it a matter of conscience to oppress you with my gloom. I have never been more entirely overwhelmed with bad health and spirits. I look forward without hope, and almost without a wish, to recover. What can be more cheerless and desolate than the latter days that are left to me? I am, however, relieved from one apprehension-the fear of surviving all who may care for me. I feel that this can hardly be, for without some almost miraculous change in a worn-out constitution, I shall hardly get through the year. The thoughts of returning here torment and harass me by day and by night. Little do you even know of the character and composition of the House. If I were even able to exert myself, I should never obtain the floor. The speech which I made on the tariff was owing to a waiving of the right of another to speak. I feel that my public life ought to terminate with this session of Congress. These thoughts are for you, and you alone. I have risen from a sleepless bed to give utterance to them.

I saw the V. P. yesterday. He is in good spirits; he is sustained by a powerful passion. For my part, I am far from thinking a seat in the S. very desirable, although, certainly, to be preferred to any other position in this Government. If I could have done it with propriety, I should not have hesitated to retire voluntarily from mine. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 1827. Yesterday the Senate gave no equivocal evidence on behalf of the woollen bill from the other House. My colleague is, I think, more disgusted and wounded than I am. We are bound hand and foot, and the knife is at our throat. There is no help but from the

people through the State Legislatures. We are sold before our faces in open market.

Thursday, Feb. 15, 1827.

The V. P. has pressed me very warmly to take a seat in his carriage, which will travel the direct road by Carter's Ferry. This temptation is a very strong one in my present feeble condition. A pleasant companion, easy stages, and exemption from all the cares of a journey that will bring me to my own door. But then I shall not see you. This consideration would determine me to forego his invitation if I could see you and one or two others without bustle in a quiet way. But I take it that the close of a session of Assembly is (like one in Congress) as the last days of a long voyage.

Among my afflictions and privations, I cannot read. I have absolutely lost all taste for reading of every sort, except the letters of my friends. Books, once a necessary of life, have no longer a single charm for me. How this has happened I know not; but it is so. I should not talk so eternally of myself if I felt at liberty to speak of other people: I do not mean in the way of censure, but in any way. I think I see a great deal more than meets the usual eye; but then I may be mistaken. Of one thing I am certain, that nothing can surpass the disgust of my colleague. His countenance speaks volumes. Indeed I cannot blame him. I know that there is nothing in this thing that, from its length, seems a letter; but I can't help it. Adieu to you both.

Saturday, February 17, 1827. Your last was dated this day week. Yesterday we had no mail in consequence of the storm of Thursday. That storm nearly demolished me. I took a violent cold at the door of the Senate waiting until two hackney coaches could disengage themselves from a jam. I have since been much worse. I hope to get a line from you to-day.

I mentioned to you the V. P.'s invitation to accompany him. You will think me a strange, inconsistent creature, when I tell you that I am at a loss what to do. Home I must go; and yet for me home has no charms. I think of its solitude, which I can no longer relieve by field-sports, or books, and my heart dies within me. Stretched on a sick-bed, alone, desolate, cheerless. I must devise some other plan, and I want to see you and consult you about it. You see what little mercy my querulous selfishness has upon you.

The prospect here is far from brightening. I know others, and abler men than myself, who think differently; but they take counsel of their hopes and wishes. I, who have neither to bias me, can see more plainly, with weaker vision. Not that I am at all indifferent (far from it) to the question of change of the bad and corrupt men at the head of our affairs. I allude to wishes of a different sort.

What you say about the spirit of the times and the state of soci

ety, has" often and over" occurred to me. I want to be at rest; with Gray's prophetess, I cry out "leave me, leave me to repose!" I am almost as well convinced that I shall not live twelve months, as twelve times twelve, and I wish to die in peace. My best love to Mrs. B. God bless you both, my dear friends.

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 1827. I have omitted for some days to bore you with my querulous notes, because I knew that you had better use for your time than to read them. And now, that I have taken up my pen, what shall I say? Still harp upon the old string? My good friend, you will, I am sure, bear with my foolishness. I am incapable of business. I have not been so sensible of the failure of my bodily powers since 1817, when you saw me at Mr. Cunningham's; and in my dreary and desolate condition I naturally turn to you.

My view of things in Richmond coincided with your own, before I knew what your impressions were. I think that I shall make my escape, with the V. P., via Cartersville. It is the very road that I travelled here, and is the obvious way back again.

I shall have again to attend a six hours' sitting to-day. It absolutely murders me. The H. of R. sat late last night. Mr. Rives gained great, and I believe deserved praise. Mr. Archer passed a severe rebuke upon one of his colleagues from beyond the Blue Ridge, who spoke very irreverently, 'tis said, of his native State.

I fear that when we do meet, I shall teaze you to death with my egotism. A man with a tooth-ache thinks only of his fang. I am become the most inert and indolent of creatures. I want to get into port. Nothing would suit me so well as an annuity, and nothing to do. You see how selfish I am. But all my selfishness vanishes when I think of you. God bless you both. Adieu.

Thursday, Feb. 22, 1827. General S. Smith, of Maryland, made a very strong speech yesterday on the colonial trade bill and the report accompanying it. He exposed, without reserve, the ignorance and incapacity of our cabinet, and particularly of the Secretary of State; and pointed out many manifest errors in the bill and report, between which he showed more than one instance of discrepancy. His speech was so much approved that a subscription for its publication was immediately set on foot and filled. I think it will have great effect on the public opinion. I listened to it with great attention, and after he had coucluded, the old gentleman came and thanked me for it. He said that my occasional nods of assent to what he said was a great support to him, and enabled him to get through with what he had to say with more animation and effect than he had anticipated. The applause bestowed upon him by very many members of the Senate, seemed to warm the old man's heart.