In my letter of yesterday I said nothing of your son. He is well, and growing as you could wish. If I can see without prejudice, there never was a finer boy.
Of yourself I have a good deal to say; more than I can find time to write, and some things which cannot be written. Except the little practical knowledge which you may have gained by mingling with your committee-men, &c., your summer and autumn have, I perceive, been lost—lost, I mean, as to literary acquirements. From your companions, I presume, little is to be gained save the pastime of a social hour. Yet time goes on, and you have much to do.
To the execution of any project, however, health is a sine qua non. Whether you can ever enjoy it in Charleston or on Sullivan's Island has become a problem in my mind. I was quite shocked with your wan appearance when I first met you last spring. How different from that which you took hence the fall preceding. With every advantage attainable in your climate, you have scarcely been free from fever during the season. This cannot fail to debilitate both mind and body. If these hazards are to be annually encountered with similar effects, and worse may be apprehended, it is a price far beyond the value of any benefits which Charleston can offer. The mountains, a more Northern latitude, or the grave, must be your refuge. Pray think of these things. If I should not go to South Carolina this fall, nor you come hither, let us meet in Washington next winter. After the rising of your legislature, you may find time for that journey. But I should prefer to see you here immediately after your election, if there be time for your return before the session of the legislature. Your health must require this change. Here you may freeze out all your "miasmata" and surplus bile in ten days, and go to Columbia with nerves well strung and blood well purified.
My solicitude for your frequent appearance in courts is no way diminished. The applause which I heard bestowed upon you sunk into my heart. I could distinguish that which you merited from the fulsome eulogy which was uttered through politeness. Your talent for writing is enviable, and, with cultivation, will be unrivalled (nothing without cultivation, remember). No one wishes so ardently as I do, not even you, that these advantages should be improved. But these considerations are unimportant compared with those which regard your health.
If you should leave Charleston, give special orders about your letters, for I may write what I should wish no one but you to see. Affectionately adieu.
A. BURR.
TO JOSEPH ALSTON.
New-York, November 5, 1802.
The cold weather of the last ten days has had a happy effect on Theodosia. She is so far restored that I can with confidence assure you she will return in health. The boy, too, grows fat and rosy with the frost. They have taken passage in the brig Enterprise, Captain Tombs, the same with whom we came last June. She will have the control of the cabin, and will be perfectly well accommodated. I regret she will sail so soon (the 12th), as well because I cannot attend her as that I could have wished her health and that of the boy to have been still more confirmed. Yet I cannot any longer resist her impatience. You must not delay your journey to Columbia in expectation of her arrival. It is important that you be on the ground the first day, and it is to be desired that you could be there two or three days before the commencement of the session. If you should be gone, she projects to follow you, of which I advise you, that you may leave your directions. When you shall see her and son, you will not regret this five months' separation. I rejoice that you are to meet Major Pinckney on the floor of your assembly. "The Citizen" (Cheetham and Denniston's), in publishing a list of members chosen in Charleston and its vicinity, omitted your name; but took care to add, by way of extract from a pretended letter, that the Alstons were of no consideration or influence in South Carolina. There is no bound to the malice of these people. The conspiracy was formed last winter at Washington. A little reflection will indicate to you the description of men, the motives, and the object of this combination.
Apologize for me to Ch. Marshall that I do not fulfil my engagement to accompany him from Charleston to Washington. I hope you will bring him with you.