tained
by contrary winds, until the 8th of October. On that day, and the 9th,
I crossed over to Cowes, where I had engaged the Clermont, Capt. Colley,
to touch for me. She did so; but here again we were detained by contrary
winds, until the 22nd, when we embarked, and landed at Norfolk on the
23rd of November. On my way home, I passed some days at Eppington, in
Chesterfield, the residence of my friend and connection, Mr. Eppes; and,
while there, I received a letter from the President, General Washington,
by express, covering an appointment to be Secretary of State. [See
Appendix, note H.] I received it with real regret. My wish had been
to return to Paris, where I had left my household establishment, as
if there myself, and to see the end of the Revolution, which, I then
thought, would be certainly and happily closed in less than a year. I
then meant to return home, to withdraw from political life, into which
I had been impressed by the circumstances of the times, to sink into
the bosom of my family and friends, and devote myself to studies more
congenial to my mind. In my answer of December 15th, I expressed these
dispositions candidly to the President, and my preference of a return to
Paris; but assured him, that if it was believed I could be more useful
in the administration of the government, I would sacrifice my own
inclinations without hesitation, and repair to that destination: this I
left to his decision. I arrived at Monticello on the 23rd of December,
where I received a second letter from the President, expressing his
continued wish, that I should take my station there, but leaving
me still at liberty to continue in my former office, if I could not
reconcile myself to that now proposed. This silenced my reluctance, and
I accepted the new appointment.

In the interval of my stay at home, my eldest daughter had been happily
married to the eldest son of the Tuckahoe branch of Randolphs, a young
gentleman of genius, science, and honorable mind, who afterwards filled
a dignified station in the General Government, and the most dignified
in his own State. I left Monticello on the 1st of March, 1790, for New
York. At Philadelphia I called on the venerable and beloved Franklin.
He was then on the bed of sickness from which he never rose. My recent
return from a country in which he had left so many friends, and the
perilous convulsions to which they had been exposed, revived all his
anxieties to know what part they had