James Monroe, Richmond, to [?], 1809 May 4

Richmond May 4. 1809.
My dear Sir
The opportunity afforded me by Mr Purviance is too favorable to be permitted to escape without availing myself of it to inform you that I intend to remove in a few weeks to my estate in Albemarle near Milton, for the summer; if not permanently, tho the latter is more probable. I had contemplated the resumption of my station at the bar here, which had been so long vacant & indeed never occupied but for a moment in the intervals of publick employment, and with that view I have been a spectator since my return home to gather such information of its state & profits, as to make me to decide with advantage. I find however so little encouragment, from the organization of the courts, & the absence the profession at present would subject me to, & the loss incident to it, in my other concerns, that for the present at least I shall decline it. Your future letters I have to request that you will have the goodness to address to me as above.
I should have written you before this in reply to your last favor, had I not been frequently absent, by the attention due to my private affairs in other quarters, & had not the scene presented by our political vibrations, been of so fleeting a nature as scarcely to afford ground for any rational political calculation. I was always of opinion, had our govt. ratified the treaty wh. it rejected, that we shod. not have had to complain of the British orders, or the French decrees. An adjustment with Engld. wod. have securd as what we wanted of that govt, & prevented France from refusing what we had a right to demand. I shod. not be surprised if we shod. get into some such state, after committing many blunders, & suffering much misfortune. I hasard this however in confidence; but shod. the expectation be verified, it justifies fully the above remark.
My house in Albemarle merits rather the appellation of a Cabbin than a Cottage; but shod. you ever visit Virga. I shall be happy to see you at it, as I always shall be to hear from you, being with great respect & sincere regard very truly yours
Jas Monroe