10th Month, 15th and 16th,

I was employed in
business; and having an opportunity, by a vessel
which was ready for sailing, I wrote to my family.
The next day I spent an hour or two in Doctor
R.'s family. The Doctor, although advanced in
years, is still very active in business; and his wife,
who is an elderly woman, continues to be very
active in her family. I found them amidst a nu-
merous group of promising children; some of
whom are arrived at years of maturity. The con-
versation I had with the Doctor was interesting,
he having been intimately acquainted with many
of the leading characters in the Revolution, par-
ticularly with General Washington, and the Presi-
dent, T. Jefferson

. As Doctor R. had constantly
been a warm advocate for the abolition of Negro
slavery, he sometimes endeavoured to introduce
the subject in conversation with the General; but
always found him extremely backward at saying
any thing on these occasions, as if conscious of the
cruelty of the practice, although he was deeply in-
volved in it. Though a man of great character
and talents in many respects, yet the detention of
his Negro slaves in bondage during his life, will
always be a shade to his virtues. Yet it is but
justice to notice that, by will, he provided for the
liberation of his slaves, who in course became free-
men at his death.