John Blair letter to John Hatley Norton, 1794 March 21

John Blair letter to John Hatley Norton, 1794 March 21

John Blair, Williamsburg, Virginia, letter to John Hatley Norton, Winchester, Virginia, dated March 21, 1794. Blair writes concerning a debt owed to his father's estate by John Norton & Sons and to request the return of the volumes (Our Divine Saviour's Sermon on the Mount) written by his uncle, Commissary James Blair, borrowed by Mrs. Norton.

MS1936.3.2271
Folder 220

Ik on paper

[Page 1]

Enfield - March 21^st- 1794_

Dear Sir,

Some years ago I wrote you a letter inclosing
a copy of an account between you & my father's estate, & received from
you an answer consenting to pay it, if I would deduct the charge
of interest during the war. In a subsequent letter, I told you, that
altho I could see no reason for the deduction in a case between two
citizens of the same country, & was at a loss to discover upon what
principle a debt subsisting betwee two persons of the same State, &
who could therefore have never been in a hostile relation to each
other, ought to be affected by a war between their common country
& another State, & altho I have myself paid interest in the same
situation, yet if this remission has been the general practice, & if you
yourself have admited the rule in your several negotiations, I would
without hesitation agree to close with your proposal - Since writing
this last letter a considerable time has elapsed without my hearing
any thing farther from you, from which I conclude that the
letter by some mischance has never come to your hands - Being here
so much nearer to your residence, than when at home, & having on that
account a better chance of a safe conveyance, I write now to repeat what
I then said -

Before you left W^mburg I had lent to M^rs Norton, my
uncle M^r. Commissary Blair's 4 volumes of sermons, which have not
been returned - If they be still in your house, & any good opportunity
should offer of sending them to this place, or to W^msburg, You will oblige
me by embracing it - With sincere wishes for your health & prosperity,
I am, dear Sir,
Your friend & servant
John Blair

[Pages 2 and 3, blank]

[Page 4]

John Hatley Norton Esq^r.
Winchester

W^msg 21. March 1794
Jn^o Blair