I will close my budget of "documents" as "_McDonough_" would call them, for
the present. When I open it again, the information to be drawn forth will
be even more definite than that just given, and possibly, even still less
palatable to Mr. Reed. He will pardon me for troubling him with two
questions: Among the papers left by your grandfather, did you ever come
across a copy of a very remarkable correspondence had between that person
and General Anthony Wayne in 1781? If yea, why have you withheld it from
publication? Although _you_ can answer this last question, I cannot; but I
will tell you, Mr. Reed, what I can do: I can lay my hands upon a copy of
the same correspondence, and I propose to entertain the readers of the
Journal with a few selections, upon some not very distant occasion.
In Mr. Reed's selection of a _period of time_ to be illustrated by the
labors of "McDonough," it appears to me he has been unfortunate. If he had
gone further back, he might have recounted some of the _real_ exploits of
his grandfather, and spared _me_ the labor which his deficiencies have
compelled me to undertake. If he had come a little further down, he might
have dilated upon the performances of his father, a Recorder of the city of
Philadelphia, and Treasurer and Secretary of the University of
Pennsylvania. _That_ labor, also, I fear, will devolve upon me.