“Dear Sir— By your reply of the 18th. instant to my note of the 17th. I am led to conclude that you received my communication in a manner altogether unintended by me, and that there may be no misunderstanding between us, and that you may be satisfied that I did not intend, and that I do not now intend any thing, only upon the principles of the strictest integrity and uprightness before God, and do as I would be done unto. I will state that I have become embarrassed in my operations to a certain extent, and partly from a presentation of notes, which you, as my Agent, had given for lands purchased in the Eastern States, they having been sent to me. I have been obliged to cash them, and having no returns from you to meet those demands, or even the trifling expences of your outfit— it has placed me in rather an unpleasant situation, and having a considerable amount of your Scrip on hand. enough as I supposed, to counterbalance the debts due you, and leave a balance in my favor, to some extent even if it were small, and as I was pressed for funds from the causes above mentioned as well as others, I had hoped it would be convenient for you to lend me some assistance at the present time, and this was the reason why I sent a Messenger to you as I did. [HC 4:499] And now Sir, that we may have no misunderstanding in this matter I think we had better have a Settlement, and if I am owing you, I will pay you as soon as I can, and if you owe me, I shall only expect the same in return, for it is an old and trite maxim, that short reckonings make long friends. With this view of the matter I would request you to call as soon as you possibly can make it convenient and compare accounts, so that all things may be understood most perfectly between us in future time, and that all occasion for unpleasant feelings, if any such there be, may be entirely obliterated.—