Discusses politics and report of Mr. Chesnut that the Democratic Party in South Carolina would unquestionably support Pinckney; the late convention at New York confided that "unless this point can be gained...we [the Federalists] shall again miscarry;" no times have been more perilous than the present because of the internal changes wrought "by a party always hostile to our constitution" and because of even greater external threats; if the present foreign policy with France is continued, the United States "will soon become an empty name" and will no longer be independent; has spent his time on agricultural pursuits instead of professional duty, and scarcely ever reads a newspaper, but the nation's troubles are too serious for him to continue to do so; the Virginia Federalists may win three or four seats in the next Congress, but there is no hope for the presidential election. Original is located in the Pinckney Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.