53 My Dear Sir, New York, 15th May, 1806. I am just returned from Sallisbury Mills, my brother's place, & hasten to reply to your letters. I delivered the enclosures, but our friend has little time for reading anything but Hales, Puffendorff, &C. Law Reports he is at the head of his profession, & daily gaining ground in the estimation of people of all ranks & all parties. The Co. Down pamphlet is really amusing, & to me, who knows all the characters, particularly so, tho' I don't feel the same interest in Irish Election affairs as formerly, yet I rejoice in the discomfiture of the Pres- byterian Lord & his Revd. supporters. I believe I formerly gave you a description of my brother's farm, Mills, &C. &C. The improvements since then have been very great. He will have the in handsomest farm in the County, has built a number of houses, all of which are tenanted, & in the village you may see carried on by different people, shop-keeping, farming, currying, shoe-making, weaving, spinning, smith's work coopering, milling of every description, fulling, & extensively, machinery for wool-carding, Richard having too much to attend to has set his store to our brother-in-law, James Parks, for whom he is building a house, & who has removed there, where, if he lives, I dare venture to say, in the course of seven years, he will have saved more money than he would have saved in a large & expensive city, where the rent of a common house is more than is exhibited in John Brown's Rent-roll for the Marquis of Donegall's House, One of the grandest sights human imagination can conceive occurred in the neighb ourhood of Sallisbury a few nights since. There is a tremendous mountain, the base of which is about a mile from the Mills. The trees on the summit of this mountain for at least a mile in extent, & in a semi-circular direction, took fire & blazed with inconceivable velocity. The night was dark & the thunder rolled with a violence unknown in Europe, when, suddenly, the moon broke out of the clouds in all its brightness. The hemisphere was instantly as clear as you can conceive, & the scene beggared description. One of Richard's neighbours being alarme? tho' without cause, for his "fences", employer men to cut down a number of trees to stop the conflagrat- ion, which was effectually done by a heavy rain. If I have time, I intend writing to my friend, Mr, Wm. Tenant, but whether I do or not, I wish you would urge him to write to his Attorney, Mr. Vm. Bailie to desist from proceeding further against John Shaw, his brother- in-law. Shaw has a large family, & tho' he has been unfortunate, is honest, but can do nothing for himself or his family unless he get a discharge. for the debt due by him to Nm. Tennant, which at anti rate he is totally unable to pay. I wrote sometime since to Mr. Jos. Stevenson to apply to the Swans for some relief for their brother Robert. He is in a state of most ab ject pov- erty. I have him at present painting my house. He makes but a so so painter, but is willing to do anything for a support, & a feeling man in that trade gave him what instruction he was capable of receiving. As his brothers have not done anything, tho' they promised it, we think of raising money to pay his passage home, as we do not think the present enlightened & liberal ad- ministration would suffer a helpless, broken-down old man to be prosecuted for what is past. Do speak to Mr. Stevenson about this matter, & to the Swans also. The public papers will inform you we have been badly treated by cruisers off our harbour. We trust the wisdom of your Government will grant immediate redress. But the Editor of the Belfast paper knows nothing of the state of politics here when he talks of a French party. There is no such party here. If any predilection to an European power exists, it is rather in favour of