“ be my apology. M ^r. Edward Livingston brought an action against me for having removed his intrusion on the beach of the river Missisipi opposite N. Orleans. at the request of my counsel I made a statement of the facts of the case and of the law applicable to them, so as to form a full argument of justification. the case has been dismissed from court for want of jurisdiction, and the public remain uninformed whether I had really abused the powers entrusted to me, as he alledged. I wish to convey to them this information by publishing the justification. the questions arising in the case are mostly under the civil law, the laws of Spain and of France, which are of course couched in French, in Spanish, in Latin & some in Greek, and the books being in few hands in this country I was obliged to make very long extracts from them. the correctness with which your edition of the Edinburgh Review is printed, and of the passages quoted in those languages induces me to propose to you the publication of the case I speak of. it will fill about 65. or 70. pages of the type & size of paper of the Edinburgh Review. the MS. is in the handwriting of this letter, entirely fair and correct. it will take between 4. & 5. sheets of paper, of 16. pages each. I should want 250. copies struck off for myself, intended principally for the members of Congress, and the printer would be at liberty to print as many more as he pleased for sale, but without any copyright, which I should not propose to have taken out. it is right that I should add that the work is not at all for popular reading. it is merely a law argument, & a very dry one; having been intended merely for the eye of my counsel. it may be in some demand perhaps with lawyers, & persons engaged in the public affairs, but very little beyond that. will you be so good as to inform me if you will undertake to edit this, and what would be the terms on which you can furnish me with the 250. copies. I should want it to be done with as little delay as possible so that Congress might recieve it before they separate; and I should add as a condition that not a copy should be sold until I could recieve my number & have time to lay them on the desks of the members. this would require a month from the time they should leave N. York by the stage. in hopes of an early answer I tender you the assurances of my respect. ”

Sargeant accepted the commission on February 10, and sent Jefferson an estimate for the work: “Your favour of the 3 ^rd. Inst. has been duly received--I will engage to furnish two hundred & fifty copies of the pamphlet mentioned say from 65 to 70 pages of the same type and size of paper of the Edinburgh Review, for one hundred and thirty dollars. All the care possible shall be taken to have it correct, in fact the proof reading shall go through the same channel as the Reviews. It will require about three weeks to print them, and get them ready for delivery at the stage office here. I will also engage that a copy shall not go out of the office short of the time you mention.”

The estimate was accepted on February 26 by Jefferson who then sent his instructions for the printing: “ The manuscript is so plainly written, that altho’ crowded by interlineation in some places, there will be no difficulty in making it out. one particular may need explanation. after the work was finished and fairly copied the receipt of some new materials called for considerable interpolations in the text, and the addition of long notes. the new matter to be inserted in the text is written on aprons sealed to the face of the page where the new matter is to come in. what is on the upper & under side of the apron is to be inserted between the two lines of the text between which the apron is attached. on reading, the sense will readily show how they are connected. the Notes will of course be printed at the bottom of the pages to which they refer, & of the pages following.

" Should the 8 ^vo. page be too narrow to admit a division into two columns for the quotations & their translation to be placed side by side, they may be printed at the full breadth of the page, the original first, and the translation following it.

" The Table of contents to be printed at the end instead of the beginning of the work.

" There is a single instance pa. 30. in a note, of the Anglo-Saxon type being necessary; but it is only for one letter; all the other letters of the words being English. that is the letter [ unavailable character looks like inverted “ 2”-- Ed.] . answering to t. it’s ”