University of Virginia Library

3289. FRIENDSHIP, Private.—

I declare
to you that I have never suffered political
opinion to enter into the estimate of my private friendships; nor did I ever abdicate
the society of a friend on that account
till he had first withdrawn from mine. Many
have left me on that account, but with many
I still preserve affectionate intercourse, only
avoiding to speak on politics, as with a
Quaker or Catholic I would avoid speaking
on religion.—
To J. F. Mercer. Washington ed. iv, 563.
(W. 1804)