New York probably has some, connected with firms in Antwerp. You should make inquiries in this line and find one of these houses, where William would be sure of being re ceived, before you allow him to come to America. To do otherwise would be imprudent in the extreme.
Give my love, etc.
St. Louis University, March 12, 1853
My dear FRANCIS:'
I have just received your good letter of the 9th of February and I thank you for it most sincerely. The news that you gave me of the indisposition of our dear brother Charles disturbs me greatly. I pray and hope that nothing bad will come of it. My malady is leaving me gradually, and I have been able to resume my little tasks and to make my customary journeys. There are no less than twentyfive letters on my table which I have to answer. My post of Procurator-General of the Province of Missouri demands much time and gives me a great deal to do.
The great news of the day in America is the inauguration of the new President, which has just taken place in Washington with a blaze of glory. This morning the papers announce that three large banks in our neighborhood have failed. There will be a great panic in the city, where thousands of inhabitants will find themselves ruined at a blow. But all this will not prevent the railroad to the Pacific from being begun. It is a strange people in the midst of whom
we live. Nothing frightens them; they will undertake any thing. Sometimes they halt -stumble once in a while - but they get up again and march onward. Several great new territories are about to be formed in the Indian country, and soon the steam-engine will go out and give a shock to the buffalo and the bear of the desert; and the poor unhappy
s From the French.