The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
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Title: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Editor: Albert Ellery Bergh
Andrew A. Lipscomb
Release date: April 7, 2007 [eBook #21002]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21002
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON ***
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[Illustration: Jefferson at Sixty-two]
THE WRITINGS OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Library Edition
CONTAINING HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, PARLIAMENTARY
MANUAL, OFFICIAL PAPERS,
MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES, AND OTHER
WRITINGS, OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE,
NOW COLLECTED AND
_PUBLISHED IN THEIR ENTIRETY FOR THE FIRST TIME_
INCLUDING
ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF STATE AND PUBLISHED IN 1853 BY ORDER OF THE
JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
AND
_A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYTICAL INDEX_
ANDREW A. LIPSCOMB, _Chairman Board of Governors_
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ALBERT ELLERY BERGH
MANAGING EDITOR
_VOL. VI._
ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF
THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION
OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1903
Copyright, 1903,
by
The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association
Transcriber's Note: Omitted text or text that was in cypher is denoted
by asterisks.
JEFFERSON AS A TACTICIAN
The word "tactician" is usually applied to military movements, but
it has a broader meaning than this; it embodies the idea of a
peculiar skill or faculty--a nice perception or discernment which
is characterized by adroit planning or management, artfully directed
in politics or diplomacy in government.
"Of all creatures the sense of tact is most exquisite in
man"--Ross: Microcosmia.
"To see in such a clime,
Where science is new, men so exact
In tactic art"--Davenant Madagascar.
True statesmanship is the masterful art. Poetry, music, painting,
sculpture and architecture please, thrill and inspire, but the great
statesman and diplomatist and leader in thought and action convinces,
controls and compels the admiration of all classes and creeds. Logical
thought, power of appeal and tactfulness never fail to command attention
and respect. It has always been thus, and it will unquestionably so
remain. Many really able and brilliant men, however, lack balance and
the faculty of calculation. They are too often swayed by emotions, and
their intellectual powers, which otherwise might exert a controlling
influence, are thus weakened, and often result in failure. True
greatness in a man is gauged by what he accomplished in life, and the
impress he left upon his fellow-men. It does not consist of one act, or
even of many, but rather their effect upon the times in which he lived,
and how long they endure after the actor is gone from the throng of the
living.
At the bar, in the pulpit, in the medical profession, and especially
in political life, _tact_ is the _sine qua non_ to the highest degree
of individual success. However gifted one may be, he cannot win
conspicuous laurels in any calling or avocation, if he be deficient in
tactfulness. The man who best understands human nature, knows how to
approach people, and possesses the art of leading them, is the one who
will invariably have the largest following and will possess the
greatest amount of influence over his fellows. The fact cannot be
disputed that men of great brilliancy of intellect, without tact, have
been distanced by others far less talented, who possessed the knack of
getting near to the masses with the object in view to lead and control
them. A military commander who knows how to muster and marshal his men
so as to make them most effective when a battle is pending, will be
unquestionably successful in manoeuvres and successful also in
battle; and it is equally true in statecraft, and in the learned
professions as well. The skillful tactician is master of every
situation and is the victor in every important contest. But more than
in any other calling is this true in politics. The successful leader in
legislative bodies,--he whose name is recorded on the legislative
journal as the author of the most important measures which are enacted
into laws--is, without exception, that member who is tactful,
thoughtful, industrious and sincere. It makes no difference how great
his natural endowments may be, if he be wanting in these elements his
success will be restricted to a narrow sphere; and the greatest of
these is tactfulness.
The world's great tacticians are few. In America I can mention but
three who are deserving of first rank,--Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay
and James G. Blaine. Neither represented the same generation, and
neither was the exact counterpart of the others, but all of them were
renowned in their ability to control their fellow-men. Each possessed
that peculiar magnetic power to draw men around them and to win their
confidence and support. Each had but to say the word, and his wishes
were carried out. Each needed only to give the command to follow, and,
like drilled soldiers, the multitudes fell into line and were obedient
to every order. They were evidently cast in a peculiar mould, and that
particular mould is limited seemingly to a single man in every
generation. Why it is thus we know not, and yet we know that it is so.
As the precentor in a choir leads the masses with his baton, and under
correct leadership they rarely miss a note, so does the great tactician
issue his commands, and his wishes are supreme. I here write Jefferson,
Clay and Blaine as America's intrepid leaders and commanders in civil
life; these three, and the greatest of these was Jefferson, as he
seemed to have learned in early life, more than any of his compeers,
that a little management will often avoid resistance, which a vast
force will strive in vain to overcome; and that it is wisdom to grant
graciously what he could not refuse safely, and thus conciliate those
whom he was otherwise unable to control.
In referring to a man who possesses a high grade of capacity in a
particular calling, we usually say he is _able_--_an able man_. The
term able, therefore, signifies more than _capable_, more than
well-informed, whether applied to an artist, a general, a man of
learning, or a judge. A man may have read all that has been written on
war, and may have seen it, without being _able_ to conduct a war. He
may be capable of commanding, but to acquire the name of an _able_
general he must command more than once with success. A judge may know
all the laws, without being _able_ to apply the principles of law
properly. A learned man may not be able either to speak, or to write,
or to teach in a commanding manner. An able man, then, is he who makes
a valuable use of what he knows. A capable man can do a thing; an able
one does it. The term _able_ cannot, therefore, be properly applied to
genius. It is not correct, according to my way of thinking, to say an
"able poet," an "able painter," an "able musician," an "able orator,"
an "able sculptor," because it is talent or genius, or both, that gives
one rank in these callings in life, or in these particular undertakings.
The word "able," as I understand it, is applicable to those arts only
which involve the exercise of the mind as a controlling factor. One may
be a great orator, according to the usual acceptation of the term
"great," and yet be only a declaimer and a rhetorician. That is to say,
he may be able to captivate audiences by his superior _action_, as
Demosthenes defines oratory to be, and at the same time his elocution
and rhetoric may be unexceptionable, yet he maybe in fact totally
lacking in every element which goes to make up real greatness.
It may be correctly claimed that one may win distinction and renown by
energy and tact, and yet be deficient in both wit and learning. But
usually men are measured by the success they make in life, just as a
carpenter is measured by his "chips"; and accepting this measure, it is
exceedingly rare to find one who reaches above the rank of a ward
politician, unless he possesses those real elements of greatness which
I choose to class as honesty, sobriety, manliness, sympathy, energy,
education, knowledge and fairness. I agree that a great tactician may
not _per se_ be a great man, but I do say that one who possesses this
element, usually embodies those other elements which are accepted
ordinarily as the true ingredients of greatness.
Jefferson did not rank in oratory with the Adamses, the Randolphs,
James Otis and Patrick Henry, who were contemporaneous with him. He
was, therefore, not by nature great in the sphere of oratory, and in
his public utterances he does not always show the habit of radical
thought which gave the great Democratic party, which lived and ruled
our country throughout the larger part of the nineteenth century, that
tremendous moral force peculiar to that marvelous organization which he
founded and fostered throughout his long, useful and eventful life. Yet
his speeches, if they may be classed as such, were clear, logical,
forceful, convincing. In politics, in literature, in everything that
concerned the world's forward movement in his day, his intellectual
sympathies were universal, or as nearly so as it was possible for any
man's to be. Men less learned and with lesser power of reason and
thoughtfulness than he, have moved audiences to frenzy and have carried
them at will; but Jefferson, without this peculiar gift, certainly
possessed a sufficiency of this power, which the broad culture of the
scholar and the steadfast tension of the thinker can give to any man.
His addresses and writings are pregnant with profound aphorisms, and
through his great genius transient questions were often transformed
into eternal truths. His arguments were condensed with such admirable
force of clearness that his utterances always found lodgment in the
minds of both auditors and readers. Sensitive in his physical
organization, easily moved to tenderness, and incapable of malice, he
had that ready responsiveness to his own emotions as well as to those
of others, which always characterizes genius.
While it may be said that oratory was not an art with Jefferson, yet
his ideas on all governmental questions were always so clear and strong
and well matured that he never failed to express them forcefully and
effectively. His wonderful intellect, upon all important occasions,
never failed to take hold on principle, justice, liberty and moral
development, without which, as a part of its essence, the greatest mind
can never express itself adequately. His State papers and his addresses
and writings reveal the highest order of intellect, and are marked with
a degree of originality peculiarly Jeffersonian. The doctrines he
proclaimed and the principles he promulgated were so logical and sound
that they are cherished yet, and it is believed by millions of our
countrymen that they are as imperishable as the stars. Jefferson's
philosophical ideas of democratic government are as much alive to-day
as they were when he was at the zenith of his glory in life, and this
cannot be said of any other illustrious American who was
contemporaneous with him. It may be truthfully claimed that the lamp of
liberty, which he, perhaps more than any other one American of his
times helped to light, will never go out; and it may also be stated,
with an equal degree of truthfulness, that the brilliant star of his
own personal and political greatness will never set.
Some American writers have, from their standpoints of review,
animadverted upon certain alleged weaknesses of Jefferson as a great
national character. Although I do not indorse his position as favoring
"States' Rights" and a Federal Government of restricted powers, as over
against the broader doctrine promulgated by Washington, Adams, Jay and
Hamilton, of a centralized government or Union which, when national
questions are involved, should be, at all times, the supreme power of
the country, yet I concede to him wonderful foresight in advocating a
Constitution that would grant to the States the greatest possible
latitude. Other critics have also barked along the trail of this
distinguished man of destiny, charging him with being a demagogue, a
jingoist, an infidel and the like, but their barking has made him all
the greater, and has added new laurels to his marvelous career. Faults
he may have had, but who has not? Weaknesses he may have had, but who
is universally wise and strong? Burke, in his incomparable speech in
the English Parliament on the East India bill, spoke for many great men
in history when he thus alluded to the younger Fox: "He has faults; but
they are faults, that though they may, in a small degree, tarnish the
lustre, and sometimes impede the march of his abilities, have nothing
in them to extinguish the fire of great virtues. In those faults there
is no mixture of deceit, of hypocrisy, of pride, of ferocity, of
complexional despotism, or want of feeling for the distress of
mankind."
Like Charles James Fox, to whom Edmund Burke referred, Thomas Jefferson
was the foremost Commoner of his day, and he allowed no opportunity to
pass unimproved, to lift the common people to higher conceptions of
life and duty. Such men are rare, and I am glad to be able
conscientiously to place the name of Thomas Jefferson, in many
important respects, and particularly as the champion of the rights of
the common people, pre-eminently above all the other distinguished
Americans of his generation; and I wish it understood that I make this
statement upon a fair comprehensive knowledge of the acts and works of
the leading men of that period of our country's history.
Jefferson in early life accepted the idea or theory that the first and
most general truth in history is that men ought to be free. He
evidently felt that if happiness is the end of the human race, then
freedom is the condition, and that this freedom should not be a kind of
a half escape from thralldom and tyranny, but it should be ample and
absolute. This theory is most admirably expressed in the opening of the
Declaration of Independence, of which he was the sole author, and which
was adopted almost literally as he wrote it: "We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to
alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its
foundations, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." Democratic
principles cannot be more clearly expressed than in the language above
quoted, nor can any creed be more clearly defined. It is but just to
state, therefore, that no individual American represents more
distinctively the constructive power of the principles of popular
government than Thomas Jefferson, who was then as now the greatest of
all Virginians save one--Washington. In all of his public acts he was
upheld by his confidence in the people, and he was so tactful at all
times that he never allowed himself to wander at any great distance
from the masses of his fellows. His faith in the reserve power of the
people was imposing, and by this trustfulness he stamped himself as the
matchless leader of his times, and among the greatest leaders of all
times. Excepting, perhaps, Washington and Lincoln, the name of
Jefferson is the most conspicuous of all Americans, and will endure
longest in the annals of the history of the Great Republic, because it
must be conceded that his theories of government have had more
influence upon the public life of America than those of any other
American citizen, living or dead.
There was a sympathy between his heart and the great popular heart,
which time and conditions have never shaken. Expressions from his
writings have become axioms, creeds and rallying cries to great
multitudes of his countrymen. Three quarters of a century have elapsed
since his death, and yet his ideas, doctrines and teachings are still
quoted and accepted without any apparent diminution of their influence.
Cicero had in mind an exact prototype of Jefferson when he said,
"_Homines ad deos nulla re propius accedunt quam salutem hominibus
dando._"[1]
[1] There is no way by which man can approach nearer to the gods
than by contributing to the welfare of their fellow creatures.
Authentic history shows a persistent tendency of the Anglo-Saxon race
in the unswerving direction of personal liberty. The inhabitants of the
American Colonies revealed a tenacity and self-assertiveness in this
direction to a greater extent than had ever been shown in England. The
Jeffersonian idea has ever been that there shall be no king; that the
sovereign ruler should be placed on the same level and be judged by the
same principles as the humblest citizen; that the lords of the manors
are entitled to no more privileges than the poorest peasant; that these
rights are inalienable, and that any government which disregards them
must of necessity be tyrannical.
In his introduction to De Tocqueville's able "Democracy in America,"
Mr. John T. Morgan thus describes the formative period of the American
Republic, a period in which the name of Thomas Jefferson must, if
justice be meted out to him, appear in every chapter, and in every
important achievement that was then made:
"In the eleven years that separated the Declaration of the Independence
of the United States from the completion of that act in the ordination
of our written Constitution, the great minds of America were bent upon
the study of the principles of government that were essential to the
preservation of the liberties which had been won at great cost and with
heroic labors and sacrifices. Their studies were conducted in view of
the imperfections that experience had developed in the government of
the Confederation, and they were, therefore, practical and thorough.
When the Constitution was thus perfected and established, a new form of
government was created, but it was neither speculative nor experimental
as to the principles on which it was based. If they were true
principles, as they were, the government founded upon them was destined
to a life and an influence that would continue while the liberties it
was intended to preserve should be valued by the human family. Those
liberties had been wrung from reluctant monarchs in many contests, in
many countries, and were grouped into creeds and established in
ordinances sealed with blood, in many great struggles of the people.
They were not new to the people. They were consecrated theories, but no
government had been previously established for the great purpose of
their preservation and enforcement. That which was experimental in our
plan of government was the question whether democratic rule could be so
organized and conducted that it would not degenerate into license and
result in the tyranny of absolutism, without saving to the people the
power so often found necessary of representing or destroying their
enemy, when he was found in the person of a single despot."
In this excerpt the true democratic principles upon which the American
Republic was founded, and which principles were largely conceived and
put in shape by Thomas Jefferson, are clearly and concisely set forth.
De Tocqueville, born and reared amid monarchial surroundings, though
brilliant and learned as he was, could not measure the depths to which
Jefferson had dug into the labyrinths of free thought and free
institutions, and the consequence was that all of his conjectures as to
the life and perpetuity of a government based upon the will and wishes
of its subjects could not endure, went for naught, and subjected him to
a just criticism not only by the advocates of such a government, but by
the government itself. Daniel Webster in the Senate of the United
States, while defending the doctrines of universal liberty, for which
the State of Massachusetts had always stood, in his great speech in
reply to Senator Hayne, of South Carolina, exclaimed in stentorian
voice, "I shall enter on no encomium upon Massachusetts; she needs
none. There she is. Behold her and judge for yourself. There is her
history; the inhabitants know it by heart." So we can say to De
Tocqueville, who had said of the Government of the United States, that
it is all sail and no ballast, and that it possessed no power to resist
internal strife, and, therefore, could not endure: there she is; she
needs no encomium by us; there she stands, and she has stood firmly in
the face of all sorts of opposition for more than a hundred years, and
we believe she will endure forever!
In close relationship to that reign of democratic government which
Jefferson so earnestly sought to establish, lies, in open view, the
necessity for the education of the people, and to its accomplishment he
dedicated, in early life, his talents and his energies. He saw then,
and we, at this later period of our national growth and development,
realize it all the more, that the strength and perpetuity of all free
governments rest mainly upon the education of their subjects. Without
it such governments fall easy victims to ignorant military captains and
civil demagogues of low repute. Free government is better than monarchy
in proportion to the intelligence of the governed. Where every citizen
has by systematic training been rooted and grounded in the fruitful
soil of knowledge, the principles and practices of self-restraint, and
the generous ways of freedom, his loyalty to country cannot easily be
shaken, nor can he easily be drawn into hostile schemes against the
government that protects him. Jefferson saw clearly the necessity of a
general system of education, and was among the very first to move in
the direction of its establishment. He was so earnest an advocate of
the necessity for and the advantages of education, that he never
relaxed his efforts, although vigorously opposed by many of his able
associates, until he established the University of Virginia to be
finally supported by the State, as an open forum for the education of
the young men of the Commonwealth; and his biographers inform us that
he regarded this the most important achievement of his great career. In
fact, he esteemed this victory so highly that he directed the words to
be placed upon his tombstone at Monticello--"Founder of the University
of Virginia." No act of his revealed more fully than this the tactician
and the statesman, and no single act of his, although his entire career
was strewn with great deeds, did so much to usher in a golden era of
humanity and an universal monarchy of man, which, under God, is coming
by and by.
Jefferson began public life early. Shortly after his graduation from
William and Mary's College, the oldest educational institution in
Virginia, he took up the study of law, and within a very few years he
had gathered about him a profitable clientage. In this, the foremost of
the learned professions, his genius as a tactician was early displayed.
On account of his comparative youthfulness and the limited time that he
had been at the bar, he could not, in the nature of things, have been
an erudite lawyer, and yet the registry of the courts before which he
practised showed that in the fourth year, after he became a barrister,
he was employed in four hundred and thirty important cases. No one but
a tactful man, however great his learning, in so short a period of
time, could make a record of that exalted grade. He was, therefore, at
the beginning of his career as a public man, frank, earnest, cordial,
sympathetic in his manner, full of confidence in men, and sanguine in
his views of life, which gave him a grip upon those about him, as a
leader equipped by nature for achievements of the highest and most
important possibilities.
As a delegate to the Second Continental Congress Mr. Jefferson had a
leading share in its deliberations, although that body embraced many of
the most distinguished men of that period. The most important act of
that assembly was the adoption of the Declaration of Independence,
which, as I have already stated, he himself drafted. It is said,
however, that he was most valuable in committee work, because of the
aptness of his sensible and methodical mind, and the ingenuity he
possessed in putting his ideas upon paper, and doing it in such a way
as to create but little, if any, antagonisms. In all of the official
stations in which he was placed by his fellow citizens, by means of his
talents for constructive statesmanship, and his persuasive and
conciliatory spirit, he invariably displayed a remarkable talent for
tact in parliamentary leadership.
Military chieftains often win immortal renown as the result of a single
important battle, and often flash like rush-light stars across the sky
of history. But this is not true of men like Jefferson and others of
his class. They _grow_ into great characters, and they build
monuments to their memories which the tooth of time cannot destroy.
There is nothing ephemeral or evanescent in the makeup of their
records. They build not for a day nor a year, but for the centuries.
Indeed, it may be said that they build for eternity, and thus many of
them have builded wiser than they knew. The following is a summary of
Jefferson's achievements:
1. Jefferson, although eight years at the bar, became a lawyer of
renown, and an acknowledged leader in the profession.
2. For many years he was a member of the House of Burgesses of
Virginia, and possessed therein an influence almost supreme.
3. He was a member of different conventions, selected by the people of
Virginia, to consider the state of the colony, to provide against
taxation without representation, and to secure greater liberties for
the people, and was a leader in them all.
4. He was chairman of the three committees appointed in 1774 by the
Virginia Convention, (1) to provide for the better education of the
people; (2), for the arming of the militia of the colony; and (3), to
draw up a statement of the causes which had impelled the colonies to
take up arms against the mother country.
5. He was a member of the Continental Congress which adopted the
Declaration of American Independence, and was the writer of that
immortal document, which of itself entitles him to enduring fame. For
more than a century and a quarter it has been read every year in all
parts of the Republic to assembled multitudes on the anniversary of its
ratification, and it has been used as a model by all peoples since its
adoption, who have sought to secure for themselves freedom and
self-government.
6. He was Governor of Virginia during the latter part of the
Revolution, and at the end of his term of office, the House of
Burgesses publicly thanked him for the able and patriotic services
rendered by him during his administration of that exalted station.
7. He, while a member of the American Congress after the adoption of
our present Constitution, was the author of the system of coinage
which, with some amendments, is still in vogue in the United States.
8. He was, in the early years of the Republic, twice commissioned by
Congress as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties of commerce
with European States, and in this, as in all other public undertakings,
he exhibited the highest character of tact and diplomacy.
9. He was five years Minister to France, was exceedingly popular, and
secured several important modifications of the French tariff in the
interests of American commerce.
10. As the first Secretary of State under Washington, he handled, with
consummate skill, the perplexing international questions which grew out
of the war declared by France in 1793, against Holland and Great
Britain.
11. In 1796 he became Vice-President, and was elevated to the
Presidency in 1800, and was reelected in 1804. In this great office he
regarded himself purely as a trustee of the public, and the simplicity
of his customs and his manly demeanor in office brought to him the
confidence of the people of the country at large.
12. The crowning glory of his administration was the purchase of the
territory of Louisiana from France. This single act made his
administration historic, and the people are even now only beginning to
fully appreciate it as they should.
13. In the manner in which he controlled politics during his two terms
as President, which resulted almost in the total absorption or
annihilation of the Federalist party, he exhibited the qualities of a
tactician rarely, if ever, equaled.
14. After forty years of public life, the illustrious Commoner retired
to private life upon his farm at Monticello, and gave his remaining
years to the establishment and building up of the University of
Virginia, which became a noted centre of learning before his death, and
has been, for over three quarters of a century, the leading university
of the South.
Thomas Jefferson was a great man, a great diplomatist, a great
tactician and an illustrious citizen and patriot. His name and his
deeds will be cherished and admired as long as the English language is
read or spoken, and as long as human lips lisp the name of liberty.
[Illustration: Handwritten signature of G. W. Atkinson]
[Illustration: The First Prayer in Congress]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
JEFFERSON AS A TACTICIAN. By Hon. George W. Atkinson,
ex-Governor of West Virginia i
LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE, 1784-1790 1-460
To General Washington, Nov. 14, 1786 1
To Monsieur Chas, Dec. 7, 1786 5
To Monsieur Duler, Dec. 8, 1786 6
To Messrs. Wilt, Delmestre and Co., Dec. 11, 1786 7
To James Madison, Dec. 16, 1786 8
To Charles Thompson, Dec. 17, 1786 11
To Colonel James Monroe, Dec. 18, 1786 15
To John Adams, Dec. 20, 1786 18
To Francis Hopkinson, Dec. 23, 1786 20
To Benjamin Franklin, Dec. 23, 1786 23
To Ezra Stiles, Dec. 24, 1786 25
To C. W. F. Dumas, Dec. 25, 1786 26
To William Carmichael, Dec. 26, 1786 29
To Benjamin Vaughan, Dec. 29, 1786 32
To John Jay, Dec. 31, 1786 35
To Samuel Osgood, Jan. 5, 1787 38
To M. de Calonnes (Controlleur Générale), Jan. 7, 1787 40
To John Jay, Jan. 9, 1787 41
To John Adams, Jan. 11, 1787 47
To Colonel David S. Franks, Jan. 11, 1787 49
To Monsieur L. W. Otto, Jan. 14, 1787 50
To Monsieur le Duc D'Harcourt, Governeur du Dauphin,
Jan. 14, 1787 52
To Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Jan. 15, 1787 53
To Colonel Edward Carrington, Jan. 16, 1787 55
To M. Du Rival, Jan. 17, 1787 59
To Messrs. S. and J. H. Delap, Jan. 17, 1787 60
To Monsieur Soulés, Jan. 19, 1787 61
To Monsieur Hilliard d'Auberteuil, Jan. 27, 1787 62
To Chevalier de Segond, Jan. 27, 1787 62
To James Madison, Jan. 30, 1787 63
To John Jay, Feb. 1, 1787 73
To Monsieur Soulés, Feb. 2, 1787 78
To John Adams, Feb. 6, 1787 79
To Mrs. William Bingham, Feb. 7, 1787 81
To Governor Edmund Randolph, Feb. 7, 1787 84
To John Jay, Feb. 8, 1787 85
To C. W. F. Dumas, Feb. 9, 1787 86
To Messrs. Borgnis Desbordes Frères, Feb. 12, 1787 88
To John Adams, Feb. 14, 1787 89
To John Jay, Feb. 14, 1787 89
To M. le Prevôt des Marchands et Echevins de Paris,
Feb. 18, 1787 90
To William Carmichael, Feb. 18, 1787 91
To Thomas Barclay, Feb. 18, 1787 93
To John Adams, Feb. 20, 1787 95
To John Adams, Feb. 23, 1787 96
To John Jay, Feb. 23, 1787 98
To Richard Peters, Feb. 26, 1787 100
To the Marquis de La Fayette, Feb. 28, 1787 101
To Madame la Comtesse de Tesse, March 20, 1787 102
To the Marquis de La Fayette, April 11, 1787 106
To William Short, April 12, 1787 110
To John Jay, May 4, 1787 111
To Pierre Guide, May 6, 1787 123
To William Carmichael, June 14, 1787 125
To C. W. F. Dumas, June 14, 1787 128
To John Bannister, Junior, June 19, 1787 129
To James Madison, June 20, 1787 131
To John Jay, June 21, 1787 138
To Madame de Corny, June 30, 1787 145
To John Adams, July 1, 1787 146
To David Hartley, July 2, 1787 150
To Benjamin Vaughan, July 2, 1787 152
To Dr. William Gordon, July 2, 1787 154
To T. B. Hollis, Esq., July 2, 1787 155
To John Bondfield, July 2, 1787 156
To James Manny, July 2, 1787 157
To Monsieur l'Abbé Morellet, July 2, 1787 158
To T. M. Randolph, Junior, July 6, 1787 165
To Edward Rutledge, Esq., July 14, 1787 169
To John Adams, July 17, 1787 173
To Joseph Fenwick, July 21, 1787 174
To Stephen Cathalan, Junior, July 21, 1787 175
To the Delegates of Rhode Island, July 22, 1787 178
To the Count de Montmorin, July 23, 1787 180
To Fulwar Skipwith, July 28, 1787 187
To J. W. Eppes, July 28, 1787 189
To Alexander Donald, July 28, 1787 191
To William Drayton, July 30, 1787 193
To Francis Hopkinson, Esq., Aug. 1, 1787 205
To R. Izard, Esq., Aug. 1, 1787 209
To James Madison, Aug. 2, 1787 212
To Thomas Barclay, Aug. 3, 1787 216
To Thomas Barclay, Aug. 3, 1787 218
To Edward Randolph, Aug. 3, 1787 218
To the Governor of Virginia (Edmund Randolph), Aug. 3, 1787 220
To William Hay, Aug. 4, 1787 223
To Dr. David Ramsay, Aug. 4, 1787 225
To Edward Carrington, Aug. 4, 1787 227
To Dr. James Currie, Aug. 4, 1787 229
To Benjamin Hawkins, Aug. 4, 1787 231
To Colonel James Monroe, Aug. 5, 1787 233
To the Honorable Commissioners of the Treasury, Aug. 5, 1787 235
To John Jay, Aug. 6, 1787 239
To Governor Edward Rutledge, Aug. 6, 1787 250
To Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Aug. 6, 1787 252
To Colonel Richard Claiborne, Aug. 8, 1787 253
To John Churchman, Aug. 8, 1787 254
To Monsieur de L'Hommande, Aug. 9, 1787 255
To Peter Carr, Aug. 10, 1787 256
To Dr. George Gilmer, Aug. 11, 1787 263
To Colonel T. M. Randolph, Aug. 11, 1787 266
To the Reverend James Madison, Aug. 13, 1787 269
To the Honorable J. Blair, Aug. 13, 1787 272
To Joseph Jones, Aug. 14, 1787 273
To General George Washington, Aug. 14, 1787 274
To Colonel David Humphreys, Aug. 14, 1787 278
To John Jay, Aug. 15, 1787 280
To James Madison, Aug. 15, 1787 281
To the Count del Vermi, Aug. 15, 1787 282
To John Adams, Aug. 30, 1787 285
To Monsieur le Comte de Montmorin, Sept. 8, 1787 289
To Andrew Limozin, Sept. 9, 1787 291
To T. Blake, Sept. 9, 1787 293
To John Bondfield, Sept. 9, 1787 293
To C. W. F. Dumas, Sept. 10, 1787 294
To Don Francisco Chiappi, Sept. 15, 1787 295
To George Wythe, Sept. 16, 1787 296
To David Rittenhouse, Sept. 18, 1787 301
To the Honorable Commissioners of the Treasury,
Sept. 18, 1787 303
To John Jay, Sept. 19, 1787 304
To Charles Thompson, Sept. 20, 1787 311
To John Jay, Sept. 22, 1787 314
To John Jay, Sept. 22, 1787 315
To Burrill Carnes, Sept. 22, 1787 318
To Andrew Limozin, Sept. 22, 1787 319
To John Jay, Sept. 24, 1787 320
To John Adams, Sept. 28, 1787 321
To Colonel William S. Smith, Sept. 28, 1787 323
To Monsieur le Comte de Buffon, Oct. 3, 1787 325
To C. W. F. Dumas, Oct. 4, 1787 327
To General John Sullivan, Oct. 5, 1787 328
To John Jay, Oct. 8, 1787 330
To James Madison, Oct. 8, 17S7 335
To John Jay, Oct. 8, 1787 336
To Monsieur le Comte de Moustier, Oct. 9, 1787 339
To Madame de Brehan, Oct. 9, 1787 340
To Andrew Limozin, Oct. 9, 1787 340
To C. W. F. Dumas, Oct. 14, 1787 341
To Madame de Corny, Oct. 18, 1787 342
To the Count de Montmorin, Oct. 23, 1787 344
To Monsieur l'Abbé de Morellet, Oct. 24, 1787 347
To John Jay, Oct. 27, 1787 348
To John Jay, Nov. 3, 1787 349
To John Jay, Nov. 3, 1787 359
To the Count de Montmorin, Nov. 6, 1787 363
To John Jay, Nov. 7, 1787 367
To John Adams, Nov. 13, 1787 368
To Colonel William S. Smith, Nov. 13, 1787 371
To James Maury, Nov. 13, 1787 374
To C. W. F. Dumas, Dec. 9, 1787 376
To William Carmichael, Dec. 11, 1787 378
To John Adams, Dec. 12, 1787 383
To James Madison, Dec. 20, 1787 385
To Edward Carrington, Dec. 21, 1787 393
To John Jay, Dec. 21, 1787 397
To Andrew Limozin, Dec. 22, 1787 400
To the Board of Treasury, Dec. 30, 1787 402
To John Jay, Dec. 31, 1787 404
To Monsieur Lambert (Controller-General), Jan. 3, 1788 411
To the Chevalier de Quesnay de Beaurepaire, Jan. 6, 1788 412
To William Drayton, Jan. 13, 1788 413
To le Comte de Bernstorff, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Copenhagen, Jan. 21, 1788 414
To William Rutledge, Feb. 2, 1788 417
To John Adams, Feb. 6, 1788 419
To the Commissioners of the Treasury, Feb. 7, 1788 421
To Doctor Price, Feb. 7, 1788 424
To Alexander Donald, Feb. 7, 1788 425
To Brissot de Warville, Feb. 12, 1788 428
To C. W. F. Dumas, Feb. 12, 1788 429
To Monsieur de Bertrous, Feb. 21, 1788 431
To Monsieur Trouchin, Feb. 26, 1788 432
To John Adams, March 2, 1788 434
To John Jay, March 13, 1788 435
To John Jay, March 16, 1788 436
To C. W. F. Dumas, March 29, 1788 441
To the Commissioners of the Treasury, March 29, 1788 443
To William Short, March 29, 1788 445
To General George Washington, May 2, 1788 447
To James Madison, May 3, 1788 455
[Illustration: David Humphreys
Photogravure from the Original Painting by Herring]
ILLUSTRATIONS.
JEFFERSON AT SIXTY-TWO _Frontispiece_
Photogravure from the Original Crayon Drawing by St. Memin
FACING PAGE
THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS xx
Photogravure from the Original Painting by T. H. Matteson
DAVID HUMPHREYS xxvi
Photogravure from the Original Painting by Herring
JOHN JAY 366
Photogravure from the Original Painting by Stuart and Trumbull
CORRESPONDENCE.
LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE.
1784-1789.
JEFFERSON'S WORKS.
LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE.
1784-1789.
TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.
PARIS, November 14, 1786.
SIR,--The house of Le Coulteux, which for some centuries has been the
wealthiest of this place, has it in contemplation to establish a great
company for the fur trade. They propose that partners interested one
half in the establishment, should be American citizens, born and
residing in the United States. Yet if I understood them rightly, they
expect that that half of the company which resides here, should make
the greatest part, or perhaps the whole of the advances, while those
on our side of the water should superintend the details. They had,
at first, thought of Baltimore as the centre of their American
transactions. I have pointed out to them the advantages of Alexandria
for this purpose. They have concluded to take information as to
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, for a principal deposit, and
having no correspondent at Alexandria, have asked me to procure a state
of the advantages of that place, as also to get a recommendation of the
best merchant there, to be adopted as partner and head of the business
there. Skill, punctuality and integrity are the requisites in such a
character. They will decide on their whole information, as to the place
for their principal factory. Being unwilling that Alexandria should lose
its pretensions, I have undertaken to procure them information as to
that place. If they undertake this trade at all, it will be on so great
a scale as to decide the current of the Indian trade to the place they
adopt. I have no acquaintance at Alexandria or in its neighborhood; but,
believing you would feel an interest in the matter, from the same
motives which I do, I venture to ask the favor of you to recommend to me
a proper merchant for their purpose, and to engage some well-informed
person to send me a representation of the advantages of Alexandria, as
the principal deposit of the fur trade.
The author of the political part of the "Encyclopédie Methodique"
desired me to examine his article, "Etats Unis." I did so. I found it a
tissue of errors; for, in truth, they know nothing about us here.
Particularly, however, the article "Cincinnati" was a mere philippic
against that institution; in which it appeared that there was an utter
ignorance of facts and motives. I gave him notes on it. He reformed it,
as he supposed, and sent it again to me to revise. In this reformed
state, Colonel Humphreys saw it. I found it necessary to write that
article for him. Before I gave it to him, I showed it to the Marquis de
La Fayette, who made a correction or two. I then sent it to the author.
He used the materials, mixing a great deal of his own with them. In a
work, which is sure of going down to the latest posterity, I thought it
material to set facts to rights as much as possible. The author was
well disposed; but could not entirely get the better of his original
bias. I send you the article as ultimately published. If you find any
material errors in it, and will be so good as to inform me of them, I
shall probably have opportunities of setting this author to rights.
What has heretofore passed between us on this institution, makes it my
duty to mention to you, that I have never heard a person in Europe,
learned or unlearned, express his thoughts on this institution, who did
not consider it as dishonorable and destructive to our governments; and
that every writing which has come out since my arrival here, in which
it is mentioned, considers it, even as now reformed, as the germ whose
development is one day to destroy the fabric we have reared. I did not
apprehend this, while I had American ideas only. But I confess that
what I have seen in Europe has brought me over to that opinion; and
that though the day may be at some distance, beyond the reach of our
lives perhaps, yet it will certainly come, when a single fibre left of
this institution will produce an hereditary aristocracy, which will
change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the
world. To know the mass of evil which flows from this fatal source, a
person must be in France; he must see the finest soil, the finest
climate, the most compact State, the most benevolent character of
people, and every earthly advantage combined, insufficient to prevent
this scourge from rendering existence a curse to twenty-four out of
twenty-five parts of the inhabitants of this country. With us, the
branches of this institution cover all the States. The southern ones,
at this time, are aristocratical in their dispositions; and, that that
spirit should grow and extend itself, is within the natural order of
things. I do not flatter myself with the immortality of our
governments; but I shall think little also of their longevity, unless
this germ of destruction be taken out. When the society themselves
shall weigh the possibility of evil, against the impossibility of any
good to proceed from this institution, I cannot help hoping they will
eradicate it. I know they wish the permanence of our governments, as
much as any individuals composing them.
An interruption here, and the departure of the gentleman by whom I send
this, oblige me to conclude it, with assurances of the sincere respect
and esteem with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most
obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MONSIEUR CHAS.
PARIS, December 7, 1786.
SIR,--I should with great pleasure have perused your manuscript of the
history of the American Revolution, but that it comes to me in the
moment of my setting out on a journey into the south of France, where I
am to pass the winter. In the few moments of leisure which my
preparations for that journey admitted, I have read some detached
parts, and find that it would have been very interesting to me. In one
of these (page 60), I have taken the liberty of noting a circumstance
which is not true, and to which I believe M. d'Aubertueil first gave a
place in history. In page 75, I observe it says that Congress removed
to Hartford, but this is a misinformation. They never sat there. In
general, I would observe to you, that where there is no other authority
for a fact than the history of d'Aubertueil, it will not be safe to
hazard it. These authors have been led into an infinitude of errors,
probably by trusting to the English papers, or to the European ones,
copied from them. It is impossible to resort to a more impure source. I
am much pleased to find, that you concur in the justice of the
principles which produced our revolution, and have only to wish that I
could have been able to go through the whole work. I have the honor to
be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble
servant.
TO M. DULER.
PARIS, December 8, 1786.
SIR,--The circumstance escaped me of my having had the honor of being
made known to you by Mr. Walker at Charlottesville. However, I should
not have been the less ready, had it been in my power, to have aided
you in procuring employment in some bureau here. But a stranger as I
am, unconnected and unacquainted, my solicitations on your behalf would
be as ineffectual as improper. I should have been happy to have been
able to render you this service, as I am sincerely concerned at the
circumstance which has placed you in need of it.
As to the paper money in your hands, the States have not yet been able
to take final arrangements for its redemption. But, as soon as they
shall get their finances into some order, they will surely pay for it
what it was worth in silver at the time you received it, with interest.
The interest on loan-office certificates is, I think, paid annually in
all the States; and, in some of them, they have begun to make payments
of the principal. These matters are managed for foreigners by the
consul of their nation in America, where they have not a private friend
to attend for them. I have the honor to be, Sir, with much respect,
your most obedient humble servant.
TO MESSRS. WILT, DELMESTRE AND CO.
PARIS, December 11, 1786.
GENTLEMEN,--Your favor of the 6th instant is duly come to hand, as had
done that also of the 8th of November. I was much obliged to you for
your observations and information on the late regulations. I have
received and am still receiving from other quarters, other hints for
its improvement. I cannot propose these to the minister as they arrive,
because, besides the perpetual fatigue to him, the business would not
be so well done in the end. As soon as all the defects of the new
arrangement shall be discovered by a little experience, as well as by
their being submitted to the gentlemen concerned in the commerce, I
shall be able, by bringing all the amendments necessary into a single
proposition, to submit them at once to the consideration of the
minister. It will probably be yet some months before this can be done.
In the meantime, we must be contented to submit a little longer to
those remnants of burthen which still rest on our commerce. In this
view, I will still thank you for any new hints of amendment which may
occur to you in experience, assuring you they shall be put to good use,
when the occasion shall serve. I have the honor to be, with much
respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.
PARIS, December 16, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--After a very long silence, I am at length able to write to
you. An unlucky dislocation of my right wrist, has disabled me from
using that hand, three months. I now begin to use it a little, but with
great pain; so that this letter must be taken up at such intervals as
the state of my hand will permit, and will probably be the work of some
days. Though the joint seems to be well set, the swelling does not
abate, nor the use of it return. I am now, therefore, on the point of
setting out to the south of France, to try the use of some mineral
waters there, by immersion. This journey will be of two or three
months.
I enclose you herein a copy of the letter from the Minister of Finance
to me, making several advantageous regulations for our commerce. The
obtaining this has occupied us a twelve month. I say _us,_ because I
find the Marquis de La Fayette so useful an auxiliary, that
acknowledgments for his co-operation are always due. There remains
still something to do for the articles of rice, turpentine, and ship
duties. What can be done for tobacco, when the late regulation expires,
is very uncertain. The commerce between the United States and this
country being put on a good footing, we may afterwards proceed to try
if anything can be done, to favor our intercourse with her colonies.
Admission into them for our fish and flour, is very desirable; but,
unfortunately, both those articles would raise a competition against
their own.
I find by the public papers, that your commercial convention failed in
point of representation. If it should produce a full meeting in May,
and a broader reformation, it will still be well. To make us one nation
as to foreign concerns, and keep us distinct in domestic ones, gives
the outline of the proper division of powers between the general and
particular governments. But, to enable the federal head to exercise the
powers given it to best advantage, it should be organized as the
particular ones are, into legislative, executive, and judiciary. The
first and last are already separated. The second should be. When last
with Congress, I often proposed to members to do this, by making of the
committee of the States, an executive committee during the recess of
Congress, and, during its sessions, to appoint a committee to receive
and despatch all executive business, so that Congress itself should
meddle only with what should be legislative. But I question if any
Congress (much less all successively) can have self-denial enough to go
through with this distribution. The distribution, then, should be
imposed on them. I find Congress have reversed their division of the
western States, and proposed to make them fewer and larger. This is
reversing the natural order of things. A tractable people may be
governed in large bodies; but, in proportion as they depart from this
character, the extent of their government must be less. We see into
what small divisions the Indians are obliged to reduce their societies.
This measure, with the disposition to shut up the Mississippi, gives me
serious apprehensions of the severance of the eastern and western parts
of our confederacy. It might have been made the interest of the western
States to remain united with us, by managing their interests honestly,
and for their own good. But, the moment we sacrifice their interests to
our own, they will see it better to govern themselves. The moment they
resolve to do this, the point is settled. A forced connection is
neither our interest, nor within our power.
The Virginia act for religious freedom has been received with infinite
approbation in Europe, and propagated with enthusiasm. I do not mean by
the governments, but by the individuals who compose them. It has been
translated into French and Italian, has been sent to most of the courts
of Europe, and has been the best evidence of the falsehood of those
reports which stated us to be in anarchy. It is inserted in the new
"Encyclopédie," and is appearing in most of the publications respecting
America. In fact, it is comfortable to see the standard of reason at
length erected, after so many ages, during which the human mind has
been held in vassalage by kings, priests, and nobles; and it is
honorable for us, to have produced the first legislature who had the
courage to declare, that the reason of man may be trusted with the
formation of his own opinions.
* * * * * * * *
I thank you for your communications in Natural History. The several
instances of trees, &c., found far below the surface of the earth, as
in the case of Mr. Hay's well, seem to set the reason of man at
defiance.
I am, dear Sir, with sincere esteem, your friend and servant.
TO CHARLES THOMPSON.
PARIS, December 17, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--A dislocation of my right wrist has for three months past,
disabled me from writing except with my left hand, which was too slow
and awkward to be employed often. I begin to have so much use of my
wrist, as to be able to write, but it is slowly, and in pain. I take
the first moment I can, however, to acknowledge the receipt of your
letters of April the 6th, July the 8th and 30th. In one of these, you
say, you have not been able to learn, whether, in the new mills in
London, steam is the immediate mover of the machinery, or raises water
to move it? It is the immediate mover. The power of this agent, though
long known, is but now beginning to be applied to the various purposes
of which it is susceptible. You observe that Whitehurst supposes it to
have been the agent, which bursting the earth, threw it up into
mountains and valleys. You ask me what I think of his book? I find in
it many interesting facts brought together, and many ingenious
commentaries on them. But there are great chasms in his facts, and
consequently in his reasoning. These he fills up by suppositions, which
may be as reasonably denied as granted. A sceptical reader therefore,
like myself, is left in the lurch. I acknowledge, however, he makes
more use of fact, than any other writer on a theory of the earth. But I
give one answer to all these theorists. That is as follows. They all
suppose the earth a created existence. They must suppose a creator
then; and that he possessed power and wisdom to a great degree. As he
intended the earth for the habitation of animals and vegetables, is it
reasonable to suppose, he made two jobs of his creation, that he first
made a chaotic lump and set it into rotatory motion, and then waited
the millions of ages necessary to form itself? That when it had done
this, he stepped in a second time, to create the animals and plants
which were to inhabit it? As the hand of a creator is to be called in,
it may as well be called in at one stage of the process as another. We
may as well suppose he created the earth at once, nearly in the state
in which we see it, fit for the preservation of the beings he placed on
it. But it is said, we have a proof that he did not create it in its
present solid form, but in a state of fluidity; because its present
shape of an oblate spheroid is precisely that which a fluid mass
revolving on its axis would assume.
I suppose that the same equilibrium between gravity and centrifugal
force, which would determine a fluid mass into the form of an oblate
spheroid, would determine the wise creator of that mass, if he made it
in a solid state, to give it the same spheroidical form. A revolving
fluid will continue to change its shape, till it attains that in which
its principles of contrary motion are balanced. For if you suppose them
not balanced, it will change its form. Now, the same balanced form is
necessary for the preservation of a revolving solid. The creator,
therefore, of a revolving solid, would make it an oblate spheroid, that
figure alone admitting a perfect equilibrium. He would make it in that
form, for another reason; that is, to prevent a shifting of the axis of
rotation. Had he created the earth perfectly spherical, its axis might
have been perpetually shifting, by the influence of the other bodies of
the system; and by placing the inhabitants of the earth successively
under its poles, it might have been depopulated; whereas, being
spheroidical, it has but one axis on which it can revolve in
equilibrio. Suppose the axis of the earth to shift forty-five degrees;
then cut it into one hundred and eighty slices, making every section in
the plane of a circle of latitude, perpendicular to the axis: every one
of these slices, except the equatorial one, would be unbalanced, as
there would be more matter on one side of its axis than on the other.
There could be but one diameter drawn through such a slice, which would
divide it into two equal parts. On every other possible diameter, the
parts would hang unequal. This would produce an irregularity in the
diurnal rotation. We may, therefore, conclude it impossible for the
poles of the earth to shift, if it was made spheroidically; and that it
would be made spheroidical, though solid, to obtain this end. I use
this reasoning only on the supposition that the earth has had a
beginning. I am sure I shall read your conjectures on this subject with
great pleasure, though I bespeak, beforehand, a right to indulge my
natural incredulity and scepticism. The pain in which I write awakens
me here from my reverie, and obliges me to conclude with compliments to
Mrs. Thompson, and assurances to yourself of the esteem and affection
with which I am sincerely, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
P. S. Since writing the preceding, I have had a conversation on the
subject of the steam mills, with the famous Boulton, to whom those of
London belong, and who is here at this time. He compares the effect of
steam with that of horses, in the following manner: Six horses, aided
with the most advantageous combination of the mechanical powers
hitherto tried, will grind six bushels of flour in an hour; at the end
of which time they are all in a foam, and must rest. They can work
thus, six hours in the twenty-four, grinding thirty-six bushels of
flour, which is six to each horse, for the twenty-four hours. His steam
mill in London consumes one hundred and twenty bushels of coal in
twenty-four hours, turns ten pair of stones, which grind eight bushels
of flour an hour each, which is nineteen hundred and twenty bushels in
the twenty-four hours. This makes a peck and a half of coal perform
exactly as much as a horse, in one day, can perform.
TO COLONEL MONROE.
PARIS, December 18, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--Your letters of August the 19th and October the 12th, have
come duly to hand. My last to you was of the 11th of August. Soon after
that date I got my right wrist dislocated, which has, till now,
deprived me of the use of that hand; and even now, I can use it but
slowly, and with pain. The revisal of the Congressional intelligence
contained in your letters, makes me regret the loss of it on your
departure. I feel, too, the want of a person there, to whose discretion
I can trust confidential communications, and on whose friendship I can
rely against the unjust designs of malevolence. I have no reason to
suppose I have enemies in Congress; yet it is too possible to be
without that fear. Some symptoms make me suspect, that my proceedings
to redress the abusive administration of tobacco by the Farmers General
have indisposed towards me a powerful person in Philadelphia, who was
profiting from that abuse. An expression in the enclosed letter of M.
de Calonnes, would seem to imply, that I had asked the abolition of Mr.
Morris's contract. I never did. On the contrary, I always observed to
them, that it would be unjust to annul that contract. I was led to
this, by principles both of justice and interest. Of interest, because
that contract would keep up the price of tobacco here, to thirty-four,
thirty-six, and thirty-eight livres, from which it will fall when it
shall no longer have that support. However, I have done what was right,
and I will not so far wound my privilege of doing that, without regard
to any man's interest, as to enter into any explanations of this
paragraph with him. Yet I esteem him highly, and suppose that hitherto
he had esteemed me. You will see by Calonne's letter, that we are doing
what we can, to get the trade of the United States put on a good
footing. I am now about setting out on a journey to the south of
France, one object of which is to try the mineral waters there, for the
restoration of my hand; but another is, to visit all the seaports where
we have trade, and to hunt up all the inconveniences under which it
labors, in order to get them rectified. I shall visit, and carefully
examine too, the canal of Languedoc. On my return, which will be early
in the spring, I shall send you several livraisons of the
"Encyclopédie," and the plan of your house. I wish to heaven, you may
continue in the disposition to fix it in Albemarle. Short will
establish himself there, and perhaps Madison may be tempted to do so.
This will be society enough, and it will be the great sweetener of our
lives. Without society, and a society to our taste, men are never
contented. The one here supposed, we can regulate to our minds, and we
may extend our regulations to the sumptuary department, so as to set a
good example to a country which needs it, and to preserve our own
happiness clear of embarrassment. You wish not to engage in the
drudgery of the bar. You have two asylums from that. Either to accept a
seat in the Council, or in the judiciary department. The latter,
however, would require a little previous drudgery at the bar, to
qualify you to discharge your duty with satisfaction to yourself.
Neither of these would be inconsistent with a continued residence in
Albemarle. It is but twelve hours' drive in a sulky from
Charlottesville to Richmond, keeping a fresh horse always at the
halfway, which would be a small annual expense. I am in hopes that Mrs.
M. will have in her domestic cares, occupation and pleasure, sufficient
to fill her time, and insure her against the _tedium vitæ_; that she
will find, that the distractions of a town, and the waste of life under
these, can bear no comparison with the tranquil happiness of domestic
life. If her own experience has not yet taught her this truth, she has
in its favor the testimony of one who has gone through the various
scenes of business, of bustle, of office, of rambling, and of quiet
retirement, and who can assure her, that the latter is the only point
upon which the mind can settle at rest. Though not clear of
inquietudes, because no earthly situation is so, they are fewer in
number, and mixed with more objects of contentment than in any other
mode of life. But I must not philosophise too much with her, lest I
give her too serious apprehensions of a friendship I shall impose on
her. I am with very great esteem, dear Sir, your sincere friend and
servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.
PARIS, December 20, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--Colonel Franks will have the honor of delivering you the
treaty with the Emperor of Morocco, and all its appendages. You will
perceive, by Mr. Barclay's letter, that it is not necessary that any
body should go back to Morocco to exchange ratifications. He says,
however, that it will be necessary that Fennish receive some testimony
that we approve the treaty; and as, by the acts of Congress, our
signature is necessary to give validity to it, I have had duplicates of
ratifications prepared, which I have signed, and now send you. If you
approve and sign them, send one back to me to be forwarded to Fennish,
through Mr. Carmichael. Perhaps a joint letter should be written to
Fennish; if you think so, be so good as to write and sign one and send
it with the ratification, and I will sign and forward it. The other
ratification is to go to Congress. Colonel Franks wishes to proceed
with the papers to that body. He should do it, I think, immediately, as
Mr. Jay, in a letter to me of October 26th, says that Congress have
heard through the French Chargé des Affaires, that the treaty was
signed, and they wonder they have not heard it from us.
I enclose you a copy of a letter from Mr. Lambe, by which you will
perceive he does not propose to quit Alicant. I will forward the
resolution of Congress to Mr. Carmichael, which was enclosed in yours
of November 30th, to see if that will move him. As the turn of this
resolution admits a construction that Congress may think our original
appointment of him censurable, I have, as in justice I ought, in a
letter to Mr. Jay, taken on myself the blame of having proposed him to
you, if any blame were due. I have enclosed him a copy of my letter to
you of September 24, 1785. Mr. Barclay has proposed to go to Alicant to
settle Lambe's accounts, and asked to be strengthened with our
authority. If Lambe will obey the resolve of Congress, it will be
better to let him go and settle his account there. But if he will not
go back, perhaps it might not be amiss for Mr. Barclay to have
instructions from us to require a settlement, those instructions to be
used in that case only. If you think so, be so good as to write a joint
letter and send it to me. But this, if done at all, should be done
immediately. How much money has Lambe drawn? I have suggested to Mr.
Jay the expediency of putting the Barbary business into Carmichael's
hands, or sending somebody from America, in consideration of our
separate residence and our distance from the scene of negotiation.
I had seen, without alarm, accounts of the disturbances in the East.
But Mr. Jay's letter on the subject had really affected me. However,
yours sets me to rights. I can never fear that things will go far wrong
where common sense has fair play. I but just begin to use my pen a
little with my right hand, but with pain. Recommending myself,
therefore, to the friendship of Mrs. Adams, I must conclude here with
assurances of the sincere esteem of, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
P. S. Should a Mr. Maury, of Virginia, but now a merchant of Liverpool,
present himself to you, I recommend him to your notice, as my old
school-fellow, and a man of the most solid integrity.
TO MR. HOPKINSON.
PARIS, December 23, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--My last letter to you was dated August 14th. Yours of May
27th and June 28th, were not then received, but have been since. I take
the liberty of putting under your cover another letter to Mrs. Champis,
as also an inquiry after a Dr. Griffiths. A letter to M. le Vieillard,
from the person he had consulted about the essence L'Orient, will
convey to you the result of my researches into that article. Your
spring-block for assisting a vessel in sailing cannot be tried here,
because the Seine, being not more than about forty toises wide, and
running swiftly, there is no such thing on it as a vessel with sails. I
thank you for the volume of the Philadelphia transactions, which came
safely to hand, and is, in my opinion, a very valuable volume, and
contains many precious papers. The paccan-nut is, as you conjecture,
the Illinois nut. The former is the vulgar name south of the Potomac,
as also with the Indians and Spaniards, and enters also into the
Botanical name which is Juglano Paccan. I have many volumes of the
"Encyclopédie" for yourself and Dr. Franklin; but, as a winter passage
is bad for books, and before the spring the packets will begin to sail
from Havre to New York, I shall detain them till then. You must not
presume too strongly that your comb-footed bird is known to M. de
Buffon. He did not know our panther. I gave him the stripped skin of
one I bought in Philadelphia, and it presents him a new species, which
will appear in his next volumes. I have convinced him that our deer is
not a Chevreuil, and would you believe that many letters to different
acquaintances in Virginia, where this animal is so common, have never
enabled me to present him with a large pair of their horns, a blue and
red skin stuffed, to show him their colors, at different seasons. He
has never seen the horns of what we call the elk. This would decide
whether it be an elk or a deer. I am very much pleased with your
project on the Harmonica, and the prospect of your succeeding in the
application of keys to it. It will be the greatest present which has
been made to the musical world this century, not excepting the
Piano-forte. If its tone approaches that given by the finger as nearly
only as the harpsichord does that of the harp, it will be very
valuable. I have lately examined a foot-bass newly invented here, by
the celebrated Krumfoltz. It is precisely a piano-forte, about ten feet
long, eighteen inches broad, and nine inches deep. It is of one octave
only, from fa to fa. The part where the keys are, projects at the side
in order to lengthen the levers of the keys. It is placed on the floor,
and the harpsichord or other piano-forte is set over it, the foot
acting in concert on that, while the fingers play on this. There are
three unison chords to every note, of strong brass wire, and the lowest
have wire wrapped on them as the lowest in the piano-forte. The chords
give a fine, clear, deep tone, almost like the pipe of an organ. Have
they connected you with our mint? My friend Monroe promised me he would
take care for you in that, or perhaps the establishment of that at New
York may have been incompatible with your residence in Philadelphia. A
person here has invented a method of coining the French écu of six
livres, so as to strike both faces and the edge at one stroke, and
makes a coin as beautiful as a medal. No country has ever yet produced
such a coin. They are made cheaper, too. As yet, he has only made a few
to show the perfection of his manner. I am endeavoring to procure one
to send to Congress as a model for their coinage. They will consider
whether, on establishing a new mint, it will be worth while to buy his
machines, if he will furnish them. A dislocation of my right wrist,
which happened to me about a month after the date of my last letter to
you, has disabled me from writing three months. I do it now in pain,
and only in cases of necessity, or of strong inclination, having as yet
no other use of my hand. I put under your cover a letter from my
daughter to her friend. She joins me in respects to your good mother,
to Mrs. Hopkinson and yourself, to whom I proffer assurances of the
esteem with which I am, dear Sir, your sincere friend and servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY DR. FRANKLIN.
PARIS, December 23, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--I have received your favor of October 8, but the volume of
transactions mentioned to come with it, did not; but I had received one
from Mr. Hopkinson. You also mention the diplomas it covered for other
persons, and some order of the society relative to myself, which I
supposed were omitted by accident, and will come by some other
conveyance. So far as relates to myself, whatever the order was, I beg
leave to express to you my sense of their favor, and wish to merit it.
I have several _livraisons_ of the "Encyclopédie" for yourself and Mr.
Hopkinson, which shall be sent in the spring, when they will be less
liable to injury. Some books also which I received from Baron Blome
must await that conveyance. I receive some discouraging accounts of the
temper of the people in our new government, yet were I to judge only
from the accounts given in the public papers, I should not fear their
passing over without injury. I wish you may have given your opinion of
them to some of your friends here, as your experience and knowledge of
men would give us more confidence in your opinion. Russia and the Porte
have patched up an accommodation through the mediation of this court.
The coolness between Spain and Naples will remain, and will occasion
the former to cease intermeddling with the affairs of the latter. The
Dutch affairs are still to be settled. The new King of Prussia is more
earnest in supporting the cause of the slaveholder than his uncle was,
and in general an affectation begins to show itself of differing from
his uncle. There is some fear of his throwing himself into the Austrian
scale in the European division of power. Our treaty with Morocco is
favorably concluded through the influence of Spain. That with Algiers
affords no expectation. We have been rendered anxious here about your
health, by hearing you have had a severe attack of your gout.
Remarkable deaths are the Duchess of Chabot, of the House of
Rochefoucault, Beaujon, and Peyronet, the architect who built the
bridge of Neuilly, and was to have begun one the next spring from the
Place Louis XV. to the Palais Bourbon. A dislocated wrist not yet
re-established, obliges me to conclude here with assurances of the
perfect esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, your
Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. Will you permit my respects to your grandson, Mr. Franklin, to
find their place here?
TO MR. STILES.
PARIS, December 24, 1786.
SIR,--I feel myself very much honored by the degree which has been
conferred on me by the Senatus Academicus of Yale College, and I beg
leave, through you, Sir, to express to them how sensible I am of this
honor, and that it is to their and your indulgence, and not to any
merit of my own, that I am indebted for it.
The commotions that have taken place in America, as far as they are yet
known to me, offer nothing threatening. They are a proof that the
people have liberty enough, and I could not wish them less than they
have. If the happiness of the mass of the people can be secured at the
expense of a little tempest now and then, or even of a little blood, it
will be a precious purchase. "Malo libertatem periculosam quam quietem
servitutem." Let common sense and common honesty have fair play, and
they will soon set things to rights.
The bickerings between Russia and the Porte are quieted for the moment.
The coolness between the Kings of Spain and Naples will remain, but
will have no other consequence than that of the former withdrawing from
interference with the affairs of the latter. The present King of
Prussia pushes the interest of the Stadtholder more zealously than his
uncle did. There have been fears that he might throw himself into the
Austrian scale, which would greatly derange the European balance. This
country is firm in support of the patriotic party in the United
Netherlands.
We have made an advantageous treaty with Morocco, but with Algiers
nothing is done. From what I learn from the temper of my countrymen and
their tenaciousness of money, it will be more easy to raise ships and
men to fight these pirates into reason than money to bribe them. I wish
that something could be done in some form or another to open the
Mediterranean to us. You will have seen that France is endeavoring to
relieve and encourage our commerce with her.
The arts and sciences offering nothing new at this moment worth
communicating to you, I shall only add assurances of the respect and
esteem with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient,
and most humble servant.
TO M. DUMAS.
PARIS, December 25, 1786.
SIR,--A dislocation of my right wrist has for upwards of three months
prevented my writing to you. I begin to use it a little for the pen;
but it is with great pain. To this cause alone I hope you will ascribe
that I have acknowledged at one time the receipt of so many of your
letters. Their dates are September 12, 26, October 6, 17, 19, 23,
November 3, 17, December 1, and there is one without date. They were
communicated to the Marquis de LaFayette according to your desire, and
those to Mr. Jay have been forwarded from time to time as private
conveyances occurred, except some of the last for which no such
conveyance has occurred till now. A gentleman is setting out for
London, and from thence for New York.
We receive news from America of collections of the people in three or
four instances in the Eastern States, demanding delays in the
proceedings of the courts of justice. Those States, as you know,
depended before the war chiefly on their whale oil and fish. The former
was consumed in London, but, being now loaded with heavy duties, cannot
go there. Much of their fish went up the Mediterranean, now shut to us
by the piratical States. Their debts, therefore, press them, while the
means of payment have lessened. The mobs, however, separated without a
single injury having been offered to the person or property of any one,
nor did they continue twenty-four hours in any one place. This country
has opened a market for their whale oil, and we have made a good treaty
of peace with Morocco. But with Algiers we can do nothing. An American
paper has published a letter, as from me to the Count de Vergennes, on
the subject of our productions of tobacco and rice. It is surreptitious
and falsified; and both the true and untrue parts very improper for the
public eye. How a newswriter of America got at it, is astonishing, and
with what views it had been altered. I will be much obliged to you if
you will endeavor to prevent its publication in the Leyden Gazette.
The following question I take the liberty of proposing to you
confidentially. This country wants money in its treasury. Some
individuals have proposed to buy our debt of twenty-four millions at a
considerable discount. I have informed Congress of it, and suggested to
them the expediency of borrowing this sum in Holland, if possible, as
well to prevent loss to this country as to draw all their money
transactions to one point. But could they borrow the money in Holland?
I would be obliged to you for your opinion on this question, as it
would decide me in pressing this matter further on Congress, or letting
it drop. It will readily occur to you that the answer should come
through the hands of your ambassador here alone. The pain in which I
write obliges me, after many thanks for the interesting details of
transactions in your country, to assure you of the esteem and respect
with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most
humble servant.
TO MR. CARMICHAEL.
PARIS, December 26, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--A note from me of the 22d of September, apprised you it
would be some time before I should be able to answer your letters. I
did not then expect it would have been so long.
I enclose herein a resolution of Congress, recalling Mr. Lambe, which I
will beg the favor of you to have delivered him. I have written to Mr.
Adams on the subject of directing him to settle with Mr. Barclay, and
attend his answer. In the meantime, I am not without hopes Mr. Barclay
has done the business. I send also a note desiring Mr. Lambe to deliver
you his cypher, and a copy of a letter from the Minister of Finance
here, to me, announcing several regulations in favor of our commerce.
My "Notes on Virginia," having been hastily written, need abundance of
corrections. Two or three of these are so material, that I am
reprinting a few leaves to substitute for the old. As soon as these
shall be ready, I will beg your acceptance of a copy. I shall be proud
to be permitted to send a copy, also, to the Count de Campomanes, as a
tribute to his science and his virtues. You will find in them that the
Natural Bridge has found an admirer in me also. I should be happy to
make with you the tour of the curiosities you will find therein
mentioned. That kind of pleasure surpasses much, in my estimation,
whatever I find on this side the Atlantic. I sometimes think of
building a little hermitage at the Natural Bridge (for it is my
property) and of passing there a part of the year at least.
I have received American papers to the 1st of November. Some tumultuous
meetings of the people have taken place in the eastern States; _i. e._
one in Massachusetts, one in Connecticut, and one in New Hampshire.
Their principal demand was, a respite in the judiciary proceedings. No
injury was done, however, in a single instance, to the person or
property of any one, nor did the tumult continue twenty-four hours in
any one instance. In Massachusetts, this was owing to the discretion
which the malcontents still preserved; in Connecticut and New
Hampshire, the body of the people rose in support of government, and
obliged the malcontents to go to their homes. In the last-mentioned
State, they seized about forty, who were in jail for trial. It is
believed this incident will strengthen our government. Those people are
not entirely without excuse. Before the war, these States depended on
their whale oil and fish. The former was consumed in England, and much
of the latter in the Mediterranean. The heavy duties on American whale
oil, now required in England, exclude it from that market; and the
Algerines exclude them from bringing their fish into the Mediterranean.
France is opening her ports for their oil, but in the meanwhile, their
ancient debts are pressing them, and they have nothing to pay with. The
Massachusetts Assembly, too, in their zeal for paying their public
debt, had laid a tax too heavy to be paid in the circumstances of their
State. The Indians seem disposed, too, to make war on us. These
complicated causes, determined Congress to increase their forces to two
thousand men. The latter was the sole object avowed, yet the former
entered for something into the measure. However, I am satisfied the
good sense of the people is the strongest army our government can ever
have, and that it will not fail them. The commercial convention at
Annapolis, was not full enough to do business. They found, too, their
appointments too narrow, being confined to the article of commerce.
They have proposed a meeting in Philadelphia in May, and that it may be
authorized to propose amendments of whatever is defective in the
federal constitution.
When I was in England, I formed a portable copying press, on the
principles of the large one they make here, for copying letters. I had
a model made there, and it has answered perfectly. A workman here has
made several from that model. The itinerant temper of your court will,
I think, render one of these useful to you. You must, therefore, do me
the favor to accept of one. I have it now in readiness, and shall send
it by the way of Bayonne, to the care of Mr. Alexander there, unless
Don Miguel de Lardizabal can carry it with him.
My hand admonishes me it is time to stop, and that I must defer writing
to Mr. Barclay till to-morrow.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem and
respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. VAUGHAN.
PARIS, December 29, 1786.
SIR,--When I had the honor of seeing you in London, you were so kind as
to permit me to trouble you sometimes with my letters, and particularly
on the subject of mathematical or philosophical instruments. Such a
correspondence will be too agreeable to me, and at the same time, too
useful, not to avail myself of your permission. It has been an opinion
pretty generally received among philosophers, that the atmosphere of
America is more humid than that of Europe. Monsieur de Buffon makes
this hypothesis one of the two pillars whereon he builds his system of
the degeneracy of animals in America. Having had occasion to controvert
this opinion of his, as to the degeneracy of animals there, I expressed
a doubt of the fact assumed, that our climates are more moist. I did
not know of any experiments which might authorize a denial of it.
Speaking afterwards on the subject with Dr. Franklin, he mentioned to
me the observations he had made on a case of magnets, made for him by
Mr. Nairne in London. Of these you will see a detail, in the second
volume of the American Philosophical Transactions, in a letter from Dr.
Franklin to Mr. Nairne, wherein he recommends to him to take up the
principle therein explained, and endeavor to make an hygrometer, which,
taking slowly the temperature of the atmosphere, shall give its mean
degree of moisture, and enable us thus to make with more certainty, a
comparison between the humidities of different climates. May I presume
to trouble you with an inquiry of Mr. Nairne, whether he has executed
the Doctor's idea, and if he has, to get him to make for me a couple of
the instruments he may have contrived? They should be made of the same
piece, and under like circumstances, that sending one to America, I may
rely on its indications there, compared with those of the one I shall
retain here. Being in want of a set of magnets also, I would be glad if
he would at the same time send me a set, the case of which should be
made as Dr. Franklin describes his to have been, so that I may repeat
his experiment. Colonel Smith will do me the favor to receive these
things from Mr. Nairne, and to pay him for them.
I think Mr. Rittenhouse never published an invention of his in this
way, which was a very good one. It was of an hygrometer which, like the
common ones, was to give the actual moisture of the air. He has two
slips of mahogany about five inches long, three-fourths of an inch
broad, and one-tenth of an inch thick, the one having the grain running
lengthwise, and the other crosswise. These are glued together by their
faces, so as to form a piece five inches long, three-fourths of an inch
broad, and one-third of an inch thick, which is stuck by its lower end
into a little plinth of wood, presenting their edge to the view. The
fibres of the wood you know are dilated, but not lengthened by
moisture. The slip, therefore, whose grain is lengthwise, becomes a
standard, retaining always the same precise length. That which has its
grain crosswise, dilates with moisture, and contracts for the want of
it. If the right hand piece be the cross grained one, when the air is
very moist, it lengthens, and forces its companion to form a kind of
interior annulus of a circle on the left. When the air is dry, it
contracts, draws its companion to the right, and becomes itself the
interior annulus. In order to show this dilatation and contraction, an
index is fixed on the upper end of two of the slips; a plate of metal
or wood is fastened to the front of the plinth, so as to cover the two
slips from the eye. A slit, being nearly the portion of a circle, is
cut in this plate, so that the shank of the index may play freely
through its whole range. On the edge of the slit is a graduation. The
objection to this instrument is, that it is not fit for comparative
observations, because no two pieces of wood being of the same texture
exactly, no two will yield exactly alike to the same agent. However, it
is less objectionable on this account, than most of the substances
used. Mr. Rittenhouse had a thought of trying ivory; but I do not know
whether he executed it. All these substances not only vary from one
another at the same time, but from themselves at different times. All
of them, however, have some peculiar advantages, and I think this, on
the whole, appeared preferable to any other I had ever seen. Not
knowing whether you had heard of this instrument, and supposing it
would amuse you, I have taken the liberty of detailing it to you.
I beg you to be assured of the sentiments of perfect esteem and respect
with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most
humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, December 31, 1786.
SIR,--I had the honor of addressing you on the 12th of the last month;
since which, your favor of October the 12th has been received,
enclosing a copy of the resolution of Congress for recalling Mr. Lambe.
My letter by Mr. Randall informed you that we had put an end to his
powers, and required him to repair to Congress. I lately received a
letter from him, dated Alicant, October the 10th, of which I have the
honor to enclose you a copy; by which, you will perceive that the
circumstance of ill health, either true or false, is urged for his not
obeying our call. I shall immediately forward the order of Congress. I
am not without fear, that some misapplication of the public money may
enter into the causes of his declining to return. The moment that I saw
a symptom of this in his conduct, as it was a circumstance which did
not admit the delay of consulting Mr. Adams, I wrote to Mr. Carmichael,
to stop any moneys which he might have in the hands of his banker. I am
still unable to judge whether he is guilty of this or not, as by the
arrangements with Mr. Adams, who alone had done business with the
bankers of the United States, in Holland, Mr. Lambe's drafts were to be
made on him, and I know not what their amount has been. His drafts
could not have been negotiated, if made on us both, at places so
distant. Perhaps it may be thought, that the appointment of Mr. Lambe
was censurable in the moment in which it was made. It is a piece of
justice, therefore, which I owe to Mr. Adams, to declare that the
proposition went first from me to him. I take the liberty of enclosing
you a copy of my letter to Mr. Adams, of September the 24th, 1785, in
which that proposition was made. It expresses the motives operating on
my mind in that moment, as well as the cautions I thought it necessary
to take. To these must be added, the difficulty of finding an American
in Europe fit for the business, and willing to undertake it. I knew
afterwards, that Dr. Bancroft (who is named in the letter) could not,
on account of his own affairs, have accepted even a primary
appointment. I think it evident, that no appointment could have
succeeded without a much greater sum of money.
I am happy to find that Mr. Barclay's mission has been attended with
complete success. For this we are indebted, unquestionably, to the
influence and good offices of the court of Madrid. Colonel Franks, the
bearer of this, will have the honor to put into your hands the original
of the treaty, with other papers accompanying it. It will appear by
these, that Mr. Barclay has conducted himself with a degree of
intelligence and of good faith, which reflects the highest honor on
him.
A copy of a letter from Captain O'Bryan to Mr. Carmichael, is also
herewith enclosed. The information it contains will throw farther light
on the affairs of Algiers. His observations on the difficulties which
arise from the distance of Mr. Adams and myself from that place, and
from one another, and the delays occasioned by this circumstance, are
certainly just. If Congress should propose to revive the negotiations,
they will judge whether it will not be more expedient to send a person
to Algiers, who can be trusted with full powers; and also whether a
mission to Constantinople may not be previously necessary. Before I
quit this subject, I must correct an error in the letter of Captain
O'Bryan. Mr. Lambe was not limited, as he says, to one hundred, but to
two hundred dollars apiece for our prisoners. This was the price which
has been just paid for a large number of French prisoners, and this was
our guide.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO SAMUEL OSGOOD.
PARIS, January 5, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I am desired to forward to you the enclosed queries, and to
ask the favor of you to give such an answer to them, as may not give
you too much trouble. Those which stand foremost on the paper, can be
addressed only to your complaisance; but the last may possibly be
interesting to your department, and to the United States. I mean those
which suggest the possibility of borrowing money in Europe, the
principal of which shall be ultimately payable in land, and in the
meantime a good interest. You know best whether the suggestion can be
turned to any profit, and whether it will be worth while to introduce
any proposition to Congress thereon. Among the possible shapes into
which a matter of this kind may be formed, the following is one: Let us
suppose the public lands to be worth a dollar, hard money, the acre. If
we should ask of a moneyed man a loan of one hundred dollars, payable
with one hundred acres of land at the end of ten years, and in the
meantime carrying an interest of five per cent., this would be more
disadvantageous to the lender than a common loan, payable ultimately in
cash. But if we should say, we will deliver you the one hundred acres
of land immediately, which is in fact an immediate payment of the
principal, and will nevertheless pay your interest of five per cent.,
for ten years, this offers a superior advantage, and might tempt money
holders. But what should we in fact receive, in this way, for our
lands? Thirty-seven dollars and one-fourth, being left in Europe, on an
interest of five per cent., would pay annually the interest of the one
hundred dollars for ten years. There would remain then only sixty-two
dollars and three-quarters, for the one hundred acres of land, that is
to say, about two-thirds of its price. Congress can best determine,
whether any circumstance in our situation, should induce us to get rid
of any of our debts in that way. I beg you to understand, that I have
named rates of interest, term of payment, and price of land, merely to
state the case, and without the least knowledge that a loan could be
obtained on these terms. It remains to inform you from whom this
suggestion comes. The person from whom I receive it, is a Monsieur
Claviere, connected with the moneyed men of Amsterdam. He is, on behalf
of a company there, actually treating with the Comptroller General
here, for the purchase of our debt to this country, at a considerable
discount. Whether he has an idea of offering a loan to us, on terms
such as I have above spoken of, I know not; nor do I know that he is
authorized to make the suggestion he has made. If the thing should be
deemed worthy the attention of Congress, they can only consider it as a
possibility, and take measures to avail themselves of it, if the
possibility turns out in their favor, and not to be disappointed if it
does not. Claviere's proposition not being formal enough for me to make
an official communication of it, you will make what use of it you see
best. I am, with very sincere esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DE CALONNE.
PARIS, January 7, 1787.
SIR,--I had the honor, on the 2d of November last, to acknowledge the
receipt of your Excellency's letter of October the 22d, wherein you are
so good as to communicate to me the arrangements which the King had
been pleased to make for the encouragement of the commerce of the
United States of America with his subjects. I immediately made known
the same to the agents of the United States in the several seaports of
this kingdom, that they might give information thereof to the persons
concerned in that commerce. Unacquainted with the forms in which his
Majesty usually declares his will in cases of this kind, and the manner
in which it is communicated to the officers of the customs at the
seaports, I am unable to answer those agents who inform me that the
officers of the customs and farms do not as yet consider themselves
bound to conform to the new regulations. I take the liberty, therefore,
of soliciting your Excellency's interposition for the issuing such
orders as may be necessary for carrying into effect the gracious
intentions of the King, and of repeating the assurances of those
sentiments of perfect respect and esteem, with which I have the honor
to be your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, January 9, 1787.
SIR,--My last of December the 31st, acknowledged the receipt of yours
of October the 12th, as the present does those of October the 3d, 9th,
and 27th, together with the resolution of Congress of October the 16th,
on the claim of Shweighauser. I will proceed in this business on the
return of Mr. Barclay, who, being fully acquainted with all the
circumstances, will be enabled to give me that information, want of
which might lead me to do wrong on the one side or the other.
Information of the signature of the treaty with Morocco has been long
on its passage to you. I will beg leave to recur to dates, that you may
see that no part of it has been derived from me. The first notice I had
of it, was in a letter from Mr. Barclay, dated Daralbeyda, August the
11th. I received this on the 13th of September. No secure conveyance
offered till the 26th of the same month, being thirteen days after my
receipt of it. In my letter of that date, which went by the way of
London, I had the honor to enclose you a copy of Mr. Barclay's letter.
The conveyance of the treaty itself is suffering a delay here at
present, which all my anxiety cannot prevent. Colonel Franks' baggage,
which came by water from Cadiz to Rouen, has been long and hourly
expected. The moment it arrives, he will set out to London, to have
duplicates of the treaty signed by Mr. Adams, and from thence he will
proceed to New York.
The Chevalier del Pinto, who treated with us on behalf of Portugal,
being resident at London, I have presumed that causes of the delay of
that treaty had been made known to Mr. Adams, and by him communicated
to you. I will write to him by Colonel Franks, in order that you may be
answered on that subject.
The publication of the enclosed extract from my letter of May the 27th,
1786, will, I fear, have very mischievous effects. It will tend to draw
on the Count de Vergennes the formidable phalanx of the Farms; to
prevent his committing himself to me in any conversation which he does
not mean for the public papers; to inspire the same diffidence into all
other ministers, with whom I might have to transact business; to defeat
the little hope, if any hope existed, of getting rid of the Farm on the
article of tobacco; and to damp that freedom of communication which the
resolution of Congress of May the 3d, 1784, was intended to
re-establish.
Observing by the proceedings of Congress, that they are about to
establish a coinage, I think it my duty to inform them, that a Swiss,
of the name of Drost, established here, has invented a method of
striking the two faces and the edge of a coin, at one stroke. By this,
and other simplifications of the process of coinage, he is enabled to
coin from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand pieces a day, with
the assistance of only two persons, the pieces of metal being first
prepared. I send you by Colonel Franks three coins of gold, silver and
copper, which you will perceive to be perfect medals; and I can assure
you, from having seen him coin many, that every piece is as perfect as
these. There has certainly never yet been seen any coin, in any
country, comparable to this. The best workmen in this way, acknowledge
that his is like a new art. Coin should always be made in the highest
perfection possible, because it is a great guard against the danger of
false coinage. This man would be willing to furnish his implements to
Congress, and if they please, he will go over and instruct a person to
carry on the work: nor do I believe he would ask anything unreasonable.
It would be very desirable, that in the institution of a new coinage,
we could set out on so perfect a plan as this, and the more so, as
while the work is so exquisitely done, it is done cheaper.
I will certainly do the best I can for the reformation of the consular
convention, being persuaded that our States would be very unwilling to
conform their laws either to the convention, or to the scheme. But it
is too difficult and too delicate, to form sanguine hopes. However,
that there may be room to reduce the convention, as much as
circumstances will admit, will it not be expedient for Congress to give
me powers, in which there shall be no reference to the scheme? The
powers sent me, oblige me to produce that scheme, and certainly, the
moment it is produced, they will not abate a tittle from it. If they
recollect the scheme, and insist on it, we can but conclude it; but if
they have forgotten it (which may be), and are willing to reconsider
the whole subject, perhaps we may get rid of something the more of it.
As the delay is not injurious to us, because the convention, whenever
and however made, is to put us in a worse state than we are in now, I
shall venture to defer saying a word on the subject, till I can hear
from you in answer to this. The full powers may be sufficiently
guarded, by private instructions to me, not to go beyond the former
scheme. This delay may be well enough ascribed (whenever I shall have
received new powers) to a journey I had before apprised the minister
that I should be obliged to take, to some mineral waters in the south
of France, to see if, by their aid, I may recover the use of my right
hand, of which a dislocation, about four months ago, threatens to
deprive me in a great measure. The surgeons have long insisted on this
measure. I shall return by Bordeaux, Nantes and L'Orient, to get the
necessary information for finishing our commercial regulations here.
Permit me, however, to ask as immediately as possible, an answer,
either affirmative or negative, as Congress shall think best, and to
ascribe the delay on which I venture, to my desire to do what is for
the best.
I send you a copy of the late marine regulations of this country. There
are things in it, which may become interesting to us. Particularly,
what relates to the establishment of a marine militia, and their
classification.
You will have seen in the public papers, that the King has called an
assembly of the Notables of this country. This has not been done for
one hundred and sixty years past. Of course, it calls up all the
attention of the people. The objects of this assembly are not named:
several are conjectured. The tolerating the Protestant religion;
removing all the internal Custom-houses to the frontier; equalizing the
gabelles on salt through the kingdom; the sale of the King's domains,
to raise money; or, finally, the effecting this necessary end by some
other means, are talked of. But in truth, nothing is known about it.
This government practises secrecy so systematically, that it never
publishes its purposes or its proceedings, sooner or more extensively
than necessary. I send you a pamphlet, which, giving an account of the
last Assemblée des Notables, may give an idea of what the present will
be.
A great desire prevails here of encouraging manufactures. The famous
Boulton and Watts, who are at the head of the plated manufactures of
Birmingham, the steam mills of London, copying presses and other
mechanical works, have been here. It is said also, that Wedgewood has
been here, who is famous for his steel manufactories, and an earthen
ware in the antique style; but as to this last person, I am not
certain. It cannot, I believe, be doubted, but that they came at the
request of government, and that they will be induced to establish
similar manufactures here.
The transferring hither those manufactures, which contribute so much to
draw our commerce to England, will have a great tendency to strengthen
our connections with this country, and loosen them with that.
The enfranchising the port of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine, for
multiplying the connections with us, is at present an object. It meets
with opposition in the ministry; but I am in hopes it will prevail. If
natural causes operate, uninfluenced by accidental circumstances,
Bordeaux and Honfleur, or Havre, must ultimately take the greatest part
of our commerce. The former by the Garonne and canal of Languedoc,
opens the southern provinces to us; the latter, the northern ones and
Paris. Honfleur will be peculiarly advantageous for our rice and whale
oil, of which the principal consumption is at Paris. Being free, they
can be re-exported when the market here shall happen to be overstocked.
The labors of the ensuing summer will close the eastern half of the
harbor of Cherbourg, which will contain and protect forty sail of the
line. It has from fifty to thirty-five feet of water next to the cones,
shallowing gradually to the shore. Between this and Dunkirk, the
navigation of the channel will be rendered much safer in the event of a
war with England, and invasions on that country become more
practicable.
The gazettes of France and Leyden, to the present date, accompany this.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect,
Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, January 11, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--Mr. Jay, in his last letter to me, observes they hear
nothing further of the treaty with Portugal. I have taken the liberty
of telling him that I will write to you on the subject, and that he may
expect to hear from you on it, by the present conveyance. The Chevalier
del Pinto being at London, I presume he has, or can inform you why it
is delayed on their part. I will thank you also for the information he
shall give you.
There is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of
whose institution is, the begging of alms for the redemption of
captives. About eighteen months ago, they redeemed three hundred, which
cost them about fifteen hundred livres apiece. They have agents
residing in the Barbary States, who are constantly employed in
searching and contracting for the captives of their nation, and they
redeem at a lower price than any other people can. It occurred to me,
that their agency might be engaged for our prisoners at Algiers. I have
had interviews with them, and the last night, a long one with the
General of the order. They offer their services with all the benignity
and cordiality possible. The General told me, he could not expect to
redeem our prisoners as cheap as their own, but that he would use all
the means in his power to do it on the best terms possible, which will
be the better, as there shall be the less suspicion that he acts for
our public. I told him I would write to you on the subject, and speak
to him again. What do you think of employing them, limiting them to a
certain price, as three hundred dollars for instance, or any other sum
you think proper? He will write immediately to his instruments there,
and in two or three months we can know the event. He will deliver them
at Marseilles, Cadiz, or where we please, at our expense. The money
remaining of the fund destined to the Barbary business, may, I suppose,
be drawn on for this object. Write me your opinion, if you please, on
this subject, finally, fully and immediately, that, if you approve the
proposition, I may enter into arrangements with the General, before my
departure to the waters of Aix, which will be about the beginning of
February.
I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem and respect, dear Sir,
your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO COLONEL FRANKS.
January 11, 1787.
My anxiety, my dear Sir, on the detention of the Morocco treaty is
inexpressible. However cogent and necessary the motives which detain
you, I should be deemed inexcusable were I to let such a safe
opportunity as that by Colonel Blackden pass without sending the papers
on to London. Mr. Jay complained that a treaty signed in June was not
ratified in October. What will they say when they shall observe that
the same treaty does not reach them till March, nine months? In the
meantime, our whole commerce is paying a heavy tax for insurance till
its publication. Can you fix a day as early as Monday or Tuesday for
your departure, whether your baggage arrives or not, or would you
rather decline the going with the papers? In the former case, if your
baggage does not arrive before your departure, any orders you may think
proper to leave respecting it, shall be punctually executed. I can send
it to Mr. Simonson at Havre, so that it may go to America in the
February packet. I shall see you at the Marquis's to-day, and we will
speak about this matter.
TO MONSIEUR OTTO.
PARIS, January 14, 1787.
SIR,--I have been honored with your letter of October 15, and thank you
for the intelligence it contained. I am able to make you but an unequal
return for it, your friends here being so much more in condition to
communicate to you interesting intelligence. With respect to the
affairs of Holland, they do not promise arrangement. The interest which
the King of Prussia takes in the affairs of the Stadtholder, seem to
threaten an interruption of his cordiality with the country. The
misunderstanding between the Kings of Spain and Naples, and a projected
visit of the latter to Vienna, with the known influence of his Queen
over him, are matter for some jealousy.
As to domestic news, the Assembly of Notables occupies all
conversation. What will be the subjects of their deliberation is not
yet declared. The establishment of provincial assemblies, tolerating
the Protestant religion, removing the internal barriers to the
frontiers, equalizing the Gabelles, sale of the King's domains, and, in
short, every other possible reformation, are conjectured by different
persons. I send you a pamphlet on the last Assembly of Notables, from
which ideas are formed as to what this will be. Possibly you may
receive the same from some of your friends. I send you, also, what it
is less likely you should get from them, because it is next to
impossible to get it at all--that is, a late memoir by Linquet, which
has produced his perpetual exile from this country. To these I add a
report written by M. Bailly, on the subject of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris,
which has met a very general approbation. These are things for the day
only. I recollect no work of any dignity which has been lately
published. We shall very soon receive another volume on Mineralogy from
M. de Buffon; and a third volume of the "Cultivator Américain" is in
the press. So is a History of the American War, by a Monsieur Soulés,
the two first volumes of which, coming down to the capture of Burgoyne,
I have seen, and think better than any I have seen. Mazzei will print
soon two or three volumes 8vo. of "Recherches Historiques and
Politiques sur les Etats Unis d'Amérique," which are sensible. We are
flattered with the hopes that the packet boats will hereafter sail
monthly from Havre, the first being to sail on the 10th of the next
month. This is very desirable indeed, as it will furnish more frequent
opportunities of correspondence between the two countries. If I can be
made useful to you in any line whatever here, it will make me very
happy. Being with sincere esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient,
and most humble servant.
TO MONSIEUR LE DUC D'HARCOURT, GOVERNEUR DU DAUPHIN.
PARIS, January 14, 1787.
SIR,--In the conversation with which you were pleased to honor me, a
few days ago, on the enfranchisement of the port of Honfleur, I took
the liberty of observing, that I was not instructed by my constituents
to make any proposition on that subject. That it would be agreeable to
them, however, I must suppose, because it will offer the following
advantages:
1. It is a convenient entrepôt for furnishing us with the manufactures
of the northern parts of France, and particularly of Paris, and for
receiving and distributing the productions of our country in exchange.
2. Cowes, on the opposite side of the channel, has heretofore been the
deposit for a considerable part of our productions, landed in Great
Britain in the first instance, but intended for re-exportation. From
thence, our rice, particularly, has been distributed to France and
other parts of Europe. I am not certain whether our tobaccos were
deposited there, or carried to London to be sorted for the different
markets. To draw this business from Cowes, no place is so favorably
situated as Honfleur.
3. It would be a convenient deposit for our whale oil, of which, after
the supply of Paris, there will be a surplus for re-exportation.
4. Should our fur trade be recovered out of the hands of the English,
it will naturally come to Honfleur, as the port of Paris.
5. Salt is an important article in all our return cargoes; because,
being carried as ballast, its freight costs nothing. But, on account of
some regulations, with which I am not well acquainted, it cannot, at
present, be shipped to advantage from any port on the Seine.
6. Our vessels being built sharp, for swift sailing, suffer extremely
in most of the western ports of France, in which they are left on dry
ground at every ebb of the tide. But at Honfleur, I am told, they can
ride in bold water, on a good bottom and near the shore at all times.
These facts may, perhaps, throw some light on the question in which,
for the good of both countries, you are pleased to interest yourself. I
take the liberty, therefore, of barely mentioning them, and with the
more pleasure, as it furnishes me an occasion of assuring you of those
sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be,
your most obedient, humble servant.
TO MONSIEUR DE CREVE-COEUR.
PARIS, January 15, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I see by the Journal of this morning, that they are robbing
us of another of our inventions to give it to the English. The writer,
indeed, only admits them to have revived what he thinks was known to
the Greeks, that is, the making the circumference of a wheel of one
single piece. The farmers in New Jersey were the first who practised
it, and they practised it commonly. Dr. Franklin, in one of his trips
to London, mentioned this practice to the man now in London, who has
the patent for making those wheels. The idea struck him. The Doctor
promised to go to his shop, and assist him in trying to make the wheel
of one piece. The Jersey farmers do it by cutting a young sapling, and
bending it, while green and juicy, into a circle; and leaving it so
until it becomes perfectly seasoned. But in London there are no
saplings. The difficulty was, then, to give to old wood the pliancy of
young. The Doctor and the workman labored together some weeks, and
succeeded; and the man obtained a patent for it, which has made his
fortune. I was in his shop in London, he told me the whole story
himself, and acknowledged, not only the origin of the idea, but how
much the assistance of Dr. Franklin had contributed to perform the
operation on dry wood. He spoke of him with love and gratitude. I think
I have had a similar account from Dr. Franklin, but cannot be quite
certain. I know, that being in Philadelphia when the first set of
patent wheels arrived from London, and were spoken of by the gentleman
(an Englishman) who brought them, as a wonderful discovery, the idea of
its being a new discovery was laughed at by the Philadelphians, who, in
their Sunday parties across the Delaware, had seen every farmer's cart
mounted on such wheels. The writer in the paper, supposes the English
workman got his idea from Homer. But it is more likely the Jersey
farmer got his idea from thence, because ours are the only farmers who
can read Homer; because, too, the Jersey practice is precisely that
stated by Homer: the English practice very different. Homer's words are
(comparing a young hero killed by Ajax to a poplar felled by a workman)
literally thus: "He fell on the ground, like a poplar, which has grown
smooth, in the west part of a great meadow; with its branches shooting
from its summit. But the chariot maker, with the sharp axe, has felled
it, that he may bend a wheel for a beautiful chariot. It lies drying on
the banks of the river." Observe the circumstances which coincide with
the Jersey practice. 1. It is a tree growing in a moist place, full of
juices and easily bent. 2. It is cut while green. 3. It is bent into
the circumference of a wheel. 4. It is left to dry in that form. You,
who write French well and readily, should write a line for the Journal,
to reclaim the honor of our farmers. Adieu. Yours affectionately.
TO COLONEL EDWARD CARRINGTON.
PARIS, January 16, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--Uncertain whether you might be at New York at the moment of
Colonel Franks' arrival. I have enclosed my private letters for
Virginia under cover to our delegation in general, which otherwise I
would have taken the liberty to enclose particularly to you, as best
acquainted with the situation of the persons to whom they are
addressed. Should this find you at New York, I will still ask your
attention to them.
In my letter to Mr. Jay, I have mentioned the meeting of the Notables,
appointed for the 29th instant. It is now put off to the 7th or 8th of
next month. This event, which will hardly excite any attention in
America, is deemed here the most important one which has taken place in
their civil line during the present century. Some promise their country
great things from it, some nothing. Our friend de La Fayette was placed
on the list originally. Afterwards his name disappeared, but finally
was reinstated. This shows that his character here is not considered as
an indifferent one, and that it excites agitation. His education in our
school has drawn on him a very jealous eye from a court whose
principles are the most absolute despotism. But I hope he has nearly
passed his crisis. The King, who is a good man, is favorably disposed
towards him, and he is supported by powerful family connections and by
the public good will. He is the youngest man of the Notables except one
whose office placed him on the list.
The Count de Vergennes has within these ten days had a very severe
attack of what is deemed an unfixed gout. He has been well enough,
however, to do business to-day. But anxieties for him are not yet
quieted. He is a great and good minister, and an accident to him might
endanger the peace of Europe.
The tumults in America I expected would have produced in Europe an
unfavorable opinion of our political state. But it has not. On the
contrary, the small effect of these tumults seems to have given more
confidence in the firmness of our governments. The interposition of the
people themselves on the side of government has had a great effect on
the opinion here. I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the
people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray
for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only
censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep
these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these
errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the
public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of
the people, is to give them full information of their affairs through
the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers
should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our
governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object
should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether
we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a
government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I
should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable
of reading them. I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians)
which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an
infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the
European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place
of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere.
Among the latter, under pretence of governing, they have divided their
nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate. This
is a true picture of Europe. Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our
people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their
errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become
inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and
Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to
be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions;
and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his
own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe,
and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. The want of news has
led me into disquisition instead of narration, forgetting you have
every day enough of that. I shall be happy to hear from you sometimes,
only observing that whatever passes through the post is read, and that
when you write what should be read by myself only, you must be so good
as to confide your letter to some passenger, or officer of the packet.
I will ask your permission to write to you sometimes, and to assure you
of the esteem and respect with which I have honor to be, dear Sir, your
most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. DU RIVAL.
PARIS, January 17, 1787.
SIR,--You were pleased, in behalf of a friend, to ask information of me
on the subject of the money of the United States of America, and I had
the honor of informing you, by letter of November 7, that no
regulations of their coin had then been made by Congress, as far as I
knew. They had, however, entered into resolutions on that subject,
which have since come to hand. A translation of these will be found in
the Leyden Gazette of some few weeks ago. But it will be necessary to
make the following corrections in the Gazette:
The Gazette dates the resolutions October 10; but they were of August
8. It gives only 365.64 grains of pure silver to the dollar; it should
be 375.64. It states the pound of silver, with its alloy, to be worth
9.99 dollars only, whereas it is fixed at 13.777 dollars; and the pound
of gold, with its alloy, being worth 209.77 dollars, gives the
proportion of silver to gold as 1 to 15.225. These corrections being
made, the resolutions as stated in the Leyden Gazette may be confided
in.
I have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, and
most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. S. AND J. H. DELAP.
PARIS, January 17, 1787.
GENTLEMEN,--I am honored this day by the receipt of your letter of the
6th instant. Having nothing to do with the matters of account of the
United States in Europe, it is out of my power to say anything to you
as to the payment of the balance due to you. Yet I think it would be
proper for you to write to the "Commissioners of the Treasury," at New
York, on this subject. They are the persons who are to pay it; and as
their Board has been created since the debt was contracted, they may
possibly need information on the subject.
As to your loan office certificates, you would do well to commit them
to some correspondent in America. They will be settled by the table of
depreciation at their true worth in gold or silver at the time the
paper dollars were lent. On that true value the interest has been paid,
and continues to be paid to the creditors annually in America. That the
principal will also be paid, is as sure as any future fact can be. The
epoch is not fixed. It is expected that the State of New York will
shortly accede to the impost which has been proposed. When that shall
be done, that impost will suffice to pay the interest, and sink the
principal in a very few years. I have the honor to be, with much
respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant.
TO M. SOULÉS.
PARIS, January 19, 1787.
SIR,--I have the honor of enclosing to you the sheets on the subject of
Wyoming. I have had a long conversation with M. Creve-coeur on them. He
knows well that canton. He was in the neighborhood of the place when it
was destroyed, saw great numbers of the fugitives, aided them with his
wagons, and had the story from all their mouths. He committed notes to
writing at the moment, which are now in Normandy, at his father's. He
has written for them, and they will be here in five or six days, when
he premises to put them into my hands. He says there will be a great
deal to alter in your narration, and that it must assume a different
face, more favorable both to the British and Indians. His veracity may
be relied on, and I told him I was sure your object was truth; and, to
render your work estimable by that character, that I thought you would
wait, and readily make any changes upon evidence which should be
satisfactory to you. The moment I receive his notes I will communicate
them to you, and have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your
most obedient humble servant.
TO M. HILLIARD D'AUBERTEUIL.
PARIS, January 27, 1787.
SIR,--I duly received the letter you did me the honor to write, and the
verses therein enclosed on the subject of M. de La Fayette. I have
taken measures to present the public with this acceptable present; but
the newspapers here are slow in complying with the applications
addressed to them. It is not for a stranger to decide on the merits of
poetry in a language foreign to him. Were I to presume to do it in this
instance, I should certainly assign to this composition a high degree
of approbation.
I wish it were in my power to furnish you with any materials for the
history on which you are engaged, but I brought no papers of that kind
with me from America. In a letter you did me the honor of writing me
sometime ago, you seemed to suppose, you might go to America in quest
of materials. Should you execute this idea, I should with great
pleasure give any assistance in my power to obtain access for you to
the several deposits of materials which are in that country. I have the
honor to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most
humble servant.
TO CHEVALIER DE SEGOND.
PARIS, January 27, 1787.
SIR,--I have duly received the letter with which you have been pleased
to honor me, complaining of the non-payment of interest on the sum due
to you from the United States. I feel with great sensibility the weight
of these complaints; but it is neither in my province, nor in my power,
to remedy them. I am noways authorized to interfere with the money
matters of the United States in Europe. These rest altogether between
the Commissioners of the Treasury of the United States at New York and
their bankers in Europe. Being informed, however, from Mr. Grand, that
the funds appropriated to the payment of the foreign officers were
exhausted, I took the liberty of representing strongly to the
Commissioners the motives which should urge them to furnish new
supplies. They assured me, in answer, that they would do it at the
first moment it should be in their power. I am perfectly persuaded they
will; however, I shall immediately forward to them the letter you have
been pleased to address to me; and will observe to you, that it is to
them alone, or to Congress, to whom you can make any future
applications with effect.
I have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient, and
most humble servant.
TO JAMES MADISON.[2]
PARIS, January 30, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--My last to you was of the 16th of December; since which, I
have received yours of November the 25th, and December the 4th, which
afforded me, as your letters always do, a treat on matters public,
individual and economical. I am impatient to learn your sentiments on
the late troubles in the Eastern States. So far as I have yet seen,
they do not appear to threaten serious consequences. Those States have
suffered by the stoppage of the channels of their commerce, which have
not yet found other issues. This must render money scarce, and make the
people uneasy. This uneasiness has produced acts absolutely
unjustifiable; but I hope they will provoke no severities from their
governments. A consciousness of those in power that their
administration of the public affairs has been honest, may perhaps,
produce too great a degree of indignation; and those characters,
wherein fear predominates over hope, may apprehend too much from these
instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily, that nature
has formed man insusceptible of any other government than that of
force, a conclusion not founded in truth nor experience. Societies
exist under three forms, sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without
government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments, wherein the
will of every one has a just influence; as is the case in England, in a
slight degree, and in our States, in a great one. 3. Under governments
of force; as is the case in all other monarchies, and in most of the
other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these
last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is
a problem, not clear in my mind, that the first condition is not the
best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of
population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass
of mankind under that, enjoys a precious degree of liberty and
happiness. It has its evils, too; the principal of which is the
turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the
oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. _Malo periculosam
libertatem quam quietam servitutem._ Even this evil is productive of
good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general
attention to the public affairs. I hold it, that a little rebellion,
now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world
as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally
establish the encroachments on the rights of the people, which have
produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest
republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not
to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound
health of government.
[2] The latter part of this letter is in cypher; but appended to
the copy preserved, are explanatory notes, which have enabled us
to publish it entire, except a few words, to which they afford no
key. These are either marked thus * * *, or the words which the
context seemed to require, inserted in italics.
If these transactions give me no uneasiness, I feel very differently at
another piece of intelligence, to wit, the possibility that the
navigation of the Mississippi may be abandoned to Spain. I never had
any interest westward of the Alleghany; and I never will have any. But
I have had great opportunities of knowing the character of the people
who inhabit that country; and I will venture to say, that the act which
abandons the navigation of the Mississippi is an act of separation
between the eastern and western country. It is a relinquishment of five
parts out of eight, of the territory of the United States; an
abandonment of the fairest subject for the payment of our public debts,
and the chaining those debts on our own necks, _in perpetuum_. I have
the utmost confidence in the honest intentions of those who concur in
this measure; but I lament their want of acquaintance with the
character and physical advantages of the people, who, right or wrong,
will suppose their interest sacrificed on this occasion, to the
contrary interests of that part of the confederacy in possession of
present power. If they declare themselves a separate people, we are
incapable of a single effort to retain them. Our citizens can never be
induced, either as militia or as soldiers, to go there to cut the
throats of their own brothers and sons, or rather, to be themselves the
subjects, instead of the perpetrators of the parricide. Nor would that
country quit the cost of being retained against the will of its
inhabitants, could it be done. But it cannot be done. They are able
already to rescue the navigation of the Mississippi out of the hands of
Spain, and to add New Orleans to their own territory. They will be
joined by the inhabitants of Louisiana. This will bring on a war
between them and Spain; and that will produce the question with us,
whether it will not be worth our while to become parties with them in
the war, in order to re-unite them with us, and thus correct our error?
And were I to permit my forebodings to go one step further, I should
predict that the inhabitants of the United States would force their
rulers to take the affirmative of that question. I wish I may be
mistaken in all these opinions.
We have, for some time, expected that the Chevalier de La Luzerne would
obtain a promotion in the diplomatic line, by being appointed to some
of the courts where this country keeps an ambassador. But none of the
vacancies taking place, which had been counted on, I think the present
disposition is, to require his return to his station in America. He
told me himself, lately, that he should return in the spring. I have
never pressed this matter on the court, though I knew it to be
desirable and desired on our part; because, if the compulsion on him to
return had been the work of Congress, he would have returned in such
ill temper with them, as to disappoint them in the good they expected
from it. He would forever have laid at their door his failure of
promotion. I did not press it for another reason, which is, that I have
great reason to believe that the character of the Count de Moutier, who
would go, were the Chevalier to be otherwise provided for, would give
the most perfect satisfaction in America.
As you have now returned into Congress, it will become of importance
that you should form a just estimate of certain public characters: on
which, therefore, I will give you such notes, as my knowledge of them
has furnished me with. You will compare them with the materials you are
otherwise possessed of, and decide on a view of the whole.
You know the opinion I formerly entertained of my friend, Mr. Adams.
* * * and the Governor were the first who shook that opinion. I
afterwards saw proofs which convicted him of a degree of vanity, and of
a blindness to it, of which no germ appeared in Congress. A seven
months' intimacy with him here, and as many weeks in London, have given
me opportunities of studying him closely. He is vain, irritable, and a
bad calculator of the force and probable effect of the motives which
govern men. This is all the ill which can possibly be said of him. He
is as disinterested as the being who made him: he is profound in his
views; and accurate in his judgment, except where knowledge of the
world is necessary to form a judgment. He is so amiable, that I
pronounce you will love him, if ever you become acquainted with him. He
would be, as he was, a great man in Congress.
Mr. Carmichael is, I think, very little known in America. I never saw
him, and while I was in Congress I formed rather a disadvantageous idea
of him. His letters, received then, showed him vain, and more attentive
to ceremony and etiquette, than we suppose men of sense should be. I
have now a constant correspondence with him, and find him a little
hypochondriac and discontented. He possesses a very good understanding,
though not of the first order. I have had great opportunities of
searching into his character, and have availed myself of them. Many
persons of different nations, coming from Madrid to Paris, all speak of
him as in high esteem, and I think it certain that he has more of the
Count de Florida Blanca's friendship, than any diplomatic character at
that court. As long as this minister is in office, Carmichael can do
more than any other person who could be sent there.
You will see Franks, and doubtless he will be asking some appointment.
I wish there may be any one for which he is fit. He is light,
indiscreet, active, honest, affectionate. Though Bingham is not in
diplomatic office, yet as he wishes to be so, I will mention such
circumstances of him, as you might otherwise be deceived in. He will
make you believe he was on the most intimate footing with the first
characters in Europe, and versed in the secrets of every cabinet. Not a
word of this is true. He had a rage for being presented to great men,
and had no * * * in the methods by which he could effect it. * * * * *
The Marquis de La Fayette is a most valuable auxiliary to me. His zeal
is unbounded, and his weight with those in power, great. His education
having been merely military, commerce was an unknown field to him. But
his good sense enabling him to comprehend perfectly whatever is
explained to him, his agency has been very efficacious. He has a great
deal of sound genius, is well remarked by the King, and rising in
popularity. He has nothing against him, but the suspicion of republican
principles. I think he will one day be of the ministry. His foible is,
a canine appetite for popularity and fame; but he will get above this.
_The Count de Vergennes_ is _ill_. The possibility of his _recovery_,
renders it dangerous for us to express a doubt of it; but he is in
danger. He is a great minister in European affairs, but has very
imperfect ideas of our _institutions_, and no confidence in them. His
devotion to the principles of pure despotism, renders him
unaffectionate to our governments. But his fear of England makes him
value us as a make weight. He is cool, reserved in political
conversations, but free and familiar on other subjects, and a very
attentive, agreeable person to do business with. It is impossible to
have a clearer, better organized head; but age has chilled his heart.
Nothing should be spared, on our part, to attach this country to us. It
is the only one on which we can rely for support, under every event.
Its inhabitants love us more, I think, than they do any other nation on
earth. This is very much the effect of the good dispositions with which
the French officers returned. In a former letter, I mentioned to you
the dislocation of my wrist. I can make not the least use of it, except
for the single article of writing, though it is going on five months
since the accident happened. I have great anxieties, lest I should
never recover any considerable use of it. I shall, by the advice of my
surgeons, set out in a fortnight for the waters of Aix, in Provence. I
chose these out of several they proposed to me, because if they fail to
be effectual, my journey will not be useless altogether. It will give
me an opportunity of examining the canal of Languedoc, and of acquiring
knowledge of that species of navigation, which may be useful hereafter;
but more immediately, it will enable me to make the tour of the ports
concerned in commerce with us, to examine, on the spot, the defects of
the late regulations respecting our commerce, to learn the further
improvements which may be made in it, and on my return, to get this
business finished. I shall be absent between two and three months,
unless anything happens to recall me here sooner, which may always be
effected in ten days, in whatever part of my route I may be.
In speaking of characters, I omitted those of Reyneval and Hennin, the
two eyes of Count de Vergennes. The former is the most important
character, because possessing the most of the confidence of the Count.
He is rather cunning than wise, his views of things being neither great
nor liberal. He governs himself by principles which he has learned by
rote, and is fit only for the details of execution. His heart is
susceptible of little passions, but not of good ones. He is
brother-in-law to M. Gerard, from whom he received disadvantageous
impressions of us, which cannot be effaced. He has much duplicity.
Hennin is a philosopher, sincere, friendly, liberal, learned, beloved
by everybody; the other by nobody. I think it a great misfortune that
the United States are in the department of the former. As particulars
of this kind may be useful to you, in your present situation, I may
hereafter continue the chapter. I know it will be safely lodged in your
discretion.
Feb. 5. Since writing thus far, Franks has returned from England. I
learn that Mr. Adams desires to be recalled, and that Smith should be
appointed Chargé des Affaires there. It is not for me to decide whether
any diplomatic character should be kept at a court, which keeps none
with us. You can judge of Smith's abilities by his letters. They are
not of the first order, but they are good. For his honesty, he is like
our friend Monroe; turn his soul wrong side outwards, and there is not
a speck on it. He has one foible, an excessive inflammability of
temper, but he feels it when it comes on, and has resolution enough to
suppress it, and to remain silent till it passes over.
I send you, by Colonel Franks, your pocket telescope, walking stick and
chemical box. The two former could not be combined together. The latter
could not be had in the form you referred to. Having a great desire to
have a portable copying machine, and being satisfied, from some
experiments, that the principle of the large machine might be applied
in a small one, I planned one when in England, and had it made. It
answers perfectly. I have since set a workman to making them here, and
they are in such demand that he has his hands full. Being assured that
you will be pleased to have one, when you shall have tried its
convenience, I send you one by Colonel Franks. The machine costs
ninety-six livres, the appendages twenty-four livres, and I send you
paper and ink for twelve livres; in all, one hundred and thirty-two
livres. There is a printed paper of directions; but you must expect to
make many essays before you succeed perfectly. A soft brush, like a
shaving brush, is more convenient than the sponge. You can get as much
ink and paper as you please from London. The paper costs a guinea a
ream. I am, dear Sir, with sincere esteem and affection, your most
obedient humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, February 1, 1787.
SIR,--My last letters were of the 31st of December, and 9th of January;
since which last date, I have been honored with yours of December the
13th and 14th. I shall pay immediate attention to your instructions
relative to the South Carolina frigate. I had the honor of informing
you of an improvement in the art of coining, made here by one Drost,
and of sending you, by Colonel Franks, a specimen of his execution in
gold and silver. I expected to have sent also a coin of copper. The
enclosed note from Drost will explain the reason why this was not sent.
It will let you see also, that he may be employed; as I suppose he is
not so certain as he was of being engaged here. Mr. Grand, who knows
him, gives me reason to believe he may be engaged reasonably. Congress
will decide whether it be worth their attention.
In some of my former letters, I suggested an opportunity of obliging
this court, by borrowing as much money in Holland as would pay the debt
due here, if such a loan could be obtained; as to which, I was
altogether ignorant. To save time, I wrote to Mr. Dumas, to know
whether he thought it probable a loan could be obtained, enjoining on
him the strictest secrecy, and informing him I was making the inquiry
merely of my own motion, and without instruction. I enclose you his
answer. He thinks purchasers of the debt could be found, with a
sacrifice of a small part of the capital, and a postponement be
obtained of some of the first reimbursements. The proposition by him,
for an immediate adoption of this measure by me, was probably urged on
his mind by a desire to serve our country, more than a strict attention
to my duty, and the magnitude of the object. I hope, on the contrary,
that if it should be thought worth a trial, it may be put into the
hands of Mr. Adams, who knows the ground, and is known there, and whose
former successful negotiations in this line, would give better-founded
hopes of success on this occasion.
I formerly mentioned to you the hopes of preferment, entertained by the
Chevalier de La Luzerne. They have been baffled by events; none of the
vacancies taking place which had been expected. Had I pressed his being
ordered back, I have reason to believe the order would have been given.
But he would have gone back in ill humor with Congress, he would have
laid forever at their door the failure of a promotion then viewed as
certain; and this might have excited dispositions that would have
disappointed us of the good we hoped from his return. The line I have
observed with him has been, to make him sensible that nothing was more
desired by Congress than his return, but that they would not willingly
press it, so as to defeat him of a personal advantage. He sees his
prospects fail, and will return in the approaching spring, unless
something unexpected should turn up in his favor. In this case, the
Count de Moutier has the promise of succeeding to him, and, if I do not
mistake his character, he would give great satisfaction. So that I
think you may calculate on seeing one or the other, by midsummer.
It had been suspected that France and England might adopt those
concerted regulations of commerce for their West Indies, of which your
letter expresses some apprehensions. But the expressions in the 4th,
5th, 7th, 11th, 18th, and other articles of their treaty, which
communicate to the English the privileges of the most favored
_European_ nation only, has lessened, if not removed those fears. They
have clearly reserved a right of favoring, specially, any nation not
European; and there is no nation out of Europe, who could so probably
have been in their eye at that time, as ours. They are wise. They must
see it probable, at least, that any concert with England, will be but
of short duration; and they could hardly propose to sacrifice for that,
a connection with us, which may be perpetual.
We have been for some days in much inquietude for the Count de
Vergennes. He is very seriously ill. Nature seems struggling to decide
his disease into a gout. A swelled foot, at present, gives us a hope of
this issue. His loss would at all times have been great; but it would
be immense during the critical poise of European affairs existing at
this moment. I enclose you a letter from one of the foreign officers,
complaining of the non-payment of their interest. It is only one out of
many I have received. This is accompanied by a second copy of the
Moorish declaration sent me by Mr. Barclay. He went to Alicant to
settle with Mr. Lambe; but on his arrival there, found he was gone to
Minorca. A copy of his letter will inform you of this circumstance, and
of some others relative to Algiers, with his opinion on them. Whatever
the States may enable Congress to do for obtaining the peace of that
country, it is a separate question whether they will redeem our
captives, how, and at what price. If they decide to redeem them, I will
beg leave to observe, that it is of great importance that the first
redemption be made at as low a price as possible, because it will form
the future tariff. If these pirates find that they can have a very
great price for Americans, they will abandon proportionably their
pursuits against other nations, to direct them towards ours. That the
choice of Congress may be enlarged, as to the instruments they may use
for effecting the redemption, I think it my duty to inform them, that
there is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of
whose institution is to beg alms for the redemption of captives. They
keep members always in Barbary, searching out the captives of their
country, and redeem, I believe, on better terms than any other body,
public or private. It occurred to me, that their agency might be
obtained for the redemption of our prisoners at Algiers. I obtained
conference with the General, and with some members of the order. The
General, with all the benevolence and cordiality possible, undertook to
act for us, if we should desire it. He told me that their last
considerable redemption was of about three hundred prisoners, who cost
them somewhat upwards of fifteen hundred livres apiece; but that they
should not be able to redeem ours as cheap as they do their own; and
that it must be absolutely unknown that the public concern themselves
in the operation, or the price would be greatly enhanced. The
difference of religion was not once mentioned, nor did it appear to me
to be thought of. It was a silent reclamation and acknowledgment of
fraternity, between two religions of the same family, which historical
events of ancient date had rendered more hostile to one another, than
to their common adversaries. I informed the General, that I should
communicate the good dispositions of his order to those who alone had
the authority to decide whatever related to our captives. Mr.
Carmichael informs me, that moneys have been advanced for the support
of our prisoners at Algiers, which ought to be replaced. I infer from
the context of his letter, that these advances have been made by the
court of Madrid. I submit the information to Congress.
A treaty of commerce is certainly concluded between France and Russia.
The particulars of it are yet secret.
I enclose the gazettes of France and Leyden to this time, and have the
honor of assuring you of those sentiments of perfect esteem and respect
with which I am, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. SOULÉS.
February 2, 1787.
SIR,--I send you the papers M. de Creve-coeur sent to Normandy for. The
account of the destruction of Wyoming begins page 40. You may rely
certainly on the author's facts, and you will be easily able to
separate from them his reflections. You can best judge whether an
account of that interesting settlement, condensed into a few lines,
might not form an agreeable episode in your history, and prepare the
mind more awfully for its final catastrophe. I will thank you to return
these papers as soon as you are done with them, that I may restore them
to the hands of M. de Creve-coeur before my departure, which will now
be in a few days. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient
humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.
PARIS, February 6, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--Your favors by Colonel Franks have come safely to hand. He
will set out from thence the 8th instant. The packet being to sail from
Havre the 10th, I enclose you the copy of a letter lately received from
Mr. Barclay, and of the paper it enclosed. In a letter from Mr.
Carmichael, is a postscript, dated December 25, in the following words:
"Since writing the preceding, the Portuguese Ambassador has pressed me
to hint, that the present moment is favorable to push our treaty with
the court." In the body of the letter he says: "The Count de Expilly
has promised me to continue his attention to our prisoners during his
stay at Algiers; and I have also engaged the Consul of Spain, who
remains there on his return, to take care of them. Advances have been
made for their support which ought to be refunded." I suppose these
advances have been made by order of Mr. Lambe, and that his powers
being at an end, it will be incumbent on us to take measures on that
subject. The Count de Vergennes is extremely ill. His disease is gouty.
We have for some days had hopes it would fix itself decidedly in the
foot. It shows itself there at times, as also in the shoulder, the
stomach, &c. Monsieur de Calonne is likewise ill, but his complaints
are of a rheumatic kind, which he has often had before. The illness of
these two ministers occasioned the postponement of the Assembly of the
Notables to the 14th, and probably will yet postpone it. Nothing is yet
known of the objects of that meeting. I send you a pamphlet giving a
summary account of all the meetings of a general nature which have
taken place heretofore. The treaty between Prussia and this country is
certainly concluded, but its contents are not yet known. I shall set
out for the waters of Aix on the 13th instant, so that I am unable to
say when and whence I shall have the honor of addressing you again. But
I take measures for the conveying to me on my road all letters, so that
should anything extraordinary require it, I can at all times be
recalled to Paris in a fortnight. I shall hope to hear from you at
times, as if I were in Paris. I thank you much for the valuable present
of your book. The subject of it is interesting, and I am sure it is
well treated. I shall take it on my journey, that I may have time to
study it. You told me once, you had thought of writing on hereditary
aristocracy. I wish you would carry it into execution. It would make a
proper sequel to the present work. I wish you all possible happiness,
and have the honor to be, with sentiments of sincere esteem and
affection, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MRS. BINGHAM.
PARIS, February 7, 1787.
I know, Madam, that the twelve month is not yet expired; but it will
be, nearly, before this will have the honor of being put into your
hands. You are then engaged to tell me, truly and honestly, whether you
do not find the tranquil pleasures of America, preferable to the empty
bustle of Paris. For, to what does that bustle tend? At eleven o'clock,
it is day, _chez madame_. The curtains are drawn. Propped on bolsters
and pillows, and her head scratched into a little order, the bulletins
of the sick are read, and the billets of the well. She writes to some
of her acquaintance, and receives the visits of others. If the morning
is not very thronged, she is able to get out and hobble round the cage
of the Palais Royal; but she must hobble quickly, for the _coiffeur's_
turn is come; and a tremendous turn it is! Happy, if he does not make
her arrive when dinner is half over! The torpitude of digestion a
little passed, she flutters half an hour through the streets, by way of
paying visits, and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half
hour is devoted to dodging in and out of the doors of her very sincere
friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; and after cards, bed;
to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like a mill horse, the same
trodden circle over again. Thus the days of life are consumed, one by
one, without an object beyond the present moment; ever flying from the
ennui of that, yet carrying it with us; eternally in pursuit of
happiness, which keeps eternally before us. If death or bankruptcy
happen to trip us out of the circle, it is matter for the buzz of the
evening, and is completely forgotten by the next morning. In America,
on the other hand, the society of your husband, the fond cares for the
children, the arrangements of the house, the improvements of the
grounds, fill every moment with a healthy and an useful activity. Every
exertion is encouraging, because, to present amusement, it joins the
promise of some future good. The intervals of leisure are filled by the
society of real friends, whose affections are not thinned to cob-web,
by being spread over a thousand objects. This is the picture, in the
light it is presented to my mind; now let me have it in yours. If we do
not concur this year, we shall the next; or if not then, in a year or
two more. You see I am determined not to suppose myself mistaken.
To let you see that Paris is not changed in its pursuits, since it was
honored with your presence, I send you its monthly history. But this
relating only to the embellishments of their persons, I must add, that
those of the city go on well also. A new bridge, for example, is begun
at the Place Louis Quinze; the old ones are clearing off the rubbish
which encumbered them in the form of houses; new hospitals erecting;
magnificent walls of inclosure, and Custom-houses at their entrances,
&c., &c., &c. I know of no interesting change among those whom you
honored with your acquaintance, unless Monsieur de Saint James was of
that number. His bankruptcy, and taking asylum in the Bastile, have
furnished matter of astonishment. His garden, at the Pont de Neuilly,
where, on seventeen acres of ground, he had laid out fifty thousand
louis, will probably sell for somewhat less money. The workmen of Paris
are making rapid strides towards English perfection. Would you believe,
that in the course of the last two years, they have learned even to
surpass their London rivals in some articles? Commission me to have you
a phaeton made, and, if it is not as much handsomer than a London one,
as that is than a _Fiacre_, send it back to me. Shall I fill the box
with caps, bonnets, &c.? Not of my own choosing, but--I was going to
say, of Mademoiselle Bertin's, forgetting, for the moment, that she too
is a bankrupt. They shall be chosen then by whom you please; or, if you
are altogether nonplused by her eclipse, we will call an _Assemblée des
Notables_ to help you out of the difficulty, as is now the fashion. In
short, honor me with your commands of any kind, and they shall be
faithfully executed. The packets now established from Havre to New
York, furnish good opportunities of sending whatever you wish.
I shall end where I began, like a Paris day, reminding you of your
engagement to write me a letter of respectable length, an engagement
the more precious to me, as it has furnished the occasion, after
presenting my respects to Mr. Bingham, of assuring you of the sincerity
of those sentiments of esteem and respect with which I have the honor
to be, dear Madam, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO GOVERNOR RANDOLPH.
PARIS, February 7, 1787.
SIR,--I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency, a report of the
proceedings on the inauguration of the bust of the Marquis de La
Fayette in this city. This has been attended with a considerable, but a
necessary delay. The principle that the King is the sole fountain of
honor in this country opposed a barrier to our desires, which
threatened to be insurmountable. No instance of a similar proposition
from a foreign power, had occurred in their history. The admitting it
in this case, is a singular proof of the King's friendly disposition
towards the States of America, and of his personal esteem for the
Marquis de La Fayette.
I take this, the earliest occasion, of congratulating my country on
your Excellency's appointment to the chair of government, and of
assuring you with great sincerity, of those sentiments of perfect
esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, your
Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, February 8, 1787.
SIR,--The packet being to sail the day after tomorrow, I have awaited
the last possible moment of writing by her, in hopes I might be able to
announce some favorable change in the situation of the Count de
Vergennes. But none has occurred, and in the meantime he has become
weaker by the continuance of his illness. Though not desperately ill,
he is dangerously so. The Comptroller General, M. de Calonnes, has been
very ill also, but he is getting well. These circumstances have
occasioned the postponement of the Assemblée des Notables to the 14th
instant, and will probably occasion a further postponement. As I shall
set out this day sennight for the waters of Aix, you will probably hear
the issue of the Count de Vergennes' illness through some other
channel, before I shall have the honor of addressing you again. I may
observe the same, as to the final decision for the _effranchisement_ of
Honfleur, which is in a fair way of being speedily concluded. The
exertions of Monsieur de Creve-coeur, and particularly his influence
with the Duke d'Harcourt, the principal instrument in effecting it,
have been of chief consequence in this matter.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. DUMAS.
PARIS, February 9, 1787.
SIR,--My last to you was dated December 25th; since which I have been
honored with your several favors of December the 29th, January the 5th,
9th and 23d. I thought that your affairs could not be more interesting
than they have been for a considerable time. Yet in the present moment
they are become more so, by the apparent withdrawing of so considerable
a personage in the drama, as the King of Prussia. To increase this
interest, another person, whose importance scarcely admits calculation,
is in a situation which fills us with alarm. Nature is struggling to
relieve him by a decided gout; she has my sincere prayers to aid her,
as I am persuaded she has yours. I have letters and papers from
America, as late as the 15th of December. The government of
Massachusetts had imprisoned three of the leaders of their insurgents.
The insurgents, being collected to the number of three or four hundred,
had sent in their petition to the government, praying another act of
pardon for their leaders and themselves, and, on this condition,
offering to go every man home, and conduct himself dutifully
afterwards. This is the latest intelligence.
I thank you for your attention to the question I had taken the liberty
of proposing to you. I think with you, that it would be advisable to
have our debt transferred to individuals of your country. There could,
and would be no objection to the guarantee remaining as you propose;
and a postponement of the first payments of capital, would surely be a
convenience to us. For though the resources of the United States are
great and growing, and their dispositions good, yet their machine is
new, and they have not got it to go well. It is the object of their
general wish at present, and they are all in movement, to set it in a
good train; but their movements are necessarily slow. They will surely
effect it in the end, because all have the same end in view; the
difficulty being only to get all the thirteen States to agree on the
same means. Divesting myself of every partiality, and speaking from
that thorough knowledge which I have of the country, their resources
and their principles, I had rather trust money in their hands, than in
that of any government on earth; because, though for awhile the
payments of the interest might be less regular, yet the final
reimbursement of the capital would be more sure.
I set out next week for the south of France, to try whether some
mineral waters in that quarter, much recommended, will restore the use
of my hand. I shall be absent from Paris two or three months; but I
take arrangements for the regular receipt of your favors, as if I were
here. It will be better, however, for you to put your letters to Mr.
Jay, under cover to Mr. Short, who remains here, and will forward them.
I have thought it my duty to submit to Congress the proposition about
the French debt, and may expect their answer in four months.
I have the honor to be, with sincere esteem and respect, Sir, your most
obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MESSRS. BORGNIS DESBORDES FRÈRES.
PARIS, February 12, 1787.
GENTLEMEN,--Mr. Barclay, the American Consul General for France, being
at present out of the kingdom, I have given orders to Mr. Grand, banker
at Paris, to pay your draught for one hundred and eighty-six livres,
advanced by you for the relief of the shipwrecked Americans. I thank
you for your attention to these unfortunate people. It will rest with
Mr. Barclay to give such future directions as he shall think proper for
cases of this kind, which properly fall within the consular department.
A certainty that your kindness will meet his thanks, and that my
interference in his absence will be approved, has engaged me to do it
without any hesitation. I am just setting out on a journey of two or
three months, but Mr. Grand, as I have before mentioned, will pay your
draught for the 168 livres whenever you shall be pleased to make it. I
have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.
PARIS, February 14, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--As I propose to write you on business by Mr. Cairnes, who
will set out in a few days for London, the object of the present letter
is only to inform you that the Count de Vergennes died yesterday
morning, and that the Count de Montmorin is appointed his successor,
and further to beg the favor of you to forward the enclosed by the
first vessel from London. I set out on my journey on Sunday the 18th. I
have the honor to be, with sentiments of very sincere affection and
respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, February 14, 1787.
SIR,--In the letter of the 8th instant, which I had the honor of
writing you, I informed you that the Count de Vergennes was dangerously
ill. He died yesterday morning, and the Count de Montmorin is appointed
his successor. Your personal knowledge of this gentleman, renders it
unnecessary for me to say anything of him.
Mr. Morris, during his office, being authorized to have the medals and
swords executed, which had been ordered by Congress, he authorized
Colonel Humphreys to take measures here for the execution. Colonel
Humphreys did so; and the swords were finished in time for him to carry
them. The medals not being finished, he desired me to attend to them.
The workman who was to make that of General Greene, brought me
yesterday, the medal in gold, twenty-three in copper, and the dye. Mr.
Short, during my absence, will avail himself of the first occasion
which shall offer, of forwarding the medals to you. I must beg leave,
through you, to ask the pleasure of Congress as to the number they
would choose to have struck. Perhaps they might be willing to deposit
one of each person, in every college of the United States. Perhaps they
might choose to give a series of them, to each of the crowned heads of
Europe, which would be an acceptable present to them. They will be
pleased to decide. In the meantime, I have sealed up the dye, and shall
retain it till I am honored with their orders as to this medal, and the
others also, when they shall be finished.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO M. LE PREVÔT DES MARCHANDS ET ECHEVINS DE PARIS.
PARIS, February 18, 1787.
SIR,--I am now to acknowledge the receipt of the letter with which you
have been pleased to honor me, together with the report on the
inauguration of the bust of the Major General the Marquis de La
Fayette. I availed myself of an opportunity which offered in the
moment, of transmitting them to the State of Virginia, with a faithful
representation of the favor with which the Prevôt des Marchands et
Echevins de Paris received their proposition, the zeal with which it
was pursued, and the dignity of its ultimate execution. Knowing the
attachment of my country to the character which was the subject of that
transaction, and the price they will set on the attentions of the
magistracy of Paris, I am safe in assuring you that they will feel
themselves infinitely obliged on this occasion.
The interest you are pleased to take in the happiness of our infant
States, your judicious admonitions as to the means of preserving it,
and the terms in which you particularly honor some of their members,
require my personal thanks, which I humbly offer, with all those
sentiments of homage and respect with which I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. CARMICHAEL.
PARIS, February 18, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--My last to you was dated December 26, since which I have
been honored with yours of December 17. I now enclose you a duplicate
of the vote for the recall of Mr. Lambe. I take the liberty, also, of
putting under cover to you our confirmation of the Morocco treaty,
together with a joint letter to Fennish. The fear that Mr. Barclay
might not be at Madrid has occasioned my giving you this trouble, as
well as that of addressing the letter properly, and of having it
transmitted.
I have received from Mr. Jay sundry despatches relative to the frigate
the South Carolina, and to a claim against the Court of Madrid founded
on the aid of that vessel in taking the Bahama and Providence islands,
with an instruction from Congress to confer with the Prince of
Luxembourg, and get him to interest the Duke de La Vauguyon to join you
in your solicitations of this matter. This is accordingly done, and you
will have the aid of the Duke. The despatches relative to this subject,
I have sealed up and addressed to you, but they will be delivered to
the Duke de La Vauguyon, to find a safe occasion of forwarding them. My
last news from America was of the 15th of December. The insurgents of
Massachusetts had sent in a petition to their government, praying the
release of their leaders in jail, and an act of pardon for themselves,
and offering thereon to retire every man to his home and to live
submissively. You will have heard of the death of the Count de
Vergennes, and appointment of Mons. de Montmorin. I was unlucky enough
five months ago to dislocate my right wrist, and though well set, I
have as yet no use of it, except that I can write, but in pain. I am
advised to try the use of mineral waters, and those of Aix in Provence
being as much recommended as any others, I combine with this object a
design of making the tour of those seaports with which we trade,
Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, &c, and shall set out the day after
to-morrow, and expect to be absent three months. This may probably
prevent my having the honor of writing to you during that interval,
unless anything extraordinary should arise. I take measures for the
receipt of all letters addressed to me as regularly as were I here. I
have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. BARCLAY.
PARIS, February 18, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I am now to acknowledge your separate favors of December
4th, and January 6th, and the joint one to Mr. Adams and myself of
January 6th; this last has been communicated to Congress, and to Mr.
Adams. You have my full and hearty approbation of the treaty you
obtained from Morocco, which is better and on better terms than I
expected. Mr. Adams and myself have annexed our confirmation to two of
the copies, one of which is gone to Congress; the other, with a joint
letter to Fennish, I now enclose to Mr. Carmichael, apprehending you
are not in Madrid. I concur clearly with you in opinion that, for many
reasons, Mr. Carmichael would be a proper person to negotiate our
business with Algiers, if it be negotiable with such means as we
possess. I have expressed, this opinion in my letters to America, but I
am sure we cannot raise the money necessary. Colonel Franks was gone to
London before I received your letter. He returned and embarked in the
packet for Havre, but nothing was done on the subject of accounts or
money. I was unlucky enough to dislocate my right wrist five months
ago, and though it was well set, I can yet make no use of it but to
write. I am advised to try mineral waters, and those of Aix in
Provence, being as much recommended as any others, I am induced to go
to them by the desire of making the tour of the ports with which we
trade, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, &c. I set out in two days and
shall be absent three months. The packets are finally fixed at Havre.
They sail every six weeks. Honfleur will, I think, certainly be made a
free port; and I flatter myself will become the centre for much of our
trade, and particularly that of rice. The death of Count de Vergennes,
and appointment of Monsieur de Montmorin, will reach you before this
letter does. I have letters, &c., from America as late as the 15th of
December. The insurgents of Massachusetts had prayed pardon for
themselves and their leaders in jail, and on these terms had offered to
retire and live peaceably at home. Mrs. Barclay and your family are
well, except they are somewhat apprehensive of a film growing over the
eye of your youngest daughter; but should it do so, it will be easily
removed. I have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, dear
Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN ADAMS.
PARIS, February 20, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of January
25th. Colonel Franks sailed in the packet of this month from Havre for
New York. The arrangement of the packets opens a direct communication
between Paris and America, and if we succeed, as I expect we will, in
getting Honfleur made a free port, I hope to see that place become the
deposit for our whale oil, rice, tobacco and furs, and that, from
thence, what is not wanted in the country may be distributed to others.
You remember giving me a letter of credit on Messrs. Willinck and
Staphorst for one thousand guineas to pay for the swords and medals.
When the swords were finished, I drew on the Vandemjers, with whom the
money was deposited, for sixty-five thousand livres, to pay for the
swords. They paid it. A medal is now finished, and others will very
soon be. But these gentlemen say they must have fresh orders. In the
meantime, the workmen complain. Will you be so good as to draw in favor
of Mr. Grand on Willinck, &c, for the balance of the thousand guineas
(which is about the sum that will be necessary), and send the bill to
Mr. Grand, who, in my absence, will negotiate it and pay the workmen. I
enclose you Vandemjers' answer. The meeting of the Notables on
Thursday, and the necessity of paying my court to our new minister,
will detain me till Friday, and perhaps till Tuesday next. Nothing is
known yet of the objects of this Assembly. I enclose you two new
pamphlets relative to it, and will inform you of whatever I can
discover relative to it during my stay. I learn with real pain the
resolution you have taken of quitting Europe. Your presence on this
side the Atlantic gave me a confidence that, if any difficulties should
arise within my department, I should always have one to advise with, on
whose counsels I could rely. I shall now feel bewidowed. I do not
wonder at your being tired out by the conduct of the court you are at.
But is there not room to do a great deal of good for us in Holland in
the department of money? No one can do it as well as yourself. But you
have taken your resolution on mature consideration, and I have nothing
to offer, therefore, but my regrets. If anything transpires from the
Notables before my departure worth communication, you shall yet hear
from me. In the meantime, believe me to be, with sincere esteem and
respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.
PARIS, February 23, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--The Notables met yesterday; the King opened the Assembly
with a short speech, wherein he expressed his inclination to consult
with them on the affairs of his kingdom, to receive their opinions on
the plans he had digested, and to endeavor to imitate the head of his
family, Henry IV., whose name is so dear to the nation. The speech was
affectionate. The Garde des Sceaux spoke about twenty minutes,
complimented the clergy, the noblesse, the magistrates and tiers états.
The Comptroller General spoke about an hour. He enumerated the expenses
necessary to arrange his department when he came into it; he said his
returns had been minutely laid before the King; he took a review of the
preceding administrations, and more particularly of Mr. Neckar's; he
detailed the improvement which had been made; he portrayed the present
state of the finances, and sketched the several schemes proposed for
their improvement; he spoke on a change in the form of the taxes, the
removal of the interior custom-houses to the frontiers, provincial
administrations and some other objects. The Assembly was then divided
into committees. To-day, there was to be another grand Assembly, the
plans more fully explained and referred to the discussion of the
committees. The grand Assembly will meet once a week and vote
individually. The propriety of my attending the first audience day of
Count Montmorin, which will not be till the 27th, retards my departure
till then.
I have read your book with infinite satisfaction and improvement. It
will do great good in America. Its learning and its good sense will, I
hope, make it an institute for our politicians, old as well as young.
There is one opinion in it, however, which I will ask you to
reconsider, because it appears to me not entirely accurate, and not
likely to do good. Page 362, "Congress is not a legislative, but a
diplomatic assembly." Separating into parts the whole sovereignty of
our States, some of these parts are yielded to Congress. Upon these I
should think them both legislative and executive, and that would have
been judiciary also, had not the confederation required them for
certain purposes to appoint a judiciary. It has accordingly been the
decision of our courts that the confederation is a part of the law of
the land, and superior in authority to the ordinary laws, because it
cannot be altered by the legislature of any one State. I doubt whether
they are at all a diplomatic assembly. On the first news of this work
there were proposals to translate it. Fearing it might be murdered in
that operation, I endeavored to secure a good translator. This is done,
and I lend him my copy to translate from. It will be immediately
announced to keep others from attempting it. I am, with sincere esteem
and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO JOHN JAY.
PARIS, February 23, 1787.
SIR,--The Assemblée des Notables being an event in the history of this
country which excites notice, I have supposed it would not be
disagreeable to you to learn its immediate objects, though no way
connected with our interests. The Assembly met yesterday; the King, in
a short but affectionate speech, informed them of his wish to consult
with them on the plans he had digested, and on the general good of his
people, and his desire to imitate the head of his family, Henry IV.,
whose memory is so dear to the nation. The Garde des Sceaux then spoke
about twenty minutes, chiefly in compliment to the orders present. The
Comptroller General, in a speech of about an hour, opened the budget,
and enlarged on the several subjects which will be under their
deliberation. He explained the situation of the finances at his
accession to office, the expenses which their arrangement had rendered
necessary, their present state, with the improvements made in them, the
several plans which had been proposed for their future improvement, a
change in the form of some of their taxes, the removal of the interior
custom-houses to the frontiers, and the institution of Provincial
Assemblies. The Assembly was then divided into committees, with a
prince of the blood at the head of each. In this form, they are to
discuss separately the subjects which will be submitted to them. Their
decision will be reported by two members to the minister, who, on view
of the separate decisions of all the committees, will make such changes
in his plans as will best accommodate them to their views, without too
much departing from his own, and will then submit them to the vote (but
I believe not to the debate) of the General Assembly, which will be
convened for this purpose one day in every week, and will vote
individually.
The event of the Count de Vergennes' death, of which I had the honor to
inform you in a letter of the 14th instant, the appointment of the
Count Montmorin, and the propriety of my attending at his first
audience, which will be on the 27th, have retarded the journey I had
proposed, a few days.
I shall hope, on my return, to meet here new powers for the consular
convention, as under those I have, it will be impossible to make the
changes in the convention which may be wished for.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
TO RICHARD PETERS.
PARIS, February 26, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--Your favor of October 1, covering the letter and bill to
Captain Capitaine, did not come to my hands till yesterday. I wrote to
him immediately, to inform him it should be delivered here at any
moment. We talk and think of nothing here but the Assemblée des
Notables. Were all the puns collected, to which this Assembly has given
rise, I think they would make a larger volume than the "Encyclopédie."
The government is said to want eighty millions of livres revenue more
than they have. They propose to give to the people provincial
administrations, and to make other improvements. It is a pity they had
not more of the virtue called economy, of which we have something to
spare. I hope the company of Mrs. Peters and your little ones have
cured all your aches and pains both of body and mind. That you and they
may continue forever clear of them, is the sincere prayer of, dear Sir,
your friend and servant.
TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.
PARIS, February 28, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I am just now in the moment of my departure. Monsieur de
Montmorin having given us audience at Paris yesterday, I missed the
opportunity of seeing you once more. I am extremely pleased with his
modesty, the simplicity of his manners, and his dispositions toward us.
I promise myself a great deal of satisfaction in doing business with
him. I hope he will not give ear to any unfriendly suggestions. I
flatter myself I shall hear from you sometimes. Send your letters to my
hotel, as usual, and they will be forwarded to me. I wish you success
in your meeting. I should form better hopes of it, if it were divided
into two Houses, instead of seven. Keeping the good model of your
neighboring country before your eyes, you may get on, step by step,
towards a good constitution. Though that model is not perfect, yet, as
it would unite more suffrages than any new one which could be proposed,
it is better to make that the object. If every advance is to be
purchased by filling the royal coffers with gold, it will be gold well
employed. The King, who means so well, should be encouraged to repeat
these Assemblies. You see how we republicans are apt to preach, when we
get on politics. Adieu, my dear friend. Yours affectionately.
TO MADAME LA COMTESSE DE TESSE.
NISMES, March 20, 1787.
Here I am, Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison Quarrée, like a
lover at his mistress. The stocking weavers and silk spinners around it
consider me a hypochondriac Englishman, about to write with a pistol
the last chapter of his history. This is the second time I have been in
love since I left Paris. The first was with a Diana at the Chateau de
Laye-Epinaye in Beaujolois, a delicious morsel of sculpture, by M. A.
Slodtz. This, you will say, was in rule, to fall in love with a female
beauty; but with a house! it is out of all precedent. No, Madam, it is
not without a precedent in my own history. While in Paris, I was
violently smitten with the Hotel de Salm, and used to go to the
Tuileries almost daily, to look at it. The _loueuse des chaises_,
inattentive to my passion, never had the complaisance to place a chair
there, so that, sitting on the parapet, and twisting my neck round to
see the object of my admiration, I generally left it with a
_torti-colli_.
From Lyons to Nismes I have been nourished with the remains of Roman
grandeur. They have always brought you to my mind, because I know your
affection for whatever is Roman and noble. At Vienna I thought of you.
But I am glad you were not there; for you would have seen me more angry
than, I hope, you will ever see me. The Prætorian Palace, as it is
called, comparable, for its fine proportions, to the Maison Quarrée,
defaced by the barbarians who have converted it to its present purpose,
its beautiful fluted Corinthian columns cut out, in part, to make space
for Gothic windows, and hewed down, in the residue, to the plane of the
building, was enough, you must admit, to disturb my composure. At
Orange, too, I thought of you. I was sure you had seen with pleasure
the sublime triumphal arch of Marius at the entrance of the city. I
went then to the Arenæ. Would you believe, Madam, that in this
eighteenth century, in France, under the reign of Louis XVI., they are
at this moment pulling down the circular wall of this superb remain, to
pave a road? And that, too, from a hill which is itself an entire mass
of stone, just as fit, and more accessible? A former intendant, a M. de
Basville, has rendered his memory dear to the traveller and amateur, by
the pains he took to preserve and restore these monuments of antiquity.
The present one (I do not know who he is) is demolishing the object, to
make a good road to it. I thought of you again, and I was then in great
good humor, at the Pont du Gard, a sublime antiquity, and well
preserved. But most of all here, where Roman taste, genius, and
magnificence, excite ideas analogous to yours at every step. I could no
longer oppose the inclination to avail myself of your permission to
write to you, a permission given with too much complaisance by you, and
used by me with too much indiscretion. Madame de Tott did me the same
honor. But she, being only the descendant of some of those puny heroes
who boiled their own kettles before the walls of Troy, I shall write to
her from a Grecian, rather than a Roman canton; when I shall find
myself, for example, among her Phocæan relations at Marseilles.
Loving, as you do Madam, the precious remains of antiquity, loving
architecture, gardening, a warm sun and a clear sky, I wonder you have
never thought of moving Chaville to Nismes. This, as you know, has not
always been deemed impracticable; and, therefore, the next time a
_Sur-intendant des batiments du roi_, after the example of M. Colbert,
sends persons to Nismes to move the Maison Quarrée to Paris, that they
may not come empty handed, desire them to bring Chaville with them, to
replace it. _À propos_ of Paris. I have now been three weeks from
there, without knowing anything of what has passed. I suppose I shall
meet it all at Aix, where I have directed my letters to be lodged,
_poste restante_. My journey has given me leisure to reflect on this
Assemblée des Notables. Under a good and a young King, as the present,
I think good may be made of it. I would have the deputies then, by all
means, so conduct themselves as to encourage him to repeat the calls of
this Assembly. Their first step should be, to get themselves divided
into two chambers instead of seven; the Noblesse and the Commons
separately. The second, to persuade the King, instead of choosing the
deputies of the Commons himself, to summon those chosen by the people
for the Provincial administrations. The third, as the Noblesse is too
numerous to be all of the Assemblée, to obtain permission for that body
to choose its own deputies. Two Houses, so elected, would contain a
mass of wisdom which would make the people happy, and the King great;
would place him in history where no other act can possibly place him.
They would thus put themselves in the track of the best guide they can
follow; they would soon overtake it, become its guide in turn, and lead
to the wholesome modifications wanting in that model, and necessary to
constitute a rational government. Should they attempt more than the
established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all, and
retard indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim. These, Madam, are
my opinions; but I wish to know yours, which, I am sure, will be
better.
From a correspondent at Nismes, you will not expect news. Were I to
attempt to give you news, I should tell you stories one thousand years
old. I should detail to you the intrigues of the courts of the Cæsars,
how they affect us here, the oppressions of their prætors, prefects,
&c. I am immersed in antiquities from morning to night. For me, the
city of Rome is actually existing in all the splendor of its empire. I
am filled with alarms for the event of the irruptions daily making on
us, by the Goths, the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals, lest they
should re-conquer us to our original barbarism. If I am sometimes
induced to look forward to the eighteenth century, it is only when
recalled to it by the recollection of your goodness and friendship, and
by those sentiments of sincere esteem and respect with which I have the
honor to be Madam, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.
NICE, April 11, 1787.
Your head, my dear friend, is full of notable things; and being better
employed, therefore, I do not expect letters from you. I am constantly
roving about, to see what I have never seen before, and shall never see
again. In the great cities, I go to see what travellers think alone
worthy of being seen; but I make a job of it, and generally gulp it all
down in a day. On the other hand, I am never satiated with rambling
through the fields and farms, examining the culture and cultivators,
with a degree of curiosity which makes some take me to be a fool, and
others to be much wiser than I am. I have been pleased to find among
the people a less degree of physical misery than I had expected. They
are generally well clothed, and have a plenty of food, not animal
indeed, but vegetable, which is as wholesome. Perhaps they are
over-worked, the excess of the rent required by the landlord obliging
them to too many hours of labor in order to produce that, and wherewith
to feed and clothe themselves. The soil of Champagne and Burgundy I
have found more universally good than I had expected, and as I could
not help making a comparison with England, I found that comparison more
unfavorable to the latter than is generally admitted. The soil, the
climate, and the productions are superior to those of England, and the
husbandry as good, except in one point; that of manure. In England,
long leases for twenty-one years, or three lives, to wit, that of the
farmer, his wife, and son, renewed by the son as soon as he comes to
the possession, for his own life, his wife's and eldest child's, and so
on, render the farms there almost hereditary, make it worth the
farmer's while to manure the lands highly, and give the landlord an
opportunity of occasionally making his rent keep pace with the improved
state of the lands. Here the leases are either during pleasure, or for
three, six, or nine years, which does not give the farmer time to repay
himself for the expensive operation of well manuring, and, therefore,
he manures ill, or not at all. I suppose, that could the practice of
leasing for three lives be introduced in the whole kingdom, it would,
within the term of your life, increase agricultural productions fifty
per cent.; or were any one proprietor to do it with his own lands, it
would increase his rents fifty per cent., in the course of twenty-five
years. But I am told the laws do not permit it. The laws then, in this
particular, are unwise and unjust, and ought to give that permission.
In the southern provinces, where the soil is poor, the climate hot and
dry, and there are few animals, they would learn the art, found so
precious in England, of making vegetable manure, and thus improving
these provinces in the article in which nature has been least kind to
them. Indeed, these provinces afford a singular spectacle. Calculating
on the poverty of their soil, and their climate by its latitude only,
they should have been the poorest in France. On the contrary, they are
the richest, from one fortuitous circumstance. Spurs or ramifications
of high mountains, making down from the Alps, and, as it were,
reticulating these provinces, give to the valleys the protection of a
particular inclosure to each, and the benefit of a general stagnation
of the northern winds produced by the whole of them, and thus
countervail the advantage of several degrees of latitude. From the
first olive fields of Pierrelatte, to the orangeries of Hieres, has
been continued rapture to me. I have often wished for you. I think you
have not made this journey. It is a pleasure you have to come, and an
improvement to be added to the many you have already made. It will be a
great comfort to you, to know, from your own inspection, the condition
of all the provinces of your own country, and it will be interesting to
them at some future day, to be known to you. This is, perhaps, the only
moment of your life in which you can acquire that knowledge. And to do
it most effectually, you must be absolutely incognito, you must ferret
the people out of their hovels as I have done, look into their kettles,
eat their bread, loll on their beds under pretence of resting yourself,
but in fact, to find if they are soft. You will feel a sublime pleasure
in the course of this investigation, and a sublimer one hereafter, when
you shall be able to apply your knowledge to the softening of their
beds, or the throwing a morsel of meat into their kettle of vegetables.
You will not wonder at the subjects of my letters; they are the only
ones which have been presented to my mind for some time past; and the
waters must always be what are the fountains from which they flow.
According to this, indeed, I should have intermixed, from beginning to
end, warm expressions of friendship to you. But according to the ideas
of our country, we do not permit ourselves to speak even truths, when
they may have the air of flattery. I content myself, therefore, with
saying once for all, that I love you, your wife and children. Tell them
so, and adieu. Yours affectionately.
TO WILLIAM SHORT.
NICE, April 12, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--At Marseilles, they told me I should encounter the rice
fields of Piedmont soon after crossing the Alps. Here they tell me
there are none nearer than Vercelli and Novarra, which is carrying me
almost to Milan. I fear that this circumstance will occasion me a
greater delay than I had calculated on. However I am embarked in the
project, and shall go through with it. To-morrow, I set out on my
passage over the Alps, being to pursue it ninety-three miles to Coni,
on mules, as the snows are not yet enough melted to admit carriages to
pass. I leave mine here, therefore, proposing to return by water from
Genoa. I think it will be three weeks before I get back to Nice. I find
this climate quite as delightful as it has been represented. Hieres is
the only place in France, which may be compared with it. The climates
are equal. In favor of this place, are the circumstances of gay and
dissipated society, a handsome city, good accommodations, and some
commerce. In favor of Hieres, are environs of delicious and extensive
plains, a society more contracted, and therefore more capable of
esteem, and the neighborhood of Toulon, Marseilles and other places, to
which excursions may be made. Placing Marseilles in comparison with
Hieres, it has extensive society, a good theatre, freedom from military
control, and the most animated commerce. But its winter climate is far
inferior. I am now in the act of putting my baggage into portable form
for my bat-mule; after praying you therefore, to let my daughter
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