Produced by David Widger
[Illustration: Book Spines, 1829 set of Jefferson Papers]
MEMOIR, CORRESPONDENCE, AND MISCELLANIES, FROM THE PAPERS OF THOMAS
JEFFERSON.
Edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph.
[Illustration: Steel engraving by Longacre from painting of G. Stuart]
[Illustration: Titlepage of Volume Three (of four)]
VOLUME III.
LETTER I.--TO JOHN JAY, July 19, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, July 19, 1789.
Dear Sir,
I am become very uneasy, lest you should have adopted some channel for
the conveyance of your letters to me, which is unfaithful. I have none
from you of later date than November the 25th, 1788, and of consequence,
no acknowledgment of the receipt of any of mine, since that of August
the 11th, 1788. Since that period, I have written to you of the
following dates. 1788. August the 20th, September the 3rd, 5th, 24th,
November the 14th, 19th, 29th. 1789. January the 11th, 14th, 21st,
February the 4th, March the 1st, 12th, 14th, 15th, May the 9th, 11th,
12th, June the 17th, 24th, 29th. I know, through another person, that
you have received mine of November the 29th, and that you have written
an answer; but I have never received the answer, and it is this which
suggests to me the fear of some general source of miscarriage.
The capture of three French merchant ships by the Algerines, under
different pretexts, has produced great sensation in the seaports of this
country, and some in its government. They have ordered some frigates
to be armed at Toulon to punish them. There is a possibility that
this circumstance, if not too soon set to rights by the Algerines, may
furnish occasion to the States General, when they shall have leisure to
attend to matters of this kind, to disavow any future tributary treaty
with them. These pirates respect still less their treaty with Spain, and
treat the Spaniards with an insolence greater than was usual before the
treaty.
The scarcity of bread begins to lessen in the southern parts of France,
where the harvest has commenced. Here it is still threatening, because
we have yet three weeks to the beginning of harvest, and I think there
has not been three days’ provision beforehand in Paris, for two or three
weeks past. Monsieur de Mirabeau, who is very hostile to Mr. Necker,
wished to find a ground for censuring him, in a proposition to have
a great quantity of flour furnished from the United States, which he
supposed me to have made to Mr. Necker, and to have been refused by him;
and he asked time of the States General to furnish proofs. The Marquis
de la Fayette immediately gave me notice of this matter, and I wrote him
a letter to disavow having ever made any such proposition to Mr. Necker,
which I desired him to communicate to the States. I waited immediately
on Mr. Necker and Monsieur de Montmorin, satisfied them that what had
been suggested was absolutely without foundation from me; and indeed
they had not needed this testimony. I gave them copies of my letter to
the Marquis de la Fayette, which was afterwards printed. The Marquis,
on the receipt of my letter, showed it to Mirabeau. who turned then to a
paper from which he had drawn his information, and found he had totally
mistaken it. He promised immediately that he would himself declare his
error to the States General, and read to them my letter, which he did.
I state this matter to you, though of little consequence in itself,
because it might go to you misstated in the English papers.
Our supplies to the Atlantic ports of France, during the months of
March, April, and May, were only twelve thousand two hundred and twenty
quintals, thirty-three pounds of flour, and forty-four thousand one
hundred and fifteen quintals, forty pounds of wheat, in twenty-one
vessels.
My letter of the 29th of June, brought down the proceedings of the
States and government to the re-union of the orders, which took place
on the 27th. Within the Assembly, matters went on well. But it was soon
observed, that troops, and particularly the foreign troops, were on
their march towards Paris from various quarters, and that this was
against the opinion of Mr. Necker. The King was probably advised to
this, under pretext of preserving peace in Paris and Versailles, and saw
nothing else in the measure. That his advisers are supposed to have had
in view, when he should be secured and inspirited by the presence of the
troops to take advantage of some favorable moment, and surprise him
into an act of authority for establishing the declaration of the 23rd
of June, and perhaps dispersing the States General, is probable. The
Marshal de Broglio was appointed to command all the troops within
the Isle of France, a high-flying aristocrat, cool and capable of
everything. Some of the French guards were soon arrested under other
pretexts, but in reality, on account of their dispositions in favor
of the national cause. The people of Paris forced the prison, released
them, and sent a deputation to the States General, to solicit a pardon.
The States, by a most moderate and prudent _Arrêtè_, recommended these
prisoners to the King, and peace to the people of Paris. Addresses
came in to them from several of the great cities, expressing sincere
allegiance to the King, but a determined resolution to support the
States General. On the 8th of July, they voted an address to the King
to remove the troops. This piece of masculine eloquence,* written by
Monsieur de Mirabeau, is worth attention on account of the bold matter
it expresses and discovers through the whole. The King refused to remove
the troops, and said they might remove themselves, if they pleased, to
Noyon or Soissons. They proceeded to fix the order in which they will
take up the several branches of their future constitution, from which it
appears, they mean to build it from the bottom, confining themselves
to nothing in their ancient form, but a King. A declaration of rights,
which forms the first chapter of their work, was then proposed by the
Marquis de la Fayette. This was on the 11th. In the mean time troops,
to the number of about twenty-five or thirty thousand, had arrived, and
were posted in and between Paris and Versailles. The bridges and passes
were guarded. At three o’clock in the afternoon, the Count de la Luzerne
was sent to notify Mr. Necker of his dismission, and to enjoin him to
retire instantly, without saying a word of it to any body. He went home,
dined, proposed to his wife a visit to a friend, but went in fact to his
country-house at St. Ouen, and at midnight set out from thence, as is
supposed, for Brussels. This was not known till the next day, when
the whole ministry was changed, except Villedeuil, of the domestic
department, and Barentin, _Garde des Sceaux_. These changes were as
follows. The Baron de Breteuil, president of the council of finance;
and De la Galaisière, Comptroller General in the room of Mr. Necker; the
Marshal de Broglio, minister of war, and Foulon under him, in the room
of Puy-Ségur; Monsieur de la Vauguyon, minister of foreign affairs,
instead of Monsieur de Montmorin; De la Porte, minister of marine, in
place of the Count de la Luzerne; St. Priest was also removed from
the Council. It is to be observed, that Luzerne and Puy-Ségur had been
strongly of the aristocratical party in Council; but they were not
considered as equal to bear their shares in the work now to be done. For
this change, however sudden it may have been in the mind of the King,
was, in that of his advisers, only one chapter of a great plan, of which
the bringing together the foreign troops had been the first. He was now
completely in the hands of men, the principal among whom had been noted
through their lives for the Turkish despotism of their characters, and
who were associated about the King, as proper instruments for what was
to be executed. The news of this change began to be known in Paris about
one or two o’clock. In the afternoon, a body of about one hundred German
cavalry were advanced and drawn up in the Place Louis XV., and about two
hundred Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear. This drew the
people to that spot, who naturally formed themselves in front of the
troops, at first merely to look at them. But as their numbers increased,
their indignation arose; they retired a few steps, posted themselves
on and behind large piles of loose stone, collected in that place for
a bridge adjacent to it, and attacked the horse with stones. The horse
charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and the showers of
stones, obliged them to retire, and even to quit the field altogether,
leaving one of their number on the ground. The Swiss in their rear were
observed never to stir. This was the signal for universal insurrection,
and this body of cavalry, to avoid being massacred, retired towards
Versailles. The people now armed themselves with such weapons as they
could find in armorers’ shops and private houses, and with bludgeons,
and were roaming all night through all parts of the city, without any
decided practicable object. The next day, the States pressed on the King
to send away the troops, to permit the _Bourgeois_ of Paris to arm for
the preservation of order in the city, and offered to send a deputation
from their body to tranquillize them. He refused all their propositions.
A committee of magistrates and electors of the city were appointed by
their bodies, to take upon them its government. The mob, now openly
joined by the French guards, forced the prison of St. Lazare, released
all the prisoners, and took a great store of corn, which they carried to
the corn market. Here they got some arms, and the French guards began
to form and train them. The committee determined to raise forty-eight
thousand _Bourgeois_, or rather to restrain their numbers to forty-eight
thousand. On the 14th, they sent one of their members (Monsieur de
Corny, whom we knew in America) to the _Hôtel des Invalides_, to ask
arms for their _Garde Bourgeoise_. He was followed by, or he found
there, a great mob. The Governor of the _Invalides_ came out, and
represented the impossibility of his delivering arms, without the orders
of those from whom he received them. De Corny advised the people then to
retire, and retired himself; and the people took possession of the arms.
It was remarkable, that not only the _Invalides_ themselves made no
opposition, but that a body of five thousand foreign troops, encamped
within four hundred yards, never stirred. Monsieur de Corny and five
others were then sent to ask arms of Monsieur de Launai, Governor of
the Bastile. They found a great collection of people already before the
place, and they immediately planted a flag of truce, which was answered
by a like flag hoisted on the parapet. The deputation prevailed on the
people to fall back a little, advanced themselves to make their demand
of the Governor, and in that instant a discharge from the Bastile killed
four people of those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired:
the people rushed against the place, and almost in an instant were in
possession of a fortification, defended by one hundred men, of infinite
strength, which in other times had stood several regular sieges, and
had never been taken. How they got in, has as yet been impossible to
discover. Those who pretend to have been of the party tell so many
different stories, as to destroy the credit of them all. They took all
the arms, discharged the prisoners, and such of the garrison as were not
killed in the first moment of fury, carried the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor to the Greve (the place of public execution), cut off their
heads, and sent them through the city in triumph to the _Palais Royal_.
About the same instant, a treacherous correspondence having been
discovered in Monsieur de Flesselles, _Prévôt des Marchands_, they
seized him in the _Hotel de Ville_, where he was in the exercise of
his office, and cut off his head. These events, carried imperfectly
to Versailles, were the subject of two successive deputations from the
States to the King, to both of which he gave dry and hard answers; for
it has transpired, that it had been proposed and agitated in Council, to
seize on the principal members of the States General, to march the whole
army down upon Paris, and to suppress its tumults by the sword. But, at
night, the Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the King’s bed-chamber,
and obliged him to hear a full and animated detail of the disasters of
the day in Paris. He went to bed deeply impressed. The decapitation
of De Launai worked powerfully through the night on the whole
aristocratical party, insomuch that, in the morning, those of the
greatest influence on the Count d’Artois, represented to him the
absolute necessity that the King should give up every thing to the
States. This according well enough with the dispositions of the King,
he went about eleven o’clock, accompanied only by his brothers, to the
States General, and there read to them a speech, in which he asked their
interposition to re-establish order. Though this be couched in terms of
some caution, yet the manner in which it was delivered, made it evident
that it was meant as a surrender at discretion. He returned to the
_Chateau_ afoot, accompanied by the States. They sent off a deputation,
the Marquis de la Fayette at their head, to quiet Paris. He had, the
same morning, been named Commandant in Chief of the _Milice Bourgeoise_,
and Monsieur Bailly, former President of the States General, was called
for as _Prévôt des Marchands_. The demolition of the Bastile was now
ordered, and begun. A body of the Swiss guards of the regiment of
Ventimille, and the city horse-guards joined the people. The alarm
at Versailles increased instead of abating. They believed that the
aristocrats of Paris were under pillage and carnage, that one hundred
and fifty thousand men were in arms, coming to Versailles to massacre
the royal family, the court, the ministers, and all connected with
them, their practices, and principles. The aristocrats of the Nobles
and Clergy in the States General, vied with each other in declaring how
sincerely they were converted to the justice of voting by persons, and
how determined to go with the nation all its lengths. The foreign troops
were ordered off instantly. Every minister resigned. The King confirmed
Bailly as _Prévôt des Marchands_, wrote to Mr. Necker to recall him,
sent his letter open to the States General, to be forwarded by them, and
invited them to go with him to Paris the next day, to satisfy the city
of his dispositions: and that night and the next morning, the Count
d’Artois, and Monsieur de Montisson (a deputy connected with him),
Madame de Polignac, Madame de Guiche, and the Count de Vaudreuil,
favorites of the Queen, the Abbe de Vermont, her confessor, the Prince
of Conde, and Duke de Bourbon, all fled; we know not whither. The
King came to Paris, leaving the Queen in consternation for his return.
Omitting the less important figures of the procession, I will only
observe, that the King’s carriage was in the centre, on each side of it
the States General, in two rank, afoot, and at their head the Marquis de
la Fayette, as Commander in Chief, on horseback, and _Bourgeois_ guards
before and behind. About sixty thousand citizens of all forms and
colors, armed with the muskets of the Bastile and Invalids, as far as
they would go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, pruning-hooks,
scythes, &c. lined all the streets through which the procession passed,
and, with the crowds of people in the streets, doors, and windows,
saluted them every where with cries of _‘Vive la Nation;_’ but not a
single _‘Vive le Roy_’ was heard. The King stopped at the _Hôtel de
Ville_. There Monsieur Bailly presented and put into his hat the popular
cockade, and addressed him. The King being unprepared and unable to
answer, Bailly went to him, gathered from him some scraps of sentences,
and made out an answer, which he delivered to the audience as from
the King. On their return, the popular cries were _‘Vive le Roy et la
Nation.’_ He was conducted by a _Garde Bourgeoise_ to his palace
at Versailles, and thus concluded such an _amende honorable_, as no
sovereign ever made, and no people ever received. Letters written with
his own hand to the Marquis de la Fayette remove the scruples of his
position. Tranquillity is now restored to the capital: the shops are
again opened; the people resuming their labors, and if the want of
bread does not disturb our peace, we may hope a continuance of it.
The demolition of the Bastile is going on, and the _Milice Bourgeoise_
organizing and training. The ancient police of the city is abolished by
the authority of the people, the introduction of the King’s troops will
probably be proscribed, and a watch or city guards substituted, which
shall depend on the city alone. But we cannot suppose this paroxysm
confined to Paris alone. The whole country must pass successively
through it, and happy if they get through it as soon and as well as
Paris has done.
I went yesterday to Versailles, to satisfy myself what had passed
there; for nothing can be believed but what one sees, or has from an
eye-witness. They believe there still, that three thousand people have
fallen victims to the tumults of Paris. Mr. Short and myself have been
every day among them, in order to be sure of what was passing. We cannot
find, with certainty, that any body has been killed but the three before
mentioned, and those who fell in the assault or defence of the Bastile.
How many of the garrison were killed, nobody pretends to have ever
heard. Of the assailants, accounts vary from six to six hundred. The
most general belief is, that there fell about thirty. There have been
many reports of instantaneous executions by the mob, on such of their
body as they caught in acts of theft or robbery. Some of these may
perhaps be true. There was a severity of honesty observed, of which
no example has been known. Bags of money offered on various occasions
through fear or guilt, have been uniformly refused by the mobs. The
churches are now occupied in singing ‘_De projundis_’ and ‘_Requiems,_’
‘for the repose of the souls of the brave and valiant citizens who
have sealed with their blood the liberty of the nation.’ Monsieur de
Montmorin is this day replaced in the department of foreign affairs, and
Monsieur de St. Priest is named to the home department. The gazettes of
France and Leyden accompany this. I send also a paper (called the
_Point du Jour_) which will give you some idea of the proceedings of the
National Assembly. It is but an indifferent thing; however, it is the
best.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
P. S. July 21. Mr. Necker had left Brussels for Frankfort, before the
courier got there. We expect, however, to hear of him in a day or two.
Monsieur le Comte de la Luzerne has resumed the department of the marine
this day. Either this is an office of friendship effected by Monsieur de
Montmorin (for though they had taken different sides, their friendship
continued), or he comes in as a stop-gap, till somebody else can be
found. Though very unequal to his office, all agree that he is an honest
man. The Count d’Artois was at Valenciennes. The Prince of Conde and
Duke de Bourbon had passed that place. T. J.
LETTER II.--TO M. L’ABBE ARNOND, July 19, 1789
TO M. L’ABBE ARNOND.
Paris, July 19, 1789.
Dear Sir,
The annexed is a catalogue of all the books I recollect, on the subject
of juries. With respect to the value of this institution, I must make
a general observation. We think, in America, that it is necessary to
introduce the people into every department of government, as far as they
are capable of exercising it: and that this is the only way to insure a
long continued and honest administration of its powers.
1. They are not qualified to exercise themselves the executive
department, but they are qualified to name the person who shall exercise
it. With us, therefore, they choose this officer every four years.
2. They are not qualified to legislate. With us, therefore, they only
choose the legislators. 3. They are not qualified to judge questions of
law, but they are very capable of judging questions of fact. In the form
of juries, therefore, they determine all matters of fact, leaving to the
permanent judges to decide the law resulting from those facts. But we
all know, that permanent judges acquire an _esprit de corps_; that being
known, they are liable to be tempted by bribery; that they are misled
by favor, by relationship, by a spirit of party, by a devotion to the
executive or legislative power; that it is better to leave a cause to
the decision of cross and pile, than to that of a judge biassed to one
side; and that the opinion of twelve honest jurymen gives still a better
hope of right, than cross and pile does. It is in the power, therefore,
of the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under any bias
whatever, in any cause, to take on themselves to judge the law as
well as the fact. They never exercise this power but when they suspect
partiality in the judges; and by the exercise of this power, they have
been the firmest bulwarks of English liberty. Were I called upon to
decide, whether the people had best be omitted in the legislative or
judiciary department, I would say it is better to leave them out of the
legislative. The execution of the laws is more important than the
making them. However, it is best to have the people in all the three
departments, where that is possible.
I write in great haste, my Dear Sir, and have, therefore, only time to
add wishes for the happiness of your country, to which a new order of
things is opening; and assurances of the sincere esteem with which 1
have the honor to be, Dear Sir, your most obedient and humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
_Books, on the subject of Juries_.
Complete Juryman, or a Compendium of the Laws relating to Jurors.
Guide to English Juries.
Hawles’s Englishman’s Right.
Jurors Judges both of Law and Fact, by Jones.
Security of Englishmen’s Lives, or the Duty of Grand Juries.
Walwin’s Juries Justified.
LETTER III.--TO JOHN JAY, July 23, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, July 23, 1789.
SIR,
The bearer of my letters (a servant of Mr. Morris) not going off till
to-day, I am enabled to add to their contents. The spirit of tumult
seemed to have subsided, when, yesterday, it was excited again, by a
particular incident. Monsieur Foulon, one of the obnoxious ministry,
who, as well as his brethren, had absconded, was taken in the country,
and, as is said, by his own tenants, and brought to Paris. Great efforts
were exerted by popular characters, to save him. He was at length forced
out of the hands of the Garde. Bourgeoise, hung immediately, his head
cut off, and his body drawn through the principal streets of the city.
The Intendant of Paris, Monsieur de Chauvigny, accused of having entered
into the designs of the same ministry, has been taken at Compiegne,
and a body of two hundred men on horseback have gone for him. If he be
brought here, it will be difficult to save him. Indeed, it is hard to
say, at what distance of time the presence of one of those ministers,
or of any of the most obnoxious of the fugitive courtiers, will not
rekindle the same blood-thirsty spirit. I hope it is extinguished as to
every body else, and yesterday’s example will teach them to keep out of
its way. I add two other sheets of the _Point du Jour_, and am, with the
most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
Th: Jefferson.
P. S. I just now learn that Bertier de Chauvigny was brought to town
last night, and massacred immediately.
LETTER IV.--TO JOHN JAY, July 29, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, July 29, 1789.
Sir,
I have written you lately, on the 24th of June, with a postscript of the
25th; on the 29th of the same month; the 19th of July, with a postscript
of the 21st; and again on the 23rd. Yesterday I received yours of the
9th of March, by the way of Holland.
Mr. Necker has accepted his appointment, and will arrive today from
Switzerland, where he had taken refuge. No other ministers have been
named since my last. It is thought that Mr. Necker will choose his own
associates. The tranquillity of Paris has not been disturbed, since the
death of Foulon and Bertier, mentioned in my last. Their militia is in a
course of organization. It is impossible to know the exact state of the
supplies of bread. We suppose them low and precarious, because, some
days, we are allowed to buy but half or three fourths of the daily
allowance of our families. Yet as the wheat harvest must begin within
ten days or a fortnight, we are in hopes there will be subsistence
found till that time. This is the only source from which I should fear
a renewal of the late disorders; for I take for granted, the fugitives
from the wrath of their country, are all safe in foreign countries.
Among these are numbered seven Princes of the house of Bourbon, and six
ministers; the seventh (the Marshal de Broglio) being shut up in the
fortified town of Metz, strongly garrisoned with foreign soldiers. I
observed to you, in a preceding letter, that the storm which had begun
in Paris, on the change of the ministry, would have to pass over the
whole country, and consequently, would, for a short time, occasion us
terrible details from the different parts of it. Among these, you
will find a horrid one retailed from Vesoul, in Franche Compte. The
atrociousness of the fact would dispose us rather to doubt the truth of
the evidence on which it rests, however regular that appears. There
is no question, that a number of people were blown up; but there are
reasons for suspecting that it was by accident and not design. It is
said the owner of the chateau sold powder by the pound, which was kept
in the cellar of the house blown up; and it is possible, some one of
the guests may have taken this occasion to supply himself, and been
too careless in approaching the mass. Many idle stories have also been
propagated and believed here, against the English, as that they have
instigated the late tumults with money, that they had taken or were
preparing to take Cherbourg, Brest, &c.; and even reasonable men have
believed, or pretended to believe, all these. The British ambassador has
thought it necessary to disavow them in a public letter, which you will
find in one of the papers accompanying this.
I have lately had an opportunity of knowing with certainty the present
state of the King of England. His recovery was slow; he passed through a
stage of profound melancholy; but this has at length dissipated, and he
is at present perfectly re-established. He talks now as much as ever,
on the same trifling subjects, and has recovered even his habitual
inquisitiveness into the small news of the families about him. His
health is also good, though he is not as fleshy as he used to be. I have
multiplied my letters to you lately, because the scene has been truly
interesting; so much so, that had I received my permission to pay my
projected visit to my own country, I should have thought, and should
still think it my duty to defer it a while. I presume it cannot now
be long, before I receive your definitive answer to my request. I send
herewith the public papers, as usual; and have the honor to be, with the
most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER V.--TO JOHN JAY, August 5, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, August 5, 1789.
Sir,
I wrote you on the 19th of the last month, with a postscript of the
21st; and again on the 23rd and 29th. Those letters went by private
conveyances. This goes by the London post. Since my last, some small and
momentary tumults have taken place in this city, in one of which a
few of the rioters were killed by the city militia. No more popular
executions have taken place. The capture of the Baron de Besenval,
commandant of the Swiss troops, as he was flying to Switzerland, and of
the Duke de la Vauguyon, endeavoring to escape by sea, would endanger
new interpositions of the popular arm, were they to be brought to Paris.
They are, therefore, confined where they were taken. The former of
these being unpopular with the troops under his command, on account of
oppressions, occasioned a deputation from their body, to demand justice
to be done on him, and to avow the devotion of the Swiss troops to
the cause of the nation. They had before taken side in part only. Mr.
Necker’s return contributed much to re-establish tranquillity, though
not quite as much as was expected. His just intercessions for the Baron
de Besenval and other fugitives, damped very sensibly the popular ardor
towards him. Their hatred is stronger than their love.
Yesterday, the other ministers were named. The Archbishop of Bordeaux
is _Garde des Sceaux_, Monsieur de la Tour du Pin, minister of war,
the Prince of Beauvou is taken into the Council, and the _feuille
des bénéfices_ given to the Archbishop of Bordeaux. These are all the
popular party; so that the ministry (M. de la Luzerne excepted) and the
Council, being all in reformation principles, no further opposition may
be expected from that quarter. The National Assembly now seriously set
their hands to the work of the constitution. They decided, a day or two
ago, the question, whether they should begin by a declaration of rights,
by a great majority in the affirmative. The negatives were of the
Clergy, who fear to trust the people with the whole truth. The
declaration itself is now on the carpet. By way of corollary to it, they
last night mowed down a whole legion of abuses, as you will see by
the _Arrêté_ which I have the honor to inclose you. This will stop the
burning of chateaux, and tranquillize the country more than all the
addresses they could send them. I expressed to you my fears of the
impractibility of debate and decision in a room of one thousand and
two hundred persons, as soon as Mr. Necker’s determination to call
that number, was known. The inconveniences of their number have been
distressing to the last degree, though, as yet, they have been employed
in work which could be done in the lump. They are now proceeding
to instruments, every word of which must be weighed with precision.
Heretofore, too, they were hooped together by a common enemy. This is no
longer the case. Yet a thorough view of the wisdom and rectitude of
this assembly disposes me more to hope they will find some means of
surmounting the difficulty of their numbers, than to fear that yielding
to the unmanageableness of debate in such a crowd, and to the fatigue of
the experiment, they may be driven to adopt, in the gross, some one of
the many projects which will be proposed.
There is a germ of schism in the pretensions of Paris to form its
municipal establishment independently of the authority of the nation. It
has not yet proceeded so far, as to threaten danger. The occasion does
not permit me to send the public papers; but nothing remarkable has
taken place in the other parts of Europe.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect and esteem, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VI.--TO MR. CARMICHAEL, August 9, 1789
TO MR. CARMICHAEL.
Paris, August 9, 1789.
Dear Sir,
Since your last of March the 27th, I have only written that of May
the 3th. The cause of this long silence, on both parts has been the
expectation I communicated to you of embarking for America. In fact, I
have expected permission for this, every hour since the month of March,
and therefore always thought that by putting off writing to you a few
days, my letter, while it should communicate the occurrences of the day,
might be a letter of adieu. Should my permission now arrive, I should
put off my departure till after the equinox. They write me that my not
receiving it, has proceeded from the ceasing of the old government in
October last, and the organization of the higher departments in the new,
which had not yet taken place when my last letters came away. Bills
had been brought in, for establishing departments of Foreign Affairs,
Finance, and War. The last would certainly be given to General Knox. Mr.
Jay would probably have his choice of the first and second; and it was
supposed Hamilton would have that which Mr. Jay declined. Some thought
Mr. Jay would prefer and obtain the head of the law department, for
which Wilson would be a competitor. In such a case, some have supposed
C. Thomson would ask the Foreign Affairs. The Senate and Representatives
differed about the title of the President. The former wanted to style
him ‘His Highness George Washington, President of the United States,
and Protector of their Liberties.’ The latter insisted and prevailed, to
give no title but that of office, to wit, ‘George Washington, President
of the United States.’ I hope the terms of Excellency, Honor, Worship,
Esquire, for ever disappear from among us, from that moment: I wish that
of Mr. would follow them. In the impost bill, the Representatives had,
by almost an unanimous concurrence, made a difference between nations in
treaty with us, and those not in treaty. The Senate had struck out
this difference, and lowered all the duties. _Quære_, whether the
Representatives would yield? Congress were to proceed, about the 1st of
June, to propose amendments to the new constitution. The principal would
be the annexing a declaration of rights to satisfy the minds of all,
on the subject of their liberties. They waited the arrival of Brown,
Delegate from Kentucky, to take up the receiving that district as
a fourteenth State. The only objections apprehended, were from the
partisans of Vermont, who might insist on both coming in together. This
would produce a delay, though probably not a long one.
To detail to you the events of this country, would require a volume. It
would be useless too; because those given in the Leyden gazette, though
not universally true, have so few and such unimportant errors mixed with
them, that you may give a general faith to them. I will rather give
you, therefore, what that paper cannot give, the views of the prevailing
power, as far as they can be collected from conversation and writings.
They will distribute the powers of government into three parts,
legislative, judiciary, and executive. The legislative will certainly
have no hereditary branch, probably not even a select one, (like our
Senate). If they divide it into two chambers at all, it will be by
breaking the representative body into two equal halves by lot. But
very many are for a single House, and particularly the Turgotists. The
imperfection of their legislative body, I think, will be, that not a
member of it will be chosen by the people directly. Their representation
will be an equal one, in which every man will elect and be elected as
a citizen, not as of a distinct order. _Quære_, whether they will elect
placemen and pensioners? Their legislature will meet periodically,
and sit at their own will, with a power in the executive to call
them extraordinarily, in case of emergencies. There is a considerable
division of sentiment whether the executive shall have a negative on
the laws. I think they will determine to give such a negative, either
absolute or qualified. In the judiciary, the parliaments will be
suppressed, less numerous judiciary bodies instituted, and trial by jury
established in criminal, if not in civil cases. The executive power
will be left entire in the hands of the King. They will establish the
responsibility of ministers, gifts and appropriations of money by the
National Assembly alone; consequently a civil list, freedom of the
press, freedom of religion, freedom of commerce and industry, freedom
of person against arbitrary arrests, and modifications, if not a total
prohibition, of military agency in civil cases. I do not see how they
can prohibit, altogether, the aid of the military in cases of riot,
and yet I doubt whether they can descend from the sublimity of ancient
military pride, to let a Marechal of France, with his troops, be
commanded by a magistrate. They cannot conceive that General Washington,
at the head of his army, during the late war, could have been commanded
by a common constable to go as his _posse comitates_, to suppress a mob,
and that Count Rochambeau, when he was arrested at the head of his army
by a sheriff, must have gone to jail if he had not given bail to appear
in court. Though they have gone astonishing lengths, they are not yet
thus far. It is probable, therefore, that not knowing how to use the
military as a civil weapon, they will do too much or too little with it.
I have said that things will be so and so. Understand by this, that
these are only my conjectures, the plan of the constitution not
being proposed yet, much less agreed to. Tranquillity is pretty well
established in the capital; though the appearance of any of the refugees
here would endanger it. The Baron de Besenval is kept away: so is M. de
la Vauguyon. The latter was so short a time a member of the obnoxious
administration, that probably he might not be touched were he here.
Seven Princes of the house of Bourbon, and seven ministers, fled into
foreign countries, is a wonderful event indeed.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and attachment, Dear Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VII.--TO JOHN JAY, August 12, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, August 12, 1789.
Sir,
I wrote you on the 19th, 23rd, 29th of the last, and 5th of the present
month. The last occasions not having admitted the forwarding to you the
public papers, I avail myself of the present, by a gentleman going to
London, to furnish you with them to the present date. It is the only
use I can prudently make of the conveyance. I shall, therefore, only
observe, that the National Assembly has been entirely occupied since
my last, in developing the particulars which were the subject of their
resolutions of the 4th instant, of which I send you the general heads.
The city is as yet not entirely quieted. Every now and then summary
execution is done on individuals, by individuals, and nobody is in
condition to ask for what, or by whom. We look forward to the completion
of the establishment of the city militia, as that which is to restore
protection to the inhabitants. The details from the country are as
distressing as I had apprehended they would be. Most of them are
doubtless false, but many must still be true. Abundance of chateaux are
certainly burnt and burning, and not a few lives sacrificed. The worst
is probably over in this city; but I do not know whether it is so in the
country. Nothing important has taken place in the rest of Europe.
I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VIII.--TO COLONEL GOUVION, August 15,1789
TO COLONEL GOUVION.
Paris, August 15,1789.
Sir,
I have the pleasure to inform you, that money is now deposited in the
hands of Messrs. Grand and company, for paying the arrears of interest
due to the foreign officers who served in the American army. I will
beg the favor of you to notify thereof as many of them as you find
convenient; and if you can furnish the addresses of any others to
Messrs. Grand and company, they will undertake to give notice to them.
The delays which have attended the completion of this object, have been
greater than I expected. This has not proceeded from any inattention of
Congress or any of their servants to the justice due to those officers.
This has been sufficiently felt. But it was not till the present moment,
that their efforts to furnish such a sum of money have been successful.
The whole amount of arrears to the beginning of the present year, is
about ten thousand louis d’ors.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
attachment, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER IX.--TO JOHN JAY, August 27, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, August 27, 1789.
Sir,
I am honored with your favor of June the 19th, informing me that
permission is given me to make a short visit to my native country, for
which indulgence I beg leave to return my thanks to the President, and
to yourself, Sir, for the expedition with which you were so good as to
forward it, after it was obtained. Being advised that October is the
best month of the autumn for a passage to America, I shall wish to sail
about the first of that month and as I have a family with me, and their
baggage is considerable I must endeavor to find a vessel bound directly
for Virginia if possible.
My last letters to you have been of the 5th and 12th instant. Since
these, I received information from our bankers in Holland, that they had
money in hand sufficient to answer the demands for the foreign officers,
and for the captives; and that, moreover, the residue of the bonds of
the last loan were engaged. I hereupon wrote to Mr. Grand for an exact
estimate of the sum necessary for the officers. He had stated it to me
as being forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty-two livres eleven
sous six deniers a year, when I was going to Holland to propose the
loan to Mr. Adams, and at that sum, you will see it was stated in the
estimate we sent you from Amsterdam. He now informed me it was sixty
thousand three hundred and ninety-three livres seventeen sous ten
deniers a year. I called on him for an explanation. He showed me that
his first information agreed with the only list of the officers and sums
then in his possession, and his last with a new list lately sent from
the treasury board, in which other officers were set down, who had been
omitted in the first. I wrote to our bankers on account of this error,
and desired to know whether, after receiving the money necessary for the
captives, they were in condition to furnish two hundred and fifty-four
thousand,livres for the officers. They answered me by sending the money,
and the additional sum of twenty-six thousand livres, to complete the
business of the medals. I delivered the bills to Messrs. Grand and
company, to negotiate and pay away; and the arrears to the officers, to
the first day of the present year, are now in a course of payment.
While on this subject, I will ask that an order may be forwarded to the
bankers in Holland to furnish, and to Mr. Grand to pay, the arrearages
which may be due on the first of January next. The money being in hand,
it would be a pity that we should fail in payment a single day, merely
for want of an order. The bankers further give it as their opinion, that
our credit is so much advanced on the exchange of Amsterdam, that we
may probably execute any money arrangements we may have occasion for,
on this side the water. I have the honor to send you a copy of their
letter. They have communicated to me apprehensions, that another house
was endeavoring to obtain the business of our government. Knowing of no
such endeavors myself, I have assured them that I am a stranger to any
applications on the subject. At the same time, I cannot but suspect
that this jealousy has been one of the spurs, at least, to the prompt
completion of our loan. The spirited proceedings of the new Congress in
the business of revenue, has doubtless been the principal one.
An engagement has taken place between the Russian and Swedish fleets in
the Baltic, which has been not at all decisive, no ship having been lost
on either side. The Swedes claim a victory, because they remained in the
field till the Russians quitted it. The latter effected a junction soon
after with another part of their fleet, and being now about ten ships
strongest, the Swedes retired into port, and it is imagined they will
not appear again under so great disparity; so that the campaign by sea
is supposed to be finished. Their commerce will be at the mercy of their
enemies: but they have put it out of the power of the Russians to send
any fleet to the Mediterranean this year.
A revolution has been effected very suddenly in the bishoprick of Liege.
Their constitution had been changed by force, by the reigning sovereign,
about one hundred years ago. This subject had been lately revived
and discussed in print. The people were at length excited to assemble
tumultuously. They sent for their Prince, who was at his country-seat,
and required him to come to the town-house to hear their grievances.
Though in the night, he came instantly, and was obliged to sign a
restitution of their ancient constitution, which took place on the spot,
and all became quiet without a drop of blood spilt. This fact is worthy
notice, only as it shows the progress of the spirit of revolution.
No act of violence has taken place in Paris since my last, except on
account of the difference between the French and Swiss guards, which
gave rise to occasional single combats, in which five or six were
killed. The difference is made up. Some misunderstandings had arisen
between the committees of the different districts of Paris, as to the
form of the future municipal government. These gave uneasiness for a
while, but have been also reconciled. Still there is such a leaven of
fermentation remaining in the body of the people, that acts of violence
are always possible, and are quite unpunishable; there being, as yet, no
judicature which can venture to act in any case, however small or great.
The country is becoming more calm. The embarrassments of the government,
for want of money, are extreme. The loan of thirty millions, proposed
by Mr. Necker, has not succeeded at all. No taxes are paid. A total
stoppage of all payment to the creditors of the State is possible every
moment. These form a great mass in the city as well as country, and
among the lower class of people too, who have been used to carry their
little savings of their service into the public funds, upon life rents
of five, ten, twenty guineas a year, and many of whom have no other
dependence for daily subsistence. A prodigious number of servants are
now also thrown out of employ by domestic reforms, rendered necessary
by the late events. Add to this the want of bread, which is extreme.
For several days past, a considerable proportion of the people have been
without bread altogether; for though the new harvest is begun, there is
neither water nor wind to grind the grain. For some days past the people
have besieged the doors of the bakers, scrambled with one another for
bread, collected in squads all over the city, and need only some slight
incident to lead them to excesses which may end in, nobody can tell
what. The danger from the want of bread, however, which is the most
imminent, will certainly lessen in a few days. What turn that may take
which arises from the want of money, is difficult to be foreseen. Mr.
Necker is totally without influence in the National Assembly, and is, I
believe, not satisfied with this want of importance. That Assembly has
just finished their bill of rights. The question will then be, whether
to take up first the constitution or the business of finance.