original vice of their numbers causes this, as well as a tumultuous
manner of doing business. They have voted that the elections of the
legislature shall be biennial; that it shall be of a single body; but
they have not yet decided what shall be its number, or whether they
shall be all in one room, or in two (which they call a division into
sections). They have determined that the King shall have a suspensive
and iterative veto: that is, that after negativing a law, it cannot be
presented again till after a new election. If he negatives it then, it
cannot be presented a third time till after another new election. If
it be then presented, he is obliged to pass it. This is perhaps justly
considered as a more useful negative than an absolute one, which a King
would be afraid to use. Mr. Necker’s influence with the Assembly is
nothing at all. Having written to them, by order of the King, on the
subject of the veto, before it was decided, they refused to let his
letter be read. Again, lately, when they desired the sanction of the
King to their proceedings of the fourth of August, he wrote in the
King’s name a letter to them, remonstrating against an immediate sanction
to the whole; but they persisted, and the sanction was given. His
disgust at this want of influence, together with the great difficulties
of his situation, make it believed that he is desirous of resigning. The
public stocks were extremely low the day before yesterday. The _caisse
d’escompte_ at three thousand six hundred and forty, and the loan of
one hundred and twenty-five millions, of 1784, was at fifteen per
cent. loss. Yesterday they rose a little. The sloth of the assembly
(unavoidable from their number) has done the most sensible injury to the
public cause. The patience of a people, who have less of that quality
than any other nation in the world, is worn thread-bare. Time has been
given to the aristocrats to recover from their panic, to cabal, to
sow dissensions in the Assembly, and distrust out of it. It has been a
misfortune, that the King and aristocracy together have not been able
to make a sufficient resistance, to hoop the patriots in a compact body.
Having no common enemy of such force as to render their union necessary,
they have suffered themselves to divide. The Assembly now consists of
four distinct parties. 1. The aristocrats, comprehending the higher
members of the clergy, military, nobility, and the parliaments of
the whole kingdom. This forms a head without a body. 2. The moderate
royalists, who wish for a constitution nearly similar to that of
England. 3. The republicans, who are willing to let their first
magistracy be hereditary, but to make it very subordinate to the
legislature, and to have that legislature consist of a single chamber.
4. The faction of Orleans. The second and third descriptions are
composed of honest, well meaning men, differing in opinion only, but
both wishing the establishment of as great a degree of liberty as can
be preserved. They are considered together as constituting the patriotic
part of the Assembly, and they are supported by the soldiery of the
army, the soldiery of the clergy, that is to say, the Cures and monks,
the dissenters, and part of the nobility which is small, and the
substantial Bourgeoisie of the whole nation. The part of these collected
in the cities, have formed themselves into municipal bodies, have
chosen municipal representatives, and have organized an armed corps,
considerably more numerous in the whole than the regular army. They have
also the ministry, such as it is, and as yet, the King. Were the second
and third parties, or rather these sections of the same party, to
separate entirely, this great mass of power and wealth would be split,
no body knows how. But I do not think they will separate; because
they have the same honest views; because, each being confident of the
rectitude of the other, there is no rancor between them; because they
retain the desire of coalescing. In order to effect this, they not long
ago proposed a conference, and desired it might be at my house, which
gave me an opportunity of judging of their views. They discussed
together their points of difference for six hours, and in the course of
discussion agreed on mutual sacrifices. The effect of this agreement
has been considerably defeated by the subsequent proceedings of the
Assembly, but I do not know that it has been through any infidelity of
the leaders to the compromise they had agreed on. Another powerful bond
of union between these two parties, is our friend the Marquis de la
Fayette. He left the Assembly while they as yet formed but one party.
His attachment to both is equal, and he labors incessantly to keep them
together. Should he be obliged to take part against either, it will be
against that which shall first pass the Rubicon of reconciliation
with the other. I should hope, in this event, that his weight would
be sufficient to turn the scale decidedly in favor of the other. His
command of the armed militia of Paris (thirty thousand in number, and
comprehending the French guards, who are five thousand regulars), and
his influence with the municipality, would secure their city: and though
the armed militia and municipalities of the other cities are in no wise
subordinate to those of Paris, yet they look up to them with respect,
and look particularly to the Marquis de la Fayette, as leading always to
the rights of the people. This turn of things is so probable, that I do
not think either section of the patriots will venture on any act, which
will place themselves in opposition to him.
This being the face of things, troubled as you will perceive, civil
war is much talked of and expected; and this talk and expectation has a
tendency to beget it. What are the events which may produce it? 1. The
want of bread, were it to produce a commencement of disorder, might ally
itself to more permanent causes of discontent, and thus continue the
effect beyond its first cause. The scarcity of bread, which continues
very great amidst a plenty of corn, is an enigma which can be
solved only by observing, that the furnishing the city is in the new
municipality, not yet masters of their trade. 2. A public bankruptcy.
Great numbers of the lower as well as higher classes of the citizens,
depend for subsistence on their property in the public funds. 3. The
absconding of the King from Versailles. This has for some time been
apprehended as possible. In consequence of this apprehension, a person,
whose information would have weight, wrote to the Count de Montmorin,
adjuring him to prevent it by every possible means, and assuring him
that the flight of the King would be the signal of a St. Barthelemi
against the aristocrats in Paris, and perhaps through the kingdom. M. de
Montmorin showed the letter to the Queen, who assured him solemnly that
no such thing was in contemplation. His showing it to the Queen, proves
he entertained the same mistrust with the public. It may be asked, What
is the Queen disposed to do in the present situation of things? Whatever
rage, pride, and fear can dictate in a breast which never knew the
presence of one moral restraint.
Upon the whole, I do not see it as yet probable that any actual
commotion will take place; and if it does take place, I have strong
confidence that the patriotic party will hold together, and their party
in the nation be what I have described it. In this case, there would be
against them the aristocracy and the faction of Orleans. This consists,
at this time, of only the Catilines of the Assembly, and some of the
lowest descriptions of the mob. Its force, within the kingdom, must
depend on how much of this last kind of people it can debauch with money
from its present bias to the right cause. This bias is as strong as any
one can be, in a class which must accept its bread from him who will
give it. Its resources out of the kingdom are not known. Without doubt,
England will give money to produce and to feed the fire which should
consume this country; but it is not probable she will engage in open
war for that. If foreign troops should be furnished, it would be most
probably by the King of Prussia, who seems to offer himself as the
bull-dog of tyranny to all his neighbors. He might, too, be disturbed by
the contagion of the same principles gaining his own subjects, as
they have done those of the Austrian Netherlands, Liege, Cologne, and
Hesse-Cassel. The army of the latter Prince, joining with his subjects,
are said to have possessed themselves of the treasures he had amassed
by hiring troops to conquer us, and by other iniquities. Fifty-four
millions of livres is the sum mentioned. But all these means, external
and internal must prove inadequate to their ultimate object, if the
nation be united as it is at present. Expecting within a few days to
leave Paris, and that this is my last letter on public subjects, I have
indulged myself in giving you a general view of things, as they appear
to me at the time of my leaving them. Mr. Short will have the honor
of continuing the narration, and of correcting it, where circumstances
unknown or unforseen may give a different turn to events.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XVI.--TO MR. NECKER, September 26,1789
TO MR. NECKER.
Paris, September 26,1789.
Sir,
I had the honor of waiting on you at Versailles, the day before
yesterday, in order to present my respects on my departure to America. I
was unlucky in the moment, as it was one in which you were gone out.
I wished to have put into your hands, at the same time, the enclosed
state of the British northern fishery for the years 1788 and 1789, by
which you will see that they have lost in one year, one third of that
fishery, the effect, almost solely, of the _Arrêt_ which shut the ports
of France to their oils.
I wished also to know, whether, while in America, I could be useful
towards encouraging supplies of provision to be brought to this country
the ensuing year. I am persuaded a considerable relief to the city
of Paris might be obtained, by permitting the importation of salted
provisions from the United States. Our salted beef, particularly,
(which, since the war, we have learned to prepare in the Irish manner,
so as to be as good as the best of that country) could be sold out to
the people of Paris, for the half of what they pay for fresh meat. It
would seem then, that the laborer paying but half the usual price
for his meat, might pay the full price of his bread, and so relieve
government from its loss on that article. The interest of the
_gabelles_ has been an objection, hitherto, to the importation of salted
provisions. But that objection is lessened by the reduction of the price
of salt, and done away entirely, by the desire of the present government
to consider the ease and happiness of the people as the first object. In
every country as fully peopled as France, it would seem good policy to
encourage the employment of its lands in the cultivation of corn, rather
than in pasturage, and consequently to encourage the use of all kinds of
salted provisions, because they can be imported from other countries.
It may be apprehended, that the Parisian, habituated to fresh provision,
would not use salted. Then he would not buy them, and of course they
would not be brought, so that no harm can be done by the permission.
On the contrary, if the people of Paris should readily adopt the use of
salted provisions, the good would result which is before mentioned. Salt
meat is not as good as fresh for soups, but it gives an higher flavor
to the vegetables boiled with it. The experience of a great part
of America, which is fed almost entirely on it, proves it to be as
wholesome as fresh meat. The sea scurvy, ascribed by some to the use of
salt meat, is equally unknown in America as in Europe. It is the want
of vegetables at sea which produces the scurvy. I have thus hastily
mentioned reasons and objections, to save you the time and trouble of
recollecting them. To you, Sir, it suffices barely to mention them. Mr.
Short, _chargé des affaires_ of the United States, will have the honor
of delivering you this, and of giving you any further details which you
may be pleased to require.
I shall hope, on my return in the spring, to find your health
reestablished, and your mind relieved by a perfect settlement of the
affairs of the nation; and with my felicitations on those accounts, to
express to you those sentiments of profound respect and attachment, with
which I have the honor to be, your Excellency’s most obedient and most
humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XVII.--TO JOHN JAY, September 30, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Havre, September 30, 1789.
Dear Sir,
No convenient ship having offered from any port of France, I have
engaged one from London to take me up at Cowes, and am so far on my way
thither. She will land me at Norfolk, and as I do not know any service
that would be rendered by my repairing immediately to New York, I
propose, in order to economize time, to go directly to my own house, get
through the business which calls me there, and then repair to New York,
where I shall be ready to re-embark for Europe. But should there be
any occasion for government to receive any information I can give,
immediately on my arrival, I will go to New York on receiving your
orders at Richmond. They may probably be there before me, as this goes
by Mr. Trumbull, bound directly for New York.
I enclose you herewith the proceedings of the National Assembly on
Saturday last, wherein you will perceive that the committee had approved
the plan of Mr. Necker. I can add from other sure information received
here, that the Assembly adopted it the same evening. This plan may
possibly keep their payments alive till their new government gets into
motion; though I do not think it very certain. The public stocks lowered
so exceedingly the last days of my stay at Paris, that I wrote to our
bankers at Amsterdam, to desire they would retain till further orders
the thirty thousand guilders, or so much of it as had not yet come on.
And as to what might be already coming on, I recommended to Mr. Short to
go and take the acceptance himself, and keep the bill in his own hands
till the time of payment. He will by that time see what is best to be
done with the money.
In taking leave of Monsieur de Montmorin, I asked him whether their West
India ports would continue open to us a while. He said they would be
immediately declared, open till February, and we may be sure they will
be so till the next harvest. He agreed with me, that there would be two
or three months’ provision for the whole kingdom wanting for the ensuing
year. The consumption of bread for the whole kingdom, is two millions
of livres tournois, a day. The people pay the real price of their bread
every where, except at Paris and Versailles. There the price is suffered
to vary very little as to them, and government pays the difference. It
has been supposed that this difference for some time past has cost a
million a week. I thought the occasion favorable to propose to Monsieur
de Montmorin the free admission of our salted provisions, observing to
him, particularly, that our salted beef from the eastern States could be
dealt out to the people of Paris for five or six sols the pound, which
is but half the common price they pay for fresh beef; that the Parisian
paying less for his meat, might pay more for his bread, and so relieve
government from its enormous loss on that article. His idea of this
resource seemed unfavorable. We talked over the objections of the
supposed unhealthiness of that food, its tendency to produce scurvy,
the chance of its taking with a people habituated to fresh meat, their
comparative qualities of rendering vegetables eatable, and the interests
of the _gabelles_. He concluded with saying the experiment might be
tried, and with desiring me to speak with Mr. Necker. I went to Mr.
Necker, but he had gone to the National Assembly. On my return to Paris,
therefore, I wrote to him on the subject, going over the objections
which Monsieur de Montmorin had started. Mr. Short was to carry the
letter himself, and to pursue the subject.
Having observed that our commerce to Havre is considerably on the
increase, and that most of our vessels coming there, and especially
those from the eastward, are obliged to make a voyage round to the
neighborhood of the Loire and Garonne for salt, a voyage attended with
expense, delay, and more risk, I have obtained from the Farmers General,
that they shall be supplied from their magazines at Honfleur, opposite
to Havre, at a mercantile price. They fix it at present at sixty livres
the _muid_, which comes to about, fifteen sous, or seven and a half
pence sterling our bushel; but it will vary as the price varies at the
place from which they bring it. As this will be a great relief to such
of our vessels coming to Havre, as might wish to take back salt, it may
perhaps be proper to notify it to our merchants. I enclose herewith Mr.
Necker’s discourse to the Assembly, which was not printed till I left
Paris: and have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect
esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
*****
LETTER XVIII.--TO THE PRESIDENT, December 15,1789
TO THE PRESIDENT.
Chesterfield, December 15,1789.
Sir,
I have received at this place the honor of your letters of October the
13th and November the 30th, and am truly flattered by your nomination of
me to the very dignified office of Secretary of State; for which permit
me here to return you my humble thanks. Could any circumstance seduce
me to overlook the disproportion between its duties and my talents, it
would be the encouragement of your choice. But when I contemplate
the extent of that office, embracing as it does the principal mass
of domestic administration, together with the foreign, I cannot be
insensible of my inequality to it; and I should enter on it with gloomy
forebodings from the criticisms and censures of a public, just indeed in
their intentions, but sometimes misinformed and misled, and always too
respectable to be neglected. T cannot but foresee the possibility
that this may end disagreeably for me, who, having no motive to public
service but the public satisfaction, would certainly retire the moment
that satisfaction should appear to languish. On the other hand, I feel
a degree of familiarity with the duties of my present office, as far
at least as I am capable of understanding its duties. The ground I have
already passed over, enables me to see my way into that which is before
me. The change of government too, taking place in the country where
it is exercised, seems to open a possibility of procuring from the new
rulers some new advantages in commerce, which may be agreeable to our
countrymen. So that as far as my fears, my hopes, or my inclination
might enter into this question, I confess they would not lead me to
prefer a change.
But it is not for an individual to choose his post. You are to marshal
us as may best be for the public good; and it is only in the case of its
being indifferent to you, that I would avail myself of the option
you have so kindly offered in your letter. If you think it better to
transfer me to another post, my inclination must be no obstacle; nor
shall it be, if there is any desire to suppress the office I now hold,
or to reduce its grade. In either of these cases, be so good only as to
signify to me by another line your ultimate wish, and I shall conform
to it cordially. If it should be to remain at New York, my chief comfort
will be to work under your eye, my only shelter the authority of your
name, and the wisdom of measures to be dictated by you and implicitly
executed by me. Whatever you may be pleased to decide, I do not see that
the matters which have called me hither, will permit me to shorten
the stay I originally asked; that is to say, to set out on my journey
northward till the month of March. As early as possible in that month,
I shall have the honor of paying my respects to you in New York. In the
mean time, I have that of tendering you the homage of those sentiments
of respectful attachment, with which I am, Sir, your most obedient and
most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XIX.--TO HENRY LAURENS, ESQUIRE, March 31, 1790
TO HENRY LAURENS, ESQUIRE.
New York, March 31, 1790.
Sir,
Encroachments being made on the eastern limits of the United States, by
settlers under the British government, pretending that it is the
western and not the eastern river of the bay of Passamaquoddy, which
was designated by the name of St. Croix in the treaty of peace with that
nation, I have to beg the favor of you to communicate any facts which
your memory or papers may enable you to recollect, and which may
indicate the true river, the commissioners on both sides had in their
view to establish as the boundary between the two nations. It will be of
some consequence to be informed by what map they traced the boundary.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XX.--TO MR. VANDERKEMP, March 31, 1799
TO MR. VANDERKEMP.
New York, March 31, 1799.
Sir,
The letter has been duly received which you addressed to th© President
of the United States, praying his interference with the government of
the United Netherlands, on the subject of property you left there on
coming to America. I have it in charge to inform you that the United
States have at present no minister at the Hague, and consequently
no channel through which they could express their concern for your
interests. However willing, too, we are to receive and protect all
persons who come hither, with the property they bring, perhaps it may be
doubted, how far it would be expedient to engage ourselves for what they
leave behind, or for any other matter retrospective to their becoming
citizens. In the present instance, we hope, that no confiscation of the
residuum of your property left in the United Netherlands having taken
place, the justice of that government will leave you no occasion for
that interference which you have been pleased to ask from this.
I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XXI.--TO GEORGE JOY, March 31, 1790
TO GEORGE JOY.
New York, March 31, 1790.
Sir,
I have considered your application for sea-letters for the ship Eliza,
and examined into the precedents which you supposed might influence the
determination. The resolution of Congress, which imposes this duty on
the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, provides expressly, ‘that it be made
to appear to him by oath or affirmation, or by such other evidence as
shall by him be deemed satisfactory, that the vessel is commanded by
officers, citizens of the United States.’ Your affidavit satisfies me
that one of the officers is a citizen of the United States; but you are
unacquainted with the others, and without evidence as to them, and even
without a presumption that they are citizens, except so far as arises
on the circumstances of the captain’s being an American, and the ship
sailing from an American port. Now, I cannot in my conscience say, that
this is evidence of the fact, satisfactory to my mind. The precedents
of relaxation by Mr. Jay, were all between the date of the resolution
of Congress (February the 12th, 1788) and his public advertisement,
announcing the evidence which must be produced. Since this last, the
proceedings have been uniform and exact. Having perfect confidence in
your good faith, and therefore without a suspicion of any fraud
intended in the present case, I could have wished sincerely to grant the
sea-letter; but besides the letter of the law which ties me down, the
public security against a partial dispensation of justice, depends on
its being dispensed by certain rules. The slightest deviation in one
circumstance, becomes a precedent for another, that for a third, and so
on without bounds. A relaxation in a case where it is certain no fraud
is intended, is laid hold of by others, afterwards, to cover fraud. I
hope, therefore, you will be sensible of the necessity of my adhering to
the rules which have been published and practised by my predecessor; and
that I am with great respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XXII.--TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN, April 6, 1790
TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.
New York, April 6, 1790.
Sir,
The President of the United States having thought proper to assign to
me other functions than those of their Minister Plenipotentiary near the
King, I have the honor of addressing to your Excellency my letters of
recall, and of beseeching you to be so good as to present them, with the
homage of my respectful adieus, to his Majesty.
It is with great satisfaction that I find myself authorized to conclude,
as I had begun my mission, with assurances of the attachment of our
government to the King and his people, and of its desire to preserve
and strengthen the harmony and good understanding, which has hitherto so
happily subsisted between the two nations.
Give me leave to place here, also, my acknowledgments to your
Excellency, personally, for the facilities you have been pleased always
to give in the negotiation of the several matters I have had occasion to
treat with you during my residence at your court. They were ever such as
to evince, that the friendly dispositions towards our republic which you
manifested even from its birth, were still found consistent with
that patriotism of which you have continued to give such constant
and disinterested proofs. May this union of interests for ever be the
patriot’s creed in both countries. Accept my sincere prayers that the
King, with life and health, may be long blessed with so faithful and
able a servant, and you with a Prince, the model of royal excellence;
and permit me to retain, to my latest hours, those sentiments of
affectionate respect and attachment, with which I have the honor to be
your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XXIII.--TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN, April 6,1790
TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.
New York, April 6,1790.
Sir,