you should take in consequence of the disavowal of Erskine; yet I am
satisfied that both the proclamations have been sound. The first has
been sanctioned by universal approbation; and although it was not
literally the case foreseen by the legislature, yet it was a proper
extension of their provision to a case similar, though not the same.
It proved to the whole world our desire of accommodation, and must have
satisfied every candid federalist on that head. It was not only proper
on the well-grounded confidence that the arrangement would be honestly
executed, but ought to have taken place even had the perfidy of England
been foreseen. Their dirty gain is richly remunerated to us by our
placing them so shamefully in the wrong, and by the union it must
produce among ourselves. The last proclamation admits of quibbles, of
which advantage will doubtless be endeavored to be taken, by those to
whom gain is their god, and their country nothing. But it is soundly
defensible. The British minister assured us, that the orders of council
would be revoked before the 10th of June. The executive, trusting in
that assurance, declared by proclamation that the revocation was to take
place, and that on that event the law was to be suspended. But the event
did not take place, and the consequence, of course, could not follow.
This view is derived from the former non-intercourse law only, having
never read the latter one. I had doubted whether Congress must not be
called; but that arose from another doubt, whether their second law had
not changed the ground, so as to require their agency to give operation
to the law. Should Bonaparte have the wisdom to correct his injustice
towards us, I consider war with England as inevitable. Our ships will
go to France and its dependencies, and they will take them. This will
be war on their part, and leaves no alternative but reprisal. I have no
doubt you will think it safe to act on this hypothesis, and with energy.
The moment that open war shall be apprehended from them, we should take
possession of Baton Rouge. If we do not, they will, and New Orleans
becomes irrecoverable, and the western country blockaded during the war.
It would be justifiable towards Spain on this ground, and equally so on
that of title to West Florida, and reprisal extended to East Florida.
Whatever turn our present difficulty may take, I look upon all cordial
conciliation with England as desperate during the life of the present
King. I hope and doubt not that Erskine will justify himself. My
confidence is founded in a belief of his integrity, and in the ------
of Canning. I consider the present as the most shameless ministry which
ever disgraced England. Copenhagen will immortalize their infamy. In
general their administrations are so changeable, and they are obliged
to descend to such tricks to keep themselves in place, that nothing like
honor or morality can ever be counted on in transactions with them. I
salute you with all possible affection.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXIII.--TO DOCTOR BARTON, September 21, 1809
TO DOCTOR BARTON.
Monticello, September 21, 1809.
Dear Sir,
I received last night your favor of the 14th, and would with all
possible pleasure have communicated to you any part or the whole of the
Indian vocabularies which I had collected, but an irreparable misfortune
has deprived me of them. I have now been thirty years availing myself of
every possible opportunity of procuring Indian vocabularies to the same
set of words: my opportunities were probably better than will ever occur
again to any person having the same desire. I had collected about fifty,
and had digested most of them in collateral columns, and meant to have
printed them the last year of my stay in Washington. But not having yet
digested Captain Lewis’s collection, nor having leisure then to do it,
I put it off till I should return home. The whole, as well digest as
originals, were packed in a trunk of stationery, and sent round by water
with about thirty other packages of my effects, from Washington, and
while ascending James river, this package, on account of its weight and
presumed precious contents, was singled out and stolen. The thief, being
disappointed on opening it, threw into the river all its contents, of
which he thought he could make no use. Among these were the whole of the
vocabularies. Some leaves floated ashore, and were found in the mud;
but these were very few, and so defaced by the mud and water, that no
general use can ever be made of them. On the receipt of your letter I
turned to them, and was very happy to find, that the only morsel of
an original vocabulary among them, was Captain Lewis’s of the Pani
language, of which you say you have not one word. I therefore enclose it
to you as it is, and a little fragment of some other, which I see is in
his hand-writing, but no indication remains on it of what language it
is. It is a specimen of the condition of the little which was recovered.
I am the more concerned at this accident, as of the two hundred and
fifty words of my vocabularies, and the one hundred and thirty words of
the great Russian vocabularies of the languages of the other quarters of
the globe, seventy-three were common to both, and would have furnished
materials for a comparison, from which something might have resulted.
Although I believe no general use can ever be made of the wrecks of my
loss, yet I will ask the return of the Pani vocabulary when you are done
with it. Perhaps I may make another attempt to collect, although I am
too old to expect to make much progress in it.
I learn, with pleasure, your acquisition of the pamphlet on the
astronomy of the ancient Mexicans. If it be ancient and genuine, or
modern and rational, it will be of real value. It is one of the most
interesting countries of our hemisphere, and merits every attention.
I am thankful for your kind offer of sending the original Spanish for my
perusal. But I think it a pity to trust it to the accidents of the post,
and whenever you publish the translation, I shall be satisfied to read
that which shall be given by your translator, who is, I am sure, a
greater adept in the language than I am.
Accept the assurances of my great esteem and respect.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXIV.--TO DON VALENTINE DE FORONDA, October 4, 1809
TO DON VALENTINE DE FORONDA.
Monticello, October 4, 1809.
Dear Sir,
Your favor of August the 26th came to hand in the succeeding month, and
have now to thank you for the pamphlet it contained. I have read it with
pleasure, and find the constitution proposed would probably be as free
as is consistent with hereditary institutions. It has one feature
which I like much; that which provides that when the three co-ordinate
branches differ in their construction of the constitution, the opinion
of two branches shall overrule the third. Our constitution has not
sufficiently solved this difficulty.
Among the multitude of characters with which public office leads us to
official intercourse, we cannot fail to observe many, whose personal
worth marks them as objects of particular esteem, whom we would wish
to select for our society in private life. I avail myself gladly of the
present occasion, of assuring you that I was peculiarly impressed with
your merit and talents, and that I have ever entertained for them a
particular respect. To those whose views are single and direct, it is a
great comfort to have to do business with frank and honorable minds.
And here give me leave to make an avowal, for which, in my present
retirement, there can be no motive but a regard for truth.
Your predecessor, soured on a question of etiquette against the
administration of this country, wished to impute wrong to them in all
their actions, even where he did not believe it himself. In this spirit,
he wished it to be believed that we were in unjustifiable co-operation
in Miranda’s expedition. I solemnly, and on my personal truth and honor,
declare to you, that this was entirely without foundation, and that
there was neither co-operation nor connivance on our part. He informed
us he was about to attempt the liberation of his native country from
bondage, and intimated a hope of our aid, or connivance at least. He was
at once informed, that, although we had great cause of complaint against
Spain, and even of war, yet whenever we should think proper to act as
her enemy, it should be openly and above board, and that our hostility
should never be exercised by such petty means. We had no suspicion that
he expected to engage men here, but merely to purchase military stores.
Against this there was no law, nor consequently any authority for us to
interpose obstacles. On the other hand, we deemed it improper to
betray his voluntary communication to the agents of Spain. Although his
measures were many days in preparation at New York, we never had the
least intimation or suspicion of his engaging men in his enterprise,
until he was gone; and I presume the secrecy of his proceedings kept
them equally unknown to the Marquis Yrujo at Philadelphia, and
the Spanish Consul at New York, since neither of them gave us any
information of the enlistment of men, until it was too late for any
measures taken at Washington to prevent their departure. The officer
in the Customs, who participated in this transaction with Miranda,
we immediately removed, and should have had him and others further
punished, had it not been for the protection given them by private
citizens at New York, in opposition to the government, who, by their
impudent falsehoods and calumnies, were able to overbear the minds of
the jurors. Be assured, Sir, that no motive could induce me, at this
time, to make this declaration so gratuitously, were it not founded in
sacred truth: and I will add further, that I never did, or countenanced,
in public life, a single act inconsistent with the strictest good faith;
having never believed there was one code of morality for a public, and
another for a private man.
I receive, with great pleasure, the testimonies of personal esteem which
breathe through your letter; and I pray you to accept those equally
sincere with which I now salute you.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXV.--TO ALBERT GALLATIN, October 11, 1809
TO ALBERT GALLATIN.
Monticello, October 11, 1809.
Dear Sir,
I do not know whether the request of Monsieur Moussier, explained in the
enclosed letter, is grantable or not. But my partialities in favor of
whatever may promote either the useful or liberal arts, induce me
to place it under your consideration, to do in it whatever is right,
neither more nor less. I would then ask you to favor me with three
lines, in such form as I may forward him by way of answer.
I have reflected much and painfully on the change of dispositions
which has taken place among the members of the cabinet, since the new
arrangement, as you stated to me in the moment of our separation. It
would be, indeed, a great public calamity, were it to fix you in the
purpose which you seemed to think possible. I consider the fortunes of
our republic as depending, in an eminent degree, on the extinguishment
of the public debt before we engage in any war: because, that done, we
shall have revenue enough to improve our country in peace, and defend it
in war, without recurring either to new taxes or loans. But if the debt
should once more be swelled to a formidable size, its entire discharge
will be despaired of, and we shall be committed to the English career of
debt, corruption, and rottenness, closing with revolution. The discharge
of the debt, therefore, is vital to the destinies of our government, and
it hangs on Mr. Madison and yourself alone. We shall never see another
President and Secretary of the Treasury making all other objects
subordinate to this. Were either of you to be lost to the public, that
great hope is lost. I had always cherished the idea that you would fix
on that object the measure of your fame, and of the gratitude which our
country will owe you. Nor can I yield up this prospect to the secondary
considerations which assail your tranquillity. For sure I am, they never
can produce any other serious effect. Your value is too justly estimated
by our fellow-citizens at large, as well as their functionaries, to
admit any remissness in their support of you. My opinion always was,
that none of us ever occupied stronger ground in the esteem of Congress
than yourself, and I am satisfied there is no one who does not feel
your aid to be still as important for the future, as it has been for the
past. You have nothing, therefore, to apprehend in the dispositions of
Congress, and still less of the President, who, above all men, is the
most interested and affectionately disposed to support you. I hope,
then, you will abandon entirely the idea you expressed to me, and that
you will consider the eight years to come as essential to your political
career. I should certainly consider any earlier day of your retirement,
as the most inauspicious day our new government has ever seen. In
addition to the common interest in this question, I feel particularly
for myself the considerations of gratitude which I personally owe you
for your valuable aid during my administration of the public affairs,
a just sense of the large portion of the public approbation which was
earned by your labors, and belongs to you, and the sincere friendship
and attachment which grew out of our joint exertions to promote the
common good; and of which I pray you now to accept the most cordial and
respectful assurances.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXVI.--TO CÆSAR A. RODNEY, February 10, 1810
TO CÆSAR A. RODNEY.
Monticello, February 10, 1810.
My Dear Sir,
I have to thank you for your favor of the 31st ultimo, which is just now
received. It has been peculiarly unfortunate for us, personally, that
the portion in the history of mankind, at which we were called to take a
share in the direction of their affairs, was such an one as history has
never before presented. At any other period, the even-handed justice
we have observed towards all nations, the efforts we have made to merit
their esteem by every act which candor or liberality could exercise,
would have preserved our peace, and secured the unqualified confidence
of all other nations in our faith and probity. But the hurricane which
is now blasting the world, physical and moral, has prostrated all the
mounds of reason as well as right. All those calculations which, at any
other period, would have been deemed honorable, of the existence of a
moral sense in man, individually or associated, of the connection
which the laws of nature have established between his duties and his
interests, of a regard for honest fame and the esteem of our follow-men,
have been a matter of reproach on us, as evidences of imbecility. As if
it could be a folly for an honest man to suppose that others could be
honest also, when it is their interest to be so. And when is this state
of things to end? The death of Bonaparte would, to be sure, remove the
first and chiefest apostle of the desolation of men and morals, and
might withdraw the scourge of the land. But what is to restore order
and safety on the ocean? The death of George III? Not at all. He is only
stupid; and his ministers, however weak and profligate in morals, are
ephemeral. But his nation is permanent, and it is that which is the
tyrant of the ocean. The principle that force is right, is become
the principle of the nation itself. They would not permit an honest
minister, were accident to bring such an one into power, to relax their
system of lawless piracy. These were the difficulties when I was with
you. I know they are not lessened, and I pity you.
It is a blessing, however, that our people are reasonable; that they are
kept so well informed of the state of things as to judge for themselves,
to see the true sources of their difficulties, and to maintain
their confidence undiminished in the wisdom and integrity of their
functionaries. _Macte virtute_ therefore. Continue to go straight
forward, pursuing always that which is right, as the only clue which can
lead us out of the labyrinth. Let nothing be spared of either reason or
passion, to preserve the public confidence entire, as the only rock
of our safety. In times of peace the people look most to their
representatives; but in war, to the executive solely. It is visible that
their confidence is even now veering in that direction; that they are
looking to the executive to give the proper direction to their affairs,
with a confidence as auspicious as it is well founded.
I avail myself of this, the first occasion of writing to you, to express
all the depth of my affection for you; the sense I entertain of your
faithful co-operation in my late labors, and the debt I owe for
the valuable aids I received from you. Though separated from my
fellow-laborers in place and pursuit, my affections are with you all,
and I offer daily prayers that ye love one another, as I love you. God
bless you.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXVII.*--TO SAMUEL KERCHEVAL, February 19,1810
TO SAMUEL KERCHEVAL.
Monticello, February 19,1810.
[* This letter is endorsed, ‘not sent.’]
Sir,
Yours of the 7th instant has been duly received, with the pamphlet
enclosed, for which I return you my thanks. Nothing can be more exactly
and seriously true than what is there stated; that but a short time
elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion,
before his principles were departed from by those who professed to
be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving
mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State; that
the purest system of morals ever before preached to man, has been
adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions, into a mere
contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that rational men
not being able to swallow their impious heresies, in order to force
them down their throats, they raise the hue and cry of infidelity, while
themselves are the greatest obstacles to the advancement of the real
doctrines of Jesus, and do in fact constitute the real Anti-Christ.
You expect that your book will have some effect on the prejudices
which the society of Friends entertain against the present and late
administrations. In this I think you will be disappointed. The Friends
are men, formed with the same passions, and swayed by the same natural
principles and prejudices as others. In cases where the passions are
neutral, men will display their respect for the religious professions of
their sect. But where their passions are enlisted, these professions
are no obstacle. You observe very truly, that both the late and present
administration conducted the government on principles professed by the
Friends. Our efforts to preserve peace, our measures as to the Indians,
as to slavery, as to religious freedom, were all in consonance with
their professions. Yet I never expected we should get a vote from them,
and in this I was neither deceived nor disappointed. There is no riddle
in this, to those who do not suffer themselves to be duped by the
professions of religious sectaries. The theory of American Quakerism is
a very obvious one. The mother society is in England. Its members are
English by birth and residence, devoted to their own country, as good
citizens ought to be. The Quakers of these States are colonies or
filiations from the mother society, to whom that society sends its
yearly lessons. On these the filiated societies model their opinions,
their conduct, their passions, and attachments. A Quaker is, essentially
an Englishman, in whatever part of the earth he is born or lives. The
outrages of Great Britain on our navigation and commerce have kept us in
perpetual bickerings with her. The Quakers here have taken side against
their own government; not on their profession of peace, for they saw
that peace was our object also; but from devotion to the views of the
mother society. In 1797 and 8, when an administration sought war with
France, the Quakers were the most clamorous for war. Their principle of
peace, as a secondary one, yielded to the primary one of adherence to
the Friends in England, and what was patriotism in the original became
treason in the copy. On that occasion, they obliged their good old
leader, Mr. Pemberton, to erase his name from a petition to Congress,
against war, which had been delivered to a Representative of
Pennsylvania, a member of the late and present administration. He
accordingly permitted the old gentleman to erase his name. You must
not, therefore, expect that your book will have any more effect on the
society of Friends here, than on the English merchants settled among
us. I apply this to the Friends in general, not universally. I know
individuals among them as good patriots as we have.
I thank you for the kind wishes and sentiments towards myself, expressed
in your letter, and sincerely wish to yourself the blessings of health
and happiness.
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LXXXVIII.--TO GENERAL KOSCIUSKO, February 26, 1810
TO GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.
Monticello, February 26, 1810.
My Dear General and Friend,
I have rarely written to you; never but by safe conveyances; and
avoiding every thing political, lest coming from one in the station I
then held, it might be imputed injuriously to our country, or perhaps
even excite jealousy of you. Hence my letters were necessarily dry.
Retired now from public concerns, totally unconnected with them, and
avoiding all curiosity about what is done or intended, what I say is
from myself only, the workings of my own mind, imputable to nobody else.
The anxieties which I know you have felt, on seeing exposed to the
justlings of a warring world, a country to which, in early life, you
devoted your sword and services when oppressed by foreign dominion, were
worthy of your philanthropy and disinterested attachment to the freedom
and happiness of man. Although we have not made all the provisions which
might be necessary for a war in the field of Europe, yet we have not
been inattentive to such as would be necessary here. From the moment
that the affair of the Chesapeake rendered the prospect of war imminent,
every faculty was exerted to be prepared for it, and I think I may
venture to solace you with the assurance, that we are, in a good degree,
prepared. Military stores for many campaigns are on hand, all the
necessary articles (sulphur excepted), and the art of preparing them
among ourselves, abundantly; arms in our magazines for more men than
will ever be required in the field, and forty thousand new stand yearly
added, of our own fabrication, superior to any we have ever seen from
Europe; heavy artillery much beyond our need; an increasing stock of
field-pieces, several founderies casting one every other day each; a
military school of about fifty students, which has been in operation a
dozen years; and the manufacture of men constantly going on, and adding
forty thousand young soldiers to our force every year that the war is
deferred: at all our sea-port towns of the least consequence we have
erected works of defence, and assigned them gunboats, carrying one or
two heavy pieces, either eighteen, twenty-four, or thirty-two pounders,
sufficient in the smallest harbors to repel the predatory attacks of
privateers or single armed ships, and proportioned in the larger harbors
to such more serious attacks as they may probably be exposed to. All
these were nearly completed, and their gunboats in readiness, when
I retired from the government. The works of New York and New Orleans
alone, being on a much larger scale, are not yet completed. The former
will be finished this summer, mounting four hundred and thirty-eight
guns, and, with the aid of from fifty to one hundred gunboats, will
be adequate to the resistance of any fleet which will ever be trusted
across the Atlantic. The works for New Orleans are less advanced. These
are our preparations. They are very different from what you will be told
by newspapers, and travellers, even Americans. But it is not to them
the government communicates the public condition. Ask one of them if
he knows the exact state of any particular harbor, and you will find
probably that he does not know even that of the one he comes from. You
will ask, perhaps, where are the proofs of these preparations for
one who cannot go and see them. I answer, in the acts of Congress,
authorizing such preparations, and in your knowledge of me, that, if
authorized, they would be executed.