Indian right of soil to about fifty millions of acres of land, between
the Ohio and lakes, and expected to make another purchase of an equal
quantity. They have, in consequence, passed an ordinance for disposing
of their lands, and I think a very judicious one. They propose to sell
them at auction for not less than a dollar an acre, receiving their own
certificates of debt as money. I am of opinion all the certificates of
our domestic debt will immediately be exchanged for land, Our foreign
debt, in that case, will soon be discharged. New York and Rhode Island
still refuse the impost. A general disposition is taking place to commit
the whole management of our commerce to Congress. This has been much
promoted by the interested policy of England, which, it was apparent,
could not be counter-worked by the States separately. In the mean time,
the other great towns are acceding to the proceedings of Boston for
annihilating, in a great measure, their commercial connections with
Great Britain. I will send the cipher by a gentleman who goes from here
to Madrid about a month hence. It shall be a copy of the one I gave Mr.
Adams. The letter of Don Gomez has been delivered at the hotel of the
Portuguese ambassador, who is, however, in the country. I am with much
respect, Dear Sir,
your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCV.--TO PETER CARR--Advice to a young man, Aug. 19, 1785
TO PETER CARR.
Paris, August 19, 1785.
Dear Peter,
I received, by Mr. Mazzei, your letter of April the 20th. I am much
mortified to hear that you have lost so much time; and that when you
arrived in Williamsburg, you were not at all advanced from what you were
when you left Monticello. Time now begins to be precious to you. Every
day you lose, will retard a day your entrance on that public stage
whereon you may begin to be useful to yourself. However, the way to
repair the loss is to improve the future time. I trust, that with your
dispositions, even the acquisition of science is a pleasing employment.
I can assure you, that the possession of it is, what (next to an honest
heart) will above all things render you dear to your friends, and give
you fame and promotion in your own country. When your mind shall be well
improved with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the
highest points of view, but to pursue the interests of your country, the
interests of your friends and your own interests also, with the purest
integrity, the most chaste honor. The defect of these virtues can never
be made up by all the other acquirements of body and mind. Make these
then your first object. Give up money, give up fame, give up science,
give the earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral
act. And never suppose, that in any possible situation, or under any
circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however
slightly so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, though
it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act
were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. Encourage all
your virtuous dispositions, and exercise them whenever an opportunity
arises; being assured that they will gain strength by exercise, as a
limb of the body does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From
the practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will derive
the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and in the moment
of death. If ever you find yourself environed with difficulties
and perplexing circumstances, out of which you are at a loss how to
extricate yourself, do what is right, and be assured that that will
extricate you the best out of the worst situations. Though you cannot
see, when you take one step, what will be the next, yet follow truth,
justice, and plain dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the
labyrinth, in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you thought a
Gordian one, will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mistaken as the
supposition, that a person is to extricate himself from a difficulty by
intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, by trimming, by an untruth,
by an injustice. This increases the difficulties ten fold; and those who
pursue these methods, get themselves so involved at length, that they
can turn no way but their infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great
importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an
untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he
who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a
second and third time, till a length it becomes habitual; he tells lies
without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him.
This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time
depraves all its good dispositions.
An honest heart being the first blessing, a knowing head is the second.
It is time for you now to begin to be choice in your reading; to begin
to pursue a regular course in it; and not to suffer yourself to be
turned to the right or left by reading any thing out of that course. 1
have long ago digested a plan for you, suited to the circumstances in
which you will be placed. This I will detail to you, from time to time,
as you advance. For the present, I advise you to begin a course
of ancient history, reading every thing in the original and not in
translations. First read Goldsmith’s History of Greece. This will give
you a digested view of that field. Then take up ancient history in the
detail, reading the following books in the following order: Herodotus,
Thucydides, Xenophontis Hellenica, Xenophontis Anabasis, Arrian, Quintus
Curtius, Diodorus Siculus, Justin. This shall form the first stage of
your historical reading, and is all I need mention to you now. The
next, will be of Roman history.* From that we will come down to modern
history. In Greek and Latin poetry, you have read or will read at
school, Virgil, Terence, Horace, Anacreon, Theocritus, Homer, Euripides,
Sophocles. Read also Milton’s Paradise Lost, Shakspeare, Ossian, Pope’s
and Swift’s works, in order to form your style in your own language.
In morality, read Epictetus, Xenophontis Memorabilia, Plato’s Socratic
dialogues, Cicero’s philosophies, Antoninus, and Seneca.
* Livy, Sullust, Cæsar, Cicero’s Epistles, Suetonius,
Tacitus, Gibbon.
In order to assure a certain progress in this reading, consider what
hours you have free from the school and the exercises of the school.
Give about two of them every day to exercise; for health must not be
sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes the mind strong. As to
the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate
exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to
the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too
violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun
therefore be the constant companion of your walks. Never think of taking
a book with you. The object of walking is to relax the mind. You should
therefore not permit yourself even to think while you walk; but divert
your attention by the objects surrounding you. Walking is the best
possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans
value themselves on having subdued the horse to the uses of man; but I
doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained, by the use of
this animal. No one has occasioned so much the degeneracy of the human
body. An Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day, for a long journey,
as an enfeebled white does on his horse; and he will tire the best
horses. There is no habit you will value so much as that of walking
far without fatigue. I would advise you to take your,exercise in the
afternoon: not because it is the best time for exercise, for certainly
it is not; but because it is the best time to spare from your studies;
and habit will soon reconcile it to health, and render it nearly as
useful as if you gave to that the more precious hours of the day. A
little walk of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is
advisable also. It shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in
the animal economy. Rise at a fixed and an early hour, and go to bed at
a fixed and early hour also. Sitting up late at night is injurious to
the health, and not useful to the mind. Having ascribed proper hours to
exercise, divide what remain (I mean of your vacant hours) into three
portions. Give the principal to History, the other two, which should be
shorter, to Philosophy and Poetry. Write to me once every month or two,
and let me know the progress you make. Tell me in what manner you employ
every hour in the day. The plan I have proposed for you is adapted to
your present situation only. When that is changed, I shall propose a
corresponding change of plan. I have ordered the following books to be
sent you from London, to the care of Mr. Madison. Herodotus, Thucydides,
Xenophon’s Hellenics, Anabasis, and Memorabilia, Cicero’s works,
Baretti’s Spanish and English Dictionary, Martin’s Philosophical
Grammar, and Martin’s Philosophia Britannica. I will send you the
following from hence. Bezout’s Mathematics, De la Lande’s Astronomy,
Muschenbroeck’s Physics, Quintus Curtius, Justin, a Spanish Grammar, and
some Spanish books, You will observe that Martin, Bezout, De la Lande,
and Muschenbroeck are not in the preceding plan. They are not to be
opened till you go to the University. You are now, I expect, learning
French. You must push this; because the books which will be put into
your hands when you advance into Mathematics, Natural Philosophy,
Natural History, &c. will be mostly French, these sciences being better
treated by the French than the English writers. Our future connection
with Spain renders that the most necessary of the modern languages,
after the French. When you become a public man, you may have occasion
for it, and the circumstance of your possessing that language may give
you a preference over other candidates. I have nothing further to add
for the present, but husband well your time, cherish your instructors,
strive to make every body your friend; and be assured that nothing will
be so pleasing, as your success, to, Dear Peter,
Your’s affectionately,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVI.--TO JOHN PAGE, August 20 1785
TO JOHN PAGE.
Paris, August 20 1785.
Dear Page,
I received your friendly letter of April the 28th, by Mr. Mazzei, on the
22nd of July. That of the month before, by Monsieur La Croix, has not
come to hand. This correspondence is grateful to some of my warmest
feelings, as the friendships of my youth are those which adhere closest
to me, and in which I most confide. My principal happiness is now in the
retrospect of life.
I thank you for your notes of your operations on the Pennsylvania
boundary. I am in hopes that from yourself, Madison, Rittenhouse, or
Hutchings, I shall receive a chart of the line as actually run. It will
be a great present to me. I think Hutchings promised to send it to me. I
have been much pleased to hear you had it in contemplation, to endeavor
to establish Rittenhouse in our college. This would be an immense
acquisition, and would draw youth to it from every part of the
continent. You will do much more honor to our society, on reviving it,
by placing him at its head, than so useless a member as I should be. I
have been so long diverted from this my favorite line, and that, too,
without acquiring an attachment to my adopted one, that I am become a
mongrel, of no decided order, unowned by any, and incapable of serving
any. I should feel myself out of my true place too, to stand before
McLurg. But why withdraw yourself? You have more zeal, more application,
and more constant attention to the subjects proper to the society, and
can, therefore, serve them best.
The affair of the Emperor and Dutch is settled, though not signed. The
particulars have not yet transpired. That of the Bavarian exchange is
dropped, and his views on Venice defeated. The alliance of Russia
with Venice, to prevent his designs in that quarter, and that of the
Hanoverian Elector with the King of Prussia and other members of the
Germanic body, to prevent his acquisition of Bavaria, leave him in a
solitary situation. In truth, he has lost much reputation by his late
manoeuvres. He is a restless, ambitious character, aiming at every
thing, persevering in nothing, taking up designs without calculating the
force which will be opposed to him, and dropping them on the appearance
of firm opposition. He has some just views and much activity. The only
quarter in which the peace of Europe seems at present capable of being
disturbed, is on that of the Porte. It is believed that the Emperor
and Empress have schemes in contemplation for driving the Turks out of
Europe. Were this with a view to re-establish the native Greeks in the
sovereignty of their own country, I could wish them success, and to see
driven from that delightful country, a set of barbarians, with whom an
opposition to all science is an article of religion. The modern Greek is
not yet so far departed from its ancient model, but that we might still
hope to see the language of Homer and Demosthenes flow with purity from
the lips of a free and ingenious people. But these powers have in object
to divide the country between themselves. This is only to substitute one
set of barbarians for another, breaking, at the same time, the balance
among the European powers. You have been told with truth, that the
Emperor of Morocco has shown a disposition to enter into treaty with
us: but not truly, that Congress has not attended to his advances, and
thereby disgusted him. It is long since they took measures to meet his
advances. But some unlucky incidents have delayed their effect. His
dispositions continue good. As a proof of this, he has lately released
freely, and clothed well, the crew of an American brig he took last
winter; the only vessel ever taken from us by any of the States of
Barbary. But what is the English of these good dispositions? Plainly
this; he is ready to receive us into the number of his tributaries. What
will be the amount of tribute, remains yet to be known, but it probably
will not be as small as you may have conjectured. It will surely be
more than a free people ought to pay to a power owning only four or five
frigates, under twenty-two guns: he has not a port into which a larger
vessel can enter. The Algerines possess fifteen or twenty frigates,
from that size up to fifty guns. Disinclination on their part has lately
broken off a treaty between Spain and them, whereon they were to have
received a million of dollars, besides great presents in naval stores.
What sum they intend we shall pay, I cannot say. Then follow Tunis and
Tripoli. You will probably find the tribute to all these powers make
such a proportion of the federal taxes, as that every man will feel them
sensibly, when he pays those taxes. The question is whether their peace
or war will be cheapest. But it is a question which should be addressed
to our honor, as well as our avarice. Nor does it respect us as to these
pirates only, but as to the nations of Europe. If we wish our commerce
to be free and uninsuked, we must let these nations see that we have an
energy which at present they disbelieve. The low opinion they entertain
of our powers, cannot fail to involve us soon in a naval war.
I shall send you with this, if I can., and if not, then by the first
good conveyance, the _Connoissance des Tems_ for the years 1786 and
1787, being all as yet published. You will find in these the tables for
the planet Herschel, as far as the observations, hitherto made, admit
them to be calculated. You will see, also, that Herschel was only the
first astronomer who discovered it to be a planet, and not the first who
saw it. Mayer saw it in the year 1756, and placed it in the catalogue of
his zodiacal stars, supposing it to be such. A Prussian astronomer, in
the year 1781, observed that the 964th star of Mayer’s catalogue was
missing: and the calculations now prove that at the time Mayer saw his
964th star, the planet Herschel should have been precisely in the place
where he noted that star. I shall send you also a little publication
here, called the _Bibliothèque Physico-oeconomique_. It will communicate
all the improvements and new discoveries in the arts and sciences, made
in Europe for some years past. I shall be happy to hear from you often.
Details, political and literary, and even of the small history of our
country, are the most pleasing communications possible. Present me
affectionately to Mrs. Page, and to your family, in the members of
which, though unknown to me, I feel an interest on account of their
parents. Believe me to be with warm esteem, dear Page, your sincere
friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVII.--TO JOHN JAY, August 23, 1785
TO JOHN JAY.
(Private.) Paris, August 23, 1785.
Dear Sir,
I shall sometimes ask your permission to write you letters, not
official, but private. The present is of this kind, and is occasioned
by the question proposed in yours of June the 14th; ‘Whether it would be
useful to us, to carry all our own productions, or none?’
Were we perfectly free to decide this question, I should reason as
follows. We have now lands enough to employ an infinite number of people
in their cultivation. Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable
citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most
virtuous, and they are tied to their country, and wedded to its liberty
and interests, by the most lasting bonds. As long, therefore, as
they can find employment in this line, I would not convert them into
mariners, artisans, or any thing else. But our citizens will find
employment in this line, till their numbers, and of course their
productions, become too great for the demand, both internal and foreign.
This is not the case as yet, and probably will not be for a considerable
time. As soon as it is, the surplus of hands must be turned to something
else. I should then, perhaps, wish to turn them to the sea in preference
to manufactures; because, comparing the characters of the two classes,
I find the former the most valuable citizens. I consider the class of
artificers as the panders of vice, and the instruments by which the
liberties of a country are generally overturned. However, we are not
free to decide this question on principles of theory only. Our people
are decided in the opinion, that it is necessary for us to take a share
in the occupation of the ocean, and their established habits induce
them to require that the sea be kept open to them, and that that line of
policy be pursued, which will render the use of that element to them
as great as possible. I think it a duty in those entrusted with the
administration of their affairs, to conform themselves to the decided
choice of their constituents: and that therefore, we should, in every
instance, preserve an equality of right to them in the transportation of
commodities, in the right of fishing, and in the other uses of the sea.
But what will be the consequence? Frequent wars without a doubt. Their
property will be violated on the sea and in foreign ports, their persons
will be insulted, imprisoned, &c. for pretended debts, contracts,
crimes, contraband, &c. &c. These insults must be resented, even if we
had no feelings, yet to prevent their eternal repetition; or, in other
words, our commerce on the ocean and in other countries must be paid for
by frequent war. The justest dispositions possible in ourselves will not
secure us against it. It would be necessary that all other nations were
just also. Justice indeed, on our part, will save us from those wars
which would have been produced by a contrary disposition. But how can
we prevent those produced by the wrongs of other nations? By putting
ourselves in a condition to punish them. Weakness provokes insult and
injury, while a condition to punish, often prevents them. This reasoning
leads to the necessity of some naval force; that being the only weapon
with which we can reach an enemy. I think it to our interest to punish
the first insult: because an insult unpunished is the parent of many
others. We are not, at this moment, in a condition to do it, but we
should put ourselves into it, as soon as possible. If a war with England
should take place, it seems to me that the first thing necessary, would
be a resolution to abandon the carrying trade, because we cannot protect
it. Foreign nations must, in that case, be invited to bring us what we
want, and to take our productions in their own bottoms. This alone could
prevent the loss of those productions to us, and the acquisition of
them to our enemy. Our seamen might be employed in depredations on their
trade. But how dreadfully we shall suffer on our coasts, if we have
no force on the water, former experience has taught us. Indeed, I look
forward with horror to the very possible case of war with an European
power, and think there is no protection against them, but from the
possession of some force on the sea. Our vicinity to their West India
possessions, and to the fisheries, is a bridle which a small naval
force, on our part, would hold in the mouths of the most powerful of
these countries. I hope our land office will rid us of our debts, and
that our first attention then will be, to the beginning a naval force,
of some sort. This alone can countenance our people as carriers on the
water, and I suppose them to be determined to continue such.
I wrote you two public letters on the 14th instant, since which I have
received yours of July the 13th. I shall always be pleased to receive
from you, in a private way, such communications as you might not choose
to put into a public letter.
I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem, Dear Sir,
your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XCVIII.--TO COLONEL MONROE, August 28, 1735
TO COLONEL MONROE.
Paris, August 28, 1735.
Dear Sir,
I wrote you on the 5th of July by Mr. Franklin, and on the 12th of the
same month by Monsieur Houdon. Since that date, yours of June the 16th,
by Mr. Mazzei, has been received. Every thing looks like peace here. The
settlement between the Emperor and Dutch is not yet published, but it is
believed to be agreed on. Nothing is done, as yet, between him and
the Porte. He is much wounded by the confederation of several of the
Germanic body, at the head of which is the King of Prussia, and to which
the King of England, as Elector of Hanover, is believed to accede. The
object is to preserve the constitution of that empire. It shows that
these princes entertain serious jealousies of the ambition of the
Emperor, and this will very much endanger the election of his nephew as
King of the Romans. A late _Arrêt_ of this court against the admission
of British manufactures produces a great sensation in England. I wish
it may produce a disposition there to receive our commerce in all their
dominions, on advantageous terms. This is the only balm which can heal
the wounds that it has received. It is but too true, that that country
furnished markets for three fourths of the exports of the eight
northernmost states. A truth not proper to be spoken of, but which
should influence our proceedings with them.
The July French packet having arrived without bringing any news of Mr.
Lambe, if the English one of the same month be also arrived, without
news of him, I expect Mr. Adams will concur with me in sending some
other person to treat with the Barbary States. Mr. Barclay is willing to
go, and I have proposed him to Mr. Adams, but have not yet received his
answer. The peace expected between Spain and Algiers will probably
not take place. It is said the former was to have given a million of
dollars. Would it not be prudent to send a minister to Portugal? Our
commerce with that country is very important; perhaps more so than with
any other country in Europe. It is possible too, that they might permit
our whaling vessels to refresh in Brazil, or give some other indulgences
in America. The lethargic character of their ambassador here, gives a
very unhopeful aspect to a treaty on this ground. I lately spoke with
him on the subject, and he has promised to interest himself in obtaining
an answer from his court.