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 Two (of four)]
VOLUME TWO
LETTER I.--TO RICHARD HENRY LEE, April 22, 1786
TO RICHARD HENRY LEE.
London, April 22, 1786.
Dear Sir,
In your letter of October the 29th, you desired me to send you one of
the new lamps. I tried at every probable place in Paris, and could not
get a tolerable one. I have been glad of it since I came here, as I find
them much better made here. I now deliver one, with this letter, into
the hands of Mr. Fulwar Skipwith, a merchant from Virginia, settled
here, who promises to send it to you, with one for Mr. C. Thomson. Of
this be pleased to accept, from me. It is now found, that they may be
used with almost any oil.
I expect to leave this place in about three days. Our public letters,
joint and separate, will inform you what has been done, and what could
not be done here. With respect to a commercial treaty with this country,
be assured, that this government not only has it not in contemplation
at present to make any, but that they do not conceive that any
circumstances will arise, which shall render it expedient for them to
have any political connection with us. They think we shall be glad of
their commerce on their own terms. There is no party in our favor here,
either in power or out of power. Even the opposition concur with the
ministry and the nation in this. I can scarcely consider as a party, the
Marquis of Lansdowne, and a half dozen characters about him, such as Dr.
Price, &c. who are impressed with the utility of a friendly connection
with us. The former does not venture this sentiment in parliament, and
the latter are not in situations to be heard. The Marquis of Lansdowne
spoke to me affectionately of your brother, Doctor Lee, and desired his
respects to him, which I beg leave to communicate through you. Were
he to come into the ministry (of which there is not the most distant
prospect), he must adopt the King’s system, or go out again, as he did
before, for daring to depart from it. When we see, that through all the
changes of ministry, which have taken place during the present reign,
there has never been a change of system with respect to America, we
cannot reasonably doubt, that this is the system of the King himself.
His obstinacy of character we know; his hostility we have known, and
it is embittered by ill success. If ever this nation, during his life,
enter into arrangements with us, it must be in consequence of events,
of which they do not at present see a possibility. The object of the
present ministry is to buoy up the nation with flattering calculations
of their present prosperity, and to make them believe they are better
without us than with us. This they seriously believe; for what is it
men cannot be made to believe? I dined the other day in a company of the
ministerial party. A General Clark, a Scotchman and ministerialist, sat
next to me. He introduced the subject of American affairs, and in
the course of the conversation told me, that were America to petition
parliament to be again received on their former footing, the petition
would be very generally rejected. He was serious in this, and I think
it was the sentiment of the company, and is the sentiment perhaps of the
nation. In this they are wise, but for a foolish reason. They think they
lost more by suffering us to participate of their commercial privileges,
at home and abroad, than they lose by our political severance. The true
reason, however, why such an application should be rejected, is, that in
a very short time we should oblige them to add another hundred millions
to their debt, in unsuccessful attempts to retain the subjection offered
to them. They are at present in a frenzy, and will not be recovered from
it, till they shall have leaped the precipice they are now so boldly
advancing to. Writing from England, I write you nothing but English
news. The continent, at present, furnishes nothing interesting. I shall
hope the favor of your letters, at times. The proceedings and views of
Congress and of the Assemblies, the opinions and dispositions of
our people in general, which, in governments like ours, must be the
foundation of measures, will always be interesting to me, as will
whatever respects your own health and happiness; being with great
esteem,
Dear Sir, your most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson
LETTER II.--TO CHARLES THOMSON, April 22, 1786
TO CHARLES THOMSON.
London, April 22, 1786.
Dear Sir,
In one of your former letters, you expressed a wish to have one of the
newly invented lamps. I find them made here much better than at Paris,
and take the liberty of asking your acceptance of one, which will
accompany this letter. It is now found, that any tolerable oil may be
used in them. The spermaceti oil is best, of the cheap kinds.
I could write you volumes on the improvements which I find made, and
making here, in the arts. One deserves particular notice, because it
is simple, great, and likely to have extensive consequences. It is
the application of steam, as an agent for working grist-mills. I have
visited the one lately made here. It was at that time turning eight pair
of stones. It consumes one hundred bushels of coal a day. It is proposed
to put up thirty pair of stones. I do not know whether the quantity
of fuel is to be increased. I hear you are applying the same agent in
America to navigate boats, and I have little doubt, but that it will
be applied generally to machines, so as to supersede the use of water
ponds, and of course to lay open all the streams for navigation. We
know, that steam is one of the most powerful engines we can employ;
and in America fuel is abundant. I find no new publication here worth
sending to you. I shall set out for Paris within three or four days. Our
public letters will inform you of our public proceedings here.
I am, with sincere esteem, Dear Sir,
your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER III.--TO JOHN JAY, April 23, 1786
TO JOHN JAY.
London, April 23, 1786.
Sir,
In my letter of March the 12th, I had the honor of explaining to you
the motives which had brought me to this place. A joint letter from Mr.
Adams and myself, sent by the last packet, informed you of the result
of our conferences with the Tripoline minister. The conferences with
the minister of Portugal have, been drawn to a greater length than I
expected. However, every thing is now agreed, and the treaty will be
ready for signature the day after to-morrow. I shall set out for Paris
the same day. With this country nothing is done: and that nothing is
intended to be done, on their part, admits not the smallest doubt. The
nation is against any change of measures: the ministers are against it;
some from principle, others from subserviency: and the King, more than
all men, is against it. If we take a retrospect to the beginning of the
present reign, we observe, that amidst all the changes of ministry, no
change of measures with respect to America ever took place; excepting
only at the moment of the peace; and the minister of that moment was
immediately removed. Judging of the future by the past, I do not expect
a change of disposition during the present reign, which bids fair to
be a long one, as the King is healthy and temperate. That he is
persevering, we know. If he ever changes his plan, it will be in
consequence of events, which, at present, neither himself nor his
ministers place among those which are probable. Even the opposition dare
not open their lips in favor of a connection with us, so unpopular would
be the topic. It is not, that they think our commerce unimportant to
them. I find that the merchants here set sufficient value on it. But
they are sure of keeping it on their own terms. No better proof can be
shown of the security in which the ministers think themselves on this
head, than that they have not thought it worth while to give us a
conference on the subject, though, on my arrival, we exhibited to them
our commission, observed to them that it would expire on the 12th of
the next month, and that I had come over on purpose to see if any
arrangements could be made before that time. Of two months which then
remained, six weeks have elapsed without one scrip of a pen, or one word
from a minister, except a vague proposition at an accidental meeting.
We availed ourselves even of that, to make another essay to extort some
sort of declaration from the court. But their silence is invincible.
But of all this, as well as of the proceedings in the negotiation with
Portugal, information will be given you by a joint letter from Mr. Adams
and myself. The moment is certainly arrived, when, the plan of this
court being out of all doubt, Congress and the States may decide what
their own measures should be.
The Marquis of Lansdowne spoke of you in very friendly terms, and
desired me to present his respects to you, in the first letter I should
write. He is thoroughly sensible of the folly of the present measures
of this country, as are a few other characters about him. Dr. Price is
among these, and is particularly disturbed at the present prospect. He
acknowledges, however, that all change is desperate: which weighs the
more, as he is intimate with Mr. Pitt. This small band of friends,
favorable as it is, does not pretend to say one word in public on our
subject.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem and
respect,
Sir, your most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER IV.--TO JOHN JAY, April 23, 1786
TO JOHN JAY.
London, April 23, 1786.
Sir,
In another letter of this day, I stated to you what had passed with
public characters since my arrival here. Conversations with private
individuals, I thought it best not to mingle with the contents of that
letter. Yet, as some have taken place, which relate to matters within
our instructions, and with persons whose opinions deserve to have some
weight, I will take the liberty of stating them. In a conversation with
an ancient and respectable merchant of this place, such a view of the
true state of the commercial connections of America and Great Britain
was presented to him, as induced him to acknowledge they had been
mistaken in their opinions, and to ask, that Mr. Adams and myself would
permit the chairman of the committee of American merchants to call on
us. He observed, that the same person happened to be also chairman of
the committee of the whole body of British merchants; and that such was
the respect paid to his person and office, that we might consider what
came from him, as coming from the committees themselves. He called on
us at an appointed hour. He was a Mr. Duncan Campbell, formerly much
concerned in the American trade. We entered on the subject of the
non-execution of the late treaty of peace, alleged on both sides.
We observed, that the refusal to deliver the western posts, and the
withdrawing American property, contrary to express stipulation, having
preceded what they considered as breaches on our part, were to be
considered as the causes of our proceedings. The obstructions thrown
by our legislatures in the way of the recovery of their debts, were
insisted on by him. We observed to him, that the great amount of the
debt from America to Great Britain, and the little circulating coin in
the formeer country, rendered an immediate payment impossible; that time
was necessary; that we had been authorized to enter into explanatory
arrangements on this subject; that we had made overtures for the
purpose, which had not been attended to, and that the States had,
therefore, been obliged to modify the article for themselves. He
acknowledged the impossibility of immediate payment, the propriety of
an explanatory convention, and said, that they were disposed to allow
a reasonable time. We mentioned the term of five years, including the
present; but that judgments might be allowed immediately, only dividing
the execution into equal and annual parts, so that the last should be
levied by the close of the year 1790. This seemed to be quite agreeable
to him, and to be as short a term as would be insisted on by them.
Proceeding to the sum to be demanded, we agreed that the principal, with
the interest incurring before and after the war, should be paid; but
as to that incurring during the war, we differed from him. He urged its
justice with respect to themselves, who had laid out of the use of their
money during that period. This was his only topic. We opposed to it all
those which circumstances, both public and private, gave rise to.
He appeared to feel their weight, but said the renunciation of this
interest was a bitter pill, and such a one as the merchants here could
not swallow. He wished, that no declaration should be made as to
this article: but we observed, that if we entered into explanatory
declarations of the points unfavorable to us, we should expect, as a
consideration for this, corresponding declarations on the parts in
our favor. In fact, we supposed his view was to leave this part of the
interest to stand on the general expressions of the treaty, that
they might avail themselves, in individual cases, of the favorable
dispositions of debtors or of juries. We proceeded to the necessity of
arrangements of our future commerce, were it only as a means of
enabling our country to pay its debts. We suggested, that they had been
contracted while certain modes of remittance had existed here, which
had been an inducement to us to contract these debts. He said he was not
authorized to speak on the subject of the future commerce. He appeared
really and feelingly anxious, that arrangements should be stipulated as
to the payment of the old debts, said he would proceed in that moment to
Lord Caermarthen’s, and discuss the subject with him, and that we might
expect to hear from him. He took leave, and we have never since heard
from him or any other person on the subject. Congress will judge how far
these conversations should influence their future proceedings, or those
of the States.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem, Sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER V.--TO JAMES MADISON, April 25, 1786
TO JAMES MADISON.
London, April 25, 1786.
Dear Sir,
Some of the objects of the joint commission, with which we were honored
by Congress, called me to this place about six weeks ago. To-morrow I
set out on my return to Paris. With this nation nothing is done; and it
is now decided, that they intend to do nothing with us.
*****
I wrote you, in a former letter, on the subject of a Mr. Paradise,
who owns an estate in Virginia in right of his wife, and who has a
considerable sum due to him in our loan office. Since I came here, I
have had opportunities of knowing his extreme personal worth, and his
losses by the late war. He is, from principle, a pure republican, while
his father was as warm a tory. His attachment to the American cause,
and his candid warmth, brought him sometimes into altercations on the
subject with his father, and some persons interested in their variance,
artfully brought up this subject of conversation whenever they met. It
produced a neglect in the father. He had already settled on him a sum of
money in the funds: but would do no more, and probably would have undone
that, if he could. When remittances from Virginia were forbidden,
the profits of the Virginia estate were carried into our loan office.
Paradise was then obliged to begin to eat his capital in England: from
that, to part with conveniences, and to run in debt. His situation is
now distressing; and would be completely relieved, could he receive what
is due to him from our State. He is coming over to settle there. His
wife and family will follow him. I never ask unjust preferences for any
body. But if, by any just means, he can be helped to his money, I own
I should be much gratified. The goodness of his heart, his kindness to
Americans before, during, and since the war, the purity of his political
and moral character, interest me in the events impending over him, and
which will infallibly be ruinous, if he fails to receive his money. I
ask of you, on his behalf, that in pursuing the path of right, you will
become active for him, instead of being merely quiescent, as you might
be, were his merit and his misfortunes unknown to you.
I have put into the hands of Mr. Fulwar Skipwith for you, a packet
containing some catalogues, which he will forward. I am, with very
sincere esteem, Dear Sir,
your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VI.--TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES, May 3, 1786
TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.
Paris, May 3, 1786.
Sir,
After begging leave to present my respects to your Excellency, on my
return to this place, I take the liberty of offering to your attention
some papers, which I found on my arrival here, written by sundry
merchants of L’Orient and others, some of whom are citizens of the
United States, and all of them concerned in the trade between the two
countries. This has been carried on by an exchange of the manufactures
and produce of this country, for the produce of that, and principally
for tobacco, which, though, on its arrival here, confined to a single
purchaser, has been received equally from all sellers. In confidence
of a continuance of this practice, the merchants of both countries were
carrying on their commerce of exchange. A late contract by the Farm has,
in a great measure, fixed in a single mercantile house the supplies of
tobacco wanted for this country. This arrangement found the established
merchants with some tobacco on hand, some on the seas coming to them,
and more still due. By the papers now enclosed, it seems, that there
are six thousand four hundred and eight hogsheads in the single port of
L’Orient. Whether government may interfere, as to articles furnished by
the merchants after they had notice of the contract before mentioned,
must depend on principles of policy. But those of justice seem to urge,
that, for commodities furnished before such notice, they should be so
far protected, as that they may wind up, without loss, the transactions
in which the new arrangement found them actually engaged. Your
Excellency is the best judge, how far it may be consistent with the
rules of government, to interfere for their relief, and with you,
therefore, I beg leave entirely to rest their interests.
Information lately received, relative to the Barbary States, has
suggested, that it might be expedient, and perhaps necessary for us, to
pave the way to arrangements with them, by a previous application to the
Ottoman Porte. Your Excellency’s intimate acquaintance with this subject
would render your advice to us equally valuable and desirable. If you
would be pleased to permit me to wait on you, any day or hour which
shall be most convenient to yourself, I should be much gratified by a
little conversation with you on this subject.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your Excellency’s most
obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VII.--TO JOHN PAGE, May 4, 1786
TO JOHN PAGE.
Paris, May 4, 1786.
Dear Sir,
Your two favors of March the 15th and August the 23, 1785, by Monsieur
de la Croix, came to hand on the 15th of November. His return gives me
an opportunity of sending you a copy of the Nautical Almanacs for 1786,
7, 8, 9. There is no late and interesting publication here, or I would
send it by the same conveyance. With these almanacs, I pack a copy of
some Notes I wrote for Monsieur de Marbois, in the year 1781, of which I
had a few printed here. They were written in haste, and for his private
inspection. A few friends having asked copies, I found it cheaper to
print than to write them. They will offer nothing new to you, not even
as an oblation of my friendship for you, which is as old almost as we
are ourselves. Mazzei brought me your favor of April the 27th. I thank
you much for your communications. Nothing can be more grateful at such
a distance. It is unfortunate, that most people think the occurrences
passing daily under their eyes, are either known to all the world, or
not worth being known. They therefore do not give them place in their
letters. I hope you will be so good as to continue your friendly
information. The proceedings of our public bodies, the progress of the
public mind on interesting questions, the casualties which happen among
our private friends, and whatever is interesting to yourself and family,
will always be anxiously received by me. There is one circumstance in
the work you were concerned in, which has not yet come to my knowledge;
to wit, How far westward from Fort Pitt, does the western boundary of
Pennsylvania pass, and where does it strike the Ohio? The proposition
you mention from Mr. Anderson, on the purchase of tobacco, I would have
made use of, but that I have engaged the abuses of the tobacco trade on
a more general scale. I confess their redress is by no means certain;
but till I see all hope of removing the evil by the roots desperate, I
cannot propose to prune its branches.
I returned but three or four days ago, from a two months’ trip to
England. I traversed that country much, and own, both town and country
fell short of my expectations. Comparing it with this, I found a much
greater proportion of barrens, a soil, in other parts, not naturally so
good as this, not better cultivated, but better manured, and therefore
more productive. This proceeds from the practice of long leases there,
and short ones here. The laboring people here, are poorer than in
England. They pay about one half their produce in rent; the English, in
general, about a third. The gardening, in that country, is the article
in which it surpasses all the earth. I mean their pleasure gardening.
This, indeed, went far beyond my ideas. The city of London, though
handsomer than Paris, is not so handsome as Philadelphia. Their
architecture is in the most wretched style I ever saw, not meaning to
except America, where it is bad, nor even Virginia, where it is worse
than in any other part of America which I have seen. The mechanical arts
in London are carried to a wonderful perfection. But of these I need
not speak, because, of them my countrymen have unfortunately too many
samples before their eyes. I consider the extravagance which has seized
them, as a more baneful evil than toryism was during the war. It is the
more so, as the example is set by the best and most amiable characters
among us. Would a missionary appear, who would make frugality the basis
of his religious system, and go through the land, preaching it up as the
only road to salvation, I would join his school, though not generally
disposed to seek my religion out of the dictates of my own reason, and
feelings of my own heart. These things have been more deeply impressed
on my mind, by what I have heard and seen in England. That nation hate
us, their ministers hate us, and their King, more than all other men.
They have the impudence to avow this, though they acknowledge our trade
important to them. But they think, we cannot prevent our countrymen from
bringing that into their laps. A conviction of this determines them
to make no terms of commerce with us. They say, they will pocket
our carrying trade as well as their own. Our overtures of commercial
arrangements have been treated with a derision, which shows their firm
persuasion, that we shall never unite to suppress their commerce, or
even to impede it. I think their hostility towards us is much more
deeply rooted at present, than during the war. In the arts, the most
striking thing I saw there, new, was the application of the principle
of the steam-engine to grist-mills. I saw eight pair of stones which
are worked by steam, and there are to be set up thirty pair in the same
house. A hundred bushels of coal, a day, are consumed at present. I do
not know in what proportion the consumption will be increased by the
additional gear.
Be so good as to present my respects to Mrs. Page and your family, to W.
Lewis, F. Willis, and their families, and to accept yourself assurances
of the sincere regard, with which I am, Dear Sir, your affectionate
friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER VIII.--TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
Paris, May 5, 1786.
Dear Sir,
A visit of two months to England has been the cause of your not hearing
from me during that period. Your letters of February the 3rd, to Mr.
Adams and myself, and of February the 4th, to me, had come to hand
before my departure. While I was in London, Mr. Adams received the
letters giving information of Mr. Lambe’s arrival at Algiers. In London,
we had conferences with a Tripoline ambassador, now at that court, named
Abdrahaman. He asked us thirty thousand guineas for a peace with his
court, and as much for Tunis, for which he said he could answer. What we
were authorized to offer, being to this, but as a drop to a bucket,
our conferences were repeated, only for the purpose of obtaining
information. If the demands of Algiers and Morocco should be
proportioned to this, according to their superior power, it is easy to
foresee that the United States will not buy a peace with money. What
principally led me to England was, the information that the Chevalier
del Pinto, Portuguese minister at that court, had received full powers
to treat with us. I accordingly went there, and, in the course of six
weeks, we arranged a commercial treaty between our two countries. His
powers were only to negotiate, not to sign. And as I could not wait, Mr.
Adams and myself signed, and the Chevalier del Pinto expected daily the
arrival of powers to do the same. The footing on which each has placed
the other, is that of the most favored nation. We wished much to have
had some privileges in their American possessions: but this was not
to be effected. The right to import flour into Portugal, though not
conceded by the treaty, we are not without hopes of obtaining.
My journey furnished us occasion to renew our overtures to the court
of London; which it was the more important to do, as our powers to that
court were to expire on the 12th of this month. These overtures were not
attended to, and our commission expiring, we made our final report to
Congress; and I suppose this the last offer of friendship, which will
ever be made on our part. The treaty of peace being unexecuted on either
part, in important points, each will now take their own measures for
obtaining execution. I think the King, ministers, and nation are more
bitterly hostile to us at present, than at any period of the late war.
A like disposition on our part, has been rising for some time. In what
events these things will end, we cannot foresee. Our countrymen are
eager in their passions and enterprise, and not disposed to calculate
their interests against these. Our enemies (for such they are, in fact)
have for twelve years past, followed but one uniform rule, that of doing
exactly the contrary of what reason points out. Having early, during our
contest, observed this in the British conduct, I governed myself by it,
in all prognostications of their measures; and I can say, with truth, it
never failed me but in the circumstance of their making peace with us. I
have no letters from America of later date than the new year. Mr. Adams
had, to the beginning of February. I am in hopes our letters will give a
new spur to the proposition, for investing Congress with the regulation
of our commerce.
This will be handed you by a Baron Waltersdorf, a Danish gentleman,
whom, if you did not already know, I should take the liberty of
recommending to you. You were so kind as to write me, that you would
forward me a particular map, which has not come to hand.
I beg you to be assured of the respect and esteem, with which I have the
honor to be, Dear Sir,
your most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER IX.--TO MR. DUMAS, May 6, 1789
TO MR. DUMAS.
Paris, May 6, 1789.
Sir,
Having been absent in England, for some time past, your favors of
February the 27th, March the 28th, and April the 11th, have not been
acknowledged so soon as they should have been. I am obliged to you, for
assisting to make me known to the Rhingrave de Salm and the Marquis de
la Coste, whose reputations render an acquaintance with them desirable.
I have not yet seen either: but expect that honor from the Rhingrave
very soon. Your letters to Mr. Jay and Mr. Van Berkel, received in my
absence, will be forwarded by a gentleman who leaves this place for New
York, within a few days. I sent the treaty with Prussia by a gentleman
who sailed from Havre, the 11th of November. The arrival of that vessel
in America is not yet known here. Though the time is not long enough to
produce despair, it is sufficiently so to give inquietude lest it should
be lost. This would be a cause of much concern to me: I beg the favor
of you to mention this circumstance to the Baron de Thulemeyer, as an
apology for his not hearing from us. The last advices from America bring
us nothing interesting. A principal object of my journey to London was,
to enter into commercial arrangements with Portugal. This has been done
almost in the precise terms of those of Prussia. The English are still
our enemies. The spirit existing there, and rising in America, has
a very lowering aspect. To what events it may give birth, I cannot
foresee. We are young, and can survive them; but their rotten machine
must crush under the trial. The animosities of sovereigns are temporary,
and may be allayed: but those which seize the whole body of a people,
and of a people, too, who dictate their own measures, produce calamities
of long duration. I shall not wonder to see the scenes of ancient Rome
and Carthage renewed in our day; and if not pursued to the same issue,
it may be, because the republic of modern powers will not permit the
extinction of any one of its members. Peace and friendship with all
mankind is our wisest policy: and I wish we may be permitted to pursue
it. But the temper and folly of our enemies may not leave this in our
choice. I am happy in our prospect of friendship with the most estimable
powers of Europe, and particularly with those of the confederacy, of
which yours is. That your present crisis may have a happy issue, is the
prayer and wish of him, who has the honor to be, with great respect and
esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER X.--TO WILLIAM DRAYTON, May 6, 1786
TO WILLIAM DRAYTON.
Paris, May 6, 1786.
Sir,
Your favor of November the 23rd came duly to hand. A call to England,
soon after its receipt, has prevented my acknowledging it so soon as I
should have done. I am very sensible of the honor done me by the South
Carolina society for promoting and improving agriculture and other rural
concerns, when they were pleased to elect me to be of their body: and
I beg leave, through you, Sir, to convey to them my grateful thanks
for this favor. They will find in me, indeed, but a very unprofitable
servant. At present, particularly, my situation is unfavorable to the
desire I feel, of promoting their views. However, I shall certainly
avail myself of every occasion, which shall occur of doing so. Perhaps
I may render some service, by forwarding to the society such new objects
of culture, as may be likely to succeed in the soil and climate of
South Carolina. In an infant country, as ours is, these experiments are
important. We are probably far from possessing, as yet, all the articles
of culture for which nature has fitted our country. To find out
these, will require abundance of unsuccessful experiments. But if in
a multitude of these, we make one useful acquisition, it repays our
trouble. Perhaps it is the peculiar duty of associated bodies, to
undertake these experiments. Under this sense of the views of the
society, and with so little opportunity of being otherwise useful to
them, I shall be attentive to procure for them the seeds of such plants,
as they will be so good as to point out to me, or as shall occur to
myself as worthy their notice. I send at present, by Mr. McQueen, some
seeds of a grass, found very useful in the southern parts of Europe, and
particularly, and almost solely, cultivated in Malta. It is called
by the names of Sulla, and Spanish St. Foin, and is the _Hedysarum
coronarium_ of Linnaeus. It is usually sown early in autumn. I shall
receive a supply of fresher seed this fall, which I will also do myself
the honor of forwarding to you. I expect, in the same season, from the
south of France, some acorns of the cork oak, which I propose for your
society, as I am persuaded they will succeed with you. I observed it
to grow in England, without shelter; not well indeed; but so as to give
hopes that it would do well with you. I shall consider myself as always
honored by the commands of the society, whenever they shall find it
convenient to make use of me, and beg you to be assured, personally, of
the sentiments of respect and esteem, with which I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XI.--TO W. T. FRANKLIN, May 7, 1786
TO W. T. FRANKLIN.
Paris, May 7, 1786.
Dear Sir,
On my return from a two months’ visit to England, I found here your favor
of January the 18th. This contains the latest intelligence I have from
America. Your effects not being then arrived, gives me anxiety for them,
as I think they went in a vessel, which sailed from Havre the 11th of
November. In this vessel, went also the two Mr. Fitzhughs of Virginia,
with the Prussian treaty, our papers relative to the Barbary States,
with the despatches for Congress, and letters which I had been writing
to other persons in America for six weeks preceding their departure. I
am obliged to you for the information as to Dr. Franklin’s health, in
which I feel a great interest. I concur in opinion with you, that in the
present factious division of your State, an angel from heaven could do
no good. I have been sorry, therefore, from the beginning, to see such
time as Dr. Franklin’s wasted on so hopeless a business. You have formed
a just opinion of Monroe. He is a man whose soul might be turned wrong
side outwards, without discovering a blemish to the world. I wish with
all my heart, Congress may call you into the diplomatic line, as that
seems to have attracted your own desires. It is not one in which you
can do any thing more, than pass the present hour agreeably, without any
prospect to future provision. Perhaps the arrangements with Portugal,
by adding to the number of those appointments, may give Congress
an opportunity of doing justice to your own, and to Dr. Franklin’s
services. If my wishes could aid you, you have them sincerely. My late
return to this place scarcely enables me to give you any of its news.
I have not yet called on M. La Veillard, or seen any of your
acquaintances. The marriage of the ambassador of Sweden with Miss
Necker, you have heard of. Houdon is about taking a wife also. His bust
of the General has arrived, and meets the approbation of those who know
the original. Europe enjoys a perfect calm, at present. Perhaps it may
be disturbed by the death of the King of Prussia, which is constantly
expected. As yet, we have no information from the Barbary States, which
may enable us to prognosticate the success of our endeavors to effect a
peace in that quarter. Present me respectfully and affectionately to
Dr. Franklin, and accept assurances of the esteem, with which I am, Dear
Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XII.--TO ELBRIDGE GERRY, May 7, 1786
TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.
Paris, May 7, 1786.
Dear Sir,
My last to you was of the 11th of October. Soon after that, your favor
of the 12th of September came to hand. My acknowledgment of this is made
later than it should have been, by my trip to England. Your long silence
I ascribe to a more pleasing cause, that of devoting your spare time to
one more capable of filling it with happiness, and to whom, as well as
to yourself, I wish all those precious blessings which this change of
condition is calculated to give you.
My public letters to Mr. Jay will have apprized you of my journey to
England, and of its motives; and the joint letters of Mr. Adams
and myself, of its effects. With respect to Portugal, it produced
arrangements; with respect to England and Barbary, only information.
I am quite at a loss what you will do with England. To leave her in
possession of our posts, seems inadmissible; and yet to take them,
brings on a state of things, for which we seem not to be in readiness.
Perhaps a total suppression of her trade, or an exclusion of her vessels
from the carriage of our produce, may have some effect; but I believe
not very great. Their passions are too deeply and too universally
engaged in opposition to us. The ministry have found means to persuade
the nation, that they are richer than they were while we participated of
their commercial privileges. We should try to turn our trade into other
channels. I am in hopes this country will endeavor to give it more
encouragement. But what will you do with the piratical States? Buy a
peace at their enormous price; force one; or abandon the carriage into
the Mediterranean to other powers? All these measures are disagreeable.
The decision rests with you. The Emperor is now pressing a treaty with
us. In a commercial view, I doubt whether it is desirable: but in a
political one, I believe it is. He is now undoubtedly the second power
in Europe, and on the death of the King of Prussia, he becomes the first
character. An alliance with him will give us respectability in Europe,
which we have occasion for. Besides, he will be at the head of the
second grand confederacy of Europe, and may at any time serve us with
the powers constituting that. I am pressed on so many hands to recommend
Dumas to the patronage of Congress, that I cannot avoid it. Every body
speaks well of him, and his zeal in our cause. Any thing done for him
will gratify this court, and the patriotic party in Holland, as well as
some distinguished individuals. I am induced, from my own feelings, to
recommend Colonel Humphreys to your care. He is sensible, prudent, and
honest, and may be very firmly relied on, in any office which requires
these talents. I pray you to accept assurance of the sincere esteem and
respect, with which I am,
Dear Sir, your most obedient
and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XIII.--TO JAMES ROSS, May 8, 1786
TO JAMES ROSS.
Paris, May 8, 1786.
Dear Sir,
I have duly received your favor of October the 22nd, and am much
gratified by the communications therein made. It has given me details,
which do not enter into the views of my ordinary correspondents, and
which are very entertaining. I experience great satisfaction at seeing
my country proceed to facilitate the intercommunications of its several
parts, by opening rivers, canals, and roads. How much more rational is
this disposal of public money, than that of waging war.
Before the receipt of your letter, Morris’s contract for sixty thousand
hogsheads of tobacco was concluded with the Farmers General. I have been
for some time occupied in endeavoring to destroy the root of the evils,
which the tobacco trade encounters in this country, by making the
ministers sensible, that merchants will not bring a commodity to a
market, where but one person is allowed to buy it; and that so long as
that single purchaser is obliged to go to foreign markets for it, he
must pay for it in coin, and not in commodities. These truths have made
their way to the minds of the ministry, insomuch, as to have delayed
the execution of the new lease of the Farms, six months. It is
renewed, however, for three years, but so as not to render impossible a
reformation of this great evil. They are sensible of the evil, but it is
so interwoven with their fiscal system, that they find it hazardous to
disentangle. The temporary distress, too, of the revenue, they are
not prepared to meet. My hopes, therefore, are weak, though not quite
desperate. When they become so, it will remain to look about for the
best palliative this monopoly can bear. My present idea is, that it will
be found in a prohibition to the Farmers General, to purchase tobacco
any where but in France. You will perceive by this, that my object is to
strengthen the connection between this country and my own in all
useful points. I am of opinion, that twenty-three thousand hogsheads
of tobacco, the annual consumption of this country, do not exceed the
amount of those commodities, which it is more advantageous to us to buy
here than in England, or elsewhere; and such a commerce would powerfully
reinforce the motives for a friendship from this country towards ours.
This friendship we ought to cultivate closely, considering the present
dispositions of England towards us.
I am lately returned from a visit to that country. The spirit of
hostility to us has always existed in the mind of the King, but it
has now extended itself through the whole mass of the people, and the
majority in the public councils. In a country, where the voice of the
people influences so much the measures of administration, and where it
coincides with the private temper of the King, there is no pronouncing
on future events. It is true, they have nothing to gain, and much to
lose, by a war with us. But interest is not the strongest passion in the
human breast. There are difficult points, too, still unsettled between
us. They have not withdrawn their armies out of our country, nor given
satisfaction for the property they brought off. On our part, we have not
paid our debts, and it will take time to pay them. In conferences with
some distinguished mercantile characters, I found them sensible of the
impossibility of our paying these debts at once, and that an endeavor
to force universal and immediate payment, would render debts desperate,
which are good in themselves. I think we should not have differed in the
term necessary. We differed essentially in the article of interest. For
while the principal, and interest preceding and subsequent to the war,
seem justly due from us, that which accrued during the war does not.
Interest is a compensation for the use of money. Their money, in our
hands, was in the form of lands and negroes. Tobacco, the produce of
these lands and negroes (or, as I may call it, the interest for them),
being almost impossible of conveyance to the markets of consumption,
because taken by themselves in its way there, sold during the war at
five or six shillings the hundred. This did not pay taxes, and for
tools, and other plantation charges. A man who should have attempted to
remit to his creditor tobacco, for either principal or interest, must
have remitted it three times before one cargo would have arrived safe:
and this from the depredations of their own nation, and often of the
creditor himself; for some of the merchants entered deeply into the
privateering business. The individuals who did not, say they have lost
this interest: the debtor replies, that he has not gained it, and that
it is a case where, a loss having been incurred, every one tries to
shift it from himself. The known bias of the human mind from motives of
interest should lessen the confidence of each party in the justice of
their reasoning: but it is difficult to say, which of them should
make the sacrifice, both of reason and interest. Our conferences were
intended as preparatory to some arrangement. It is uncertain how far
we should have been able to accommodate our opinions. But the absolute
aversion of the government to enter into any arrangement prevented the
object from being pursued. Each country is left to do justice to itself
and to the other, according to its own ideas as to what is past; and to
scramble for the future as well as they can: to regulate their commerce
by duties and prohibitions, and perhaps by cannons and mortars; in which
event, we must abandon the ocean, where we are weak, leaving to neutral
nations the carriage of our commodities; and measure with them on land,
where they alone can lose. Farewell, then, all our useful improvements
of canals and roads, reformations of laws, and other rational
employments. I really doubt, whether there is temper enough, on either
side, to prevent this issue of our present hatred. Europe is, at this
moment, without the appearance of a cloud. The death of the King of
Prussia, daily expected, may raise one. My paper admonishes me, that,
after asking a continuance of your favors, it is time for me to conclude
with assurances of the esteem with which I am,
Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XIV.--TO T. PLEASANTS, May 8,1786
TO T. PLEASANTS.
Paris, May 8,1786.
Dear Sir,
At the time of the receipt of your favor of October the 24th, the
contract between the Farmers General and Mr. Morris, for tobacco, was
concluded, and in a course of execution. There was no room, therefore,
to offer the proposals which accompanied your letter. I was, moreover,
engaged in endeavors to have the monopoly, in the purchase of this
article, in this country, suppressed. My hopes on that subject are not
desperate, but neither are they flattering. I consider it as the most
effectual means of procuring the full value of our produce, of diverting
our demands for manufactures from Great Britain to this country, to a
certain amount, and of thus producing some equilibrium in our commerce,
which at present lies all in the British scale. It would cement an union
with our friends, and lessen the torrent of wealth which we are pouring
into the laps of our enemies. For my part, I think that the trade with
Great Britain is a ruinous one to ourselves; and that nothing would
be an inducement to tolerate it, but a free commerce with their West
Indies: and that this being denied to us, we should put a stop to
the losing branch. The question is, whether they are right in their
prognostications, that we have neither resolution nor union enough for
this. Every thing I hear from my own country, fills me with despair as
to their recovery from their vassalage to Great Britain. Fashion
and folly are plunging them deeper and deeper into distress: and the
legislators of the country becoming debtors also, there seems no hope
of applying the only possible remedy, that of an immediate judgment and
execution. We should try, whether the prodigal might not be restrained
from taking on credit the gewgaw held out to him in one hand, by seeing
the keys of a prison in the other. Be pleased to present my respects to
Mrs. Pleasants, and to be assured of the esteem with which I am,
Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER XV.--TO COLONEL MONROE, May 10,1786
TO COLONEL MONROE.
Paris, May 10,1786.
Dear Sir,
My last to you was of January the 27th. Since that, I have received
yours of January the 19th. Information from other quarters gives me
reason to suspect you have in negotiation a very important change in
your situation. You will carry into its execution all my wishes for your
happiness. I hope it will not detach you from a settlement in your
own country. I had even entertained hopes of your settling in my
neighborhood: but these were determined by your desiring a plan of a
house for Richmond. However reluctantly I relinquish this prospect, I
shall not the less readily obey your commands, by sending you a plan.
Having been much engaged since my return from England, in answering the
letters and despatching other business which had accumulated during my
absence, and being still much engaged, perhaps I may not be able to send
the plan by this conveyance. If I do not send it now, I will surely by
the next conveyance after this. Your _Encyclopédie_, containing eighteen
_livraisons_, went off last night for Havre, from whence it will go in
a vessel bound to New York. It will be under the care of M. la Croix,
a passenger, who, if he does not find you in New York, will carry it to
Virginia, and send it to Richmond. Another copy, in a separate box,
goes for Currie. I pay here all charges to New York. What may occur
afterwards, I desire him to ask either of you or Currie, as either will
pay for the other; or to draw on me for them.