to the gentleman my design, and that I would go off my road as far as
Nismes, under the pretext of seeing the antiquities of that place, if
he would meet me there. He met me, and the following is the sum of the
information I received from him. ‘Brazil contains as many inhabitants
as Portugal. They are, 1. Portuguese. 2. Native whites. 3. Black and
mulatto slaves. 4. Indians, civilized and savage. 1. The Portuguese are
few in number, mostly married there, have lost sight of their native
country, as well as the prospect of returning to it, and are disposed to
become independent. 2. The native whites form the body of their nation.
3. The slaves are as numerous as the free. 4. The civilized Indians have
no energy, and the savage would not meddle. There are twenty thousand
regular troops. Originally these were Portuguese. But as they died off,
they were replaced by natives, so that these compose at present the
mass of the troops, and may be counted on by their native country. The
officers are partly Portuguese, partly Brazilians: their bravery is not
doubted, and they understand the parade, but not the science of their
profession. They have no bias for Portugal, but no energy either for any
thing. The priests are partly Portuguese, partly Brazilians, and will
not interest themselves much. The Noblesse are scarcely known as such.
They will, in no manner, be distinguished from the people. The men of
letters are those most desirous of a revolution. The people are not
much under the influence of their priests, most of them read and write,
possess arms, and are in the habit of using them for hunting. The slaves
will take the side of their masters. In short, as to the question of
revolution, there is but one mind in that Country. But there appears no
person capable of conducting a revolution, or willing to venture himself
at its head, without the aid of some powerful nation, as the people of
their own might fail them. There is no printing press in Brazil. They
consider the North American revolution as a precedent for theirs. They
look to the United States as most likely to give them honest support,
and, from a variety of considerations, have the strongest prejudices in
our favor. This informant is a native and inhabitant of Rio Janeiro,
the present metropolis, which contains fifty thousand inhabitants, knows
well St. Salvador, the former one, and the _mines d’or_, which are
in the centre of the country. These are all for a revolution; and,
constituting the body of the nation, the other parts will follow them,
The King’s fifth of the mines, yields annually thirteen millions of
crusadoes or half dollars. He has the sole right of searching for
diamonds and other precious stones, which yield him about half as much.
His income from those two resources alone, then, is about ten millions
of dollars annually; but the remaining part of the produce of the
mines, being twenty-six millions, might be counted on for effecting
a revolution. Besides the arms in the hands of the people, there are
public magazines. They have abundance of horses, but only a part of
their country would admit the service of horses. They would want cannon,
ammunition, ships, sailors, soldiers, and officers, for which they are
disposed to look to the United States, it being always understood, that
every service and furniture will be well paid. Corn costs about
twenty livres the one hundred pounds. They have flesh in the greatest
abundance, insomuch, that in some parts, they kill beeves for the skin
only. The whale fishery is carried on by Brazilians altogether, and not
by Portuguese; but in very small vessels, so that the fishermen know
nothing of managing a large ship. They would want of us; at all times,
shipping, corn, and salt fish. The latter is a great article, and they
are at present supplied with it from Portugal. Portugal being without
either army or navy, could not attempt an invasion under a twelvemonth.
Considering of what it would be composed, it would not be much to be
feared, and if it failed, they would probably never attempt a second.
Indeed, this source of their wealth being intercepted, they are scarcely
capable of a first effort. The thinking part of the nation are so
sensible of this, that they consider an early separation inevitable.
There is an implacable hatred between the Brazilians and Portuguese;
to reconcile which, a former minister adopted the policy of letting
the Brazilians into a participation of public offices; but subsequent
administrations have reverted to the ancient policy of keeping the
administrations in the hands of native Portuguese. There is a mixture
of natives, of the old appointments, still remaining in office. If Spain
should invade them on their southern extremities, these are so distant
from the body of their settlements, that they could not penetrate
thence; and Spanish enterprise is not formidable. The _mines d’or_ are
among mountains, inaccessible to any army; and Rio Janeiro is considered
the strongest port in the world after Gibraltar. In case of a successful
revolution, a republican government in a single body would probably be
established.’
I took care to impress on him, through the whole of our conversation,
that I had neither instructions nor authority to say a word to any
body on this subject, and that I could only give him my own ideas, as
a single individual: which were, that we were not in a condition at
present to meddle nationally in any war; that we wished particularly to
cultivate the friendship of Portugal, with whom we have an advantageous
commerce. That yet, a successful revolution in Brazil could not be
uninteresting to us. That prospects of lucre might possibly draw numbers
of individuals to their aid, and purer motives our officers, among whom
are many excellent. That our citizens being free to leave their own
country individually, without the consent of their governments, are
equally free to go to any other.
A little before I received the first letter of the Brazilian, a
gentleman informed me there was a Mexican in Paris, who wished to have
some conversation with me. He accordingly called on me. The substance of
the information I drew from him, was as follows. He is himself a native
of Mexico, where his relations are, principally. He left it about
seventeen years of age, and seems now to be about thirty-three or
thirty-four. He classes and characterizes the inhabitants of that
country, as follows. 1. The natives of Old Spain, possessed of most of
the offices of government, and firmly attached to it. 2. The clergy,
equally attached to the government. 3. The natives of Mexico, generally
disposed to revolt, but without instruction, without energy, and much
under the dominion of their priests. 4. The slaves, mulatto and black;
the former enterprising and intelligent, the latter brave, and of very
important weight, into whatever scale they throw themselves; but he
thinks they will side with their masters. 5. The conquered Indians,
cowardly, not likely to take any side, nor important which they take. 6.
The free Indians, brave and formidable, should they interfere, but not
likely to do so, as being at a great distance. I asked him the numbers
of these several classes, but he could not give them. The first, he
thought very inconsiderable; that the second formed the body of the
freemen; the third equal to the two first; the fourth, to all the
preceding: and as to the fifth, he could form no idea of their
proportion. Indeed, it appeared to me, that his conjectures as to the
others were on loose grounds. He said he knew from good information,
there were three hundred thousand inhabitants in the city of Mexico. I
was still more cautious with him than with the Brazilian, mentioning
it as my private opinion (unauthorized to say a word on the subject,
otherwise), that a successful revolution was still at a distance with
them; that I feared they must begin by enlightening and emancipating
the minds of their people; that as to us, if Spain should give us
advantageous terms of commerce, and remove other difficulties, it was
not probable that we should relinquish certain and present advantages,
though smaller, for uncertain and future ones, however great. I was led
into this caution by observing, that this gentleman was intimate at the
Spanish ambassador’s, and that he was then at Paris, employed by Spain
to settle her boundaries with France, on the Pyrenees. He had much
the air of candor, but that can be borrowed; so that I was not able to
decide about him in my own mind.
Led by a unity of subject, and a desire to give Congress as general a
view of the disposition of our southern countrymen, as my information
enables me, I will add an article which, old and insulated, I did not
think important enough to mention at the time I received it. You will
remember, Sir, that during the late war, the British papers often
gave details of a rebellion in Peru. The character of those papers
discredited the information. But the truth was, that the insurrections
were so general, that the event was long on the poise. Had Commodore
Johnson, then expected on that coast, touched and landed there two
thousand men, the dominion of Spain in that country would have been at
an end. They only wanted a point of union, which this body would have
constituted. Not having this, they acted without concert, and were are
length subdued separately. This conflagration was quenched in blood;
two hundred thousand souls, on both sides, having perished; but the
remaining matter is very capable of combustion. I have this information
from a person who was on the spot at the time, and whose good faith,
understanding, and means of information leave no doubt of the facts. He
observed, however, that the numbers above supposed to have perished were
on such conjectures only as he could collect.
I trouble Congress with these details, because, however distant we may
be, both in condition and dispositions, from taking an active part in
any commotions in that country, nature has placed it too near us to
make its movements altogether indifferent to our interests, or to our
curiosity.
I hear of another _Arrêt_ of this court, increasing the duties on
foreign stock-fish, and the premium on their own imported into their
islands; but not having yet seen it, I can say nothing certain on it. I
hope the effect of this policy will be defeated by the practice which,
I am told, takes place on the Banks of Newfoundland, of putting our
fish into the French fishing-boats, and the parties sharing the premium,
instead of ours paying the duty.
I am in hopes Mr. Short will be able to send you the medals of General
Gates by this packet. I await a general instruction as to these medals.
The academies of Europe will be much pleased to receive each a set.
I propose to set out the day after to-morrow for Bordeaux (by the canal
of Languedoc), Mantes, L’Orient, and Paris.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and
respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LVII.--TO M. GUIDE, May 6, 1787
TO M. GUIDE.
Marseilles, May 6, 1787.
Sir,
A desire of seeing a commerce commenced between the dominions of his
Majesty, the King of Sardinia, and the United States of America, and a
direct exchange of their respective productions, without passing through
a third nation, led me into the conversation which I had the honor of
having with you on that subject, and afterwards with Monsieur Tallon at
Turin, to whom I promised that I would explain to you, in writing, the
substance of what passed between us. The articles of your produce wanted
with us are brandies, wines, oil, fruits, and manufactured silks:
those with which we can furnish you are indigo, potash, tobacco, flour,
salt-fish, furs and peltries, ships and materials for building them.
The supply of tobacco, particularly, being in the hands of government
solely, appeared to me to offer an article for beginning immediately the
experiment of direct commerce. That of the first quality can be had at
first hand only from James river in Virginia; those of the second and
third from the same place, and from Baltimore in Maryland. The first
quality is delivered in the ports of France at thirty-eight livres
the quintal, the second at thirty-six livres, the third at thirty-four
livres, weight and money of France, by individuals generally. I send you
the copy of a large contract, wherein the three qualities are averaged
at thirty-six livres. They may be delivered at Nice for those prices.
Indeed, it is my opinion, that by making shipments of your own produce
to those places, and buying the tobaccos on the spot, they may be had
more advantageously. In this case, it would be expedient that merchants
of Nice, Turin, and America, should form a joint concern for conducting
the business in the two countries. Monsieur Tallon desired me to point
out proper persons in America who might be addressed for this purpose.
The house of the most extensive reputation, concerned in the tobacco
trade, and on the firmest funds, is that of Messrs. Ross and Pleasants
at Richmond, in Virginia. If it should be concluded on your part to make
any attempt of this kind, and to address yourselves to these gentlemen,
or any others, it would be best to write them your ideas, and receive
theirs, before you make either purchases or shipments. A more hasty
conduct might occasion loss, and retard, instead of encouraging, the
establishment of this commerce. I would undertake to write, at the same
time, to these or any other merchants whom you should prefer, in order
to dispose them favorably, and as disinterestedly as possible, for the
encouragement of this essay. I must observe to you, that our vessels are
fearful of coming into the Mediterranean on account of the Algerines:
and that if you should freight vessels, those of the French will be most
advantageous for you, because received into our ports without paying
any duties on some of those articles, and lighter than others on all of
them. English vessels, on the other hand, are distinguished by paying
heavier duties than those of any other nation. Should you desire any
further information, or to pass letters with certainty to any mercantile
house in America, do me the favor to address yourselves to me at Paris,
and I shall do whatever depends on me for this object.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of high esteem and respect, Sir,
your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
MEMORANDA TAKEN ON A JOURNEY FROM PARIS IN 1787
_Memoranda taken on a Journey from Paris into the Southern Parts of
France, and Northern of Italy, in the year 1787_.
CHAMPAGNE. March 3. _Sens_ to _Vermanton_. The face of the country is in
large hills, not too steep for the plough, somewhat resembling the Elk
hill and Beaver-dam hills of Virginia. The soil is generally a rich
mulatto loam, with a mixture of coarse sand, and some loose stone. The
plains of the Yonne are of the same color. The plains are in corn, the
hills in vineyard, but the wine not good. There are a few apple-trees,
but none of any other kind, and no enclosures. No cattle, sheep, or
swine; fine mules.
Few _chateaux_; no farm-houses, all the people being gathered in
villages. Are they thus collected by that dogma of their religion, which
makes them believe, that to keep the Creator in good humor with his own
works, they must mumble a mass every day? Certain it is, that they are
less happy and less virtuous in villages, than they would be insulated
with their families on the grounds they cultivate. The people are illy
clothed. Perhaps they have put on their worst clothes at this moment, as
it is raining. But I observe women and children carrying heavy burthens,
and laboring with the hoe. This is an unequivocal indication of extreme
poverty. Men, in a civilized country, never expose their wives and
children to labor above their force and sex, as long as their own labor
can protect them from it. I see few beggars. Probably this is the effect
of a police.
BURGUNDY. March 4. _Lucy-le-Bois. Cussy-les-Forges. Rouvray.
Maison-neuve. Vitieaux. La Chaleure. Pont de Panis. Dijon_. The hills
are higher, and more abrupt. The soil a good red loam and sand, mixed
with more or less grit, small stone, and sometimes rock. All in corn.
Some forest wood here and there, broom, whins, and holly, and a few
enclosures of quick-hedge. Now and then a flock of sheep.
The people are well clothed, but it is Sunday. They have the appearance
of being well fed. The Chateau de Sevigny, near Cussy-les-Forges, is
a charming situation. Between Maison-neuve and Vitteaux the road leads
through an avenue of trees, eight American miles long, in a right line.
It is impossible to paint the ennui of this avenue. On the summits of
the hills, which border the valley in which Vitteaux is, there is a
parapet of rock, twenty, thirty, or forty feet perpendicular, which
crowns the hills. The tops are nearly level, and appear to be covered
with earth. Very singular. Great masses of rock in the hills between La
Chaleure and Pont de Panis, and a conical hill in the approach to the
last place.
_Dijon_. The tavern price of a bottle of the best wine (e. g. of Vaune)
is four livres. The best round potatoes here, I ever saw. They have
begun a canal thirty feet wide, which is to lead into the Saone at
---------. It is fed by springs. They are not allowed to take any water
out of the riviere d’Ouche, which runs through this place, on account of
the mills on that river. They talk of making a canal to the Seine, the
nearest navigable part of which, at present, is fifteen leagues from
hence. They have very light wagons here for the transportation of their
wine. They are long and narrow; the fore-wheels as high as the hind. Two
pieces of wine are drawn by one horse in one of these wagons. The road
in this part of the country is divided into portions of forty or fifty
feet by stones, numbered, which mark the task of the laborers.
March 7 and 8. From _La Baraque_ to _Chagny_. On the left are plains,
which extend to the Saone; on the right the ridge of mountains, called
the Cote. The plains are of a reddish-brown, rich loam, mixed with much
small stone. The Cote has for its basis a solid rock, on which is about
a foot of soil and small stone, in equal quantities, the soil red, and
of middling quality. The plains are in corn; the Cote in vines. The
former have no enclosures, the latter is in small ones, of dry stone
wall. There is a good deal of forest. Some small herds of small cattle
and sheep. Fine mules, which come from Provence, and cost twenty louis.
They break them at two years old, and they last to thirty.
The corn-lands here rent for about fifteen livres the arpent. They are
now planting, pruning, and sticking their vines. When a new vineyard
is made, they plant the vines in gutters about four feet apart. As the
vines advance, they lay them down. They put out new shoots, and fill
all the intermediate space, till all trace of order is lost. They have
ultimately about one foot square to each vine. They begin to yield good
profit at five or six years old, and last one hundred, or one hundred
and fifty years. A vigneron at Volnay carried me into his vineyard,
which was of about ten arpents. He told me, that some years it produced
him sixty pieces of wine, and some not more than three pieces. The
latter is the most advantageous produce, because the wine is better in
quality, and higher in price, in proportion as less is made; and the
expenses, at the same time, diminish in the same proportion. Whereas,
when much is made, the expenses are increased, while the quality and
price become less. In very plentiful years, they often give one half the
wine for casks to contain the other half. The cask for two hundred and
fifty bottles costs six livres in scarce years, and ten in plentiful.
The feuillette is of one hundred and twenty-five bottles, the piece of
two hundred and fifty, and the queue or botte of five hundred. An arpent
rents at from twenty to sixty livres. A farmer of ten arpents has about
three laborers engaged by the year. He pays four louis to a man, and
half as much to a woman, and feeds them. He kills one hog, and salts it,
which is all the meat used in the family during the year. Their ordinary
food is bread and vegetables. At Pomard and Volnay, I observed them
eating good wheat bread; at Meursault, rye. I asked the reason of the
difference. They told me, that the white wines fail in quality much
oftener than the red, and remain on hand. The farmer, therefore, cannot
afford to feed his laborers so well. At Meursault only white wines
are made, because there is too much stone for the red. On such slight
circumstances depends the condition of man! The wines which have given
such celebrity to Burgundy grow only on the Cote, an extent of about
five leagues long, and half a league wide. They begin at Chambertin,
and go through Vougeau, Romanie, Veaune, Nuits, Beaune, Pomard, Volnay,
Meursault, and end at Monrachet. Those of the two last are white; the
others red. Chambertin, Vougeau, and Beaune are the strongest, and will
bear transportation and keeping. They sell, therefore, on the spot for
twelve hundred livres the queue, which is forty-eight sous the bottle.
Volnay is the best of the other reds, equal in flavor to Chambertin,
&c., but being lighter, will not keep, and therefore sells for not more
than three hundred livres the queue, which is twelve sous the bottle.
It ripens sooner than they do, and consequently is better for those who
wish to broach at a year old. In like manner of the white wines, and
for the same reason, Monrachet sells for twelve hundred livres the queue
(forty-eight sous the bottle), and Meursault of the best quality, viz.
the _Goutte d’or_, at only one hundred and fifty livres (six sous the
bottle). It is remarkable, that the best of each kind, that is, of
the red and white, is made at the extremities of the line, to wit, at
Chambertin and Monrachet. It is pretended, that the adjoining vineyards
produce the same qualities, but that, belonging to obscure individuals,
they have not obtained a name, and therefore sell as other wines. The
aspect of the Cote is a little south of east. The western side is also
covered with vines, and is apparently of the same soil; yet the wines
are only of the coarsest kinds. Such, too, are those which are produced
in the plains; but there the soil is richer, and less strong. Vougeau
is the property of the monks of Citeaux, and produces about two hundred
pieces. Monrachet contains about fifty arpents, and produces, one year
with another, about one hundred and twenty pieces. It belongs to
two proprietors only, Monsieur de Clarmont, who leases to some
wine-merchants, and the Marquis de Sarsnet, of Dijon, whose part is
farmed to a Monsieur de la Tour, whose family, for many generations,
have had the farm. The best wines are carried to Paris by land. The
transportation costs thirty-six livres the piece. The more indifferent
go by water. Bottles cost four and a half sous each.
March 9. _Chalons. Sennecey. Tournus. St. Albin. Macon._ On the left are
the fine plains of the Saone; on the right high lands, rather waving
than hilly, sometimes sloping gently to the plains, sometimes dropping
down in precipices, and occasionally broken into beautiful vallies[sp.]
by the streams which run into the Saone. The plains are a dark rich
loam, in pasture and corn; the heights more or less red or reddish,
always gritty, of middling quality only, their sides in vines, and their
summits in corn. The vineyards are enclosed with dry stone-walls, and
there are some quick-hedges in the corn-grounds. The cattle are few and
indifferent. There are some good oxen, however. They draw by the head.
Few sheep, and small. A good deal of wood-lands.
I passed three times the canal called Le Charollois, which they are
opening from Chalons on the Saone to Dijon on the Loire. It passes near
Chagny, and will be twenty-three leagues long. They have worked on it
three years, and will finish it in four more. It will reanimate the
languishing commerce of Champagne and Burgundy, by furnishing a water
transportation for their wines to Nantes, which also will receive new
consequence by becoming the emporium of that commerce. At some distance
on the right are high mountains, which probably form the separation
between the waters of the Saone and Loire. Met a malefactor in the hands
of one of the Marichausee; perhaps a dove in the talons of the hawk. The
people begin now to be in separate establishments, and not in villages.
Houses are mostly covered with tile.