Bordeaux. The best crops are, 1. _Pontac_, which formerly belonged to M.
de Pontac, but now to M. de Lamont. He makes forty tons, which sell at
four hundred livres, new. 2. _St. Brise_, belonging to M. de Pontac;
thirty tons, at three hundred and fifty livres. 3. _De Carbonius_,
belonging to the Benedictine monks, who make fifty tons, and never
selling till three or four years old, get eight hundred livres the ton.
Those made in the three parishes next above Grave, and more esteemed
at Paris, are, 1. _Sauterne_. The best crop belongs to M. Diquem at
Bordeaux, or to M. de Salus, his son-in-law; one hundred and fifty tons,
at three hundred livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. The next best
crop is M. de Fillotte’s, one hundred tons, sold at the same price. 2.
_Prignac_. The best is the President du Roy’s, at Bordeaux. He makes one
hundred and seventy-five tons, which sell at three hundred livres, new,
and six hundred livres, old. Those of 1784, for their extraordinary
quality, sell at eight hundred livres. 3. _Barsac_. The best belongs
to the President Pichard, who makes one hundred and fifty tons, at two
hundred and eighteen livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. Sauterne
is the pleasantest; next Prignac, and lastly Barsac: but Barsac is the
strongest; next Prignac, and lastly Sauterne; and all stronger than
Grave. There are other good crops made in the same parishes of Sauterne,
Prignac, and Barsac; but none as good as these. There is a virgin wine,
which, though made of a red grape, is of a light rose color, because,
being made without pressure, the coloring matter of the skin does not
mix with the juice. There are other white wines, from the preceding
prices down to seventy-five livres. In general, the white wines keep
longest. They will be in perfection till fifteen or twenty years of age.
The best vintage now to be bought, is of 1784; both of red and white.
There has been no other good year since 1779. The celebrated vineyards
before mentioned, are plains, as is generally the canton of Medoc,
and that of the Grave. The soil of Hautbrion, particularly, which I
examined, is a sand, in which is near as much round gravel or small
stone, and very little loam: and this is the general soil of Medoc. That
of Pontac, which I examined also, is a little different. It is clayey,
with a fourth or fifth of fine rotten stone; and at two feet depth,
it becomes all a rotten stone. M. de Lamont tells me, he has a kind of
grape without seeds, which I did not formerly suppose to exist; but I
saw at Marseilles dried raisins from Smyrna without seeds. I see in his
farm at Pontac, some plants of white clover, and a good deal of yellow:
also some small peach trees in the open ground. The principal English
wine merchants at Bordeaux, are Jernon, Barton, Johnston, Foster,
Skinner, Copinger, and M’Cartey: the chief French wine merchants, are
Feger, Nerac, Bruneaux Jauge, and Du Verget. Desgrands, a wine-broker,
tells me they never mix the wines of first quality: but that they mix
the inferior ones to improve them. The smallest wines make the best
brandy. They yield about a fifth or sixth.
May 28, 29. From Bordeaux to Blaye, the country near the river is hilly,
chiefly in vines, some corn, some pasture: further out, are plains,
boggy and waste. The soil, in both cases, clay and grit. Some sheep
on the waste. To Etauliers, we have sometimes boggy plains, sometimes
waving grounds and sandy, always poor, generally waste, in fern and
furze, with some corn however, interspersed. To Mirambeau and St. Genis,
it is hilly, poor, and mostly waste. There are some corn and maize
however, and better trees than usual. Towards Pons, it becomes a little
red, mostly rotten stone. There are vines, corn, and maize, which is up.
At Pons we approach the Charente; the country becomes better, a blackish
mould mixed with a rotten chalky stone: a great many vines, corn, maize,
and farouche. From Lajart to Saintes and Rochefort, the soil is reddish,
its foundation a chalky rock, at about a foot depth; in vines, corn,
maize, clover, lucerne, and pasture. There are more and better trees
than I have seen in all my journey; a great many apple and cherry trees:
fine cattle and many sheep.
May 30. From Rochefort to La Rochelle, it is sometimes hilly and red,
with a chalky foundation, middling good; in corn, pasture, and some
waste: sometimes it is reclaimed marsh, in clover and corn, except the
parts accessible to the tide, which are in wild grass. About Rochelle,
it is a low plain. Towards Usseau, and halfway to Marans, level
highlands, red, mixed with an equal quantity of broken chalk; mostly
in vines, some corn, and pasture: then to Marans and halfway to St.
Hermine, it is reclaimed marsh, dark, tolerably good, and all in
pasture: there we rise to plains a little higher, red, with a chalky
foundation, boundless to the eye, and altogether in corn and maize.
May 31. At St. Hermine, the country becomes very hilly, a red clay
mixed with chalky stone, generally waste, in furze and broom, with some
patches of corn and maize; and so it continues to Chantonay, and St.
Fulgent. Through the whole of this road from Bordeaux, are frequent
hedge rows, and small patches of forest wood, not good, yet better than
I had seen in the preceding part of my journey. Towards Montaigu, the
soil mends a little; the cultivated parts in corn and pasture, the
uncultivated in broom. It is in very small enclosures of ditch and
quickset. On approaching the Loire to Nantes, the country is leveller:
the soil from Rochelle to this place may be said to have been sometimes
red, but oftener gray, and always on a chalky foundation. The last
census, of about 1770, made one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants
at Nantes. They conjecture there are now one hundred and fifty thousand,
which equals it to Bordeaux.
June 1,2. The country from Nantes to L’Orient is very hilly and poor,
the soil gray; nearly half is waste, in furze and broom, among which is
some poor grass. The cultivated parts are in corn, some maize, a good
many apple trees; no vines. All is in small enclosures of quick hedge
and ditch. There are patches and hedge-rows of forest-wood, not quite
deserving the name of timber. The people are mostly in villages; they
eat rye-bread, and are ragged. The villages announce a general poverty,
as does every other appearance. Women smite on the anvil, and work with
the hoe, and cows are yoked to labor. There are great numbers of cattle,
insomuch that butter is their staple. Neither asses nor mules: yet it
is said that the fine mules I have met with on my journey, are raised
in Poictou. There are but few _chateaux_ here. I observe mill-ponds, and
hoes with long handles. Have they not, in common with us, derived
these from England, of which Bretagne is probably a colony? L’Orient is
supposed to contain twenty-five thousand inhabitants. They tell me here,
that to make a reasonable profit on potash and pearlash, as bought in
America, the former should sell at thirty livres, the latter thirty-six
livres, the quintal. Of turpentine they make no use in their vessels.
Bayonne furnishes pitch enough; but tar is in demand, and ours sells
well. The tower of L’Orient is sixty-five _pieds_ above the level of
the sea, one hundred and twenty _pieds_ high, twenty-five _pieds_ in
diameter; the stairs four feet radius, and cost thirty thousand livres,
besides the materials of the old tower.
June 3, 4, 5. The country and productions from L’Orient to Rennes, and
from Rennes to Nantes, are precisely similar to those from Nantes to
L’Orient. About Rennes, it is somewhat leveller, perhaps less poor, and
almost entirely in pasture. The soil always gray. Some small, separate
houses, which seem to be the residence of laborers, or very small
farmers; the walls frequently of mud, and the roofs generally covered
with slate. Great plantations of walnut, and frequently of pine. Some
apple trees and sweet-briar still in bloom, and broom generally so. I
have heard no nightingale since the last day of May. There are gates
in this country made in such a manner, that the top rail of the gate
overshoots backwards the hind post, so as to counterpoise the gate, and
prevent its swagging.
_Nantes_. Vessels of eight feet draught only can come to Nantes. Those
which are larger, lie at Painboeuf, ten leagues below Nantes, and five
leagues above the mouth of the river. There is a continued navigation
from Nantes to Paris, through the Loire, the canal de Briare and the
Seine. Carolina rice is preferred to that of Lombardy for the Guinea
trade, because it requires less water to boil it.
June 6, 7, 8. _Nantes. Ancenis. Angers. Tours_. Ascending the Loire
from Nantes, the road, as far as Angers, leads over the hills, which are
gray, oftener below than above mediocrity, and in corn, pasture, vines,
some maize, flax, and hemp. There are no waste lands. About the limits
of Bretagne and Anjou, which are between Loriottiere and St. George, the
lands change for the better. Here and there, we get views of the plains
on the Loire, of some extent, and good appearance, in corn and
pasture. After passing Angers, the road is raised out of the reach of
inundations, so as at the same time to ward them off from the interior
plains. It passes generally along the river side; but sometimes leads
through the plains, which, after we pass Angers, become extensive and
good, in corn, pasture, some maize, hemp, flax, pease, and beans; many
willows, also poplars and walnuts. The flax is near ripe. Sweet-briar
in general bloom. Some broom here still, on which the cattle and sheep
browse in winter and spring, when they have no other green food; and
the hogs eat the blossoms and pods, in spring and summer. This blossom,
though disagreeable when smelt in a small quantity, is of delicious
fragrance when there is a whole field of it. There are some considerable
vineyards in the river plains, just before we reach Les Trois Volets
(which is at the one hundred and thirty-sixth milestone), and after
that, where the hills on the left come into view, they are mostly in
vines. Their soil is clayey and stony, a little reddish, and of southern
aspect. The hills on the other side of the river, looking to the north,
are not in vines. There is very good wine made on these hills; not equal
indeed to the Bordeaux of best quality, but to that of good quality, and
like it. It is a great article of exportation from Anjou and Touraine,
and probably is sold abroad, under the name of Bordeaux. They are now
mowing the first crop of hay. All along both hills of the Loire, is a
mass of white stone, not durable, growing black with time, and so
soft, that the people cut their houses out of the solid, with all the
partitions, chimnies, doors, &c. The hill sides resemble cony burrows,
full of inhabitants. The borders of the Loire are almost a continued
village. There are many chateaux: many cattle, sheep, and horses; some
asses.
Tours is at the one hundred and nineteenth mile-stone. Being desirous
of inquiring here into a fact stated by Voltaire, in his _Questions
Encylopédiques_, article _Coquilles_, relative to the growth of shells
unconnected with animal bodies at the _Chateau_ of Monsieur de la
Sauvagiere, near Tours, I called on Monsieur Gentil, _premier sécrétaire
de l’ntendance_, to whom the Intendant had written on my behalf, at the
request of the Marquis de Chastellux.
I stated to him the fact as advanced by Voltaire, and found he was, of
all men, the best to whom I could have addressed myself. He told me he
had been in correspondence with Voltaire on that very subject, and was
perfectly acquainted with Monsieur de la Sauvagiere, and the Faluniere
where the fact is said to have taken place. It is at the Chateau de
Grillemont, six leagues from Tours, on the road to Bordeaux, belonging
now to Monsieur d’Orcai. He says, that De la Sauvagiere was a man of
truth, and might be relied on for whatever facts he stated as of his
own observation; but that he was overcharged with imagination, which, in
matters of opinion and theory, often led him beyond his facts; that this
feature in his character had appeared principally in what he wrote on
the antiquities of Touraine; but that as to the fact in question,
he believed him. That he himself, indeed, had not watched the same
identical shells, as Sauvagiere had done, growing from small to great;
but that he had often seen such masses of those shells of all sizes,
from a point to a full size, as to carry conviction to his mind that
they were in the act of growing; that he had once made a collection
of shells for the Emperor’s cabinet, reserving duplicates of them
for himself; and that these afforded proofs of the same fact; that he
afterwards gave those duplicates to a Monsieur du Verget, a physician
of Tours, of great science and candor, who was collecting on a
larger scale, and who was perfectly in sentiment with Monsieur de la
Sauvagiere, and not only the Faluniere, but many other places about
Tours, would convince any unbiassed observer, that shells are a fruit
of the earth, spontaneously produced; and he gave me a copy of De la
Sauvagiere’s _Recueil de Dissertations_, presented him by the author,
wherein is one _Sur la vegetation spontanée des coquilles du Chateau
des Places_. So far, I repeat from him. What are we to conclude? That we
have not materials enough yet, to form any conclusion. The fact stated
by Sauvagiere is not against any law of nature, and is therefore
possible; but it is so little analogous to her habitual processes,
that, if true, it would be extraordinary: that to command our belief,
therefore, there should be such a suite of observations, as that their
untruth would be more extraordinary than the existence of the fact they
affirm. The bark of trees, the skin of fruits and animals, the
feathers of birds, receive their growth and nutriment from the internal
circulation of a juice through the vessels of the individual they cover.
We conclude from analogy, then, that the shells of the testaceous tribe
receive also their growth from a like internal circulation. If it be
urged, that this does not exclude the possibility of a like shell being
produced by the passage of a fluid through the pores of the circumjacent
body, whether of earth, stone, or water; I answer, that it is not within
the usual economy of nature, to use two processes for one species of
production. While I withhold my assent, however, from this hypothesis,
I must deny it to every other I have ever seen, by which their authors
pretend to account for the origin of shells in high places. Some of
these are against the laws of nature, and therefore impossible; and
others are built on positions more difficult to assent to, than that
of De la Sauvagiere. They all suppose these shells to have covered
submarine animals, and have then to answer the question, How came they
fifteen thousand feet above the level of the sea? And they answer it, by
demanding what cannot be conceded. One, therefore, who had rather have
no opinion than a false one, will suppose this question one of those
beyond the investigation of human sagacity; or wait till further and
fuller observations enable him to decide it.
_Chanteloup_. I heard a nightingale to-day at Chanteloup. The gardener
says it is the male, who alone sings, while the female sits; and
that when the young are hatched, he also ceases. In the boudoir at
Chanteloup, is an ingenious contrivance to hide the projecting steps of
a staircase. Three steps were of necessity to project into the boudoir:
they are therefore made triangular steps; and instead of being rested on
the floor, as usual, they are made fast at their broad end to the stair
door, swinging out and in, with that. When it shuts, it runs them under
the other steps; when open it brings them out to their proper place. In
the kitchen garden, are three pumps, worked by one horse. The pumps
are placed in an equilateral triangle, each side of which is of about
thirty-five feet. In the centre is a post, ten or twelve feet high,
and one foot in diameter. In the top of this, enters the bent end of a
lever, of about twelve or fifteen feet long, with a swingle-tree at the
other end. About three feet from the bent end, it receives, on a pin,
three horizontal bars of iron, which at their other end lay hold of one
corner of a quadrantal crank (like a bell crank) moving in a vertical
plane, to the other corner of which is hooked the vertical handle of
the pump. The crank turns on its point as a centre, by a pin or pivot
passing through it. The horse moving the lever horizontally in a circle,
every point of the lever describes a horizontal circle. That which
receives the three bars, describes a circle of six feet in diameter.
It gives a stroke then of six feet to the handle of each pump, at each
revolution.
_Blois. Orleans_. June 9, 10. At Blois, the road leaves the river, and
traverses the hills, which are mostly reddish, sometimes gray, good
enough, in vines, corn, saintfoin. From Orleans to the river Juines, at
Etampes, it is a continued plain of corn, and saintfoin, tolerably good,
sometimes gray, sometimes red. From Etampes to Etrechy, the country is
mountainous and rocky, resembling that of Fontainebleau. _Quere_. If it
may not be the same vein?
LETTER LVIII.--TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, June 14, 1787
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
Paris, June 14, 1787.
Dear Sir,
Having got back to Paris three days ago, I resume immediately the
correspondence with which you have been pleased to honor me. I wish I
could have begun it with more agreeable information than that furnished
me by Mr. Grand, that the funds of the United States here are exhausted,
and himself considerably in advance; and by the board of treasury at New
York, that they have no immediate prospect of furnishing us supplies. We
are thus left to shift for ourselves, without previous warning. As soon
as they shall replenish Mr. Grand’s hands, I will give you notice, that
you may recommence your usual drafts on him; unless the board should
provide a separate fund for you, dependant on yourself alone, which I
have strongly and repeatedly pressed on them, in order to remove the
indecency of suffering your drafts to pass through any intermediate hand
for payment.
My letters from America came down to the 24th of April. The disturbances
in the Eastern States were entirely settled. I do not learn that
the government had made any examples. Mr. Hancock’s health being
re-established, the want of which had occasioned him to resign the
government of Massachusetts, he has been re-elected to the exclusion of
Governor Bowdoin. New York still refuses to pass the impost in any form,
and were she to pass it, Pennsylvania will not uncouple it from the
supplementary funds. These two States and Virginia, are the only ones,
my letters say, which have paid any thing into the Continental treasury,
for a twelvemonth past. I send you a copy of a circular letter from
Congress to the several States, insisting on their removing all
obstructions to the recovery of British debts. This was hurried, that it
might be delivered to the Assembly of New York before they rose. It was
delivered, but they did nothing in consequence of it. The convention to
be assembled at Philadelphia will be an able one. Ten States were known
to have appointed delegates. Maryland was about to appoint; Connecticut
was doubtful; and Rhode Island had refused. We are sure, however, of
eleven States. South Carolina has prohibited the importation of slaves
for three years; which is a step towards a perpetual prohibition.
Between six and seven hundred thousand acres of land are actually
surveyed into townships, and the sales are to begin immediately.
They are not to be sold for less than a dollar the acre, in public
certificates. I wrote you from Bordeaux on the subject of Colonel Smith.
I was sorry I missed him there, for other reasons as well as from a
curiosity to know his errand. The Notables have laid the foundation
of much good here: you have seen it detailed in the public papers. The
Prince of Wales is likely to recover from his illness, which was very
threatening. It is feared, that three powers have combined to lift the
Prince of Orange out of his difficulties. Have you yet the cipher of
which I formerly wrote to you, or any copy of it?
I am, with sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LIX.--TO J. BANNISTER, JUNIOR, June 19, 1787
TO J. BANNISTER, JUNIOR.
Paris, June 19, 1787.
Dear Sir,
I have received your favor of April the 23d, from New York, and am sorry
to find you have had a relapse. Time and temperance, however, will cure
you; to which add exercise. I hope you have long ago had a happy meeting
with your friends, with whom a few hours would be to me an ineffable
feast. The face of Europe appears a little turbid, but all will subside.
The Empress has endeavored to bully the Turk, who laughed at her,
and she is going back. The Emperor’s reformations have occasioned the
appearance of insurrection in Flanders, and he, according to character,
will probably tread back his steps. A change of system here with respect
to the Dutch, is suspected; because the Kings of Prussia and England
openly espouse the cause of the Stadtholder, and that of the Patriots is
likely to fall. The American acquaintances whom you left here, not being
stationary, you will hardly expect news of them. Mrs. Barrett, lately
dead, was, I think, known to you. I had a letter from Ledyard lately,
dated at St. Petersburg. He had but two shirts, and yet more shirts than
shillings. Still he was determined to obtain the palm of being the first
circumambulator of the earth. He says, that having no money, they kick
him from place to place, and thus he expects to be kicked round the
globe. Are you become a great walker? You know I preach up that kind
of exercise. Shall I send you a _conte-pas_? It will cost you a dozen
louis, but be a great stimulus to walking, as it will record your steps.
I finished my tour a week or ten days ago. I went as far as
Turin, Milan, Genoa; and never passed three months and a half more
delightfully. I returned through the canal of Languedoc, by Bordeaux,
Nantes, L’Orient, and Rennes; then returned to Nantes, and came up the
Loire to Orleans. I was alone through the whole, and think one travels
more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.
Present me in the most friendly terms to Mrs. Bannister and to your
father, and be assured of the sincere esteem of, Dear Sir, your friend
and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER LX.--TO JAMES MADISON, June 20, 1787*
TO JAMES MADISON.
Paris, June 20, 1787.
[* Much of this letter is in cipher: but the notes annexed
to it, have enabled the Editor to decipher and publish it.]
Dear Sir,
I wrote you last on the 30th of January, with a Postscript of February
the 5th. Having set out the last day of that month to try the waters
of Aix, and been journeying since, till the 10th instant, I have been
unable to continue my correspondence with you. In the mean time, I have
received your several favors of February the 15th, March the 18th and
19th, and April the 23d. The last arrived here about the 25th of May,
while those of March the 18th and 19th, though written, five weeks
earlier, arrived three weeks later. I mention this, to show you how
uncertain is the conveyance through England.
The idea of separating the executive business of the confederacy from
Congress, as the judiciary is already, in some degree, is just and
necessary. I had frequently pressed on the members individually, while
in Congress, the doing this by a resolution of Congress for appointing
an executive committee, to act during the sessions of Congress, as
the committee of the States was to act during their vacations. But the
referring to this committee all executive business, as it should present
itself, would require a more persevering self-denial than I suppose
Congress to possess. It will be much better to make that separation by
a federal act. The negative proposed to be given them on all the acts
of the several legislatures, is now, for the first time, suggested to
my mind. _Prima facie_, I do not like it. It fails in an essential
character; that the hole and the patch should be commensurate. But this
proposes to mend a small hole, by covering the whole garment. Not more
than one out of one hundred State acts, concern the confederacy. This
proposition, then, in order to give them one degree of power, which
they ought to have, gives them ninety-nine more, which they ought not
to have, upon a presumption that they will not exercise the ninety-nine.
But upon every act there will be a preliminary question, Does this act
concern the confederacy? And was there ever a proposition so plain, as
to pass Congress without a debate? Their decisions are almost always
wise; they are like pure metal. But you know of how much dross this is
the result. Would not an appeal from the State judicature to a federal
court, in all cases where the act of Confederation controlled the
question, be as effectual a remedy, and exactly commensurate to the
defect. A British creditor, for example, sues for his debt in Virginia;
the defendant pleads an act of the State, excluding him from their
courts; the plaintiff urges the confederation, and the treaty made under
that, as controlling the State law; the judges are weak enough to decide
according to the views of their legislature. An appeal to a federal
court gets all to rights. It will be said, that this court may encroach
on the jurisdiction of the State courts. It may. But there will be a
power, to wit, Congress, to watch and restrain them. But place the same
authority in Congress itself, and there will be no power above them
to perform the same office. They will restrain within due bounds a
jurisdiction exercised by others, much more rigorously than if exercised
by themselves.