ministers, by persons only of the most perfect trust. It is in the
European system to bribe the clerks high, in order to obtain copies
of interesting papers. I am sure you are equally attentive to the
conveyance of your letters to us, as you know that all are opened that
pass through any post-office of Europe. Your letters which come by the
packet, if put into the mail at New York, or into the post-office at
Havre, wear proofs that they have been opened. The passenger to whom
they are confided, should be cautioned always to keep them in his own
hands, till he can deliver them personally in Paris.
I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem and respect, Dear Sir,
your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXII.--TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN, November 6, 1787
TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.
Sir,
Paris, November 6, 1787.
I take the liberty of asking your Excellency’s perusal of the enclosed
case of an American hostage, confined in the prisons of Dunkirk. His
continuance there seems to be useless, and yet endless. Not knowing how
far the government can interfere for his relief, as it is a case wherein
private property is concerned, I do not presume to ask his liberation
absolutely: but I will solicit from your Excellency such measures in his
behalf, as the laws and usages of the country may permit.
The Comptroller General having been so good as to explain to me in a
conversation, that he wished to know what duties were levied in England
on American whale-oil, I have had the honor of informing him by letter,
that the ancient duties on that article are seventeen pounds, six
shillings, and six pence, sterling, the ton, and that some late
additional duties make them amount to about eighteen pounds sterling.
That the common whale-oil sells there but for about twenty pounds
sterling, the ton, and of course the duty amounts to a prohibition. This
duty was originally laid on all foreign fish-oil, with a view to favor
the British and American fisheries. When we became independent, and of
course foreign to Great Britain, we became subject to the foreign
duty. No duty, therefore, which France may think proper to lay on this
article, can drive it to the English market. It could only oblige the
inhabitants of Nantucket to abandon their fishery. But the poverty
of their soil offering them no other resource, they must quit their
country, and either establish themselves in Nova Scotia, where, as
British fishermen, they may participate of the British premium, in
addition to the ordinary price of their whale-oil, or they must accept
the conditions which this government offers, for the establishment they
have proposed at Dunkirk. Your Excellency will judge, what conditions
may counterbalance, in their minds, the circumstances of the vicinity
of Nova Scotia, sameness of langague,[sp.] laws, religion, customs,
and kindred. Remaining in their native country, to which they are most
singularly attached, excluded from commerce with England, taught to look
to France as the only country from which they can derive sustenance,
they will, in case of war, become useful rovers against its enemies.
Their position, their poverty, their courage, their address, and their
hatred, will render them formidable scourges on the British commerce.
It is to be considered then, on the one hand, that the duty which M. de
Calonne had proposed to retain on their oil, may endanger the shifting
this useful body of seamen out of our joint scale into that of the
British; and also may suppress a considerable subject of exchange for
the productions of France: on the other hand, that it may produce an
addition to his Majesty’s revenue. What I have thus far said, is on
the supposition, that the duty may operate a diminution of the price
received by the fishermen. If it act in the contrary direction, and
produce an augmentation of price to the consumer, it immediately brings
into competition a variety of other oils, vegetable and animal, a good
part of which France receives from abroad, and the fisherman, thus
losing his market, is compelled equally to change either his calling or
country. When M. de Calonne first agreed to reduce the duties to what he
has declared, I had great hopes the commodity could bear them, and
that it would become a medium of commerce between France and the United
States. I must confess, however, that my expectations have not been
fulfilled, and that but little has come here as yet. This induces me
to fear, that it is so poor an article, that any duty whatever will
suppress it. Should this take place, and the spirit of emigration once
seize those people, perhaps an abolition of all duty might then come too
late to stop, what it would now easily prevent. I fear there is danger
in the experiment; and it remains for the wisdom of his Majesty and his
ministers to decide, whether the prospect of gain to the revenue, or
establishing a national fishery, may compensate this danger. If the
government should decide to retain the duty, I shall acquiesce in it
cheerfully, and do every thing in my power to encourage my countrymen
still to continue their occupation.
The actual session of our several legislatures would render it
interesting to forward immediately the regulations proposed on our
commerce; and the expiration of the order of Bernis, at the close of
this month, endangers a suspension and derangement in the commerce of
tobacco, very embarrassing to the merchants of the two countries.
Pardon me therefore, Sir, if I appear solicitous to obtain the ultimate
decision of his Majesty’s Council on these subjects, and to ask as early
a communication of that decision, as shall be convenient.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most profound esteem and
respect, your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXIII.--TO JOHN ADAMS, November 13, 1787
TO JOHN ADAMS.
Paris, November 13, 1787.
Dear Sir,
This will be delivered you by young Mr. Rutledge. Your knowledge of his
father will introduce him to your notice. He merits it, moreover, on his
own account.
I am now to acknowledge your favors of October the 8th and 26th. That of
August the 25th was duly received, nor can I recollect by what accident
I was prevented from acknowledging it in mine of September the 28th. It
has been the source of my subsistence hitherto, and must continue to
be so, till I receive letters on the affairs of money from America. Van
Staphorsts and Willinks have answered my drafts. Your books for Marquis
de la Fayette are received here. I will notify it to him, who is at
present with his Provincial Assembly in Auvergne.
Little is said lately of the progress of the negotiations between
the courts of Petersburg, Vienna, and Versailles. The distance of the
former, and the cautious, unassuming character of its minister here,
is one cause of delays: a greater one is, the greediness and instable
character of the Emperor. Nor do I think that the Principal here,
will be easily induced to lend himself to any connection, which shall
threaten a war within a considerable number of years. His own reign
will be that of peace only, in all probability; and were any accident
to tumble him down, this country would immediately gird on its sword and
buckler, and trust to occurrences for supplies of money. The wound their
honor has sustained, festers in their hearts; and it may be said with
truth, that the Archbishop and a few priests, determined to support his
measures, because proud to see their order come again into power, are
the only advocates for the line of conduct which has been pursued. It is
said, and believed through Paris literally, that the Count de
Montmorin ‘_pleuroit comme un enfant_,’ when obliged to sign the
counter-declaration. Considering the phrase as figurative, I believe it
expresses the distress of his heart. Indeed, he has made no secret of
his individual opinion. In the mean time, the Principal goes on with
a firm and patriotic spirit in reforming the cruel abuses of the
government, and preparing a new constitution, which will give to this
people as much liberty as they are capable of managing. This, I think,
will be the glory of his administration, because, though a good theorist
in finance, he is thought to execute badly. They are about to open a
loan of one hundred millions to supply present wants, and it is said,
the preface of the _Arrêt_ will contain a promise of the convocation of
the States General during the ensuing year. Twelve or fifteen Provincial
Assemblies are already in action, and are going on well: and I think,
that, though the nation suffers in reputation, it will gain infinitely
in happiness under the present administration. I enclose to Mr. Jay a
pamphlet, which I will beg of you to forward. I leave it open for your
perusal. When you shall have read it, be so good as to stick a wafer in
it. It is not yet published, nor will be for some days. This copy has
been ceded to me as a favor.
How do you like our new constitution? I confess there are things in it,
which stagger all my dispositions to subscribe to what such an Assembly
has proposed. The House of federal representatives will not be adequate
to the management of affairs, either foreign or federal. Their President
seems a bad edition of a Polish King. He may be elected from four years
to four years, for life. Reason and experience prove to us, that a
chief magistrate, so continuable, is an office for life. When one or
two generations shall have proved, that this is an office for life, it
becomes, on every succession, worthy of intrigue, of bribery, of force,
and even of foreign interference. It will be of great consequence to
France and England, to have America governed by a Galloman or Angloman.
Once in office, and possessing the military force of the Union, without
the aid or check of a council, he would not be easily dethroned, even
if the people could be induced to withdraw their votes from him. I wish
that at the end of the four years, they had made him for ever ineligible
a second time. Indeed, I think all the good of this new constitution
might have been couched in three or four new articles to be added to the
good, old, and venerable fabric, which should have been preserved even
as a religious relique. Present me and my daughters affectionately to
Mrs. Adams. The younger one continues to speak of her warmly. Accept
yourself assurances of the sincere esteem and respect, with which I have
the honor to be, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXIV.--TO COLONEL SMITH, November 13, 1787
TO COLONEL SMITH.
Paris, November 13, 1787.
Sir,
I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of October the
4th, 8th, and 26th. In the last, you apologize for your letters of
introduction to Americans coming here. It is so far from needing apology
on your part, that it calls for thanks on mine. I endeavor to show
civilities to all the Americans who come here, and who will give me
opportunities of doing it: and it is a matter of comfort to know, from
a good quarter, what they are, and how far I may go in my attentions to
them.
Can you send me Woodmason’s bills for the two copying presses, for the
Marquis de la Fayette and the Marquis de Chastellux? The latter makes
one article in a considerable account, of old standing, and which I
cannot present for want of this article. I do not know whether it is
to yourself or Mr. Adams I am to give my thanks for the copy of the new
constitution. I beg leave, through you, to place them where due. It will
yet be three weeks before I shall receive them from America. There
are very good articles in it; and very bad. I do not know which
preponderate. What we have lately read in the history of Holland, in
the chapter on the Stadtholder, would have sufficed to set me against
a chief magistrate eligible for a long duration, if I had ever been
disposed towards one: and what we have always read of the elections of
Polish Kings, should have for ever excluded the idea of one continuable
for life. Wonderful is the effect of impudent and persevering lying.
The British ministry have so long hired their gazetteers to repeat, and
model into every form, lies about our being in anarchy, that the world
has at length believed them, the English nation has believed them,
the ministers themselves have come to believe them, and what is more
wonderful, we have believed them ourselves. Yet where does this anarchy
exist? Where did it ever exist, except in the single instance of
Massachusetts? And can history produce an instance of rebellion so
honorably conducted? I say nothing of its motives. They were founded in
ignorance, not wickedness. God forbid, we should ever be twenty years
without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well
informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to
the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under
such misconceptions, it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the
public liberty. We have had thirteen States independent for eleven
years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a
century and a half for each State. What country before ever existed a
century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve
its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this
people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy
is to set them right as to facts, pardon, and pacify them. What signify
a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It
is its natural manure. Our convention has been too much impressed by the
insurrection of Massachusetts: and on the spur of the moment, they are
setting up a kite to keep the hen-yard in order. I hope in God, this
article will be rectified before the new constitution is accepted. You
ask me, if any thing transpires here on the subject of South America?
Not a word. I know that there are combustible materials there, and
that they wait the torch only. But this country probably will join
the extinguishers. The want of facts worth communicating to you,
has occasioned me to give a little loose to dissertation. We must be
contented to amuse, when we cannot inform.
Present my respects to Mrs. Smith, and be assured of the sincere esteem
of, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXV.--TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, December 11, 1787
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
Paris, December 11, 1787.
Dear Sir,
I am later in acknowledging the receipt of your favors of October the
15th, and November the 5th and 15th, because we have been long expecting
a packet, which I hoped would bring communications worth detailing to
you; and she arrived only a few days ago, after a very long passage
indeed. I am very sorry you have not been able to make out the cipher
of my letter of September the 25th, because it contained things which
I wished you to know at that time. They have lost now a part of their
merit; * but still I wish you could decipher them, as there remains
a part, which it might yet be agreeable to you to understand. I have
examined the cipher, from which it was written. It as precisely a copy
of those given to Messrs. Barclay and Lambe. In order that you may
examine whether yours corresponds, I will now translate into cipher, the
three first lines of my letter of June the 14th.
*****
This will serve to show, whether your cipher corresponds with mine, as
well as my manner of using it. But I shall not use it in future, till I
know from you the result of your re-examination of it. I have the honor
now, to return you the letter you had been so good as to enclose to me.
About the same time of Liston’s conversation with you, similar ones were
held with me by Mr. Eden. He particularly questioned me on the effect
of our treaty with France, in the case of a war, and what might be our
dispositions. I told him without hesitation, that our treaty obliged
us to receive the armed vessels of France, with their prizes, into our
ports, and to refuse the admission of prizes made on her by her enemies;
that there was a clause by which we guarantied to France her American
possessions, and which might, perhaps, force us into the war, if these
were attacked. ‘Then it will be war,’ said he, ‘for they will assuredly
be attacked.’ I added, that our dispositions would be to be neutral, and
that I thought it the interest of both those powers that we should be
so, because it would relieve both from all anxiety as to the feeding
their West India islands, and England would, moreover, avoid a heavy
land war on our continent, which would cripple all her proceedings
elsewhere. He expected these sentiments from me personally, and he knew
them to be analogous to those of our country. We had often before had
occasions of knowing each other: his peculiar bitterness towards us
had sufficiently appeared, and I had never concealed from him, that I
considered the British as our natural enemies, and as the only nation
on earth, who wished us ill from the bottom of their souls. And I am
satisfied, that were our continent to be swallowed up by the ocean,
Great Britain would be in a bonfire from one end to the other. Mr.
Adams, as you know, has asked his recall. This has been granted, and
Colonel Smith is to return too; Congress having determined to put an end
to their commission at that court. I suspect and hope they will make no
new appointment.
Our new constitution is powerfully attacked in the American newspapers.
The objections are, that its effect would be to form the thirteen States
into one; that, proposing to melt all down into one general government,
they have fenced the people by no declaration of rights; they have not
renounced the power of keeping a standing army; they have not secured
the liberty of the press; they have reserved the power of abolishing
trials by jury in civil cases; they have proposed that the laws of the
federal legislatures shall be paramount the laws and constitutions of
the States; they have abandoned rotation in office; and particularly
their President may be re-elected from four years to four years, for
life, so as to render him a King for life, like a King of Poland; and
they have not given him either the check or aid of a council. To these,
they add calculations of expense, &c. &.c. to frighten the people. You
will perceive that those objections are serious and some of them not
without foundation. The constitution, however, has been received with
a very general enthusiasm, and as far as can be judged from external
demonstrations, the bulk of the people are eager to adopt it. In the
eastern States, the printers will print nothing against it, unless the
writer subscribes his name. Massachusetts and Connecticut have called
conventions in January, to consider of it. In New York, there is a
division. The Governor (Clinton) is known to be hostile to it. Jersey,
it is thought, will certainly accept it. Pennsylvania is divided; and
all the bitterness of her factions has been kindled anew on it. But the
party in favor of it is strongest, both in and out of the legislature.
This is the party anciently of Morris, Wilson, &c., Delaware will do
what Pennsylvania shall do. Maryland is thought favorable to it; yet it
is supposed Chase and Paca will oppose it. As to Virginia, two of her
Delegates, in the first place, refused to sign it. These were Randolph,
the Governor, and George Mason. Besides these, Henry, Harrison, Nelson,
and the Lees are against it. General Washington will be for it, but it
is not in his character to exert himself much in the case. Madison
will be its main pillar; but though an immensely powerful one, it is
questionable whether he can bear the weight of such a host. So that the
presumption is, that Virginia will reject it. We know nothing of the
dispositions of the States south of this. Should it fall through, as is
possible, notwithstanding the enthusiasm with which it was received in
the first moment, it is probable that Congress will propose, that, the
objections which the people shall make to it being once known, another
convention shall be assembled, to adopt the improvements generally
acceptable, and omit those found disagreeable. In this way, union may
be produced under a happy constitution, and one which shall not be too
energetic, as are the constitutions of Europe. I give you these details,
because, possibly, you may not have received them all. The sale of our
western lands is immensely successful. Five millions of acres have been
sold at private sale, for a dollar an acre, in certificates; and at the
public sales, some of them had sold as high as two dollars and forty
cents the acre. The sales had not been begun two months. By these
means, taxes, &c. our domestic debt, originally twenty-eight millions
of dollars, was reduced, by the 1st day of last October, to twelve
millions, and they were then in treaty-for two millions of acres more,
at a dollar, private sale. Our domestic debt will thus be soon paid off,
and that done, the sales will go on for money, at a cheaper rate, no
doubt, for the payment of our foreign debt. The _petite guerre_, always
waged by the Indians, seems not to abate the ardor of purchase or
emigration. Kentucky is now counted at sixty thousand. Frankland is also
growing fast.
I have been told, that the cutting through the Isthmus of Panama, which
the world has so often wished, and supposed practicable, has at times
been thought of by the government of Spain, and that they once proceeded
so far, as to have a survey and examination made of the ground; but
that the result was, either impracticability or too great difficulty.
Probably the Count de Campomanes, or Don Ulloa, can give you information
on this head. I should be exceedingly pleased to get as minute details
as possible on it, and even copies of the survey, report, &c. if they
could be obtained at a moderate expense. I take the liberty of asking
your assistance in this.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXVI.--TO JOHN ADAMS
TO JOHN ADAMS.
Paris, December 12, 1787.
Dear Sir,
In the month of July, I received from Fiseaux & Co. of Amsterdam, a
letter notifying me that the principal of their loan to the United
States would become due the first day of January. I answered them that
I had neither powers nor information on the subject, but would transmit
their letter to the board of treasury. I did so, by the packet which
sailed from Havre, August the 10th. The earliest answer possible would
have been by the packet which arrived at Havre three or four days ago.
But by her I do not receive the scrip of a pen from any body. This makes
me suppose, that my letters are committed to Paul Jones, who was to sail
a week after the departure of the packet; and that possibly, he may be
the bearer of orders from the treasury, to repay Fiseaux’ loan, with the
money you borrowed. But it is also possible, he may bring no order on
the subject. The slowness with which measures are adopted on our side
the water, does not permit us to count on punctual answers; but, on the
contrary, renders it necessary for us to suppose, in the present case,
that no orders will arrive in time, and to consider whether any thing,
and what, should be done. As it may be found expedient to transfer all
our foreign debts to Holland, by borrowing there, and as it may always
be prudent to preserve a good credit in that country, because we may
be forced into wars, whether we will or not, I should suppose it very
imprudent to suffer our credit to be annihilated, for so small a sum
as fifty-one thousand guelders. The injury will be greater too, in
proportion to the smallness of the sum; for they will ask, ‘How can a
people be trusted for large sums, who break their faith for such small
ones?’ You know best what effect it will have on the minds of the
money-lenders of that country, should we fail in this payment. You know
best also, whether it is practicable and prudent for us, to have this
debt paid without orders. I refer the matter, therefore, wholly to
your consideration, willing to participate with you in any risk and any
responsibility, which may arise. I think it one of those cases, where
it is a duty to risk one’s self. You will perceive, by the enclosed, the
necessity of an immediate answer, and that, if you think any thing
can and should be done, all the necessary authorities from you should
accompany your letter. In the mean time, should I receive any orders
from the treasury by Paul Jones, I will pursue them, and consider
whatever you shall have proposed or done, as _non avenue_.