your next, at large, the conjectures of your philosopher on the descent
of the Creek Indians from the Carthaginians, supposed to have been
separated from Hanno’s fleet, during his periplus. I shall be very glad
to receive them, and see nothing impossible in his conjecture. I am glad
he means to appeal to similarity of language, which I consider as the
strongest kind of proof it is possible to adduce. I have somewhere read,
that the language of the ancient Carthaginians is still spoken by their
descendants, inhabiting the mountainous interior parts of Barbary, to
which they were obliged to retire by the conquering Arabs. If so, a
vocabulary of their tongue can still be got, and if your friend will get
one of the Creek languages, the comparison will decide. He probably may
have made progress in this business: but if he wishes any inquiries to
be made on this side the Atlantic, I offer him my services cheerfully;
my wish being, like his to ascertain the history of the American
aborigines.
I congratulate you on the accesion of your State to the new federal
constitution. This is the last I have yet heard of, but I expect daily
to hear that my own has followed the good example, and suppose it to be
already established. Our government wanted bracing. Still we must take
care not to run from one extreme to another; not to brace too high. I
own, I join those in opinion, who think a bill of rights necessary. I
apprehend too, that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation
in the offices of President and Senator, will end in abuse. But my
confidence is, that there will, for a long time, be virtue and good
sense enough in our countrymen, to correct abuses. We can surely boast
of having set the world a beautiful example of a government reformed by
reason alone, without bloodshed. But the world is too far oppressed to
profit by the example. On this side of the Atlantic, the blood of the
people has become an inheritance, and those who fatten on it, will
not relinquish it easily. The struggle in this country is, as yet,
of doubtful issue. It is, in fact, between the monarchy and the
parliaments. The nation is no otherwise concerned, but as both parties
may be induced to let go some of its abuses, to court the public favor.
The danger is, that the people, deceived by a false cry of liberty, may
be led to take side with one party, and thus give the other a pretext
for crushing them still more. If they can avoid the appeal to arms, the
nation will be sure to gain much by this controversy. But if that appeal
is made, it will depend entirely on the disposition of the army, whether
it issue in liberty or despotism. Those dispositions are not as yet
known. In the mean time, there is great probability that the war kindled
in the east, will spread from nation to nation, and, in the long run,
become general.
*****
I am, with the most sincere esteem and attachment, my dear; Sir, your
friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXLVII.--TO MR. BELLINI, July 25,1788
TO MR. BELLINI.
Paris, July 25,1788.
Dear Sir,
Though I have written to you seldom, you are often the object of
my thoughts, and always of my affection. The truth is, that the
circumstances with which I am surrounded, offer little worth detailing
to you. You are too wise to feel an interest in the squabbles, in
which the pride, the dissipations, and the tyranny of kings, keep this
hemisphere constantly embroiled. Science, indeed, finds some aliment
here, and you are one of her sons. But this I have pretty regularly
communicated to Mr. Madison, with whom, I am sure, you participate of
it. It is with sincere pleasure I congratulate you on the good fortune
of our friend Mazzei, who is appointed here, to correspond with the King
of Poland. The particular character given him is not well defined, but
the salary is, which is more important. It is eight thousand livres a
year, which will enable him to live comfortably, while his duties will
find him that occupation, without which he cannot exist. Whilst this
appointment places him at his ease, it affords a hope of permanence
also. It suspends, if not entirely prevents, the visit he had intended
to his native country, and the return to his adoptive one, which the
death of his wife had rendered possible. This last event has given him
three quarters of the globe elbow-room, which he had ceded to her, on
condition she would leave him quiet in the fourth. Their partition of
the next world will be more difficult, if it be divided only into two
parts, according to the protestant faith. Having seen by a letter you
wrote him, that you were in want of a pair of spectacles, I undertook
to procure you some, which I packed in a box of books addressed to Mr.
Wythe, and of which I beg your acceptance. This box lay forgotten at
Havre the whole of the last winter, but was at length shipped, and I
trust has come to hand. I packed with the spectacles three or four pair
of glasses, adapted to the different periods of life, distinguished from
each other by numbers, and easily changed. You see I am looking forward
in hope of a long life for you; and that it may be long enough to carry
you through the whole succession of glasses, is my sincere prayer.
Present me respectfully to Mrs. Bellini, assure her of my affectionate
remembrance of her, and my wishes for her health and happiness; and
accept yourself very sincere professions of the esteem and attachment
with which I am, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXLVIII.--TO JAMES MADISON, July 31, 1788
TO JAMES MADISON.
Paris, July 31, 1788.
Dear Sir,
My last letters to you were of the 3rd and the 25th of May. Yours from
Orange, of April the 22nd, came to hand on the 10th instant.
My letter to Mr. Jay containing all the public news that is well
authenticated, I will not repeat it here, but add some details in the
smaller way, which you may be glad to know. The disgrace of the Marquis
de la Fayette, which, at any other period of their history, would have
had the worst consequences for him, will, on the contrary, mark him
favorably to the nation, at present. During the present administration,
he can expect nothing; but perhaps it may serve him with their
successors, whenever a change shall take place. No change of the
Principal will probably take place, before the meeting of the States
General; though a change is to be wished, for his operations do not
answer the expectations formed of him. These had been calculated, on his
brilliancy in society. He is very feebly aided too. Montmorin is weak,
though a most worthy character. He is indolent and inattentive too,
in the extreme. Luzerne is considerably inferior in abilities to his
brother, whom you know. He is a good man too, but so much out of his
element, that he has the air of one _huskanoyed_. The _Garde des Sceaux_
is considered as the Principal’s bull-dog, braving danger like the
animal. His talents do not pass mediocrity. The Archbishop’s brother,
and the new minister Villedeuil, and Lambert, have no will of their
own. They cannot raise money for the peace establishment the next
year, without the States General; much less if there be war; and their
administration will probably end with the States General.
Littlepage, who was here as a secret agent for the King of Poland,
rather overreached himself. He wanted more money. The King furnished it,
more than once. Still he wanted more, and thought to obtain a high bid,
by saying he was called for in America, and asking leave to go there.
Contrary to his expectation, he received leave; but he went to Warsaw
instead of America, and from thence, to join the * * * * I do not know
[* Several paragraphs of this letter are in cipher, A few
words here could not be deciphered.]
these facts certainly, but collect them, by putting several things
together. The King then sent an ancient secretary here, in whom he had
much confidence, to look out for a correspondent, a mere letter-writer
for him. A happy hazard threw Mazzei in his way. He recommended him,
and he is appointed. He has no diplomatic character whatever, but is to
receive eight thousand livres a year, as an intelligencer. I hope
this employment may have some permanence. The danger is, that he will
over-act his part.
The Marquis de la Luzerne had been for many years married to his
brother’s wife’s sister, secretly. She was ugly and deformed, but
sensible, amiable, and rather rich. When he was ambassador to London,
with ten thousand guineas a year, the marriage was avowed, and he
relinquished his cross of Malta, from which he derived a handsome
revenue for life, and which was very open to advancement. Not long ago,
she died. His real affection for her, which was great and unfeigned, and
perhaps the loss of his order, for so short-lived a satisfaction, has
thrown him almost into a state of despondency. He is now here.
I send you a book of Dupont’s, on the subject of the commercial treaty
with England. Though its general matter may not be interesting, yet
you will pick up, in various parts of it, such excellent principles and
observations, as will richly repay the trouble of reading it. I send
you, also, two little pamphlets of the Marquis de Condorcet, wherein is
the most judicious statement I have seen, of the great questions
which agitate this nation at present. The new regulations present a
preponderance of good over their evil; but they suppose that the
King can model the constitution at will, or, in other words, that his
government is a pure despotism. The question then arising is, whether a
pure despotism in a single head, or one which is divided among a king,
nobles, priesthood, and numerous magistracy, is the least bad. I should
be puzzled to decide: but I hope they will have neither, and that they
are advancing to a limited, moderate government, in which the people
will have a good share.
I sincerely rejoice at the acceptance of our new constitution by
nine States. It is a good canvass, on which some strokes only want
retouching. What these are, I think are sufficiently manifested by the
general voice from north to south, which calls for a bill of rights.
It seems pretty generally understood, that this should go to juries,
_habeas corpus_, standing armies, printing, religion, and monopolies.
I conceive there may be difficulty in finding general modifications of
these, suited to the habits of all the States. But if such cannot be
found, then it is better to establish trials by jury, the right of
_habeas corpus_, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, in all
cases, and to abolish standing armies in time of peace, and monopolies
in all cases, than not to do it in any. The few cases wherein these
things may do evil, cannot be weighed against the multitude, wherein the
want of them will do evil. In disputes between a foreigner and a native,
a trial by jury may be improper. But if this exception cannot be agreed
to, the remedy will be to model the jury, by giving the _medietas
linguæ_, in civil as well as criminal cases. Why suspend the _habeas
corpus_ in insurrections and rebellions? The parties who may be
arrested, may be charged instantly with a well-defined crime: of course,
the judge will remand them. If the public safety requires, that the
government should have a man imprisoned on less probable testimony in
those than in other emergencies, let him be taken and tried, retaken and
retried, while the necessity continues, only giving him redress against
the government, for damages. Examine the history of England. See how
few of the cases of the suspension of the _habeas corpus_ law have been
worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treason, wherein
the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots,
where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the
few cases, wherein the suspension of the _habeas corpus_ has done real
good, that operation is now become habitual, and the minds of the nation
almost prepared to live under its constant suspension. A declaration,
that the federal government will never restrain the presses from
printing any thing they please, will not take away the liability of the
printers for false facts printed. The declaration, that religious faith
shall be unpunished, does not give impunity to criminal acts, dictated
by religious error. The saying--there shall be no monopolies, lessens
the incitements to ingenuity, which is spurred on by the hope of a
monopoly for a limited time, as of fourteen years; but the benefit of
even limited monopolies is too doubtful, to be opposed to that of their
general suppression. If no check can be found to keep the number of
standing troops within safe bounds, while they are tolerated as far as
necessary, abandon them altogether, discipline well the militia,
and guard the magazines with them. More than magazine guards will be
useless, if few, and dangerous, if many. No European nation can ever
send against us such a regular army as we need fear, and it is hard, if
our militia are not equal to those of Canada or Florida. My idea then,
is, that though proper exceptions to these general rules are desirable,
and probably practicable, yet if the exceptions cannot be agreed on,
the establishment of the rules, in all cases, will do ill in very few.
I hope, therefore, a bill of rights will be formed, to guard the people
against the federal government, as they are already guarded against
their State governments, in most instances. The abandoning the principle
of necessary rotation in the Senate, has, I see, been disapproved by
many: in the case of the President, by none. I readily, therefore,
suppose my opinion wrong, when opposed by the majority, as in the former
instance, and the totality, as in the latter. In this, however, I should
have done it with more complete satisfaction, had we all judged from the
same position.
Solicitations, which cannot be directly refused, oblige me to trouble
you often with letters, recommending and introducing to you persons who
go from hence to America. I will beg the favor of you to distinguish
the letters wherein I appeal to recommendations from other persons, from
those which I write on my own knowledge. In the former, it is never my
intention to compromit myself or you. In both instances, I must beg you
to ascribe the trouble I give you, to circumstances which do not leave
me at liberty to decline it.
I am, with very sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and
servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXLIX.--TO JOHN JAY, August 3, 1788
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, August 3, 1788.
Sir,
My last letters to you were of the 4th and 23d of May, with a Postscript
of the 27th. Since that, I have been honored with yours of April the
24th, May the 16th, and June the 9th.
The most remarkable internal occurrences since my last are these. The
_Noblesse_ of Bretagne, who had received with so much warmth the late
innovations in the government, assembled, and drew up a memorial to the
King, and chose twelve members of their body to come and present it.
Among these was the Marquis de la Rouerie (Colonel Armand). The King,
considering the _Noblesse_ as having no legal right to assemble,
declined receiving the memorial. The deputies, to give greater weight to
it, called a meeting of the landed proprietors of Bretagne, resident at
Paris, and proposed to them to add their signatures--They did so, to the
number of about sixty, of whom the Marquis de la Fayette was one. The
twelve deputies, for having called this meeting, were immediately
sent to the Bastile where they now are, and the Parisian signers were
deprived of such favors as they held of the court. There were only four
of them, however, who held any thing of that kind. The Marquis de la
Fayette was one of these. They had given him a military command, to
be exercised in the south of France, during the months of August and
September of the present year. This they took from him; so that he is
disgraced, in the ancient language of the court, but in truth, honorably
marked in the eyes of the nation. The ministers are so sensible of
this, that they have had, separately, private conferences with him, to
endeavor, through him, to keep things quiet. From the character of the
province of Bretagne, it was much apprehended, for some days, that the
imprisonment of their deputies would have produced an insurrection.
But it took another turn. The _Cours intermédiaire_ of the province,
acknowledged to be a legal body, deputed eighteen members of their body
to the King. To these he gave an audience, and the answer, of which I
send you a copy. This is hard enough. Yet I am in hopes the appeal to
the sword will be avoided, and great modifications in the government be
obtained without bloodshed. As yet none has been spilt, according to
the best evidence I have been able to obtain, notwithstanding what the
foreign newspapers have said to the contrary. The convocation of the
States General has now become inevitable. Whenever the time shall be
announced certainly, it will keep the nation quiet till they meet.
According to present probabilities, this must be in the course of the
next summer; but to what movements their meeting and measures may give
occasion, cannot be foreseen. Should a foreign war take place, still
they must assemble the States General, because they cannot, but by
their aid, obtain money to carry it on. Monsieur de Malesherbes will, I
believe, retire from the King’s Council. He has been much opposed to
the late acts of authority. The Baron de Breteuil has resigned his
secretaryship of the domestic department; certainly not for the same
reasons, as he is known to have been of opinion, that the King had
compromitted too much of his authority. The real reason has probably
been, an impatience of acting under a principal minister. His successor
is M. de Villedeuil, lately Comptroller General.
The ambassadors of Tippoo Saib have arrived here. If their mission has
any other object than that of pomp and ceremony, it is not yet made
known. Though this court has not avowed that they are in possession of
Trincomale, yet the report is believed, and that possession was taken by
General Conway, in consequence of orders given in the moment that they
thought a war certain. The dispute with the States General of the United
Netherlands, on account of the insult to M. de St. Priest, does not tend
as yet towards a settlement. He has obtained leave to go to the waters,
and perhaps from thence he may come to Paris, to await events. Sweden
has commenced hostilities against Russia, by the taking a little
fortress by land. This having been their intention, it is wonderful,
that when their fleet lately met three Russian ships of one hundred guns
each, they saluted instead of taking them. The Empress has declared war
against them in her turn. It is well understood, that Sweden is set
on by England, and paid by the Turks. The prospect of Russia has much
brightened by some late successes. Their fleet of galleys and gun-boats,
twenty-seven in number, having been attacked by fifty-seven Turkish
vessels of the same kind, commanded by the Captain Pacha, these were
repulsed, with the loss of three vessels. In the action, which was on
the 18th of June, Admiral Paul Jones commanded the right wing of the
Russians, and the Prince of Nassau the left. On the 26th of the same
month, the Turkish principal fleet, that is to say, their ships of the
line, frigates, &c, having got themselves near the swash, at the
mouth of the Borysthenes, the Prince of Nassau took advantage of their
position, attacked them while so engaged in the mud that they could not
manoeuvre, burnt six, among which were the admiral’s and vice-admiral’s,
took two, and made between three and four thousand prisoners. The first
reports gave this success to Admiral Paul Jones; but it is now rendered
rather probable that he was not there, as he commands the vessels of war
which are said not to have been there. It is supposed, that his presence
in the affair of the 18th was accidental. But if this success has been
so complete as it is represented, the Black Sea must be tolerably open
to the Russians: in which case, we may expect, from what we know of that
officer, that he will improve to the greatest advantage the situation of
things on that sea. The Captain Pacha’s standard was taken in the last
action, and himself obliged to make his escape in a small vessel. Prince
Potemkin immediately got under march for Oczakow, to take advantage of
the consternation into which that place was thrown.
The Spanish squadron, after cruising off the Western Isles and Cape St.
Vincent, has returned into port.
A dispute has arisen between the Papal See and the King of Naples, which
may, in its progress, enable us to estimate what degree of influence
that See retains at the present day. The kingdom of Naples, at an early
period of its history, became feudatory to the See of Rome, and in
acknowledgment thereof, has annually paid a hackney to the Pope in
Rome, to which place it has always been sent by a splendid embassy. The
hackney has been refused by the King this year, and the Pope, giving
him three months to return to obedience, threatens, if he does not, to
proceed seriously against him.
About three weeks ago a person called on me, and informed me, that Silas
Deane had taken him in for a sum of one hundred and twenty guineas, and
that being unable to obtain any other satisfaction, he had laid hands on
his account book and letter book, and had brought them off to Paris,
to offer them first to the United States, if they would repay him his
money, and if not, that he should return to London, and offer them
to the British minister. I desired him to leave them with me four and
twenty hours, that I might judge whether they were worth our notice. He
did so. They were two volumes. One contained all his accounts with the
United States, from his first coming to Europe to January the 10th,
1781. Presuming that the treasury board was in possession of this
account till his arrival in Philadelphia, August, 1778, and that he had
never given in the subsequent part, I had that subsequent part copied
from the book, and now enclose it, as it may on some occasion or other,
perhaps, be useful in the treasury office. The other volume contained
all his correspondences from March the 30th to August the 23d, 1777. I
had a list of the letters taken by their dates and addresses, which will
enable you to form a general idea of the collection. On perusal of many
of them, I thought it desirable that they should not come to the hands
of the British minister, and from an expression dropped by the possessor
of them, I believe he would have fallen to fifty or sixty guineas. I did
not think them important enough, however, to justify my purchasing
them without authority; though, with authority, I should have done it.
Indeed, I would have given that sum to cut out a single sentence, which
contained evidence of a fact, not proper to be committed to the hands
of enemies. I told him I would state his proposition to you, and await
orders. I gave him back the books, and he returned to London without
making any promise, that he would await the event of the orders you
might think proper to give.
News of the accession of nine States to the new form of federal
government has been received here about a week. I have the honor to
congratulate you sincerely on this event. Of its effect at home, you
are in the best situation to judge. On this side the Atlantic, it
is considered as a very wise reformation. In consequence of this,
speculations are already begun here, to purchase up our domestic
liquidated debt. Indeed, I suspect that orders may have been previously
lodged in America to do this, as soon as the new constitution was
accepted effectually. If it is thought that this debt should be retained
at home, there is not a moment to lose; and I know of no means of
retaining it, but those I suggested to the treasury board, in my letter
to them of March the 29th. The transfer of these debts to Europe will
excessively embarrass, and perhaps totally prevent the borrowing any
money in Europe, till these shall be paid off. This is a momentous
object, and, in my opinion, should receive instantaneous attention.