with America are to be continued as last year. A paper from the Privy
Council respecting the American fly is before parliament. I had some
conversation with Sir Joseph Banks upon this subject, as he was the
person whom the Privy Council referred to. I told him that the Hessian
fly attacked only the green plant, and did not exist in the dry grain.
He said, that with respect to the Hessian fly they had no apprehension,
but it was the weevil they alluded to. I told him the weevil had always,
more or less, been in the wheat countries of America, and that if the
prohibition was on that account, it was as necessary fifty or sixty
years ago as now; that I believed it was only a political manœuvre of
the ministry to please the landed interest, as a balance for prohibiting
the exportation of wool, to please the manufacturing interest. He did
not reply, and as we are on very sociable terms, I went farther, by
saying, the English ought not to complain of the non-payment of debts
from America, while they prohibit the means of payment. I suggest to you
a thought on this subject.
The debts due before the war ought to be distinguished from the debts
contracted since, and all and every mode of payment and remittance under
which they might have been discharged at the time they were contracted,
ought to accompany those debts so long as any of them shall continue
unpaid, because the circumstances of payment became united with the
debt, and cannot be separated by subsequent acts of one side only. If
this was taken up in America, and insisted on as a right coeval
with, and inseparable from those debts, it would force some of the
restrictions here to give way. While writing this, I am informed that
the minister has had a conference with some of the American creditors,
and proposed to them to assume the debts, and give them ten shillings
in the pound. The conjecture is, that he means, when the new Congress
is established, to demand the payment. If you are writing to General
Washington, it may not be amiss to mention this, and if I hear further
on this matter, I will inform you. But as, being a money matter, it
cannot come forward but through parliament; there will be notice given
of the business. This would be a proper time to show that the British
acts since the peace militate against the payment, by narrowing
the means by which those debts might have been paid when they were
contracted, and which ought to be considered as constituent parts of the
contract.’
LETTER CC.--TO JAMES MADISON, May 11,1789
TO JAMES MADISON.
Paris, May 11,1789.
Dear Sir,
My last to you was of the 15th of March. I am now in hourly expectation
of receiving my leave of absence. The delay of it a little longer will
endanger the throwing my return into the winter, the very idea of which
is horror itself to me. I am in hopes this is the last letter I shall
have the pleasure of writing you before my departure.
The madness of the King of England has gone off, but left him in a state
of imbecility and melancholy. They talk of carrying him to Hanover. If
they do, it will be a proof he does not mend, and that they take that
measure, to authorize them to establish a regency. But if he grows
better, they will perhaps keep him at home, to avoid the question, Who
shall be regent? As that country cannot be relied on in the present
state of its executive, the King of Prussia has become more moderate; he
throws cold water on the fermentation he had excited in Poland. The King
of Sweden will act as nobody, not even himself, can foresee; because he
acts from the caprice of the moment, and because the discontents of
his army and nobles may throw him under internal difficulties, while
struggling with external ones. Denmark will probably only furnish
its stipulated aid to Russia. France is fully occupied with internal
arrangements. So that, on the whole, the prospect of this summer is,
that the war will continue between the powers actually engaged in the
close of the last campaign, and extend to no others; certainly it will
not extend, this year, to the southern States of Europe. The revolution
of France has gone on with the most unexampled success, hitherto. There
have been some mobs, occasioned by the want of bread, in different parts
of the kingdom, in which there may have been some lives lost; perhaps a
dozen or twenty. These had no professed connection, generally, with the
constitutional revolution. A more serious riot happened lately in Paris,
in which about one hundred of the mob were killed. This execution has
been universally approved, as they seemed to have no view but mischief
and plunder. But the meeting of the States General presents serious
difficulties, which it had been hoped the progress of reason would have
enabled them to get over. The nobility of and about Paris have come
over, as was expected, to the side of the people, in the great question
of voting by persons or orders. This had induced a presumption, that
those of the country were making the same progress, and these form the
great mass of the deputies of that order. But they are found to be where
they were centuries ago, as to their disposition to keep distinct from
the people, and even to tyrannize over them. They agree, indeed, to
abandon their pecuniary privileges. The clergy seem at present much
divided. Five-sixths of that representation consists of the lower
clergy, who, being the sons of the peasantry, are very well with the
_Tiers-Etat_. But the Bishops are intriguing, and drawing them over
daily. The _Tiers-Etat_ is so firm to vote by persons or to go home,
that it is impossible to conjecture what will be the result. This is the
state of parties, as well as we can conjecture from the conversation of
the members; for as yet no vote has been given, which will enable us to
calculate on certain ground.
Having formerly written to you on the subject of our finances, I enclose
you now an abstract of a paper on that subject, which Gouverneur Morris
communicated to me. You will be a better judge of its merit than I am.
It seems to me worthy good attention.
I have a box of books packed for you, which I shall carry to Havre,
and send by any ship bound to New York or Philadelphia. I have been so
inexact, as to take no list of them before nailing up the box. Be so
good as to do this, and I will take with me my bookseller’s account,
which will enable us to make a statement of them. They are chiefly
_Encyclopédies_, from the 23rd to the 30th _livraison_. Paul Jones has
desired me to send to yourself and Colonel Carrington each, his bust.
They are packed together in the same box. There are three other boxes,
with two in each, for other gentlemen. I shall send them all together,
and take the liberty of addressing them to you. I rejoice extremely to
hear you are elected, in spite of all cabals. I fear your post will not
permit me to see you but in New York, and consequently for a short time
only. I shall much regret this.
I am, with sentiments of sincere attachment and respect, Dear Sir, your
friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CCI.--TO MONSIEUR DE PONTIERE, May 17, 1789
TO MONSIEUR DE PONTIERE.
Paris, May 17, 1789.
Sir,
I am honored with your letter of the 6th instant, and am sincerely sorry
that you should experience inconveniences for the want of the arrearages
due to you from the United States. I have never ceased to take every
measure, which could promise to procure to the foreign officers the
payment of these arrears. At present the matter stands thus. Congress
have agreed to borrow a sum of money in Holland, to enable them to pay
the individual demands in Europe. They have given orders that these
arrearages shall be paid out of this money, when borrowed, and certain
bankers in Amsterdam are charged to borrow the money. I am myself of
opinion, they will certainly procure the money in the course of the
present year; but it is not for me to affirm this, nor to make any
engagement. The moment the money is ready, it shall be made known
to Colonel Gourion, who, at the desire of many of the officers, has
undertaken to communicate with me on the subject, and to inform them,
from time to time, of the progress of this business. He will readily
answer your letters on this subject. I depart in a few days for America,
but shall leave such instructions here, as that this matter will suffer
no delay on that account.
I have the honor to be. Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CCII.--TO MR. VAUGHAN, May 17, 1789
TO MR. VAUGHAN.
Paris, May 17, 1789.
Dear Sir,
I am to acknowledge, all together, the receipt of your favors of March
the 17th, 26th, and May the 7th, and to return you abundant thanks for
your attention to the article of dry rice, and the parcel of seeds you
sent me. This is interesting, because, even should it not take place
of the wet rice, in South Carolina, it will enable us to cultivate this
grain in Virginia, where we have not lands disposed for the wet rice.
The collection of the works of Monsieur de Poivre has not, as I believe,
been ever published. It could hardly have escaped my knowledge, if they
had been ever announced. The French translation of the book on trade has
not yet come to my hands. Whenever I receive the copies, they shall be
distributed, and principally among the members of the _Etats Generaux_.
I doubt whether, at this session, they will take up the subject of
commerce. Whenever they do, they will find better principles no where
than in that book. I spoke with Mr. Stewart yesterday on the subject of
the distribution, and if I should be gone before the books come to
hand, he will execute the commission. Your nation is very far from the
liberality that treatise inculcates. The proposed regulation on the
subject of our wheat is one proof. The prohibition of it in England
would, of itself, be of no great moment, because I do not know that
it is much sent there. But it is the publishing a libel on our wheat,
sanctioned with the name of parliament, and which can have no object but
to do us injury, by spreading a groundless alarm in those countries of
Europe where our wheat is constantly and kindly received. It is a mere
assassination. If the insect they pretend to fear, be the Hessian fly,
it never existed in the grain. If it be the weevil, our grain always
had that; and the experience of a century has proved, that either the
climate of England is not warm enough to hatch the egg and continue the
race, or that some other unknown cause prevents any evil from it. How
different from this spirit, my dear Sir, has been your readiness to help
us to the dry rice, to communicate to us the bread tree, &tc. Will any
of our climates admit the cultivation of the latter? I am too little
acquainted with it to judge. I learn that your newspapers speak of the
death of Ledyard, at Grand Cairo. I am anxious to know whether there be
foundation for this. I have not yet had time to try the execution of
the wood hygrometer proposed by Dr. Franklin. Though I have most of the
articles ready made, I doubt now whether I shall be able to do it before
my departure for America, the permission for which I expect every hour;
and I shall go off the instant I receive it. While there, I shall have
the pleasure of seeing your father and friends. I expect to return in
the fall.
In the mean time, I have the honor to be, with very great esteem and
respect, Dear Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CCIII.--TO THOMAS PAINE, May 19,1789
TO THOMAS PAINE.
Paris, May 19,1789.
Dear Sir,
Your favors of February the 16th to April the 13th, and of May the 3rd
and 10th, are received; and the two last are sent to Mr. Leroy, who will
communicate them to the Academy.
You know that the States General have met, and probably have seen
the speeches at the opening of them. The three orders sit in distinct
chambers. The great question, whether they shall vote by orders or
persons can never be surmounted amicably. It has not yet been proposed
in form; but the votes which have been taken on the outworks of that
question show, that the _Tiers-Etat_ are unanimous, a good majority
of the Clergy (consisting of the _Curés_) disposed to side with the
_Tiers-Etat_, and in the chamber of the _Noblesse_ there are only
fifty-four in that sentiment, against one hundred and ninety, who are
for voting by orders. Committees to find means of conciliation are
appointed by each chamber; but conciliation is impossible. Some think
the Nobles could be induced to unite themselves with the higher Clergy
into one House, the lower Clergy and _Tiers-Etat_ forming another. But
the _Tiers-Etat_ are immovable. They are not only firm, but a little
disdainful. The question is, what will ensue? One idea is to separate,
in order to consult again their constituents, and to take new
instructions. This would be doing nothing, for the same instructions
would be repeated; and what, in the mean time, is to become of a
government absolutely without money, and which cannot be kept in motion
with less than a million of livres a day? The more probable expectation
is as follows. As soon as it shall become evident, that no amicable
determination of the manner of voting can take place, the _Tiers-Etat_
will send an invitation to the two other orders, to come and take their
places in the common chamber. A majority of the Clergy will go, and the
minority of the Noblesse. The chamber thus composed, will declare that
the States General are constituted, will notify it to the King, and
that they are ready to proceed to business. If the King refuses to do
business with them, and adheres to the Nobles, the common chamber will
declare all taxes at an end, will form a declaration of rights, and
do such other acts as the circumstances will permit, and go home. The
tax-gatherers will then be resisted, and it may well be doubted whether
the soldiery and their officers will not divide, as the _Tiers-Etat_ and
Nobles. But it is more likely that the King will agree to do business
with the States General, so constituted, professing that the necessities
of the moment force this, and that he means to negotiate (as they go
along) a reconciliation between the seceding members, and those which
remain. If the matter takes this turn, there may be small troubles and
ebullitions excited by the seceding _Noblesse_ and higher Clergy; but no
serious difficulty can arise. M. de Lamoignon, the _Garde des Sceaux_ of
the last year, has shot himself. The Emperor’s complaint is pulmonary,
and incurable. The Grand Seignior is dead; his successor, young and
warlike. I congratulate you sincerely on the success of your bridge.
I was sure of it before from theory: yet one likes to be assured from
practice also. I am anxious to see how Mr. Rumsey’s experiment succeeds.
May the 21st. I have this moment received a letter from Ledyard, dated
Cairo, November the 15th. He therein says, ‘I am doing up my baggage,
and most curious baggage it is, and I leave Cairo in two or three days.
I travel from hence southwest, about three hundred leagues, to a
black King: there my present conductors leave me to my fate. Beyond, I
suppose, I go alone. I expect to hit the continent across, between
the parallels of twelve and twenty degrees north latitude. I shall,
if possible, write you from the kingdom of this black gentleman.’ This
seems to contradict the story of his having died at Cairo, in January,
as he was then, probably, in the interior parts of Africa. If Sir Joseph
Banks has no news from him later than the letter of September, it may
do him pleasure, if you will communicate the above. If he or any other
person knows whether there is any foundation for the story of his
death, I will thank you to inform me of it. My letter being to go off
to-morrow, I shall only add assurances of the esteem and respect, with
which I am, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CCIV.--TO MONSIEUR DE ST. ETIENNE, June 3, 1789
TO MONSIEUR DE ST. ETIENNE.
Paris, June 3, 1789.
Sir,
After you quitted us yesterday evening, we continued our conversation
(Monsieur de la Fayette, Mr. Short, and myself) on the subject of the
difficulties which environ you. The desirable object being to secure
the good which the King has offered, and to avoid the ill which seems to
threaten, an idea was suggested, which appearing to make an impression
on Monsieur de la Fayette, I was encouraged to pursue it on my return
to Paris, to put it into form, and now to send it to you and him. It is
this; that the King, in a _seance royale_, should come forward with
a Charter of Rights in his hand, to be signed by himself and by every
member of the three orders. This charter to contain the five great
points which the _Resultat_ of December offered on the part of the King;
the abolition of pecuniary privileges offered by the privileged orders,
and the adoption of the national debt, and a grant of the sum of money
asked from the nation. This last will be a cheap price for the preceding
articles; and let the same act declare your immediate separation till
the next anniversary meeting. You will carry back to your constituents
more good than ever was effected before without violence, and you will
stop exactly at the point where violence would otherwise begin. Time
will be gained, the public mind will continue to ripen and to be
informed, a basis of support may be prepared with the people themselves,
and expedients occur for gaining still something further at your next
meeting, and for stopping again at the point of force. I have ventured
to send yourself and Monsieur de la Fayette a sketch of my ideas of
what this act might contain, without endangering any dispute. But it is
offered merely as a canvass for you to work on, if it be fit to work on
at all. I know too little of the subject, and you know too much of it,
to justify me in offering any thing but a hint. I have done it, too, in
a hurry: insomuch, that since committing it to writing, it occurs to
me that the fifth article may give alarm; that it is in a good degree
included in the fourth, and is, therefore, useless. But after all,
what excuse can I make, Sir, for this presumption. I have none but an
unmeasurable love for your nation, and a painful anxiety lest despotism,
after an unaccepted offer to bind its own hands, should seize you again
with tenfold fury. Permit me to add to these, very sincere assurances of
the sentiments of esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
[The annexed is the Charter accompanying the preceding letter.]
A Charter of Rights, solemnly established by the King and Nation.
1. The States General shall assemble, uncalled, on the first day of
November, annually, and shall remain together so long as they shall
see cause. They shall regulate their own elections and proceedings, and
until they shall ordain otherwise, their elections shall be in the forms
observed in the present year, and shall be triennial.
2. The States General alone shall levy money on the nation, and shall
appropriate it.
3. Laws shall be made by the States General only, with the consent of
the King.
4. No person shall be restrained of his liberty, but by regular process
from a court of justice, authorized by a general law. (Except that a
Noble may be imprisoned by order of a court of justice, on the prayer
of twelve of his nearest relations.) On complaint of an unlawful
imprisonment, to any judge whatever, he shall have the prisoner
immediately brought before him, and shall discharge him, if his
imprisonment be unlawful. The officer, in whose custody the prisoner is,
shall obey the orders of the judge; and both judge and officer shall be
responsible, civilly and criminally, for a failure of duty herein.
5. The military shall be subordinate to the civil authority.
7. Printers shall be liable to legal prosecution for printing and
publishing false facts, injurious to the party prosecuting; but they
shall be under no other restraint.
7. All pecuniary privileges and exemptions, enjoyed by any description
of persons, are abolished.
8. All debts already contracted by the King, are hereby made the debts
of the nation; and the faith thereof is pledged for their payment in due
time.
9. Eighty millions of livres are now granted to the King, to be raised
by loan, and reimbursed by the nation: and the taxes heretofore paid,
shall continue to be paid to the end of the present year, and no longer.
10. The States General shall now separate, and meet again on the 1st day
of November next.
Done, on behalf of the whole nation, by the King and their
representatives in the States General, at Versailles, this ------ day of
June, 1789.
Signed by the King, and by every member individually, and in his
presence.
LETTER CCV.--TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, June 12, 1789
TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.
Paris, June 12, 1789.
My Dear Sir,
As I may not be able to get at you at Versailles, I write this to
deliver it myself at your door. With respect to the utility or inutility
of your minority’s joining the Commons, I am unable to form an opinion
for myself. I know too little of the subject to see what may be its
consequences.
I never knew an instance of the English parliament’s undertaking to
relieve the poor by a distribution of bread in time of scarcity. In
fact, the English commerce is so extensive and so active, that though
bread may be a little more or less plenty, there can never be an
absolute failure. The island is so narrow, that corn can be readily
carried from the sea-ports to its interior parts. But were an absolute
want to happen, and were the parliament to undertake a distribution of
corn, I think, that according to the principles of their government,
they would only vote a sum of money, and address the King to employ
it for the best. The business is, in its nature, executive, and would
require too great a variety of detail to be managed by an act of
parliament. However, I repeat it, that I never heard or read of an
instance of the parliament’s interfering to give bread. If I see you at
Versailles to-day, I can be more particular.
I am with great sincerity, my dear Sir, your affectionate friend and
servant,
Th: Jefferson,
LETTER CCVI.--TO JOHN JAY, June 17, 1789
TO JOHN JAY.
Sir
Paris, June 17, 1789.
I had the honor of addressing you on the 9th and 12th of May, by the
way of London. This goes through the same channel to the care of Mr.
Trumbull. Having received no letter from you of later date than the 25th
of November, I am apprehensive that there may have been miscarriages,
and the more so, as I learn, through another channel, that you have
particularly answered mine of November the 19th.
The death of the Grand Seignior, which has happened, renders the
continuance of the war more probable, as it has brought to the throne
a successor of a more active and ardent temper, and who means to put
himself at the head of his armies. He has declared the Captain Pacha
his Generalissimo. The prospects for Russia, on the other hand, are
less encouraging. Her principal ally, the Emperor, is at death’s door,
blazing up a little indeed, from time to time like an expiring taper,
but certainly to extinguish soon. Denmark, too, is likely to be
restrained by the threats of England and Prussia, from contributing even
her stipulated naval succors. It is some time since I have been able
to obtain any account of the King of England, on which I can rely with
confidence. His melancholy continues, and to such a degree, as to render
him absolutely indifferent to every thing that passes, so that he seems
willing to let his ministers do every thing they please, provided they
will let him alone. When forced to speak, his comprehension seems better
than it was in the first moments after his phrensy went off. His health
is bad: he does not go into public at all, and very few are admitted
to see him. This is his present state, according to the best accounts I
have been able to get lately. His ministers dictate boldly in the north,
because they know it is impossible they should be engaged in the war,
while this country is so completely palsied.