our East India trade, in answer to yours of the 29th of August, and
approving your proposition of giving the notice to our trade beyond the
Straits of Sunda, by a consul specially sent to Batavia, and to that on
this side by our consul at the Isle of France. Since writing that letter,
I have received yours of the 31st, covering Mr. Crownenshield's. This
letter shows a great and intimate knowledge of the subject, and points
out so many various circumstances which may require a variation in the
course to be pursued, that it confirms me in the opinion that it must be
confided to the discretion of a well-chosen agent, governing himself by
circumstances as they may occur. I think it possible, however, from Mr.
Crownenshield's letter, that we may not have done the best in our power
for notifying Madras, and the other ports in the bay of Bengal. I refer
it to yourself, therefore, to decide on the advice you can so readily
get at Baltimore, whether we should not despatch a third person, with
instructions to procure himself a passage in any private vessel which
may be going from this country to any port in the bay of Bengal, or to
any other port from which he can probably get a passage to some port in
the bay of Bengal, and from whence he can notify the other ports in the
same bay, either by personally visiting them or by writing. Such a person
should carry with him your commission as an agent of the navy, to obtain
credence by secretly exhibiting that to those he should notify. I return
you Mr. Crownenshield's and Mr. Gallatin's letters. I shall be absent
from this place from the 9th to the 16th inst. Mr. Madison will be with
me to-morrow, on a visit of some days. I salute you with affection and
respect.
TO GEORGE HAY.
MONTICELLO, September 4, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 1st came to hand yesterday. The event has been
* * * * * that is to say, not only to clear Burr, but to prevent the
evidence from ever going before the world. But this latter case must not
take place. It is now, therefore, more than ever indispensable, that not
a single witness be paid or permitted to depart until his testimony has
been committed to writing, either as delivered in court, or as taken by
yourself in the presence of any of Burr's counsel, who may choose to
attend to cross-examine. These whole proceedings will be laid before
Congress, that they may decide, whether the defect has been in the
evidence of guilt, or in the law, or in the application of the law, and
that they may provide the proper remedy for the past and the future.
I must pray you also to have an authentic copy of the record made out
(without saying for what) and to send it to me; if the Judge's opinions
make out a part of it, then I must ask a copy of them, either under his
hand, if he delivers one signed, or duly proved by affidavit.
The criminal is preserved to become the rallying point of all the
disaffected and the worthless of the United States, and to be the pivot
on which all the intrigues and the conspiracies which foreign governments
may wish to disturb us with, are to turn. If he is convicted of the
misdemeanor, the Judge must in decency give us respite by some short
confinement of him; but we must expect it to be very short. Be assured
yourself, and communicate the same assurance to your colleagues, that
your and their zeal and abilities have been displayed in this affair to my
entire satisfaction and your own honor.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
MONTICELLO, September 6, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I enclose you the letters of Mr. Granger and Mr. J. Nicholas,
by the latter of which you will see that an Indian rupture in the
neighborhood of Detroit becomes more probable, if it has not already taken
place. I see in it no cause for changing the opinion given in mine of
August 28, but on the contrary, strong reason for hastening the measures
therein recommended. We must make ever memorable examples of the tribe or
tribes which shall have taken up the hatchet.
I salute you with affection and respect.
TO THOMAS PAINE.
MONTICELLO, September 6, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I received last night your favor of August 29, and with
it a model of a contrivance for making one gun-boat do nearly double
execution. It has all the ingenuity and simplicity which generally mark
your inventions. I am not nautical enough to judge whether two guns may
be too heavy for the bow of a gun-boat, or whether any other objection
will countervail the advantage it offers, and which I see visibly enough.
I send it this day to the Secretary of the Navy, within whose department
it lies to try and to judge it. Believing, myself, that gun-boats are the
only _water_ defence which can be useful to us, and protect us from the
ruinous folly of a navy, I am pleased with everything which promises to
improve them.
The battle of Friedland, armistice with Russia, conquest of Prussia, will
be working on the British stomach when they will receive information of
the outrage they have committed on us. Yet, having entered on the policy
proposed by their champion "war in disguise," of making the property of
all nations lawful plunder to support a navy which their own resources
cannot support, I doubt if they will readily relinquish it. That war
with us had been predetermined may be fairly inferred from the diction
of Berkley's order, the Jesuitism of which proves it ministerial from
its being so timed as to find us in the midst of Burr's rebellion as they
expected, from the contemporaneousness of the Indian excitements, and of
the wide and sudden spread of their maritime spoliations. I salute you
with great esteem and respect.
TO GEORGE HAY, ESQ., ATTORNEY FOR THE U. S., BEFORE THE DISTRICT OF
VIRGINIA.
MONTICELLO, September 7, 1807.
SIR,--Understanding that it is thought important that a letter of November
12, 1806, from General Wilkinson to myself, should be produced in evidence
on the charges against Burr, depending in the District Court now sitting
in Richmond, I send you a copy of it, omitting only certain passages, the
nature of which is explained in the certificate subjoined to the letter.
As the Attorney for the United States, be pleased to submit the copy and
certificate to the uses of the Court. I salute you with great esteem and
respect.
P. S. On re-examination of a letter of November 12, 1806, from General
Wilkinson to myself, (which having been for a considerable time out of my
possession, and now returned to me,) I find in it some passages entirely
confidential, given for my information in the discharge of my executive
functions, and which my duties and the public interest forbid me to make
public. I have therefore given above a correct copy of all those parts
which I ought to permit to be made public. Those not communicated are in
nowise material for the purposes of justice on the charges of treason or
misdemeanor depending against Aaron Burr; they are on subjects irrelevant
to any issues which can arise out of those charges, and could contribute
nothing towards his acquittal or conviction. The papers mentioned in
the 1st and 3d paragraphs, as enclosed in the letters, being separated
therefrom, and not in my possession, I am unable, from memory, to say what
they were. I presume they are in the hands of the attorney for the United
States. Given under my hand this 7th day of September, 1807.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
MONTICELLO, September 7, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I now return you Major Newton's letters. The intention of the
squadron in the bay is so manifestly pacific, that your instructions to
him are perfectly proper, not to molest their boats merely for approaching
the shore. While they are giving up slaves and citizen seamen, and
attempting nothing ashore, it would not be well to stop this by any
new restriction. If they come ashore indeed, they must be captured, or
destroyed if they cannot be captured, because we mean to enforce the
proclamation rigorously in preventing supplies. So the instructions
already given as to intercourse by flag, as to sealed and unsealed
letters, must be strictly adhered to. It is so material that the seaport
towns should have artillery militia duly trained, that I think you have
done well to permit Captain Nestell's company to have powder and ball to
exercise. With respect to gun-carriages, furnaces and clothes, I am so
little familiar with the details of the War department that I must beg
those subjects to lie till the return of the Secretary at War, which will
be in three weeks. Proposing to be absent from this place from the 9th to
the 16th instant, our daily post will be suspended during that interval. I
salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GEORGE HAY.
MONTICELLO, September 7, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I received, late last night, your favor of the day before,
and now re-enclose you the subpœna. As I do not believe that the district
courts have a power of _commanding_ the executive government to abandon
superior duties and attend on them, at whatever distance, I am unwilling,
by any notice of the subpœna, to set a precedent which might sanction a
proceeding so preposterous. I enclose you, therefore, a letter, public and
for the court, covering substantially all they ought to desire. If the
papers which were enclosed in Wilkinson's letter may, in your judgment,
be communicated without injury, you will be pleased to communicate them. I
return you the original letter.
I am happy in having the benefit of Mr. Madison's counsel on this
occasion, he happening to be now with me. We are both strongly of opinion,
that the prosecution against Burr for misdemeanor should proceed at
Richmond. If defeated, it will heap coals of fire on the head of the
Judge; if successful, it will give time to see whether a prosecution for
treason against him can be instituted in any, and what other court. But we
incline to think, it may be best to send Blennerhasset and Smith (Israel)
to Kentucky, to be tried both for the treason and misdemeanor. The trial
of Dayton for misdemeanor may as well go on at Richmond.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
MONTICELLO, September 8, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Mr. Madison, who is with me, suggests the expediency of
immediately taking up the case of Captain Porter, against whom you know
Mr. Erskine lodged a very serious complaint, for an act of violence
committed on a British seaman in the Mediterranean. While Mr. Erskine
was reminded of the mass of complaints we had against his government
for similar violences, he was assured that contending against such
irregularities ourselves, and requiring satisfaction for them, we did
not mean to follow the example, and that on Captain Porter's return, it
should be properly inquired into. The sooner this is done the better;
because if Great Britain settles with us satisfactorily all our subsisting
differences, and should require in return, (to have an appearance of
reciprocity of wrong as well as redress,) a marked condemnation of
Captain Porter, it would be embarrassing were that the only obstacle
to a peaceable settlement, and the more so as we cannot but disavow his
act. On the contrary, if we immediately look into it, we shall be more at
liberty to be moderate in the censure of it, on the very ground of British
example; and the case being once passed upon, we can more easily avoid
the passing on it a second time, as against a settled principle. It is
therefore to put it in our power to let Captain Porter off as easily as
possible, as a valuable officer whom we all wish to favor, that I suggest
to you the earliest attention to the inquiry, and the promptest settlement
of it. I set out to-morrow on a journey of 100 miles, and shall be absent
eight or nine days. I salute you affectionately.
TO MR. CRAWFORD.
MONTICELLO, September 8, 1807.
Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Mr. Crawford, and his
thanks for his Observations on Quarantines, which he has read with great
pleasure. Not himself a friend to quarantines, nor having confidence
in their efficacy, even if they are necessary, he sees with pleasure
every effort to lessen their credit. But the theory which derives all
infection, and ascribes to unseen animals the effects hitherto believed to
be produced by it, is as yet too new and unreceived to justify the public
servants in resting thereon the public health, until time and further
investigation shall have sanctioned it by a more general confidence. He
salutes Mr. Crawford with great respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
MONTICELLO, September 8, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 2d is received, and I have this day directed
commissions for Bull, Hubbell, and for Benajah Nicholls of North Carolina,
as Surveyor of the port of Windsor, v. Simeon Turner, resigned. This last
is on the recommendation of Alston.
You know that the merchants of New York and Philadelphia were of opinion
that a public vessel sent into the Bay of Bengal to notify our trade
there, would in fact increase the danger of our vessels. The most
intelligent merchants of Baltimore, consulted by Mr. Smith, were of
the same opinion as to the Straits of Sunda. It was therefore concluded
between Mr. Smith, Mr. Madison, and myself, (time not admitting further
consultation,) that it would be best to make a Consul for Batavia,
(there being none,) and send him to his post by a private vessel, with
instructions to take the best measures he could for notifying all our
trade beyond the Straits, to instruct our Consul at the Isle of France to
do the same to all on this side, and moreover to send a special agent by
any private conveyance to be obtained, to go from port to port in the Bay
of Bengal, to give private notice to the vessels there. As several vessels
were on their departure for those seas from Philadelphia and Baltimore,
it is trusted that this arrangement will effect all the good proposed,
and avoid all the evil apprehended at the different places which were
consulted.
I set out to-morrow to Bedford, and shall be absent eight days. I shall
leave this on the 30th, and be in Washington the 3d of October, ready for
our meeting on the 5th. I salute you affectionately.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
MONTICELLO, September 18, 1807.
SIR,--On my return to this place yesterday I found your favor of the 15th,
and now return the papers it covered. I am glad to see the temperate
complexion of Lowrie's correspondence. I presume the intelligence
from England since the arrival there of the information respecting the
Chesapeake, will produce a moderate deportment in their officers. Your
instructions to Major Newton on the opening of letters, are perfectly
consonant with the rules laid down. With respect to the mode of furnishing
the troops with provisions through any other channel than that of
the public contractor, I am unable to say anything, being not at all
acquainted with the arrangements of the war department on that subject.
I enclose you a letter I have received from a Mr. Belcher, of Gloster,
giving reason to believe there have been some contraventions of the
Proclamation there which ought to be punished if they can be detected. I
salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO MR. MADISON.
MONTICELLO, September 18, 1807.
I returned here yesterday afternoon and found, as I might expect, an
immense mass of business. With the papers received from you, I enclose you
some others which will need no explanation. I am desired by the Secretary
of the Navy to say what must be the conduct of Commodore Rodgers, at
New York, on the late or any similar entry of that harbor by the British
armed vessels. I refer him to the orders to Decatur as to what he was to
do if the vessels in the Chesapeake. 1. Remain quiet in the Bay. 2. Come
to Hampton road. 3. Enter Elizabeth river, and recommend an application
of the same rules to New York, accommodated to the localities of the
place. Should the British government give us reparation of the past,
and security for the future, yet the continuance of their vessels in our
harbors in defiance constitutes a new injury, which will not be included
in any settlement with our ministers, and will furnish good ground
for declaring their future exclusion from our waters, in addition with
the other reasonable ground before existing. Our Indian affairs in the
northwest on the Missouri, and at the Natchitoches, wear a very unpleasant
aspect. As to the first all I think is done which is necessary. But for
this and other causes, I am anxious to be again assembled. I have a letter
from Connecticut. The prosecution there will be dismissed this term on
the ground that the case is not cognisable by the courts of the United
States. Perhaps you can intimate this where it will give tranquillity.
Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
MONTICELLO, September 18, 1807
DEAR SIR,--On my return yesterday I found yours of the 10th, and now
re-enclose you Commodore Rodgers' letter. You remember that the orders to
Decatur were to leave the British ships unmolested so long as they laid
quiet in the Bay; but if they should attempt to enter Elizabeth river
to attack them with all his force. The spirit of these orders should, I
think, be applied to New York. So long as the British vessels merely enter
the Hook, or remain quiet there, I would not precipitate hostilities. I do
not sufficiently know the geography of the harbor to draw the line which
they should not pass. Perhaps the narrows, perhaps some other place which
yourself or Commodore Rogers can fix with the aid of the advice he can get
in New York. But a line should be drawn which if they attempt to pass, he
should attack them with all his force. Perhaps he would do well to have
his boats ordinarily a little without the line to let them see they are
not to approach it; but whether he can lay there in safety, _ordinarily_,
he must judge. But if the British vessels continue at the Hook, great
attention should be paid to prevent their receiving supplies or their
landing, or having any intercourse with the shore or other vessels. I
left Mr. Nicholas's yesterday morning: he is indisposed with his annual
influenza. Mrs. Nicholas is well. I shall be at Washington on the 3d
proximo. Affectionate salutations.
TO ROBERT BRENT, ESQ.
MONTICELLO, September 19, 1807.
SIR,--I have just received your favor of the 8th, informing me that the
Board of Trustees for the public school in Washington had unanimously
re-appointed me their President. I pray you to present to them my thanks
for the mark of their confidence, with assurances that I shall at all
times be ready to render to the Institution any services which shall be in
my power. Accept yourself my salutations, and assurances of great respect
and esteem.
TO J. MADISON.
September 20, 1807.
I return all the papers received in yours of the 18th and 19th, except
one soliciting office, Judge Woodward's letters, to be communicated to
the Secretary of War. Should not Claiborne be instructed to say at once to
Governor Folch, that as we never did prohibit any articles (except slaves)
from being carried up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, so we do not mean to
prohibit them, and that we only ask a perfect and equal reciprocity to be
observed on the rivers which pass through the territories of both nations.
Must we not denounce to Congress the Spanish decree as well as the British
regulation pretending to be the countervail of the French? One of our
first consultations, on meeting, must be on the question whether we shall
not order all the militia and volunteers destined for the Canadas to be
embodied on the 26th of October, and to march immediately to such points
on the way to their destination as shall be pointed out, there to await
the decision of Congress? I approve of the letter to Erskine. In answering
his last, should he not be reminded how strange it is he should consider
as a hostility our refusing to receive but under a flag, persons from
vessels remaining and acting in our waters in defiance of the authority
of the country? The post-rider of the day before yesterday has behaved
much amiss in not calling on you. When I found your mail in the valise and
that they had not called on you, I replaced the mail in it and expressly
directed him to return by you. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. HAY.
MONTICELLO, September 20, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--General Wilkinson has asked permission to make use, in the
statement of Burr's affair which he is about to publish, of the documents
placed in your hands by Mr. Rodney. To this, consent is freely given with
one reservation. Some of these papers are expressed to be confidential.
Others containing censures on particular individuals, are such as I always
deem confidential, and therefore cannot communicate, but for regularly
official purposes, without a breach of trust. I must therefore ask the
exercise of your discretion in selecting all of this character, and of
giving to the General the free use of the others. It will be necessary
that the whole be returned to the Attorney General by the first week in
the next month, as a selection will be made from them to make part of the
whole evidence in the case, which I shall have printed and communicated to
Congress. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GENERAL WILKINSON.
MONTICELLO, September 20, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I received your favors of the 13th and 15th on my return to
this place on the 17th, and such was the mass of business accumulated in
my absence, that I have not till now been able to take up your letters.
You are certainly free to make use of any of the papers we put into
Mr. Hay's hands, with a single reservation: to wit, some of them are
expressed to be confidential, and others are of that kind which I always
consider as confidential, conveying censure on particular individuals, and
therefore never communicate them beyond the immediate executive circle. I
accordingly write to this effect to Mr. Hay. The scenes which have been
acted at Richmond are such as have never before been exhibited in any
country where all regard to public character has not yet been thrown off.
They are equivalent to a proclamation of impunity to every traitorous
combination which may be formed to destroy the Union; and they preserve a
head for all such combinations as may be formed within, and a centre for
all the intrigues and machinations which foreign governments may nourish
to disturb us. However, they will produce an amendment to the Constitution
which, keeping the judges independent of the Executive, will not leave
them so, of the nation.
I shall leave this place on the 30th for Washington. It is with pleasure
that I perceive from all the expressions of public sentiment, that the
virulence of those whose treasons you have defeated only place you on
higher ground in the opinion of the nation. I salute you with great esteem
and respect.
TO MR. COXE.
MONTICELLO, September 21, 1807.
SIR,--I have read with great satisfaction your observations on the
principles for equalizing the power of the different nations on the
sea, and think them perfectly sound. Certainly it will be better to
produce a balance on that element, by reducing the means of its great
monopolizer, than by endeavoring to raise our own to an equality with
theirs. I have ever wished that all nations would adopt a navigation law
against those who have one, which perhaps would be better than against all
indiscriminately, and while in France I proposed it there. Probably that
country is now ripe for it. I see no reason why your paper should not be
published, as it would have effect towards bringing the public mind to
proper principles. I do not know whether you kept a copy; if you did not,
I will return it. Otherwise I retain it for the perusal of my coadjutors,
and perhaps to suggest the measure abroad. I salute you with great esteem
and respect.
TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
WASHINGTON, October 8, 1807.
DEAR SIR,-- * * * * * The approaching convention of Congress would render
your assistance here desirable. Besides the varieties of general matter
we have to lay before them, on which we should be glad of your aid and
counsel, there are two subjects of magnitude in which your agency will be
peculiarly necessary. 1st. The selection and digestion of the documents
respecting Burr's treason, which must be laid before Congress in two
copies, (or perhaps printed, which would take ten days.) 2d. A statement
of the conduct of Great Britain towards this country, so far as respects
the violations of the Maritime Law of nations. Here it would be necessary
to state each distinct principle violated, and to quote the cases of
violation, and to conclude with a view of her vice-admiralty courts, their
venality and rascality, in order to show that however for conveniences,
(and not of right) the court of the captor is admitted to exercise the
jurisdiction, yet that in so palpable an abuse of that trust, some remedy
must be applied. Everything we see and hear leads in my opinion to war;
we have therefore much to consult and determine on, preparatory to that
event. I salute you with affectionate respect.
TO MR. PAINE.
WASHINGTON, October 9, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Your second letter on the subject of gun-boats, came to hand
just before my departure from Monticello. In the meantime, the inquiry
into the proposition had been referred, agreeably to our usage, or to
reason, to the practical persons of the department to which it belonged,
deemed most skilful. On my arrival here, I found the answers of the
persons to whom it was referred, the substance of which I now enclose
you. I am not a judge of their solidity, but I presume they are founded,
and the rather as they are from officers entirely favorable to the use of
gun-boats.
We have as yet no knowledge of the arrival of the Revenge in England,
but we may daily expect to hear of it; and as we expected she would be
detained there and in France about a month, it will be a month hence
before we can expect her back here. In the meantime, all the little
circumstances coming to our knowledge are unfavorable to our wishes for
peace. If they would but settle the question of impressment from our
bottoms, I should be well contented to drop all attempts at a treaty. The
other rights of neutral powers will be taken care of by Bonaparte and
Alexander; and for commercial arrangements we can sufficiently provide
by legislative regulations. But as the practice of impressment has taken
place only against us, we shall be left to settle that for ourselves;
and to do this we shall never again have so favorable a conjuncture of
circumstances. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of great
esteem and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CABELL.
WASHINGTON, October 12, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I now return you several of Major Newton's letters, some of
which have been kept awhile for consideration. It is determined that
there shall be no relaxation in the conditions of the proclamations, or
any change in the rules of intercourse by flag. If the British officers
set the example of refusing to receive a flag, let ours then follow it
by never sending or receiving another. The interval cannot now be long in
which matters will remain at their present point. I salute you with great
friendship and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
WASHINGTON, October 14, 1807
I think the proper instructions for Mr. Christie's revenue cutter may
be drawn from those given to Captain Decatur. The authority of the
proclamation is to be maintained, no supplies to be permitted to be
carried to the British vessels, nor their vessels permitted to land. For
these purposes force, and to any extent, is to be applied, if necessary,
but not unless necessary, nor, considering how short a time the present
state of things has to continue, would I recommend any extraordinary
vigilance or great industry in seeking even just occasions for collision.
It will suffice to do what is right when the occasion comes into their
way. I cannot doubt the expediency of getting the instruments recommended
by Mr. Patterson, and of the best kind, _if they can be got in England_,
because I almost know they cannot be made _in any other country_ equally
good, and I should be quite averse to getting those which should not be
perfect.
May we not at once appoint the republican candidate for the collectorship
of Snow-hill? Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
WASHINGTON, October 17, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I forwarded to Mr. Smith, Secretary of the Navy, an extract
of so much of my letter to you of August 31st, as suggested the idea of
artificial harbors for gun-boats, on the horse-shoe and middle grounds,
with a view to his having their formation examined, to know if they
would support works, and their distance ascertained, to know what would
be their effect. The objects were, 1, to provide an asylum on the shoals
for gun-boats against weather and ships of war, and 2, to prevent ships
lying within the capes. I enclose you the opinion of Captain Porter,
according to which, without thinking of attempting works so difficult and
doubtful, both ends will be answered by a work at Lynhaven river, where
the shoals are extensive enough to keep off ships of war, and the river
sufficiently capacious to receive all the gun-boats. He thinks a work at
Point Comfort might also be useful. I send you his draught, which, being
merely an enlargement from More's map on a very minute scale, is not to
be much depended on; and considering the extent of country that point is
to defend, I recommend it to your consideration, as one of our important
objects. Affectionate salutations.
TO GOVERNOR SULLIVAN.
WASHINGTON, October 18, 1807.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor of the 8th inst., covering, at
the request of the general court of Massachusetts, a memorial to the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, on behalf of
Benjamin Hichborn and others, with a desire that I would communicate and
recommend the same to both Houses of Congress. I should avail myself with
particular pleasure of every occasion of doing what would be acceptable
to the legislative and executive authorities of Massachusetts, and
which should be within the limits of my functions. The Executive of the
Union is, indeed, by the Constitution, made the channel of communication
between _foreign_ powers and the United States. But citizens, whether
individually, or in bodies corporate, or associated, have a right to
apply directly to any department of their government, whether legislative,
executive, or judiciary, the exercise of whose powers they have a right
to claim; and neither of these can regularly offer its intervention in a
case belonging to the other. The communication and recommendation by me
to Congress of the memorial you have been pleased to enclose me, would
be an innovation, not authorized by the practice of our government, and
therefore the less likely to add to its weight or effect. Thus restrained
from serving you in the exact way desired, I have thought I could not
better do it than by a prompt return of the papers, that no time might
be lost in transmitting them through the accustomary channels of your
Senators and Representatives in Congress; and I avail myself of the
occasion of assuring you of my very high respect and consideration.
TO DOCTOR BARTON.
WASHINGTON, October 18, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I received last night a diploma from the Linnæan Society of
Philadelphia, doing me the honor of associating me to their body. I pray
you to do me the favor of assuring the society of my sensibility for
this mark of their notice, and of my thanks. Sincerely associated with
the friends of science, in spirit and inclination, I regret the constant
occupations of a different kind, which put out of my power the proper
co-operations with them, had I otherwise the talents for them. I shall
gladly embrace any occasion which can be offered of being useful to the
society, as a mark of my acknowledgments for their favors, with my thanks
for the copy of your discourse, enclosed at the same time. I pray you
to receive my friendly salutations, and assurances of great respect and
esteem.
TO JAMES GAMBLE, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, October 21, 1807.
SIR,--Your favor of the 17th has been duly received. I have long seen,
and with very great regret, the schisms which have taken place among the
republicans, and principally those of Pennsylvania and New York. As far as
I have been able to judge, they have not been produced by any difference
of political principle,--at least, any important difference, but by a
difference of opinion as to persons. I determined from the first moment
to take no part in them, and that the government should know nothing of
any such differences. Accordingly, it has never been attended to in any
appointment, or refusal of appointment. General Shee's personal merit,
universally acknowledged, was the cause of his appointment as Indian
Superintendent, and a subsequent discovery that his removal to this
place (the indispensable residence of that officer), would be peculiarly
unpleasant to him suggested his translation to another office, to solve
the double difficulty. Rarely reading the controversial pieces between
the different sections of republicans, I have not seen the piece in the
Aurora, to which you allude; but I may with truth assure you, that no
fact has come to my knowledge which has ever induced any doubt of your
continued attachment to the true principles of republican government. I
am thankful for the favorable sentiments you are so kind as to express
towards me personally, and trust that an uniform pursuit of the principles
and conduct which have procured, will continue to me an approbation, which
I highly value.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
WASHINGTON, October 25, 1807.
SIR,--Your letters of the 21st and 22d are received, and I now return
Captain Read's of the 18th. We conclude it unnecessary to call for another
corps of militia, to relieve that now in service at Lynhaven. General
Dearborn will write, and give the necessary directions for discharging,
paying, &c. I suspect the departure of the British armed vessels from our
waters, is in consequence of orders from their government to respect the
proclamation. If Congress should approve our ideas of defensive works for
the several harbors of the United States, there will be a regular fort at
the mouth of Lynhaven river, to protect such a number of gun-boats to be
stationed there as will, in case of war, render it too dangerous to any
armed vessel to enter the bay; and thus to protect the bay and all its
waters at its mouth. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
WASHINGTON, October 27, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I have reflected on the case of the embodying of the militia
in Ohio, and think the respect we owe to the State may overweigh the
disapprobation so justly due to the conduct of their Governor pro tem.
They certainly had great merit, and have acquired a very general favor
through the Union, for the early and vigorous blows by which they crushed
the insurrection of Burr. We have now again to appeal to their patriotism
and public spirit in the same case; and should there be war, they are
our bulwark in the most prominent point of assault from the Indians.
Their good will and affection, therefore, should be conciliated by
all justifiable means. If we suffer the question of paying the militia
embodied to be thrown on their Legislature, it will excite acrimonious
debate in that body, and they will spread the same dissatisfaction among
their constituents, and finally it will be forced back on us through
Congress. Would it not, therefore, be better to say to Mr. Kirker, that
the general government is fully aware that emergencies which appertain to
them will sometimes arise so suddenly as not to give time for consulting
them, before the State must get into action; that the expenses in
such cases, incurred on reasonable grounds, will be met by the general
government; and that in the present case, although it appears there was
no real ground for embodying the militia, and that more certain measures
for ascertaining the truth should have been taken before embodying them,
yet an unwillingness to damp the public spirit of your countrymen, and
the justice due to the individuals who came forward in defence of their
country, and who could not know the grounds on which they were called,
have determined us to consider the call as justifiable, and to defray
the expenses. This is submitted to you for consideration. Affectionate
salutations.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
October 28, 1807.
I think there is nothing in the former regulations of the Salines which
hindered merchants or others of the country round about, far or near,
from purchasing salt at the Salines, at the stated price, and carrying
and vending it elsewhere at their own price; and it was naturally to be
expected that competition would in this way reduce it to a proper price
wherever sold. If this had taken place, it would have been desirable
that the lessees should not have engaged in it, because as the price at a
distance must add some profit to the transportation and first cost, this
profit might have induced the lessees to sell reluctantly on the spot. As
the merchants, however, have not entered into this business, I think it
would be well to let the lessees begin it, leaving them open to the effect
of future competition; subjecting them to a maximum as they themselves
propose, and to have the permission revoked if they obstruct sales at the
Salines, or otherwise abuse the permission. I return you their letter.
I return you, also, the papers respecting the lead mines, and think with
you that one-fifth for the three last years is not unreasonable.
I propose to inform Mr. Moore (if you know of no objection,) that I
approve his proposition for cutting the whole road from Cumberland to
Brownsville. We shall by this means secure, at any rate, the benefit of
their location, which will of itself have occasioned considerable expense.
Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
October 31, 1807.
The rent we proposed for the Indiana lead mine was two-tenths of
three years' produce=six-tenths of one year's produce for five years'
occupation: and one-tenth of five year's produce=five-tenths of one year's
produce for five years' occupation, is the option you propose. There can
be but one objection to it, that is, the effect which a rent of one-tenth
annually might have in lowering the future rents permanently. From the
Louisiana standing rent of one-tenth, and the offer of one-tenth for the
Indiana mine, I suspect that one-fifth may be too much for a permanent
rent. What would you think of continuing the offer of two years free of
rent, and one-eighth of the _metal_ afterwards? I think the most important
object for the public is to find what rent the tenant can pay and still
have an encouraging profit for himself, and to obtain that rent. However,
I suggest this merely for your consideration.
I have written to Mr. Moore on the subject of the road. Whom shall we
appoint in the room of Kilgore. I have conversed with Morrar, but have had
no opportunity of speaking with Governor Tiffin. Affectionate salutations.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
WASHINGTON, November 1, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Your late letters have been regularly referred to the Secretary
at War, who has already answered their several enquiries, or will do it
immediately. I am inclined to believe that the departure of the British
vessels from our waters must be in consequence of orders from England to
respect the authorities of the country. Within about a fortnight we think
we may expect answers from England which will decide whether this cloud is
to issue in a storm or calm. Here we are pacifically inclined, if anything
comes which will permit us to follow our inclinations. But whether we have
peace or war, I think the present Legislature will authorize a complete
system of defensive works, on such a scale as they think they ought to
adopt. The state of our finances now permits this. To defensive works by
land they will probably add a considerable enlargement of the force in
gun-boats. A combination of these, will, I think, enable us to defend the
Chesapeake at its mouth, and save the vast line of preparation which the
defence of all its interior waters would otherwise require. I salute you
with great esteem and respect.
TO GOVERNOR WILLIAMS.
WASHINGTON, November 1, 1807.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter of August 25th, in which you
express a wish that the letters received from you may be acknowledged,
in order to ascertain their safe transmission. Those received the present
year have been of March 14, May 11, and 30, June 8, July 3, August 12, and
25. They have not been before acknowledged in conformity with a practice
which the constant pressure of business has forced me to follow, of not
answering letters which do not necessarily require it. I have seen with
regret, the violence of the dissensions in your quarter. We have the same
in the territories of Louisiana and Michigan. It seems that the smaller
the society the bitterer the dissensions into which it breaks. Perhaps
this observation answers all the objections drawn by Mr. Adams from the
small republics of Italy. I believe ours is to owe its permanence to its
great extent, and the smaller portion comparatively, which can ever be
convulsed at one time by local passions. We expect shortly now to hear
from England, and to know how the present cloud is to terminate. We
are all pacifically inclined here, if anything comes from thence which
will permit us to follow our inclinations. I salute you with esteem and
respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
November 8, 1807.
I will sign a proclamation for the sale of the lands northwest of Ohio,
whenever you think proper. I believe the form is in your office, and in
the course of this week we will agree on the officers.
I am afraid we know too little as yet of the lead mines to establish a
permanent system. I verily believe that of leasing will be far the best
for the United States. But it will take time to find out what rent may be
reserved, so as to enable the lessee to compete with those who work mines
in their own right, and yet have an encouraging profit for themselves.
Having on the spot two such men as Lewis and Bates, in whose integrity
and prudence unlimited confidence may be placed, would it not be best
to confide to them the whole business of leasing and regulating the
management of our interests, recommending to them short leases, at first,
till themselves shall become thoroughly acquainted with the subject, and
shall be able to reduce the management to a system, which the government
may then approve and adhere to. I think one article of it should be that
the rent shall be paid in metal, not in mineral, so that we may have
nothing to do with works which will always be mismanaged, and reduce
our concern to a simple rent. We shall lose more by ill-managed smelting
works than the digging the ore is worth. Then it would be better that our
ore remained in the earth than in a storehouse, and consequently we give
nine-tenths of the ore for nothing. These thoughts are merely for your
consideration. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. SHORT.
WASHINGTON, November 15, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 6th has been duly received. On the subject
of your location for the winter, it is impossible in my view of it,
to doubt on the preference which should be given to this place. Under
any circumstances it could not but be satisfactory to you to acquire
an intimate knowledge of our political machine, not merely of its
organization, but the individuals and characters composing it, their
general mode of thinking, and of acting openly and secretly. Of all this
you can learn no more at Philadelphia than of a diet of the empire. None
but an eye-witness can really understand it, and it is quite as important
to be known to them, and to obtain a certain degree of their confidence in
your own right. In a government like ours, the standing of a man well with
this portion of the public must weigh against a considerable difference
of other qualifications. Your quarters here may not perhaps be quite as
comfortable as at Philadelphia. There is a good house half-way between
this and the Treasury, where General Dearborne, Mr. and Mrs. Cutts, board
together. I do not know if there is a vacancy in it, but there are houses
all along the avenue, convenient to the Capitol, and to this house also,
to come and take your soup with us every day, when not otherwise engaged.
Our affairs with Spain laid dormant during the absence of Bonaparte from
Paris, because we know Spain would do nothing towards settling them, but
by compulsion. Immediately on his return, our terms were stated to him,
and his interposition obtained. If it was with good faith, its effect
will be instantaneous; if not with good faith, we shall discover it by
affected delays, and must decide accordingly. I think a few weeks will
clear up this matter. With England, all is uncertain. The late stuff by
Captain Doane, is merely a counterbalance for the stuff we had a week
before of a contrary aspect. Those dialogues they put into the mouths
of the ministers were not likely to be communicated to the newswriters,
and they are founded on a falsehood within my knowledge, not that I have
confidence with an amicable arrangement with England; but I have not the
less on account of this information. One circumstance only in it, I view
as very possible, that she may by proclamation forbid all commerce with
her enemies, which is equivalent to forbidding it with any nation but
herself. As her commerce could not be accepted on such terms, this will be
as much of a war as she could wage if she were to declare war, for she can
wage only a maritime war with us. In such a case we could not let the war
be all on one side but must certainly endeavor at as much indemnification
as we could take. If we have war with her, we shall need no loan the
first year, a domestic loan only the second year, but after that, foreign
loans. The moment the war is decided, we shall think it necessary to take
measures to insure these by the time they are wanted, and your management
of this kind of business, formerly, is known to have been so advantageous,
that we should certainly wish to avail ourselves of your services, if they
can be obtained conformably to our joint views. But nothing specific can
be said until the denouement of our present situation. No inference can
be drawn from Monroe's return, (which I dare say will be by the Revenge,)
because his return this autumn had been earnestly solicited by him, and
agreed to by us. The classification of our militia will be again proposed,
on a better plan, and with more probable success. With respect to General
Moreau, no one entertains a more cordial esteem for his character than I
do, and although our relations with France have rendered it a duty in me
not to seek any public manifestation of it, yet were accident to bring us
together, I could not be so much wanting to my own sentiments and those of
my constituents individually, as to omit a cordial manifestation of it.
* * * * *
TO MR. JAMES PEMBERTON.
WASHINGTON, November 16, 1807.
SIR,--Your favor of October 31st has been duly received, and I thank
you for the communication of the report of the Committee of Friends.
It gives me great satisfaction to see that we are likely to render our
Indian neighbors happier in themselves and well affected to us; that
the measures we are pursuing are prescribed equally by our duty to
them, and by the good of our own country. It is a proof the more of the
indissoluble alliance between our duties and interest, which if ever
they appear to lead in opposite directions, we may be assured it is
from our own defective views. It is evident that your society has begun
at the right end for civilizing these people. Habits of industry, easy
subsistence, attachment to property, are necessary to prepare their
minds for the first elements of science, and afterwards for moral and
religious instruction. To begin with the last has ever ended either in
effecting nothing, or ingrafting bigotry on ignorance, and setting them to
tomahawking and burning old women and others as witches, of which we have
seen a commencement among them. There are two circumstances which have
enabled us to advance the southern tribes faster than the northern; 1,
they are larger, and the agents and instructors therefore can extend their
instruction and influence over a much larger surface; 2, the southern
tribes can raise cotton, and immediately enter on the process of spinning
and weaving, so as to clothe themselves without resorting to the chase.
The northern tribes cannot cultivate cotton, nor can they supply its want
by raising sheep, because of the number of wolves. I see not how they are
to clothe themselves till they shall have destroyed these animals, which
will be a work of time. They should make this one of the principal objects
of their hunts. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO DANIEL ECCLESTON, ESQUIRE.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1807.
SIR,--I received on the 22d ult. your favor of May 20th, with the medals
accompanying it, through the channel of my friend and ancient class-mate,
Mr. Manning, of Liverpool. That our own nation should entertain sentiments
of gratitude and reverence for the great character who is the subject
of your medallion, is a matter of duty. His disinterested and valuable
services to them have rendered it so; but such a monument to his memory by
the member of another community, proves a zeal for virtue in the abstract,
honorable to him who inscribes it, as to him whom it commemorates. In
returning you my individual thanks for the one destined for myself, I
should perform but a part of my duty were I not to add an assurance that
this testimonial in favor of the first worthy of our country will be
grateful to the feelings of our citizens generally.
I immediately forwarded the two other medals and the letter to Judge
Washington, with a request that he would hand one of them to Chief Justice
Marshall. I salute you with great respect.
TO MR. MAURY.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Your favor of July 21st came to hand October 22d, with the
letters and medals of General Washington, from Mr. Eccleston, and I now
take the liberty of enclosing through you my acknowledgments to him. This
tribute of respect to the first worthy of our country, is honorable to him
who renders as to him who is the subject of it.
The world, as you justly observe, is truly in an awful state. Two nations
of overgrown power are endeavoring to establish, the one an universal
dominion by sea, the other by land. We naturally fear that which comes
into immediate contact with us, leaving remoter dangers to the chapter of
accidents. We are now in hourly expectation of hearing from our ministers
in London, by the return of the Revenge. Whether she will bring us war or
peace, or the middle state of non-intercourse, seems suspended in equal
balance. With every wish for peace, permitted by the circumstances forced
upon us, we look to war as equally probable. The crops of the present year
have been great beyond example. The wheat sown for the ensuing year is in
a great measure destroyed by the drought and the fly. A favorable winter
and spring sometimes do wonders towards recovering unpromising grain; but
nothing can make the next crop of wheat a good one.
The present aspect of our foreign relations has encouraged here a
general spirit of encouragement to domestic manufacture. The Merino
breed of sheep is well established with us, and fine samples of cloth
are sent on from the north. Considerable manufactures of cotton are also
commencing. Philadelphia, particularly, is becoming more manufacturing
than commercial. I have heard nothing lately from your friends in
Albemarle; but if all had not been well with them, I should have heard of
it. I tender you my affectionate salutations, and assurances of constant
friendship and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
November 22, 1807.
The defence of Orleans against a land army can never be provided for,
according to the principles of the Constitution, till we can get a
sufficient militia here. I think therefore to get the enclosed bill
brought forward again. Will you be so good as to make any alterations in
it which the present state of the surveys may have rendered necessary, and
any others you shall think for the better?
TO COLONEL MINOR.
WASHINGTON, November 25, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--Your favor of the 23d came to hand last night, and I thank
you for your attention to the letter to Mrs. Dangerfield, whose answer I
have received. Perceiving that you are rendered unquiet by the impudent
falsehoods with which the newspapers have tormented the public feelings
lately, in a moment of extraordinary anxiety, I must assure you that these
articles are all demonstrably false, that is to say, the information of
about three or four weeks ago that the ministers on both sides had given
out that all things were amicably arranged. That which followed a week
after assuring us all negotiation was at an end, and war inevitable,
that is to say, Capt. Doane's news, and what followed a few days ago
of Bonaparte's pretended answer to queries, extending his decree to
us, coming via Antwerp and Bordeaux. It is believed that the last was
fabricated in Boston, to counteract the war-news from England there
afloat. I have no doubt Monroe is coming home, and that he, as well as
the Revenge, may be expected about the last of the month; and I think it
possible he may be the bearer of propositions for a middle ground between
us, modifying what we have deemed indispensable; consequently that there
will be time still employed in these things crossing and re-crossing the
Atlantic, during which peace may take place in Europe, which of course
removes all ground of dispute between us till another war. As to the
Chesapeake, there is no doubt they will make satisfaction of some sort.
This is my present idea of the present state of things with that country,
but founded as you will perceive on possibilities only and conjectures,
which one week may ascertain. I salute you with great friendship and
respect.
TO MR. FULTON.
December 10, 1807.
Thomas Jefferson presents Mr. Fulton his thanks for the communication of
his Memoir, which he has read with great satisfaction, and now returns.
There is nothing in it but what will contribute to the promotion of its
great object; and some of the calculations will have a very powerful
effect. He salutes him with esteem and respect.
TO MR. BARLOW.
WASHINGTON, December 10, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I return you Mr. Law's letter, with thanks for the
communication. I wish he may be a true prophet as to peace in six
months. It is impossible that any other man should wish it as much as
I do; although duty may control that wish. The desire of peace is very
much strengthened in me by that which I feel in favor of the great
subjects of yours and Mr. Fulton's letters. I had fondly hoped to set
those enterprizes into motion with the last legislature I shall meet.
But the chance of war is an unfortunate check. I do not however despair
that the proposition of amendment may be sent down this session to the
legislatures. But it is not certain. There is a snail-paced gate for the
advance of new ideas on the general mind, under which we must acquiesce.
A forty years' experience of popular assemblies has taught me, that you
must give them time for every step you take. If too hard pushed, they
baulk, and the machine retrogrades. I doubt whether precedence will be
given to your part of the plan before Mr. Fulton's. People generally have
more feeling for canals and roads than education. However, I hope we can
advance them with equal pace. If the amendment is sent out this session,
returned to the next, and no war takes place, we may offer the plan to the
next session in the form of a bill, the preparation of which should be the
work of the ensuing summer. I salute you affectionately.
TO GENERAL JOHN MASON.
Although the decree of the French government of November 21st
comprehended, in its literal terms, the commerce of the United States,
yet the prompt explanation by one of the ministers of that government
that it was not so understood, and that our treaty would be respected,
the practice which took place in the French ports conformably with that
explanation, and the recent interference of that government to procure
in Spain a similar construction of a similar decree there, had given
well-founded expectation that it would not be extended to us; and this was
much strengthened by the consideration of their obvious interests. But the
information from our minister at Paris now communicated to Congress is,
that it is determined to extend the effect of that decree to us; and it
is probable that Spain and the other Atlantic and Mediterranean States of
Europe will co-operate in the same measure. The British regulations had
before reduced us to a direct voyage to a single port of their enemies,
and it is now believed they will interdict all commerce whatever with
them. A proclamation too of that government (not officially, indeed,
communicated to us, yet so given out to the public as to become a rule of
action with them,) seems to have shut the door on all negotiation with us,
except as to the single aggression on the Chesapeake.
The sum of these mutual enterprises on our national rights is that France,
and her allies, reserving for further consideration the prohibiting our
carrying anything to the British territories, have virtually done it,
by restraining our bringing a return cargo from them; and Great Britain,
after prohibiting a great proposition of our commerce with France and her
allies, is now believed to have prohibited the whole. The whole world is
thus laid under interdict by these two nations, and our vessels, their
cargoes and crews, are to be taken by the one or the other, for whatever
place they may be destined, out of our own limits. If, therefore, on
leaving our harbors we are certainly to lose them, is it not better, as to
vessels, cargoes, and seamen, to keep them at home? This is submitted to
the wisdom of Congress, who alone are competent to provide a remedy.
TO DOCTOR WISTAR.
WASHINGTON, December 19, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I have never known to what family you ascribed the Wild Sheep,
or Fleecy Goat, as Governor Lewis called it, or the _Potio-trajos_, if
its name must be Greek. He gave me a skin, but I know he carried a more
perfect one, with the horns on, to Mr. Peale; and if I recollect well
those horns, they, with the fleece, would induce one to suspect it to be
the Lama, or at least a _Lamæ affinis_. I will thank you to inform me what
you determine it to be.
I have lately received a letter from General Clarke. He has employed
ten laborers several weeks, at the Big-bone Lick, and has shipped the
result, in three large boxes, down the Ohio, via New Orleans, for this
place, where they are daily expected. He has sent, 1st, of the Mammoth,
as he calls it, frontals, jaw-bones, tusks, teeth, ribs, a thigh, and
a leg, and some bones of the paw; 2d, of what he calls the Elephant, a
jaw-bone, tusks, teeth, ribs; 3d, of something of the Buffalo species, a
head and some other bones unknown. My intention, in having this research
thoroughly made, was to procure for the society as complete a supplement
to what is already possessed as that lick can furnish at this day, and
to serve them first with whatever they wish to possess of it. There is a
tusk and a femur which General Clarke procured particularly at my request,
for a special kind of Cabinet I have at Monticello. But the great mass of
the collection are mere duplicates of what you possess at Philadelphia,
of which I would wish to make a donation to the National Institute of
France, which I believe has scarcely any specimens of the remains of these
animals. But how to make the selection without the danger of sending away
something which might be useful to our own society? Indeed, my friend,
you must give a week to this object. You cannot but have some wish to
see Washington for its site, and some of its edifices, which will give
you pleasure. You will see one room especially, to which Europe can show
nothing superior. Baltimore, too, is an object. Take your lodgings at the
tavern close by us. Mess with me every day, and in the intervals of your
perlustrations of the city, Navy Yard, Capitol, &c., examine these bones,
and set apart what you would wish for the society. I will give you notice
when they arrive here, and then you will select a time when you can best
absent yourself for a week from Philadelphia. I hope you will not deny us
this great service, and I salute you with friendship and respect.
TO GEN. WILLIAM CLARKE.
WASHINGTON, December 19, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I have duly received your two favors of September 20th, and
November 10th, and am greatly obliged, indeed, by the trouble you have
been so good as to take in procuring for me as thorough a supplement to
the bones of the Mammoth as can now be had. I expect daily to receive your
bill for all the expenses, which shall be honored with thanks.
The collection you have made is so considerable that it has suggested an
idea I had not before. I see that after taking out for the Philosophical
Society everything they shall desire, there will remain such a collection
of duplicates as will be a grateful offering from me to the National
Institute of France, for whom I am bound to do something. But in order to
make it more considerable, I find myself obliged to ask the addition of
those which you say you have deposited with your brother at Clarkesville,
such as ribs, backbones, leg bones, thigh, ham hips, shoulder-blades,
parts of the upper and under jaw, teeth of the Mammoth and Elephant, and
parts of the Mammoth tusks, to be forwarded hereafter, if necessary.
I avail myself of these last words to ask that they may packed and
forwarded to me by the way of New Orleans, as the others have been. I do
this with the less hesitation, knowing these things can be of little value
to yourself or brother, so much in the way of furnishing yourselves, if
desired, and because I know they will be so acceptable to an institution
to which, as a member, I wish to be of some use. I salute you with great
friendship and respect.
TO GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARKE.
WASHINGTON, December 19, 1807.
DEAR GENERAL,--As I think it probable your brother will have left you
before the enclosed comes to hand, I have left it open, and request you to
read it, and do for me what it asks of him, and what he will do should he
still be with you, that is to say to have the bones packed and forwarded
for me to William Brown, collector at New Orleans, who will send them on
to me.
I avail myself of this occasion of recalling myself to your memory, and
of assuring you that time has not lessened my friendship for you. We are
both now grown old. You have been enjoying in retirement the recollections
of the services you have rendered your country, and I am about to retire
without an equal consciousness that I have not occupied places in which
others would have done more good. But in all places and times I shall wish
you every happiness, and salute you with great friendship and esteem.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
December 24, 1807.
I think there should certainly be an inquiry into the conduct of Taylor
of Ceracock, the charges being specified, of the most serious nature, and
offered to be proved.
We might take a conveyance of the lands at Tarpaulin cove, of an estate,
to continue _so long as a light-house should be kept upon it, and used
as a light-house_. It would not be a fee simple, but what the lawyers
call a _base fee_. But it would be a bad example, and we should have all
proprietors hereafter insisting on the same thing. It is better they
should trust to the liberality of the United States, in giving them a
pre-emption if the light-house be discontinued. It will be better to add
to the absolute conveyance, such restriction of right as we consent to,
to wit, that there shall be no tavern, &c., than attempt to enumerate the
rights we may exercise,--_e. g._, that we may keep cows, cultivate, &c.
I approve entirely the idea of conveying to the city of New Orleans the
rights of the United States in the Batture, lately claimed by that city,
and to all other Riparian possessors on the Mississippi all alluvions,
and all atterisements, or shoals, left uncovered at low water, saving
to navigators the right of landing, unloading, &c. But providing that
the claim to the Batture given to the city, should be decided by special
commissioners to whom the evidence and arguments in writing shall be sent,
without any necessity of their going there.
Should not a bill be immediately proposed for amending the embargo law? In
the meantime the revenue cutters and armed vessels must use force.
Cockle's bonds are certainly good set-offs against his Louisiana bills,
and ought so to be used to save his sureties.
I am glad to find we have 4,000,000 acres west of Chafalaya. How much
better to have every 160 acres settled by an able-bodied militia man, than
by purchasers with their hordes of negroes, to add weakness instead of
strength. Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WASHINGTON, December 26, 1807.
DEAR SIR,--I return you the letters you were so kind as to communicate
to me, on the appointment of Dr. Waterhouse to the care of the marine
hospital. When he was decided on (November 26th), no other candidate had
been named to me as desiring the place.
The respectable recommendations I had received, and his station as
professor of medicine in a college of high reputation, sufficiently
warranted his abilities as a physician, and to these was added a fact
well known, that, to his zeal, the United States were indebted for the
introduction of a great blessing,--vaccination, which has extirpated one
of the most loathsome and mortal diseases which has afflicted humanity
some years, probably, sooner than would otherwise have taken place. It was
a pleasure, therefore, as well as a duty, in dispensing the public favors,
to make this small return for the great service rendered our country by
Dr. Waterhouse.
That he is not a professional _surgeon_ is not an objection. The marine
hospitals are medical institutions, for the relief of common seamen,
and the ordinary diseases to which they are liable. To them, therefore,
professional _physicians_ have always been appointed.
A surgeon is named to the navy hospital. The surgeon will have medical
cases under him, and the physician some surgical cases; but not in
sufficient proportion to change the characters of the institutions, or of
the persons to whom they are committed.
On a review of the subject, therefore, I have no reason to doubt that
the person appointed will perform the services of the marine hospital
with ability and faithfulness; and I feel a satisfaction in having
done something towards discharging a moral obligation of the nation, to
one who has saved so many of its victims from a mortal disease. Nor is
it unimportant to the State in which that institution is, that it has
extended his means of usefulness to the medical students of its college.
I am thankful now, as at all times, for information on the subject of
appointments, even when it comes too late to be used. I know none but
public motives in making them. It is more difficult and more painful than
all the other duties of my office, and one in which I am sufficiently
conscious that involuntary error must often be committed; and I am
particularly thankful to yourself for this opportunity of explaining
the grounds of the appointment in question; and I tender you sincere
assurances of my affectionate esteem and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
WASHINGTON, December 29, 1807.
It is impossible to detest more than I do the fraudulent and injurious
practice of covering foreign vessels and cargoes under the American flag;
and I sincerely wish a systematic and severe course of punishment could be
established. It is only as a punishment of this fraud, that we could deny
to the Portuguese vessel the liberty of departing. But I do not know that
a solitary and accidental instance of punishment would have any effect.
The vessel is _bonâ fide_ Portuguese, the crew Portuguese, loaded with
provisions for Portugal, an unoffending and friendly country, to whom we
wish no ill. I have not sufficiently considered the embargo act, to say
how far the executive is at liberty to decide on these cases. But if we
are free to do it, I should be much disposed to take back her American
papers, and let her go, especially on giving bond and security to land the
cargo in Portugal, dangers of the sea and superior force excepted. Perhaps
it would be proper to require the captain to give up also his certificate
of citizenship, which is also merely fraudulent, has been the ground of
fraudulent conversion, and may be used on the voyage as a fraudulent cover
to the cargo. Affectionate salutations.
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, January 3, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--Your favor of December 20th has been received. The copy of
the late volume of Agricultural Proceedings is not yet at hand, but will
probably come safe. I had formerly received the preceding volumes from
your kindness, as you supposed. Writings on this subject are peculiarly
pleasing to me, for, as they tell us, we are sprung from the earth, so
to that we naturally return. It is now among my most fervent longings
to be on my farm, which, with a garden and fruitery, will constitute my
principal occupation in retirement. I have lately received the proceedings
of the Agricultural Society of Paris. They are proceeding with enthusiasm
and understanding. I have been surprised to find that the rotation of
crops and substitution of some profitable growth preparatory for grain,
instead of the useless and expensive fallow, is yet only dawning among
them. The society has lately re-published Oliver de Serres' Theatre
d'Agriculture, in 2 vols. 4to, although written in the reign of * * * * *
It is the finest body of agriculture extant, and especially as improved
by voluminous notes, which bring its process to the present day. I lately
received from Colonel Few in New York, a bottle of the oil of Beni,
believed to be a sesamum. I did not believe there existed so perfect a
substitute for olive oil. Like that of Florence, it has no taste, and is
perhaps rather more limpid. A bushel of seed yields three gallons of oil;
and Governor Milledge, of Georgia, says the plant will grow wherever the
Palmi Christi will. It is worth your attention, and you can probably get
seed from Colonel Few. We are in hourly expectation of Mr. Rose here, in
the hope of seeing what turn our differences with that nation are to take.
As yet all is doubtful. Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of
great esteem and respect.
TO DOCTOR RUSH.
WASHINGTON, January 3, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--Dr. Waterhouse has been appointed to the Marine Hospital of
Boston, as you wished. It was a just though small return for his merit,
in introducing the vaccination earlier than we should have had it. His
appointment there makes some noise there and here, being unacceptable to
some; but I believe that schismatic divisions in the medical fraternity
are at the bottom of it. My usage is to make the best appointment my
information and judgment enable me to do, and then fold myself up in the
mantle of conscience, and abide unmoved the peltings of the storm. And oh!
for the day when I shall be withdrawn from it; when I shall have leisure
to enjoy my family, my friends, my farm and books!
In the ensuing autumn, I shall be sending on to Philadelphia a grandson of
about fifteen years of age, to whom I shall ask your friendly attentions.
Without that bright fancy which captivates, I am in hopes he possesses
sound judgment and much observation; and, what I value more than all
things, good humor. For thus I estimate the qualities of the mind; 1, good
humor, 2, integrity; 3, industry; 4, science. The preference of the first
to the second quality may not at first be acquiesced in; but certainly we
had all rather associate with a good-humored, light-principled man, than
with an ill tempered rigorist in morality.
We are here in hourly expectation of seeing Mr. Rose, and of knowing
what turn his mission is to give to our present differences. The embargo
is salutary. It postpones war, gives time and the benefits of events
which that may produce; particularly that of peace in Europe, which will
postpone the causes of difference to the next war. I salute you with great
affection and respect.
TO JOHN TAYLOR, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, January 6, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--Your ingenious friend, Mr. Martin, formerly made for me a drill
of very fine construction. I am now very desirous of sending one of them
to the Agricultural Society of Paris, with whom I am in correspondence,
and who are sending me a plough supposed to be of the best construction
ever known. On trial with their best ploughs, by a dynamometer, it is
drawn by from one-half to two-thirds of the force requisite to their best
former ploughs. Will you be so good as to get Mr. Martin to make me one
of his best drills, sparing no pains to make the workmanship worthy of the
object, to pack it in a box, and contrive it for me to Fredericksburg. The
cost shall be remitted him as soon as known. I see by the agricultural
transactions of the Paris Society, they are cultivating the Jerusalem
artichoke for feeding their animals. They make 10,000 lb. to the acre,
which they say is three times as much as they generally make of the
potatoe. The African Negroes brought over to Georgia a seed which they
called benn, and the botanists sesamum. I lately received a bottle of the
oil, which was eaten with sallad by various companies. All agree it is
equal to the olive oil. A bushel of seed yields three gallons of oil. I
propose to cultivate it for my own use at least. The embargo keeping at
home our vessels, cargoes and seamen, saves us the necessity of making
their capture the cause of immediate war; for, if going to England, France
had determined to take them, if to any other place, England was to take
them. Till they return to some sense of moral duty, therefore, we keep
within ourselves. This gives time. Time may produce peace in Europe; peace
in Europe removes all causes of difference, till another European war; and
by that time our debt may be paid, our revenues clear, and our strength
increased.
I salute you with great friendship and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
January 7, 1808.
I think with you that the establishment of posts of delivery at Green Bay
and Chicago, would only furnish pretexts for not entering at Mackinac;
and that a new post at the falls of St. Mary's, requiring a military post
to be established there, would not quit cost, nor is this a time to be
multiplying small establishments.
The collector should have his eye on the schooner Friends on her return,
and though proof may be difficult, harass them with a prosecution.
I see nothing in the case of the Swedish captain which can produce doubt.
The law is plain that a foreign vessel may go with the load she had on
board and no more. The exception as to vessels under the President's
direction, can only be meant to embrace governmental cases, such as advice
vessels, such as permitting foreign seamen to be shipped to their own
country.
With respect to the Four Brothers, I know not what can be done, unless the
amendatory law would authorize the collector to detain on circumstances
of strong suspicion, until he can refer the case here, and give a power to
detain finally on such grounds.
Have you thought of the Indian drawback? The Indians can be kept in order
only by commerce or war. The former is the cheapest. Unless we can induce
individuals to employ their capital in that trade, it will require an
enormous sum of capital from the public treasury, and it will be badly
managed. A drawback for four or five years is the cheapest way of getting
that business off our hands. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. SMITH.
January 7, 1808.
Proceeding as we are to an extensive construction of gun-boats, there are
many circumstances to be considered and agreed on, viz.:
1. How many shall we build? for the debate lately published proves clearly
it was not expected we should build the whole number proposed.
2. Of what size, and how many of each size?
3. What weight of metal shall each size carry? shall carronades be added?
4. Is it not best, as they will not be seasoned, to leave them unsealed
awhile?
5. Where shall they be built, and when required to be in readiness?
6. As a small proportion only will be kept afloat, in time of peace, the
_safe_ and _convenient_ depositories for those laid up should be inquired
into and agreed on, and sheds erected under which they may be covered from
the sun and rain.
7. To economize the navy funds of the ensuing year, we should determine
how many of the boats now in service ought to be kept in each, and for how
many we will depend on the seaport in case of attack.
The first of these subjects may require a general consultation, and
perhaps the 7th also. The others are matters of detail which may be
determined on between you and myself. I shall be ready to consult with you
on them at your convenience. Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
WASHINGTON, January 8, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--Your letter of December 29th brings to my mind a subject which
never has presented itself but with great pain, that of your withdrawing
from the administration, before I withdraw myself. It would have been
to me the greatest of consolations to have gone through my term with the
same coadjutors, and to have shared with them the merit, or demerit, of
whatever good or evil we may have done. The integrity, attention, skill,
and economy with which you have conducted your department, have given
me the most complete and unqualified satisfaction, and this testimony I
bear to it with all the sincerity of truth and friendship; and should a
war come on, there is no person in the United States to whose management
and care I could commit it with equal confidence. That you as well
as myself, and all our brethren, have maligners, who from ill-temper,
or disappointment, seek opportunities of venting their angry passions
against us, is well known, and too well understood by our constituents
to be regarded. No man who can succeed you will have fewer, nor will any
one enjoy a more extensive confidence through the nation. Finding that
I could not retain you to the end of my term, I had wished to protract
your stay, till I could with propriety devolve on another the naming of
your successor. But this probably could not be done till about the time
of our separation in July. Your continuance however, till after the end
of the session, will relieve me from the necessity of any nomination
during the session, and will leave me only a chasm of two or three months
over which I must hobble as well as I can. My greatest difficulty will
arise from the carrying on the system of defensive works we propose to
erect. That these should have been fairly under way, and in a course
of execution, under your direction, would have peculiarly relieved
me; because we concur so exactly in the scale on which they are to be
executed. Unacquainted with the details myself, I fear that when you are
gone, aided only by your chief clerk, I shall be assailed with schemes
of improvement and alterations which I shall be embarrassed to pronounce
on, or withstand, and incur augmentations of expense, which I shall not
know how to control. I speak of the interval between the close of this
session, when you propose to retire, and the commencement of our usual
recess in July. Because during that recess, we are in the habit of leaving
things to the chief clerks; and, by the end of it, my successor may be
pretty well known, and prevailed on to name yours. However, I am so much
relieved by your ekeing out your continuance to the end of the session,
that I feel myself bound to consult your inclinations then, and to take
on myself the difficulties of the short period then ensuing. In public or
in private, and in all situations, I shall retain for you the most cordial
esteem, and satisfactory recollections of the harmony and friendship with
which we have run our race together; and I pray you now to accept sincere
assurances of it, and of my great respect and attachment.
TO MESSRS. MAESE, LEYBERT AND DICKERSON, OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY.
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1808.
GENTLEMEN,--I duly received your favor of the 1st instant, informing me
that at an election of officers of the American Philosophical Society,
held at their hall on that day, they were pleased unanimously to elect me
as their President for the ensuing year. I repeat, with great sensibility,
my thanks to the Society for these continued proofs of their good will,
and my constant regret that distance and other duties deny me the pleasure
of performing at their meetings the functions assigned to me, and of
enjoying an intercourse with them which of all others would be the most
gratifying to me. Thus circumstanced I can only renew assurances of my
devotion to the objects of the Institution, and that I shall avail myself
with peculiar pleasure of every occasion which may occur of promoting
them, and of being useful to the Society.
I beg leave through you, Gentlemen, to present them the homage of my
dutiful respects, and that you will accept yourselves, the assurances of
my high consideration and esteem.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
January 10, 1808.
I find Bastrop's case less difficult than I had expected. My view of it is
this: The Governor of Louisiana being desirous of introducing the culture
of wheat into that province, engages Bastrop as an agent for carrying
that object into effect. He agrees to lay off twelve leagues square on
the Washita and Bayou liard, as a settlement for the culture of wheat, to
which Bastrop is to bring five hundred families, each of which families is
to have four hundred arpens of the land; the residue of the twelve leagues
square, we may understand, was to be Bastrop's premium. The government was
to bear the expenses of bringing these emigrants from New Madrid, and was
to allow them rations for six months,--Bastrop undertaking to provide the
rations, and the government paying a real and a half for each.
Bastrop binds himself to settle the five hundred families in three years,
and the Governor especially declares that if within that time the major
part of the establishment shall not have been made good, the _twelve
leagues square_, destined for Bastrop's settlers, shall be occupied by
the families first presenting themselves for that purpose. Bastrop brings
on some settlers,--how many does not appear, and the Intendant, from a
want of funds, suspends further proceeding in the settlement until the
King's decision. [His decision of what? Doubtless whether the settlement
shall proceed on these terms, and the funds be furnished by the king?
or shall be abandoned?] He promises Bastrop, at the same time, that the
former limitation of three years shall be extended to two years, after the
course of the contract shall have again commenced to be executed, and the
determination of the King shall be made known to Bastrop. Here, then, is
a complete suspension of the undertaking until the King's decision, and
his silence from that time till, and when, he ceded the province, must be
considered as an abandonment of the project.
There are several circumstances in this case offering ground for question,
whether Bastrop is entitled to any surplus of the lands. But this will
be an investigation for the Attorney General. But the uttermost he can
claim is a surplus proportioned to the number of families he settled,
that is to say, a quota of land bearing such a proportion to the number
of families he settled, (deducting four hundred arpens for each of them,)
as one hundred and forty-four square leagues bear to the whole number of
five hundred families. The important fact therefore to be settled, is the
number of families he established there before the suspension.
The Marquis du Maison Rouge (under whom Mr. Clarke claims) was to have
thirty square leagues on the Washita, for settling thirty families, none
of them to be Americans. The lands were located and appropriated under the
terms and conditions stipulated and contracted for by the said Marquis.
What these were we are not told. The grantee must prove his grant by
producing it. That will prove what the conditions were, and then he must
prove these conditions performed.
Livingston's argument does not establish the fact that the lands between
the staked line and the river, (if they belonged to the Jesuits,) were
conveyed to Gravier.
It is impossible to consider the indulgence to the Apelousas as anything
more than a _voluntary_ permission from the government to use the timber
on the ungranted lands, until they should be granted to others. It could
never be intended to keep that country forever unsettled, as appears by
expressly reserving the right of soil. But I think we should continue the
permission until we sell the lands.
These opinions are, of course, not to be considered as decisions, (for
that is not my province,) but as general ideas of the rights of the United
States, to be kept in view on the settlement.
The appropriation of the lots in New Orleans must certainly be suspended,
until we get the supplementary information promised. Affectionate
salutations.
TO WILLIAM WIRT, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, January 10, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--I pray you that this letter may be sacredly secret, because it
meddles in a line wherein I should myself think it wrong to intermeddle,
were it not that it looks to a period when I shall be out of office,
but others might think it wrong notwithstanding that circumstance. I
suspected, from your desire to go into the army, that you disliked your
profession, notwithstanding that your prospects in it were inferior to
none in the State. Still I know that no profession is open to stronger
antipathies than that of the law. The object of this letter, then, is
to propose to you to come into Congress. That is the great commanding
theatre of this nation, and the threshold to whatever department of office
a man is qualified to enter. With your reputation, talents, and correct
views, used with the necessary prudence, you will at once be placed at
the head of the republican body in the House of Representatives; and
after obtaining the standing which a little time will ensure you, you may
look, at your own will, into the military, the judiciary, diplomatic, or
other civil departments, with a certainty of being in either whatever you
please. And in the present state of what may be called the eminent talents
of our country, you may be assured of being engaged through life in the
most honorable employments. If you come in at the next election, you will
begin your course with a new administration. That administration will
be opposed by a faction, small in numbers, but governed by no principle
but the most envenomed malignity. They will endeavor to batter down
the executive before it will have time, by its purity and correctness,
to build up a confidence with the people, founded on experiment. By
supporting them you will lay for yourself a broad foundation in the public
confidence, and indeed you will become the Colossus of the republican
government of your country. I will not say that public life is the line
for making a fortune. But it furnishes a decent and honorable support, and
places one's children on good grounds for public favor. The family of a
beloved father will stand with the public on the most favorable ground of
competition. Had General Washington left children, what would have been
denied to them?
Perhaps I ought to apologize for the frankness of this communication. It
proceeds from an ardent zeal to see this government (the idol of my soul)
continue in good hands, and from a sincere desire to see you whatever you
wish to be. To this apology I shall only add my friendly salutations, and
assurances of sincere esteem and respect.
TO MR. SMITH.
January 14, 1808.
I return you Chauncey's letter. I am sorry to see the seamen working for
rations only, and that we cannot allow even them. And further, indeed,
that we shall be under the necessity of discharging a number of those we
have. This is so serious a question that I propose to call a consultation
on it a day or two hence. Our sixty-four gun-boats and ketches may
certainly be reduced to ten seamen each, at least I have at various times
had the opinions of nearly all our naval captains, that from eight to ten
men are sufficient to keep a gun-boat clean and in order, to navigate her
in harbor, and to look out of it. This would give us a reduction of about
four hundred men. But even this will not bring it within the estimate.
However, what is to be done, is the question on which I shall propose
a consultation. I send you a letter of a Mr. Walton, of Baltimore, for
perusal, merely as it suggests ideas worth looking at. I confess, I think
our _naval militia_ plan, both as to name and structure, better for us
than the English plan of seafencibles.
I ought to be in possession of a former letter from the same person, but
not finding it among my papers, am induced to ask whether I sent it to
you? Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. SMITH.
January 15, 1808.
To the letter from Mr. Davy, of the committee of the chamber of commerce,
of Philadelphia, (which I now return you,) I think you may say in answer,
that you had communicated it to the President, and were authorized to
say that the Government of the United States have no present views of
forming new harbors for the reception of their vessels of war: that under
the authority, and with the means, lately given by the Legislature to
the executive, it is intended to furnish means of defence, by land and
water, to the several harbors of the United States, in proportion to their
importance and local circumstances: that all the points to be defended are
not yet definitively decided on; but that in reviewing them, the harbor
proposed by the chamber of commerce, to be formed near Lewistown, will
be considered, and will have a just participation in the provisions for
protection, in the first place according to its present circumstances, and
hereafter according to any new importance which shall have been given it
by being made a place of greater resort for merchant vessels. Affectionate
salutations.
TO MR. J. DORSEY.
WASHINGTON, January 21, 1808.
SIR,--I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of December 20th,
and am much pleased to find our progress in manufactures to be so great.
That of cotton is peculiarly interesting, because we raise the raw
material in such abundance, and because it may, to a great degree, supply
our deficiencies both in wool and linen. A former application on behalf
of Messrs. Binney & Robertson, was delivered to the Secretary of State,
who will engage General Armstrong to aid such measures as they may take in
Paris for obtaining permission to draw supplies of Antimony from thence.
It will give me real pleasure to see some good system of measures and
weights introduced and combined with the decimal arithmetic. It is a great
and difficult question whether to venture only on a half reformation,
which by presenting fewer innovations, may be more easily adopted, or,
as the French have tried with success, make a radical reform. Your plan
presents as few innovations as any I have seen; but I think your _foot_
should refer to the pendulum, by saying, for instance, that the _foot_
shall be a measure which shall be to the second pendulum as 1 to 3,267;
or rather as 1 to the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds in latitude
45°. This offers a standard in every place, because it can everywhere be
found. The rod you propose is only to be found in Philadelphia. You say
in your letter that "if the decimal mode obtain in the division of the
pound, the Troy and it, as regards the Troy grain, would be the same."
I do not understand this; because the Avoirdupois pound containing 7,000
Troy grains, I do not see how any decimal subdivision of the pound could
coincide with the Troy grain. However, I shall be very glad to see adopted
whatever measure is most promising. I salute you with esteem and respect.
TO THE REV. MR. MILLAR.
WASHINGTON, January 23, 1808.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor of the 18th, and am thankful to you
for having written it, because it is more agreeable to prevent than to
refuse what I do not think myself authorized to comply with. I consider
the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution
from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines,
discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that
no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of
religion, but from that also which reserves to the States the powers
not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe
any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline,
has been delegated to the General Government. It must then rest with
the States, as far as it can be in any human authority. But it is only
proposed that I should _recommend_, not prescribe a day of fasting and
prayer. That is, that I should _indirectly_ assume to the United States an
authority over religious exercises, which the Constitution has directly
precluded them from. It must be meant, too, that this recommendation is
to carry some authority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those
who disregard it; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some degree
of proscription, perhaps in public opinion. And does the change in the
nature of the penalty make the recommendation less a _law_ of conduct
for those to whom it is directed? I do not believe it is for the interest
of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its
discipline, or its doctrines; nor of the religious societies, that the
General Government should be invested with the power of effecting any
uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer are religious
exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious
society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises,
and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets;
and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the
Constitution has deposited it.
I am aware that the practice of my predecessors may be quoted. But I have
ever believed, that the example of State executives led to the assumption
of that authority by the General Government, without due examination,
which would have discovered that what might be a right in a State
government, was a violation of that right when assumed by another. Be this
as it may, every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason,
and mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President
of the United States, and no authority to direct the religious exercises
of his constituents.
I again express my satisfaction that you have been so good as to give me
an opportunity of explaining myself in a private letter, in which I could
give my reasons more in detail than might have been done in a public
answer; and I pray you to accept the assurances of my high esteem and
respect.
TO MR. BARLOW.
January 24, 1808.
Thomas Jefferson returns thanks to Mr. Barlow for the copy of the
Columbiad he has been so kind as to send him; the eye discovers at
once the excellence of the mechanical execution of the work, and he is
persuaded that the mental part will be found to have merited it. He will
not do it the injustice of giving it such a reading as his situation here
would admit, of a few minutes at a time, and at intervals of many days.
He will reserve it for that retirement after which he is panting, and not
now very distant, where he may enjoy it in full concert with its kindred
scenes, amidst those rural delights which join in chorus with the poet,
and give to his song all its magic effect. He salutes Mr. Barlow with
friendship and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR TOMKINS.
WASHINGTON, January 26, 1808.
SIR,--I take the liberty of enclosing to you the copy of an application
which I have received from a portion of the citizens of the State of New
York, residing on the river St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, setting forth
their very defenceless situation for the want of arms, and praying to be
furnished from the magazines of the United States. Similar applications
from other parts of our frontier in every direction have sufficiently
shown that did the laws permit such a disposition of the arms of the
United States, their magazines would be completely exhausted, and nothing
would remain for actual war. But it is only when troops take the field,
that the arms of the United States can be delivered to them. For the
ordinary safety of the citizens of the several States, whether against
dangers within or without, their reliance must be on the means to be
provided by their respective States. Under these circumstances I have
thought it my duty to transmit to you the representation received, not
doubting that you will have done for the safety of our fellow citizens,
on a part of our frontier so interesting and so much exposed, what their
situation requires, and the means under your control may permit.
Should our present differences be amicably settled, it will be a question
for consideration whether we should not establish a strong post on the St.
Lawrence, as near our northern boundary as a good position can be found.
To do this at present would only produce a greater accumulation of hostile
force in that quarter. I pray you to accept the assurances of my high
respect and esteem.
TO JACOB J. BROWN, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 1808.
SIR,--The representation of the county of Jefferson, in New York, of
which you are chairman, stating their want of arms, and asking a supply,
has been duly received and considered. I learn with great concern that
a portion of our frontier so interesting, so important, and so exposed,
should be so entirely unprovided with common fire-arms. I did not suppose
any part of the United States so destitute of what is considered as among
the first necessaries of a farm-house. This circumstance gives me the
more concern as the laws of the United States do not permit their arms to
be delivered from the magazines but to troops actually taking the field;
and, indeed, were the inhabitants on the whole of our frontier, of so
many thousands of miles, to be furnished from our magazines, little would
be left in them for actual war. For the ordinary safety of the citizens
of the several States, whether against dangers from within or without,
reliance has been placed either on the domestic means of the individuals,
or on those provided by the respective States. What those means are in
the State of New York, I am not informed; but I have transmitted your
representation to Governor Tomkins, with an earnest recommendation of it
to his attention; and I have no doubt that his solicitude for the welfare
and safety of a portion so eminently exposed of those under his immediate
care, will ensure to you whatever his authority and his means will permit.
That an attack should be made on you by your neighbors, while the state
of peace continues, cannot be supposed; nor is it certain that that
condition of things will be interrupted. Should, however, war take place,
if first declared by us, your safety will of course have been previously
provided for: if by the other party, it cannot be before the measures
now in preparation will be in readiness to secure you. Should our present
differences be amicably settled, a new post on the St. Lawrence, as near
our northern boundary as a good position can be found, will be worthy of
consideration. At present it would only produce a greater accumulation of
hostile force in your neighborhood, and if we should have war, it would
soon become unimportant.
On the whole, while I am in hopes that your State will provide by the
loan of arms, for your immediate safety and confidence, you may be assured
that such measures shall be in readiness, and in reach, on the part of the
General Government, as aided by your own efforts, will effectually secure
you from the dangers you apprehend.
I cannot conclude without expressing to you the satisfaction with which I
have received the patriotic assurance of your best services, should they
be needed in your country's cause. They are worthy of the citizens of a
free country, who know and properly estimate the value of self-government,
and are the more acceptable as from a quarter where they will be most
important.
I beg leave to assure yourself, and through you the committee, of my great
consideration and respect.
TO MR. JACOB BROWN.
WASHINGTON, January 27, 1808.
SIR,--The substance of the enclosed letter, so far as is necessary for the
satisfaction of our fellow citizens, should be communicated to them. But
the letter itself should not be published, nor be permitted to be copied.
Because the source from which it comes will occasion every word of it to
be weighed by your neighbors on the opposite shore, and every inference to
be drawn of which it is susceptible. To aid their information as to our
views, would give them an advantage to our own prejudice. I salute you
with respect.
TO MR. TIFFIN.
January 30, 1808.
Thomas Jefferson returns the enclosed to Mr. Tiffin with his thanks for
the communication. He cannot foresee what shape Burr's machinations will
take next. If we have war with Spain, he will become a Spanish General.
If with England, he will go to Canada and be employed there. Internal
convulsion may be attempted if no game more hopeful offers. But it will be
a difficult one, and the more so as having once failed.
TO WILLIAM M'INTOSH.
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1808.
SIR,--I received some days ago your letter of December 15th, covering
a copy of the resolutions of the French inhabitants of Vincennes of
September 18th, in answer to the address of Governor Harrison, who had,
in the month of October, forwarded me a copy of the same. In his letter
enclosing it he assured me that his address to them on the subject of
our differences with England was merely monitory, putting them on their
guard against insinuations from any agents of that country, who might
find their way among them, and containing no expression, which if truly
explained to them, should have conveyed the least doubt of his confidence
in their fidelity to the United States. I had hoped therefore that the
uneasiness expressed in their resolutions had been done away by subsequent
explanations, as I have no reason to believe any such distrust existed
in the Governor's mind. I can assure them that he never expressed such
a sentiment in any of his communications to me, but that whenever he has
had occasion to speak of them, it has been in terms of entire approbation
and attachment. In my own mind certainly no doubts of their fidelity have
ever been excited or existed. Having been the Governor of Virginia when
Vincennes and the other French settlements of that quarter surrendered to
the arms of that State, twenty-eight years ago, I have had a particular
knowledge of their character as long perhaps as any person in the United
States, and in the various relations in which I have been placed with
them by the several offices I have since held, that knowledge has been
kept up. And to their great honor I can say that I have ever considered
them as sober, honest, and orderly citizens, submissive to the laws,
and faithful to the nation of which they are a part. And should occasion
arise of proving their fidelity in the cause of their country, I count
on their aid with as perfect assurance as on that of any other part of
the United States. In return for this confidence, and as an additional
proof on their part that it is not misplaced, I ask of them a return to
a perfect good understanding with their Governor, and to that respect for
those in authority over them, which has hitherto so honorably marked their
character. As to myself they may be assured that my confidence in them is
undiminished, and that nothing will be wanting on the part of the general
government to secure them in the full participation of all the rights
civil and religious which are enjoyed by their fellow citizens in the
Union at large.
I beg leave through you to salute them, as well as yourself, with
affection and respect.
TO GOVERNOR HARRISON.
WASHINGTON, January 31, 1808.
DEAR SIR,--I duly received your letter of October 10th, covering the
resolutions of the French inhabitants of Vincennes, and had hoped that
their uneasiness under your supposed want of confidence in them had
subsided. But a letter lately received from their chairman, covering
another copy of the same resolutions, induces me to answer them, in order
to quiet all further uneasiness. I enclose you my answer, open for your
perusal, and will thank you to seal and deliver it. I have expressed to
them the opinion I have long entertained of the ancient Canadian French,
on a long course of information, and as it is favorable to them, I trust
it will be soothing, and restore those good dispositions which will ease
the execution of your duties, and tend to produce that union which the
present crisis calls for.
Russia and Portugal have cut off all intercourse with England; their
ambassadors re-called, and war follows of course. Our difficulties with
her are great, nor can it yet be seen how they will terminate.
Accept my salutations, and assurances of great respect and esteem.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
February 8, 1808.
In questions like the present, important neither in principle nor amount,
I think the collectors should decide for themselves, and especially as
they, and they only, are the legally competent judges; for I believe the
law makes them the judges of the security. If the indulgence proposed
be within the intentions of the law, they can grant it; if it be not, we
cannot. But it is the practice in all cases for the officer who is charged
with the taking security, to be indulgent in a hard case, as where the
person is a stranger, could he not take hypothecations of their vessels?
although the law may not specially authorize this, yet the collector
can take it as counter security for himself, and he can assign it to the
government. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
February 10, 1808.
It would certainly be very desirable that our citizens should be able
to draw home their property from beyond sea, and it is possible that
Mr. Parish's proposition might be instrumental to that. But it would be
too bold an extension of the views of the Legislature in the portion
of discretion they have given us. They could not mean to give us so
extensive a power of dispensation as would result from the duty of giving
special licenses to merchants, and such a power, guided by no Legislative
regulations, would be liable to great abuse, and greater complaints of it.
I see therefore, neither justification nor safety in leaving the ground we
have taken, of confining the discretionary power given us to the public
correspondence and public interests. If the drawing this mass of specie
here could be any way connected with any direct public operation, the
danger of the precedent would be guarded against; but as it is presented
to us, I think it inadmissible. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. SMITH.
February 14, 1808.
I believe we must employ some of our gun-boats to aid in the execution
of the embargo law. Some British ships in the Delaware, one of them
loaded with fifteen hundred barrels of flour for Jamaica, another armed
as a letter of marque, openly mean to go out by force. The last is too
strong for the revenue cutters. Mr. Brice also, of Baltimore, asks armed
assistance. I see nothing at present to prevent our sparing a couple of
gun-boats from New York to go into the Delaware, and a couple from Norfolk
to come up to the head of the Bay. Will this interfere with more important
duties? Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
February 14, 1808.
I have written to Mr. Smith, proposing to order a couple of gun-boats from
New York into the Delaware, and two from Norfolk to the head of the bay. I
hope the passage of naval stores into Canada will be prevented. I enclose
for your information the account of a silver mine to fill your treasury.
Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. DANIEL SALMON.
WASHINGTON, February 15, 1808.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter of the 8th instant, on the subject
of the stone in your possession, supposed meteoric. Its descent from the
atmosphere presents so much difficulty as to require careful examination.
But I do not know that the most effectual examination could be made by
the members of the National Legislature, to whom you have thought of
exhibiting it. Some fragments of these stones have been already handed
about among them. But those most highly qualified for acting in _their_
stations, are not necessarily supposed most familiar with subjects of
natural history; and such of them as have that familiarity, are not in
situations here to make the investigation. I should think that an inquiry
by some one of our scientific societies, as the Philosophical Society
of Philadelphia for example, would be most likely to be directed with
such caution and knowledge of the subject, as would inspire a general
confidence. We certainly are not to deny whatever we cannot account for.
A thousand phenomena present themselves daily which we cannot explain,
but where facts are suggested, bearing no analogy with the laws of
nature as yet known to us, their verity needs proofs proportioned to
their difficulty. A cautious mind will weigh well the opposition of the
phenomenon to everything hitherto observed, the strength of the testimony
by which it is supported, and the errors and misconceptions to which even
our senses are liable. It may be very difficult to explain how the stone
you possess came into the position in which it was found. But is it easier
to explain how it got into the clouds from whence it is supposed to have
fallen? The actual fact however is the thing to be established, and this I
hope will be done by those whose situations and qualifications enable them
to do it. I salute you with respect.
TO MR. ANTHONY G. BETTAY.
WASHINGTON, February 18, 1808.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter of January 27th. With respect to
the silver mine on the river Platte, 1,700 miles from St. Louis, I will
observe that in the present state of things between us and Spain, we could
not propose to make an establishment at that distance from all support.
It is interesting however that the knowledge of its position should be
preserved, which can be done either by confiding it to the government,
who will certainly never make use of it without an honorable compensation
for the discovery to yourself or your representatives, or by placing it
wherever you think it safest.
I should be glad of a copy of any sketch or account you may have made of
the river Platte, of the passage from its head across the mountains, and
of the river Cashecatungo, which you suppose to run into the Pacific. This
would probably be among the first exploring journeys we undertake after
a settlement with Spain, as we wish to become acquainted with all the
advantageous water connections across our continent.
I shall be very glad to receive some seed of the silk nettle which you
describe, with a view to have it raised, and its uses tried. I have not
been able to find that any of your delegates here has received it. If you
would be so good as to send me a small packet of it by post, it will come
safely, and I will immediately commit it to a person who will try it with
the utmost care. I salute you with respect.
TO COLONEL MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 18, 1808.
MY DEAR SIR,--You informed me that the instruments you had been so kind as
to bring for me from England, would arrive at Richmond with your baggage,
and you wished to know what was to be done with them there. I will ask the
favor of you to deliver them to Mr. Jefferson, who will forward them to
Monticello in the way I shall advise him. And I must entreat you to send
me either a note of their amount, or the bills, that I may be enabled to
reimburse you. There can be no pecuniary matter between us, against which
this can be any set-off. But if, contrary to my recollection or knowledge,
there were anything, I pray that that may be left to be settled by itself.
If I could have known the amount beforehand, I should have remitted it,
and asked the advance only under the idea that it should be the same as
ready money to you on your arrival. I must again, therefore, beseech you
to let me know its amount.
I see with infinite grief a contest arising between yourself and another,
who have been very dear to each other, and equally so to me. I sincerely
pray that these dispositions may not be affected between you; with me I
confidently trust they will not. For independently of the dictates of
public duty, which prescribes neutrality to me, my sincere friendship
for you both will ensure its sacred observance. I suffer no one to
converse with me on the subject. I already perceive my old friend Clinton,
estranging himself from me. No doubt lies are carried to him, as they
will be to the other two candidates, under forms which, however false,
he can scarcely question. Yet I have been equally careful as to him
also, never to say a word on his subject. The object of the contest is
a fair and honorable one, equally open to you all; and I have no doubt
the personal conduct of all will be so chaste, as to offer no ground of
dissatisfaction with each other. But your friends will not be as delicate.
I know too well from experience the progress of political controversy,
and the exacerbation of spirit into which it degenerates, not to fear
for the continuance of your mutual esteem. One piquing thing said draws
on another, that a third, and always with increasing acrimony, until all
restraint is thrown off, and it becomes difficult for yourselves to keep
clear of the toils in which your friends will endeavor to interlace you,
and to avoid the participation in their passions which they will endeavor
to produce. A candid recollection of what you know of each other will be
the true corrective. With respect to myself, I hope they will spare me.
My longings for retirement are so strong, that I with difficulty encounter
the daily drudgeries of my duty. But my wish for retirement itself is not
stronger than that of carrying into it the affections of all my friends.
I have ever viewed Mr. Madison and yourself as two principal pillars of
my happiness. Were either to be withdrawn, I should consider it as among
the greatest calamities which could assail my future peace of mind. I
have great confidence that the candor and high understanding of both will
guard me against this misfortune, the bare possibility of which has so far
weighed on my mind, that I could not be easy without unburthening it.
Accept my respectful salutations for yourself and Mrs. Monroe, and be
assured of my constant and sincere friendship.