PARIS, December 26, 1786.
DEAR SIR,--A note from me of the 22d of September, apprised you it
would be some time before I should be able to answer your letters. I
did not then expect it would have been so long.
I enclose herein a resolution of Congress, recalling Mr. Lambe, which I
will beg the favor of you to have delivered him. I have written to Mr.
Adams on the subject of directing him to settle with Mr. Barclay, and
attend his answer. In the meantime, I am not without hopes Mr. Barclay
has done the business. I send also a note desiring Mr. Lambe to deliver
you his cypher, and a copy of a letter from the Minister of Finance
here, to me, announcing several regulations in favor of our commerce.
My "Notes on Virginia," having been hastily written, need abundance of
corrections. Two or three of these are so material, that I am
reprinting a few leaves to substitute for the old. As soon as these
shall be ready, I will beg your acceptance of a copy. I shall be proud
to be permitted to send a copy, also, to the Count de Campomanes, as a
tribute to his science and his virtues. You will find in them that the
Natural Bridge has found an admirer in me also. I should be happy to
make with you the tour of the curiosities you will find therein
mentioned. That kind of pleasure surpasses much, in my estimation,
whatever I find on this side the Atlantic. I sometimes think of
building a little hermitage at the Natural Bridge (for it is my
property) and of passing there a part of the year at least.
I have received American papers to the 1st of November. Some tumultuous
meetings of the people have taken place in the eastern States; _i. e._
one in Massachusetts, one in Connecticut, and one in New Hampshire.
Their principal demand was, a respite in the judiciary proceedings. No
injury was done, however, in a single instance, to the person or
property of any one, nor did the tumult continue twenty-four hours in
any one instance. In Massachusetts, this was owing to the discretion
which the malcontents still preserved; in Connecticut and New
Hampshire, the body of the people rose in support of government, and
obliged the malcontents to go to their homes. In the last-mentioned
State, they seized about forty, who were in jail for trial. It is
believed this incident will strengthen our government. Those people are
not entirely without excuse. Before the war, these States depended on
their whale oil and fish. The former was consumed in England, and much
of the latter in the Mediterranean. The heavy duties on American whale
oil, now required in England, exclude it from that market; and the
Algerines exclude them from bringing their fish into the Mediterranean.
France is opening her ports for their oil, but in the meanwhile, their
ancient debts are pressing them, and they have nothing to pay with. The
Massachusetts Assembly, too, in their zeal for paying their public
debt, had laid a tax too heavy to be paid in the circumstances of their
State. The Indians seem disposed, too, to make war on us. These
complicated causes, determined Congress to increase their forces to two
thousand men. The latter was the sole object avowed, yet the former
entered for something into the measure. However, I am satisfied the
good sense of the people is the strongest army our government can ever
have, and that it will not fail them. The commercial convention at
Annapolis, was not full enough to do business. They found, too, their
appointments too narrow, being confined to the article of commerce.
They have proposed a meeting in Philadelphia in May, and that it may be
authorized to propose amendments of whatever is defective in the
federal constitution.
When I was in England, I formed a portable copying press, on the
principles of the large one they make here, for copying letters. I had
a model made there, and it has answered perfectly. A workman here has
made several from that model. The itinerant temper of your court will,
I think, render one of these useful to you. You must, therefore, do me
the favor to accept of one. I have it now in readiness, and shall send
it by the way of Bayonne, to the care of Mr. Alexander there, unless
Don Miguel de Lardizabal can carry it with him.
My hand admonishes me it is time to stop, and that I must defer writing
to Mr. Barclay till to-morrow.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest esteem and
respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.