PARIS, June 20, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I wrote you last on the 30th of January, with a postscript
of February the 5th. Having set out the last day of that month to try
the waters of Aix, and been journeying since, till the 10th instant, I
have been unable to continue my correspondence with you. In the
meantime, I have received your several favors of February the 16th,
March the 18th and 19th, and April the 23d. The last arrived here about
the 25th of May, while those of March the 18th and 19th, though written
five weeks earlier, arrived three weeks later. I mention this to show
you how uncertain is the conveyance through England.
[3] Much of this letter is in cypher, but the notes annexed to it
have enabled the Editor to decipher and publish it.
The idea of separating the executive business of the confederacy from
Congress, as the judiciary is already, in some degree, is just and
necessary. I had frequently pressed on the members individually, while
in Congress, the doing this by a resolution of Congress for appointing
an executive committee, to act during the sessions of Congress, as the
committee of the States was to act during their vacations. But the
referring to this committee all executive business, as it should
present itself, would require a more persevering self-denial than I
suppose Congress to possess. It will be much better to make that
separation by a federal act. The negative, proposed to be given them on
all the acts of the several legislatures, is now, for the first time,
suggested to my mind. _Prima facie_, I do not like it. It fails in an
essential character; that the hole and the patch should be
commensurate. But this proposes to mend a small hole by covering the
whole garment. Not more than one out of one hundred State acts concern
the confederacy. This proposition, then, in order to give them one
degree of power, which they ought to have, gives them ninety-nine more,
which they ought not to have, upon a presumption that they will not
exercise the ninety-nine. But upon every act, there will be a
preliminary question, Does this act concern the confederacy? And was
there ever a proposition so plain, as to pass Congress without a
debate? Their decisions are almost always wise; they are like pure
metal. But you know of how much dross this is the result. Would not an
appeal from the State judicature to a federal court, in all cases where
the act of Confederation controlled the question, be as effectual a
remedy, and exactly commensurate to the defect? A British creditor, for
example, sues for his debt in Virginia; the defendant pleads an act of
the State, excluding him from their courts; the plaintiff urges the
Confederation, and the treaty made under that, as controlling the State
law; the judges are weak enough to decide according to the views of
their legislature. An appeal to a federal court sets all to rights. It
will be said, that this court may encroach on the jurisdiction of the
State courts. It may. But there will be a power, to wit, Congress, to
watch and restrain them. But place the same authority in Congress
itself, and there will be no power above them, to perform the same
office. They will restrain within due bounds, a jurisdiction exercised
by others, much more rigorously than if exercised by themselves.
I am uneasy at seeing that the sale of our western lands is not yet
commenced. That valuable fund for the immediate extinction of our debt
will, I fear, be suffered to slip through our fingers. Every delay
exposes it to events which no human foresight can guard against. When
we consider the temper of the people of that country, derived from the
circumstances which surround them, we must suppose their separation
possible, at every moment. If they can be retained till their
governments become settled and wise, they will remain with us always,
and be a precious part of our strength and our virtue. But this affair
of the Mississippi, by showing that Congress is capable of hesitating
on a question, which proposes a clear sacrifice of the western, to the
maritime States, will with difficulty be obliterated. The proposition
of my going to Madrid, to try to recover there the ground which has
been lost at New York, by the concession of the vote of seven States, I
should think desperate. With respect to myself, weighing the pleasure
of the journey and bare possibility of success, in one scale, and the
strong probability of failure and the public disappointment directed on
me, in the other, the latter preponderates. Add to this, that jealousy
might be excited in the breast of a person, who could find occasions of
making me uneasy.
The late changes in the ministry here excite considerable hopes. I
think we gain in them all. I am particularly happy at the re-entry of
Malesherbes into the Council, His knowledge and integrity render his
value inappreciable, and the greater to me, because, while he had no
views of office, we had established together the most unreserved
intimacy. So far, too, I am pleased with Montmorin. His honesty
proceeds from the heart as well as the head, and therefore may be more
surely counted on. The King loves business, economy, order, and
justice, and wishes sincerely the good of his people; but he is
irascible, rude, very limited in his understanding, and religious,
bordering on bigotry. He has no mistress, loves his queen, and is too
much governed by her. She is capricious like her brother, and governed
by him; devoted to pleasure and expense; and not remarkable for any
other vices or virtues. Unhappily the King shows a propensity for the
pleasures of the table. That for drink has increased lately, or, at
least, it has become more known.
For European news in general, I will refer you to my letter to Mr. Jay.
Is it not possible, that the occurrences in Holland may excite a desire
in many, of leaving that country and transferring their effects out of
it, and thus make an opening for shifting into their hands, the debts
due to this country, to its officers, and Farmers? It would be surely
eligible. I believe Dumas, if put on the watch, might alone suffice;
but he surely might, if Mr. Adams should go when the moment offers.
Dumas has been in the habit of sending his letters open to me, to be
forwarded to Mr. Jay. During my absence, they passed through Mr.
Short's hands, who made extracts from them, by which I see he has been
recommending himself and me for the money negotiations in Holland. It
might be thought, perhaps, that I have encouraged him in this. Be
assured, my dear Sir, that no such idea ever entered my head. On the
contrary, it is a business which would be the most disagreeable to me
of all others, and for which I am the most unfit person living. I do
not understand bargaining, nor possess the dexterity requisite for the
purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Adams, whom I expressly and sincerely
recommend, stands already on ground for that business, which I could
not gain in years. Pray set me to rights in the minds of those who may
have supposed me privy to this proposition. _En passant_, I will
observe with respect to Mr. Dumas, that the death of the Count de
Vergennes places Congress more at their ease, how to dispose of him.
Our credit has been ill treated here in public debate, and our debt
here deemed apocryphal. We should try to transfer this debt elsewhere,
and leave nothing capable of exciting ill thoughts between us. I shall
mention in my letter to Mr. Jay, a disagreeable affair which Mr.
Barclay has been thrown into, at Bordeaux. An honester man cannot be
found, nor a slower, nor more indecisive one. His affairs, too, are so
embarrassed and desperate, that the public reputation is, every moment,
in danger of being compromitted with him. He is perfectly amiable and
honest, with all his embarrassments.
By the next packet, I shall be able to send you some books, as also
your watch and pedometer. The two last are not yet done. To search for
books, and forward them to Havre, will require more time than I had
between my return and the departure of this packet. Having been a
witness, heretofore, to the divisions in Congress on the subject of
their foreign ministers, it would be a weakness in me to suppose none
with respect to myself, or to count with any confidence on the renewal
of my commission, which expires on the 10th day of March next; and the
more so, as instead of requiring the disapprobation of seven States, as
formerly, that of one suffices for a recall, when Congress consists of
only seven States, two, when of eight, &c., which I suppose to be
habitually their numbers at present. Whenever I leave this place, it
will be necessary to begin my arrangements six months before my
departure; and these, once fairly begun and under way, and my mind set
homewards, a change of purpose could hardly take place. If it should be
the desire of Congress that I should continue still longer, I could
wish to know it, at farthest, by the packet which will sail from New
York in September. Because, were I to put off longer the quitting my
house, selling my furniture, &c., I should not have time left to wind
up my affairs; and having once quitted, and sold off my furniture, I
could not think of establishing myself here again. I take the liberty
of mentioning this matter to you, not with a desire to change the
purpose of Congress, but to know it in time. I have never fixed in my
mind, the epoch of my return, so far as shall depend on myself, but I
never supposed it very distant. Probably I shall not risk a second vote
on this subject. Such trifling things may draw on me the displeasure of
one or two States, and thus submit me to the disgrace of a recall.
I thank you for the paccan nuts, which accompanied your letter of
March. Could you procure me a copy of the bill for proportioning crimes
and punishments, in the form in which it was ultimately rejected by the
House of Delegates? Young Mr. Bannister desired me to send him
regularly the _Mercure de France_. I will ask leave to do this through
you, and that you will adopt such method of forwarding them to him, as
will save him from being submitted to postage, which they would not be
worth. As a compensation for your trouble, you will be free to keep
them till you shall have read them. I am, with sentiments of the most
sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.