PARIS, July 14, 1787.
DEAR SIR,--I received your favor of the 14th of October in the moment I
was setting out on a tour of the sea port towns of this country, from
which I have been not long returned. I received it, too, with that kind
of heartfelt pleasure which always attends the recollection of ancient
affections. I was glad to find that the adaptation of your rice to this
market was considered worth attention, as I had supposed it. I set out
from hence impressed with the idea the rice-dealers here had given me,
that the difference between your rice and that of Piedmont proceeded
from a difference in the machine for cleaning it. At Marseilles I hoped
to know what the Piedmont machine was; but I could find nobody who knew
anything of it. I determined, therefore, to sift the matter to the
bottom, by crossing the Alps into the rice country. I found their
machine exactly such a one as you had described to me in Congress in
the year 1783. There was but one conclusion then to be drawn, to wit,
that the rice was of a different species, and I determined to take
enough to put you in seed; they informed me, however, that its
exportation in the husk was prohibited, so I could only bring off as
much as my coat and surtout pockets would hold. I took measures with a
muleteer to run a couple of sacks across the Apennines to Genoa, but
have not great dependence on its success. The little, therefore, which
I brought myself, must be relied on for fear we should get no more; and
because, also, it is genuine from Vercilli, where the best is made of
all the Sardinian Lombardy, the whole of which is considered as
producing a better rice than the Milanese. This is assigned as the
reason for the strict prohibition. Piedmont rice sold at Nice, (the
port of its exportation,) when I was there, at seventeen livres French,
the French hundred weight. It varies from time to time as the price of
wheat does with us. The price of Carolina rice at Bordeaux, Nantes,
L'Orient and Havre, varies from sixteen florins to twenty-four florins
the French quintal, which is equal to one hundred and nine pounds our
weight. The best ports to send it to are Bordeaux and Havre, (or Rouen,
which is the same thing as Havre,) but it is essential that it arrive
here a month before the commencement of Lent, when the principal demand
is made for it. Carolina rice, after being sorted here into several
qualities, sells from six sols to ten sols the French pound, retail,
according to the quality. Unsorted and wholesale about thirty florins
the French quintal. Piedmont rice is of but one quality, which sells at
retail at ten sous the French pound, and wholesale is about three or
four livres dearer than yours. In order to induce your countrymen to
ship their rice here directly, I have proposed to some merchants here
to receive consignments, allowing the consigner to draw in the moment
of shipping for as much as he could sell on the spot, and the balance
when it should be sold. But they say this is impossible. They are to
consider and inform me what are the most favorable terms on which they
can receive it. I am told that freight, insurance, and commission are
about four livres the French quintal to a sea-port town. I have written
so long a letter on the subject of rice to Mr. Drayton for the Society
of Agriculture, that I will trouble you with no further particulars,
but refer you to that. Indeed, I am sensible I have written too much on
the subject. Being absolutely ignorant of it myself, it was impossible
for me to know what particulars merited communication. I thought it
best, therefore, to communicate everything. After writing that letter,
I received one from Mr. Izard, by which I found that he had examined
the rice-process in Lombardy. He was so much more capable than myself
of giving the details, that I had at one moment determined to suppress
my letter. However, observing that he considered the rice at Piedmont
to be of the same species with yours, and suspecting myself certainly
that it is not, I determined to hazard my letter and all those
criticisms which fall justly on an ignorant person writing on a subject
to those much more learned in it than himself. A part of my letter,
too, related to the olive tree and caper, the first of which would
surely succeed in your country, and would be an infinite blessing after
some fifteen or twenty years. The caper would also probably succeed,
and would offer a very great and immediate profit. I thank you for your
obliging mention of my worthless Notes on Virginia. Worthless and bad
as they are, they have been rendered more so, as I am told, by a
translation into French. That I may have neither merit nor demerit not
my own, I have consented to their publication in England. I advised the
bookseller to send two hundred copies to Philadelphia, and two hundred
to Richmond, supposing that number might be sold in the United States;
but I do not know whether he will do it. If you will give me leave, I
will send you a copy of the original impression. I congratulate you, my
dear friend, on the law of your State, for suspending the importation
of slaves, and for the glory you have justly acquired by endeavoring to
prevent it forever. This abomination must have an end. And there is a
superior bench reserved in heaven for those who hasten it. The
distractions of Holland thicken apace. They begin to cut one another's
throats heartily. I apprehend the neighboring powers will interfere;
but it is not yet clear whether in concert or by taking opposite sides.
It is a poor contest, whether they shall have one, or many masters.
Your nephew is arrived here in good health. My first interview with him
has impressed me much in his favor. Present me very respectfully to
Mrs. Rutledge, as well as to your brother and his house. Accept
yourself assurances of the sincere esteem and respect with which I am,
dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.