PARIS, Feb. 2, 1788.
DEAR SIR,--I should sooner have answered your favor of Jan. the 2d, but
that we have expected for some time to see you here. I beg you not to
think of the trifle I furnished you with, nor to propose to return it,
till you shall have that sum more than you know what to do with. And on
every other occasion of difficulty, I hope you will make use of me
freely. I presume you will now remain at London, to see the trial of
Hastings. Without suffering yourself to be imposed on by the pomp in
which it will be enveloped, I would recommend to you to consider and
decide for yourself these questions. If his offence is to be decided by
the law of the land, why is he not tried in that court in which his
fellow-citizens are tried, that is, the King's bench? If he is cited
before another court, that he may be judged, not according to the law
of the land, but by the discretion of his judges, is he not
disfranchised of his most precious right, the benefit of the laws of
his country, in common with his fellow-citizens? I think you will find,
in investigating this subject, that every solid argument is against the
extraordinary court, and that every one in its favor is specious only.
It is a transfer from a judicature of learning and integrity, to one,
the greatness of which is both illiterate and unprincipled. Yet such is
the force of prejudice with some, and of the want of reflection in
others, that many of our constitutions have copied this absurdity,
without suspecting it to be one. I am glad to hear that our new
Constitution is pretty sure of being accepted by States enough to
secure the good it contains, and to meet with such opposition in some
others, as to give us hopes it will be accommodated to them, by the
amendment of its most glaring faults, particularly the want of a
declaration of rights.
The long expected edict of the Protestants, at length appears here. Its
analysis is this. It is an acknowledgment (hitherto withheld by the
laws) that Protestants can beget children, and that they can die, and
be offensive unless buried. It does not give them permission to think,
to speak, or to worship. It enumerates the humiliations to which they
shall remain subject, and the burthens to which they shall continue to
be unjustly exposed. What are we to think of the condition of the human
mind in a country, where such a wretched thing as this has thrown the
State into convulsions, and how must we bless our own situation in a
country, the most illiterate peasant of which is a Solon, compared with
the authors of this law. There is modesty often, which does itself
injury; our countrymen possess this. They do not know their own
superiority. You see it; you are young, you have time and talents to
correct them. Study the subject while in Europe, in all the instances
which will present themselves to you, and profit your countrymen of
them, by making them to know and value themselves.
Adieu, my dear Sir, and be assured of the esteem with which I am your
friend and servant.