You ask if there is any book that pretends to give any account of the

traditions of the Indians, or how one can acquire an idea of them? Some

scanty accounts of their traditions, but fuller of their customs and

characters, are given us by most of the early travellers among them; these

you know were mostly French. Lafitan, among them, and Adair an Englishman,

have written on this subject; the former two volumes, the latter one,

all in 4to. But unluckily Lafitan had in his head a preconceived theory

on the mythology, manners, institutions and government of the ancient

nations of Europe, Asia and Africa, and seems to have entered on those

of America only to fit them into the same frame, and to draw from them

a confirmation of his general theory. He keeps up a perpetual parallel,

in all those articles, between the Indians of America and the ancients

of the other quarters of the globe. He selects, therefore, all the facts

and adopts all the falsehoods which favor his theory, and very gravely

retails such absurdities as zeal for a theory could alone swallow. He

was a man of much classical and scriptural reading, and has rendered

his book not unentertaining. He resided five years among the Northern

Indians, as a Missionary, but collects his matter much more from the

writings of others, than from his own observation.

Adair too had his kink. He believed all the Indians of America to be

descended from the Jews; the same laws, usages, rites and ceremonies,

the same sacrifices, priests, prophets, fasts and festivals, almost

the same religion, and that they all spoke Hebrew. For, although he

writes particularly of the Southern Indians only, the Catawbas, Creeks,

Cherokees, Chickasaws and Chocktaws, with whom alone he was personally

acquainted, yet he generalizes whatever he found among them, and brings

himself to believe that the hundred languages of America, differing

fundamentally every one from every other, as much as Greek from Gothic,

yet have all one common prototype. He was a trader, a man of learning,

a self-taught Hebraist, a strong religionist, and of as sound a mind

as Don Quixotte in whatever did not touch his religious chivalry. His

book contains a great deal of real instruction on its subject, only

requiring the reader to be constantly on his guard against the wonderful

obliquities of his theory.

The scope of your inquiry would scarcely, I suppose, take in the three

folio volumes of Latin of De Bry. In these, facts and fable are mingled

together, without regard to any favorite system. They are less suspicious,

therefore, in their complexion, more original and authentic, than those

of Lafitan and Adair. This is a work of great curiosity, extremely rare,

so as never to be bought in Europe, but on the breaking up and selling

some ancient library. On one of these occasions a bookseller procured me

a copy, which, unless you have one, is probably the only one in America.

You ask further, if the Indians have any order of priesthood among them,

like the Druids, Bards or Minstrels of the Celtic nations? Adair alone,

determined to see what he wished to see in every object, metamorphoses

their Conjurers into an order of priests, and describes their sorceries

as if they were the great religious ceremonies of the nation. Lafitan

called them by their proper names, Jongleurs, Devins, Sortileges; De Bry

praestigiatores; Adair himself sometimes Magi, Archimagi, cunning men,

Seers, rain makers; and the modern Indian interpreters call them conjurers

and witches. They are persons pretending to have communications with

the devil and other evil spirits, to foretell future events, bring down

rain, find stolen goods, raise the dead, destroy some and heal others

by enchantment, lay spells, &c. And Adair, without departing from his

parallel of the Jews and Indians, might have found their counterpart

much more aptly, among the soothsayers, sorcerers and wizards of the

Jews, their Gannes and Gambres, their Simon Magus, Witch of Endor, and

the young damsel whose sorceries disturbed Paul so much; instead of

placing them in a line with their high-priest, their chief priests, and

their magnificent hierarchy generally. In the solemn ceremonies of the

Indians, the persons who direct or officiate, are their chiefs, elders

and warriors, in civil ceremonies or in those of war; it is the head

of the cabin in their private or particular feasts or ceremonies; and

sometimes the matrons, as in their corn feasts. And even here, Adair

might have kept up his parallel, with ennobling his conjurers. For the

ancient patriarchs, the Noahs, the Abrahams, Isaacs and Jacobs, and even

after the consecration of Aaron, the Samuels and Elijahs, and we may say

further, every one for himself offered sacrifices on the altars. The

true line of distinction seems to be, that solemn ceremonies, whether

public or private, addressed to the Great Spirit, are conducted by the

worthies of the nation, men or matrons, while conjurers are resorted

to only for the invocation of evil spirits. The present state of the

several Indian tribes, without any public order of priests, is proof

sufficient that they never had such an order. Their steady habits permit

no innovations, not even those which the progress of science offers

to increase the comforts, enlarge the understanding, and improve the

morality of mankind. Indeed, so little idea have they of a regular order

of priests, that they mistake ours for their conjurers, and call them

by that name.

So much in answer to your inquiries concerning Indians, a people with

whom, in the early part of my life, I was very familiar, and acquired

impressions of attachment and commiseration for them which have never

been obliterated. Before the revolution, they were in the habit of

coming often and in great numbers to the seat of government, where I was

very much with them. I knew much the great Ontassetè, the warrior and

orator of the Cherokees; he was always the guest of my father, on his

journeys to and from Williamsburg. I was in his camp when he made his

great farewell oration to his people the evening before his departure for

England. The moon was in full splendor, and to her he seemed to address

himself in his prayers for his own safety on the voyage, and that of his

people during his absence; his sounding voice, distinct articulation,

animated action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several

fires, filled me with awe and veneration, although I did not understand

a word he uttered. That nation, consisting now of about 2,000 warriors,

and the Creeks of about 3,000 are far advanced in civilization. They

have good cabins, enclosed fields, large herds of cattle and hogs, spin

and weave their own clothes of cotton, have smiths and other of the most

necessary tradesmen, write and read, are on the increase in numbers,

and a branch of Cherokees is now instituting a regular representative

government. Some other tribes are advancing in the same line. On those

who have made any progress, English seductions will have no effect. But

the backward will yield, and be thrown further back. Those will relapse

into barbarism and misery, lose numbers by war and want, and we shall

be obliged to drive them with the beasts of the forest into the stony

mountains. They will be conquered, however, in Canada. The possession of

that country secures our women and children forever from the tomahawk

and scalping knife, by removing those who excite them; and for this

possession orders, I presume, are issued by this time; taking for granted

that the doors of Congress will re-open with a declaration of war. That

this may end in indemnity for the past, security for the future, and

complete emancipation from Anglomany, Gallomany, and all the manias of

demoralized Europe, and that you may live in health and happiness to

see all this, is the sincere prayer of yours affectionately.

TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

MONTICELLO, June 11, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--It has given me great pleasure to receive a letter from you.

It seems as if, our ancient friends dying off, the whole mass of the

affections of the heart survives undiminished to the few who remain.

I think our acquaintance commenced in 1764, both then just of age. We

happened to take lodgings in the same house in New York. Our next meeting

was in the Congress of 1775, and at various times afterwards in the

exercise of that and other public functions, until your mission to Europe.

Since we have ceased to meet, we have still thought and acted together,

"_et idem velle, atque idem nolle, ea demum amicitia est_." Of this

harmony of principle, the papers you enclosed me are proof sufficient. I

do not condole with you on your release from your government. The vote

of your opponents is the most honorable mark by which the soundness of

your conduct could be stamped. I claim the same honorable testimonial.

There was but a single act of my whole administration of which that party

approved. That was the proclamation on the attack of the Chesapeake. And

when I found they approved of it, I confess I began strongly to apprehend

I had done wrong, and to exclaim with the Psalmist, "Lord, what have I

done that the wicked should praise me!"

What, then, does this English faction with you mean? Their newspapers

say rebellion, and that they will not remain united with us unless we

will permit them to govern the majority. If this be their purpose, their

anti-republican spirit, it ought to be met at once. But a government

like ours should be slow in believing this, should put forth its whole

might when necessary to suppress it, and promptly return to the paths

of reconciliation. The extent of our country secures it, I hope, from

the vindictive passions of the petty incorporations of Greece. I rather

suspect that the principal office of the other seventeen States will be

to moderate and restrain the local excitement of our friends with you,

when they (with the aid of their brethren of the other States, if they

need it) shall have brought the rebellious to their feet. They count on

British aid. But what can that avail them by land? They would separate

from their friends, who alone furnish employment for their navigation,

to unite with their only rival for that employment. When interdicted

the harbors of their quondam brethren, they will go, I suppose to ask

a share in the carrying trade of their rivals, and a dispensation with

their navigation act. They think they will be happier in an association

under the rulers of Ireland, the East and West Indies, than in an

independent government, where they are obliged to put up with their

proportional share only in the direction of its affairs. But I trust

that such perverseness will not be that of the honest and well-meaning

mass of the federalists of Massachusetts; and that when the questions of

separation and rebellion shall be nakedly proposed to them, the Gores

and the Pickerings will find their levees crowded with silk stocking

gentry, but no yeomanry; an army of officers without soldiers. I hope,

then, all will still end well; the Anglomen will consent to make peace

with their bread and butter, and you and I shall sink to rest, without

having been actors or spectators in another civil war.

How many children have you? You beat me, I expect, in that count, but I

you in that of our grand-children. We have not timed these things well

together, or we might have begun a re-alliance between Massachusetts

and the Old Dominion, faithful companions in the war of Independence,

peculiarly tallied in interests, by each wanting exactly what the other

has to spare; and estranged to each other in latter times, only by the

practices of a third nation, the common enemy of both. Let us live only

to see this re-union, and I will say with old Simeon, "Lord, now lettest

thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

In that peace may you long remain, my friend, and depart only in the

fulness of years, all passed in health and prosperity. God bless you.

P. S. June 13. I did not condole with you on the reprobation of your

opponents, because it proved your orthodoxy. Yesterday's post brought

me the resolution of the republicans of Congress, to propose you as

Vice President. On this I sincerely congratulate you. It is a stamp of

double proof. It is a notification to the factionaries that their nay is

the yea of truth, and its best test. We shall be almost within striking

distance of each other. Who knows but you may fill up some short recess

of Congress with a visit to Monticello, where a numerous family will

hail you with a hearty country welcome.

TO JUDGE TYLER.

MONTICELLO, June 17, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--* * * * *

On the other subject of your letter, the application of the common law to

our present situation, I deride with you the ordinary doctrine, that we

brought with us from England the _common law rights_. This narrow notion

was a favorite in the first moment of rallying to our rights against Great

Britain. But it was that of men who felt their rights before they had

thought of their explanation. The truth is, that we brought with us the

_rights of men_; of expatriated men. On our arrival here, the question

would at once arise, by what law will we govern ourselves? The resolution

seems to have been, by that system with which we are familiar, to be

altered by ourselves occasionally, and adapted to our new situation.

The proofs of this resolution are to be found in the form of the oaths

of the judges, 1. Hening's Stat. 169. 187; of the Governor, ib. 504; in

the act for a provisional government, ib. 372; in the preamble to the

laws of 1661-2; the uniform current of opinions and decisions, and in

the general recognition of all our statutes, framed on that basis. But

the state of the English law at the date of our emigration, constituted

the system adopted here. We may doubt, therefore, the propriety of

quoting in our courts English authorities subsequent to that adoption;

still more, the admission of authorities posterior to the Declaration of

Independence, or rather to the accession of that King, whose reign, _ab

initio_, was the very tissue of wrongs which rendered the Declaration

at length necessary. The reason for it had inception at least as far

back as the commencement of his reign. This relation to the beginning of

his reign, would add the advantage of getting us rid of all Mansfield's

innovations, or civilizations of the common law. For however I admit the

superiority of the civil over the common law code, as a system of perfect

justice, yet an incorporation of the two would be like Nebuchadnezzar's

image of metals and clay, a thing without cohesion of parts. The only

natural improvement of the common law, is through its homogeneous ally,

the chancery, in which new principles are to be examined, concocted and

digested. But when, by repeated decisions and modifications, they are

rendered pure and certain, they should be transferred by statute to the

courts of common law, and placed within the pale of juries. The exclusion

from the courts of the malign influence of all authorities after the

_Georgium sidus_ became ascendant, would uncanonize Blackstone, whose

book, although the most elegant and best digested of our law catalogue,

has been perverted more than all others, to the degeneracy of legal

science. A student finds there a smattering of everything, and his

indolence easily persuades him that if he understands that book, he is

master of the whole body of the law. The distinction between these, and

those who have drawn their stores from the deep and rich mines of Coke

Littleton, seems well understood even by the unlettered common people,

who apply the appellation of Blackstone lawyers to these ephemeral

insects of the law.

Whether we should undertake to reduce the common law, our own, and so

much of the English statutes as we have adopted, to a text, is a question

of transcendent difficulty. It was discussed at the first meeting of the

committee of the revised code, in 1776, and decided in the negative, by

the opinions of Wythe, Mason and myself, against Pendleton and Thomas Lee.

Pendleton proposed to take Blackstone for that text, only purging him

of what was inapplicable or unsuitable to us. In that case, the meaning

of every word of Blackstone would have become a source of litigation,

until it had been settled by repeated legal decisions. And to come at

that meaning, we should have had produced, on all occasions, that very

pile of authorities from which it would be said he drew his conclusion,

and which, of course, would explain it, and the terms in which it is

couched. Thus we should have retained the same chaos of law-lore from

which we wished to be emancipated, added to the evils of the uncertainty

which a new text and new phrases would have generated. An example of this

may be found in the old statutes, and commentaries on them, in Coke's

second institute, but more remarkably in the institute of Justinian,

and the vast masses explanatory or supplementary of that which fill the

libraries of the civilians. We were deterred from the attempt by these

considerations, added to which, the bustle of the times did not admit

leisure for such an undertaking.

Your request of my opinion on this subject has given you the trouble

of these observations. If your firmer mind in encountering difficulties

would have added your vote to the minority of the committee, you would

have had on your side one of the greatest men of our age, and like him,

have detracted nothing from the sentiments of esteem and respect which

I bore to him, and tender with sincerity the assurance of to yourself.

TO GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.

MONTICELLO, June 28, 1812.

Nous voila donc, mon cher ami, en guerre avec l'Angleterre. This was

declared on the 18th instant, thirty years after the signature of our

peace in 1782. Within these thirty years what a vast course of growth and

prosperity we have had! It is not ten years since Great Britain began

a series of insults and injuries which would have been met with war in

the threshold by any European power. This course has been unremittingly

followed up by increasing wrongs, with glimmerings indeed of peaceable

redress, just sufficient to keep us quiet, till she has had the impudence

at length to extinguish even these glimmerings by open avowal. This would

not have been borne so long, but that France has kept pace with England

in iniquity of principle, although not in the power of inflicting wrongs

on us. The difficulty of selecting a foe between them has spared us

many years of war, and enabled us to enter into it with less debt, more

strength and preparation. Our present enemy will have the sea to herself,

while we shall be equally predominant at land, and shall strip her of

all her possessions on this continent. She may burn New York, indeed, by

her ships and congreve rockets, in which case we must burn the city of

London by hired incendiaries, of which her starving manufacturers will

furnish abundance. A people in such desperation as to demand of their

government _aut parcem, aut furcam_, either bread or the gallows, will

not reject the same alternative when offered by a foreign hand. Hunger

will make them brave every risk for bread. The partisans of England

here have endeavored much to goad us into the folly of choosing the

ocean instead of the land, for the theatre of war. That would be to meet

their strength with our own weakness, instead of their weakness with

our strength. I hope we shall confine ourselves to the conquest of their

possessions, and defence of our harbors, leaving the war on the ocean to

our privateers. These will immediately swarm in every sea, and do more

injury to British commerce than the regular fleets of all Europe would

do. The government of France may discontinue their license trade. Our

privateers will furnish them much more abundantly with colonial produce,

and whatever the license trade has given them. Some have apprehended we

should be overwhelmed by the new improvements of war, which have not yet

reached us. But the British possess them very imperfectly, and what are

these improvements? Chiefly in the management of artillery, of which our

country admits little use. We have nothing to fear from their armies,

and shall put nothing in prize to their fleets. Upon the whole, I have

known no war entered into under more favorable auspices.

Our manufacturers are now very nearly on a footing with those of England.

She has not a single improvement which we do not possess, and many of

them better adapted by ourselves to our ordinary use. We have reduced

the large and expensive machinery for most things to the compass of a

private family, and every family of any size is now getting machines

on a small scale for their household purposes. Quoting myself as an

example, and I am much behind many others in this business, my household

manufactures are just getting into operation on the scale of a carding

machine costing $60 only, which may be worked by a girl of twelve years

old, a spinning machine, which may be made for $10, carrying 6 spindles

for wool, to be worked by a girl also, another which can be made for

$25, carrying 12 spindles for cotton, and a loom, with a flying shuttle,

weaving its twenty yards a day. I need 2,000 yards of linen, cotton and

woollen yearly, to clothe my family, which this machinery, costing $150

only, and worked by two women and two girls, will more than furnish.

For fine goods there are numerous establishments at work in the large

cities, and many more daily growing up; and of merinos we have some

thousands, and these multiplying fast. We consider a sheep for every

person as sufficient for their woollen clothing, and this State and all

to the north have fully that, and those to the south and west will soon

be up to it. In other articles we are equally advanced, so that nothing

is more certain than that, come peace when it will, we shall never again

go to England for a shilling where we have gone for a dollar's worth.

Instead of applying to her manufacturers there, they must starve or come

here to be employed. I give you these details of peaceable operations,

because they are within my present sphere. Those of war are in better

hands, who know how to keep their own secrets. Because, too, although

a soldier yourself, I am sure you contemplate the peaceable employment

of man in the improvement of his condition, with more pleasure than his

murders, rapine and devastations.

Mr. Barnes, some time ago, forwarded you a bill of exchange for 5,500

francs, of which the enclosed is a duplicate. Apprehending that a war

with England would subject the remittances to you to more casualties,

I proposed to Mr. Morson, of Bordeaux, to become the intermediate for

making remittances to you, which he readily acceded to on liberal ideas

arising from his personal esteem for you, and his desire to be useful

to you. If you approve of this medium I am in hopes it will shield you

from the effect of the accidents to which the increased dangers of the

seas may give birth. It would give me great pleasure to hear from you

oftener. I feel great interest in your health and happiness. I know

your feelings on the present state of the world, and hope they will be

cheered by the successful course of our war, and the addition of Canada

to our confederacy. The infamous intrigues of Great Britain to destroy

our government (of which Henry's is but one sample), and with the Indians

to tomahawk our women and children, prove that the cession of Canada,

their fulcrum for these Machiavelian levers, must be a _sine qua non_ at

a treaty of peace. God bless you, and give you to see all these things,

and many and long years of health and happiness.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

MONTICELLO, June 29, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--I duly received your favor of the 22d covering the declaration

of war. It is entirely popular here, the only opinion being that it should

have been issued the moment the season admitted the militia to enter

Canada. * * * * * To continue the war popular, two things are necessary

mainly. 1. To stop Indian barbarities. The conquest of Canada will do

this. 2. To furnish markets for our produce, say indeed for our flour,

for tobacco is already given up, and seemingly without reluctance. The

great profits of the wheat crop have allured every one to it; and never

was such a crop on the ground as that which we generally begin to cut

this day. It would be mortifying to the farmer to see such an one rot

in his barn. It would soon sicken him to war. Nor can this be a matter

of wonder or of blame on him. Ours is the only country on earth where

war is an instantaneous and total suspension of all the objects of his

industry and support. For carrying our produce to foreign markets our

own ships, neutral ships, and even enemy ships under neutral flag, which

I would wink at, will probably suffice. But the coasting trade is of

double importance, because both seller and buyer are disappointed, and

both are our own citizens. You will remember that in this trade our

greatest distress in the last war was produced by our own pilot boats

taken by the British and kept as tenders to their larger vessels. These

being the swiftest vessels on the ocean, they took them and selected the

swiftest from the whole mass. Filled with men they scoured everything

along shore, and completely cut up that coasting business which might

otherwise have been carried on within the range of vessels of force and

draught. Why should not we then line our coast with vessels of pilot-boat

construction, filled with men, armed with cannonades, and only so much

larger as to assure the mastery of the pilot boat? The British cannot

counter-work us by building similar ones, because, the fact is, however

unaccountable, that our builders alone understand that construction.

It is on our own pilot boats the British will depend, which our larger

vessels may thus retake. These, however, are the ideas of a landsman

only, Mr. Hamilton's judgment will test their soundness.

Our militia are much afraid of being called to Norfolk at this season.

They all declare a preference of a march to Canada. I trust however

that Governor Barbour will attend to circumstances, and so apportion the

service among the counties, that those acclimated by birth or residence

may perform the summer tour, and the winter service be allotted to the

upper counties.

I trouble you with a letter for General Kosciusko. It covers a bill of

exchange from Mr. Barnes for him, and is therefore of great importance

to him. Hoping you will have the goodness so far to befriend the General

as to give it your safest conveyance, I commit it to you, with the

assurance of my sincere affections.

TO NATHANIEL GREENE, MONTAGUE CENTER.

MONTICELLO, July 5, 1812.

SIR,--Your favor of May 19th from New Orleans is just now received. I

have no doubt that the information you will present to your countrymen

on the subject of the Asiatic countries into which you have travelled,

will be acceptable as sources both of amusement and instruction; and

the more so, as the observations of an American will be more likely to

present what are peculiarities to us, than those of any foreigner on

the same countries. In reading the travels of a Frenchman through the

United States what he remarks as peculiarities in us, prove to us the

contrary peculiarities of the French. We have the accounts of Barbary from

European and American travellers. It would be more amusing if Melli Melli

would give us his observations on the United States. If, with the fables

and follies of the Hindoos, so justly pointed out to us by yourselves

and other travellers, we could compare the contrast of those which an

Hindoo traveller would imagine he found among us, it might enlarge our

instruction. It would be curious to see what parallel among us he would

select for his Veeshni. What you will have seen in your western tour

will also instruct many who often know least of things nearest home.

The charitable institution you have proposed to the city of New Orleans

would undoubtedly be valuable, and all such are better managed by those

locally connected with them. The great wealth of that city will insure

its support, and the names subscribed to it will give it success. For

a private individual, a thousand miles distant, to imagine that his

name could add anything to what exhibits already the patronage of the

highest authorities of the State, would be great presumption. It will

certainly engage my best wishes, to which permit me to add for yourself

the assurances of my respect.

TO THOMAS COOPER, ESQ.

MONTICELLO, July 10, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--I received by your last post through Mr. Hall, of Baltimore,

a copy of your introductory lecture to a course of chemistry, for which

accept my thanks. I have just entered on the reading of it, and perceive

that I have a feast before me. I discover from an error of the binder,

that my copy has duplicates of pages 122, 123, 126, 127, and wants

altogether, pages 121, 124, 125, 128, and forseeing that every page will

be a real loss, and that the book has been printed at Carlisle, I will

request your directions to the printer to enclose those four pages under

cover to me at this place, _near Milton_. You know the just esteem which

attached itself to Dr. Franklin's science, because he always endeavored

to direct it to something useful in private life. The chemists have not

been attentive enough to this. I have wished to see their science applied

to domestic objects, to malting, for instance, brewing, making cider,

to fermentation and distillation generally, to the making of bread,

butter, cheese, soap, to the incubation of eggs, &c. And I am happy to

observe some of these titles in the syllabus of your lecture. I hope

you will make the chemistry of these subjects intelligible to our good

house-wives. Glancing over the pages of your book, the last one caught my

attention, where you recommend to students the books on metaphysics. Not

seeing De Tutt Tracy's name there, I suspected you might not have seen

his work. His first volume on Ideology appeared in 1800. I happen to have

a duplicate of this, and will send it to you. Since that, has appeared

his second volume on grammar and his third on logic. They are considered

as holding the most eminent station in that line; and considering with

you that a course of anatomy lays the best foundation for understanding

these subjects, Tracy should be preceded by a mature study of the most

profound of all human compositions, "Cabanis's Rapports du Physique et

du moral de l'homme."

In return for the many richer favors received from you, I send you my

little tract on the batture of New Orleans, and Livingston's claim to

it. I was at a loss where to get it printed, and confided it to the

editor of the Edinburgh Review, re-printed at New York. But he has not

done it immaculately. Although there are typographical errors in your

lecture, I wonder to see so difficult a work so well done at Carlisle.

I am making a fair copy of the catalogue of my library, which I mean to

have printed merely for the use of the library. It will require correct

orthography in so many languages, that I hardly know where I can get it

done. Have you read the Review of Montesquieu, printed by Duane? I hope

it will become the elementary book of the youth at all our colleges.

Such a reduction of Montesquieu to his true value had been long wanting

in political study. Accept the assurance of my great and constant esteem

and respect.

TO MR. LATROBE.

MONTICELLO, July 12, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--Of all the faculties of the human mind, that of memory is the

first which suffers decay from age. Of the commencement of this decay, I

was fully sensible while I lived in Washington, and it was my earliest

monitor to retire from public business. It has often since been the

source of great regret when applied to by others to attest transactions in

which I had been an agent, to find that they had entirely vanished from

my memory. In no case has it given me more concern than in that which is

the subject of your letter of the 2d instant: the supper given in 1807

to the workmen on the capitol. Of this supper I have not the smallest

recollection. If it ever was mentioned to me, not a vestige of it now

remains in my mind. This failure of my memory is no proof the thing did

not happen, but only takes from it the support of my testimony, which

cannot be given for what is obliterated from it. I have looked among my

papers to see if they furnish any trace of the matter, but I find none,

and must therefore acquiesce in my incompetence to administer to truth

on this occasion. I am sorry to learn that Congress has relinquished

the benefit of the engagements of Andrei & Franzoni, on the sculpture of

the capitol. They are artists of a grade far above what we can expect to

get again. I still hope they will continue to work on the basis of the

appropriation made, and as far as that will go; so that what is done will

be well done; and perhaps a more favorable moment may still preserve them

to us. With respect to yourself, the little disquietudes from individuals

not chosen for their taste in works of art, will be sunk into oblivion,

while the Representatives' chamber will remain a durable monument of

your talents as an architect. I say nothing of the Senate room, because I

have never seen it. I shall live in the hope that the day will come when

an opportunity will be given you of finishing the middle building in a

style worthy of the two wings, and worthy of the first temple dedicated

to the sovereignty of the people, embellishing with Athenian taste the

course of a nation looking far beyond the range of Athenian destinies.

In every situation, public or private, be assured of my sincere wishes

for your prosperity and happiness, and of the continuance of my esteem

and respect.

TO COLONEL DUANE.

MONTICELLO, August 4, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of the 17th ult. came duly to hand, and I have

to thank you for the military manuals you were so kind as to send me.

This is the sort of book most needed in our country, where even the

elements of tactics are unknown. The young have never seen service, and

the old are past it, and of those among them who are not superannuated

themselves, their science is become so. I see, as you do, the difficulties

and defects we have to encounter in war, and should expect disasters if

we had an enemy on land capable of inflicting them. But the weakness of

our enemy there will make our first errors innocent, and the seeds of

genius which nature sows with even hand through every age and country,

and which need only soil and season to germinate, will develop themselves

among our military men. Some of them will become prominent, and seconded

by the native energy of our citizens, will soon, I hope, to our force

add the benefits of skill. The acquisition of Canada this year, as far

as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and

will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the

final expulsion of England from the American continent. Halifax once

taken, every cock-boat of hers must return to England for repairs. Their

fleet will annihilate our public force on the water, but our privateers

will eat out the vitals of their commerce. Perhaps they will burn New

York or Boston. If they do, we must burn the city of London, not by

expensive fleets or congreve rockets, but by employing an hundred or two

Jack-the-painters, whom nakedness, famine, desperation and hardened vice,

will abundantly furnish from among themselves. We have a rumor now afloat

that the orders of council are repeated. The thing is impossible after

Castlereagh's late declaration in Parliament, and the re-construction

of a Percival ministry.

I consider this last circumstance fortunate for us. The repeal of the

orders of council would only add recruits to our minority, and enable

them the more to embarrass our march to thorough redress of our past

wrongs, and permanent security for the future. This we shall attain if

no internal obstacles are raised up. The exclusion of their commerce

from the United States, and the closing of the Baltic against it,

which the present campaign in Europe will effect, will accomplish the

catastrophe already so far advanced on them. I think your anticipations

of the effects of this are entirely probable, their arts, their science,

and what they have left of virtue, will come over to us, and although

their vices will come also, these, I think, will soon be diluted and

evaporated in a country of plain honesty. Experience will soon teach the

new-comers how much more plentiful and pleasant is the subsistence gained

by wholesome labor and fair dealing, than a precarious and hazardous

dependence on the enterprises of vice and violence. Still I agree with

you that these immigrations will give strength to English partialities,

to eradicate which is one of the most consoling expectations from the

war. But probably the old hive will be broken up by a revolution, and

a regeneration of its principles render intercourse with it no longer

contaminating. A republic there like ours, and a reduction of their naval

power within the limits of their annual facilities of payment, might

render their existence even interesting to us. It is the construction of

their government, and its principles and means of corruption, which make

its continuance inconsistent with the safety of other nations. A change

in its form might make it an honest one, and justify a confidence in

its faith and friendship. That regeneration however will take a longer

time than I have to live. I shall leave it to be enjoyed among you, and

make my exit with a bow to it, as the most flagitious of governments

I leave among men. I sincerely wish you may live to see the prodigy of

its renovation, enjoying in the meantime health and prosperity.

TO GENERAL KOSCIUSKO.

MONTICELLO, August 5, 1812.

DEAR GENERAL,--* * * * *

I have little to add to my letter of June. We have entered Upper Canada,

and I think there can be no doubt of our soon having in our possession

the whole of the St. Lawrence except Quebec. We have at this moment

about two hundred privateers on the ocean, and numbers more going out

daily. It is believed we shall fit out about a thousand in the whole.

Their success has been already great, and I have no doubt they will cut

up more of the commerce of England than all the navies of Europe could

do, could those navies venture to sea at all. You will find that every

sea on the globe where England has any commerce, and where any port can

be found to sell prizes, will be filled with our privateers. God bless

you and give you a long and happy life.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

MONTICELLO, August 5, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--* * * * *

I am glad of the re-establishment of a Percival ministry. The opposition

would have recruited our minority by half way offers. With Canada in

hand we can go to treaty with an off-set for spoliation before the war.

Our farmers are cheerful in the expectation of a good price for wheat in

Autumn. Their pulse will be regulated by this, and not by the successes

or disasters of the war. To keep open sufficient markets is the very

first object towards maintaining the popularity of the war, which is as

great at present as could be desired. We have just had a fine rain of

1¼ inches in the most critical time for our corn. The weather during

the harvest was as advantageous as could be. I am sorry to find you

remaining so long at Washington. The effect on your health may lose us a

great deal of your time; a couple of months at Montpelier at this season

would not lose us an hour. Affectionate salutations to Mrs. Madison and

yourself.

TO THE HONORABLE MR. WRIGHT.

MONTICELLO, August 8, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--I receive and return the congratulations of your letter of

July 6 with pleasure, and join the great mass of my fellow citizens in

saying, "Well done, good and faithful servants, receive the benedictions

which your constituents are ready to give you." The British government

seem to be doing late, what done earlier might have prevented war; to

wit: repealing the orders in Council. But it should take more to make

peace than to prevent war. The sword once drawn, full justice must be

done. "Indemnification for the past and security for the future," should

be painted on our banners. For 1,000 ships taken, and 6,000 seamen

impressed, give us Canada for indemnification, and the only security

they can give us against their Henrys, and the savages, and agree that

the American flag shall protect the persons of those sailing under it,

both parties exchanging engagements that neither will receive the seamen

of the other on board their vessels. This done, I should be for peace

with England and then war with France. One at a time is enough, and in

fighting the one we need the harbors of the other for our prizes. Go on

as you have begun, only quickening your pace, and receive the benedictions

and prayers of those who are too old to offer anything else.

TO THOMAS LETRE, ESQ.

MONTICELLO, August 8, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--I duly received your favor of the 14th ult., covering a

paper containing proceedings of the patriots of South Carolina. It

adds another to the many proofs of their steady devotion to their own

country. I can assure you the hearts of their fellow citizens in this

State beat in perfect unison with them, and with their government. Of

this their concurrence in the election of Mr. Madison and Mr. Gerry,

at the ensuing election, will give sufficient proof. The schism in

Massachusetts, when brought to the crisis of principle, will be found

to be exactly the same as in the Revolutionary war. The monarchists will

be left alone, and will appear to be exactly the tories of the last war.

Had the repeal of the orders of council, which now seems probable, taken

place earlier, it might have prevented war; but much more is requisite

to make peace--"indemnification for the past, and security for the

future," should be the motto of the war. 1,000 ships taken, 6,000 seamen

impressed, savage butcheries of our citizens, and incendiary machinations

against our union, declare that they and their allies, the Spaniards,

must retire from the Atlantic side of our continent as the only security

or indemnification which will be effectual. Accept the assurances of my

great esteem and respect.

TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.

MONTICELLO, October 1, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of September the 20th, has been duly received,

and I cannot but be gratified by the assurance it expresses, that my aid

in the councils of our government would increase the public confidence

in them; because it admits an inference that they have approved of

the course pursued, when I heretofore bore a part in those councils. I

profess, too, so much of the Roman principle, as to deem it honorable for

the general of yesterday to act as a corporal to-day, if his services

can be useful to his country; holding that to be false pride, which

postpones the public good to any private or personal considerations.

But I am past service. The hand of age is upon me. The decay of bodily

faculties apprizes me that those of the mind cannot be unimpaired, had

I not still better proofs. Every year counts by increased debility, and

departing faculties keep the score. The last year it was the sight, this

it is the hearing, the next something else will be going, until all is

gone. Of all this I was sensible before I left Washington, and probably

my fellow laborers saw it before I did. The decay of memory was obvious;

it is now become distressing. But the mind too, is weakened. When I

was young, mathematics was the passion of my life. The same passion has

returned upon me, but with unequal powers. Processes which I then read

off with the facility of common discourse, now cost me labor, and time,

and slow investigation. When I offered this, therefore, as one of the

reasons deciding my retirement from office, it was offered in sincerity

and a consciousness of its truth. And I think it a great blessing that

I retain understanding enough to be sensible how much of it I have lost,

and to avoid exposing myself as a spectacle for the pity of my friends;

that I have surmounted the difficult point of knowing when to retire.

As a compensation for faculties departed, nature gives me good health,

and a perfect resignation to the laws of decay which she has prescribed

to all the forms and combinations of matter.

The detestable treason of Hull has, indeed, excited a deep anxiety in all

breasts. The depression was in the first moment gloomy and portentous.

But it has been succeeded by a revived animation, and a determination to

meet the occurrence with increased efforts; and I have so much confidence

in the vigorous minds and bodies of our countrymen, as to be fearless as

to the final issue. The treachery of Hull, like that of Arnold, cannot

be matter of blame on our government. His character, as an officer of

skill and bravery, was established on the trials of the last war, and

no previous act of his life had led to doubt his fidelity. Whether the

Head of the war department is equal to his charge, I am not qualified

to decide. I knew him only as a pleasant, gentlemanly man in society;

and the indecision of his character rather added to the amenity of his

conversation. But when translated from the colloquial circle to the

great stage of national concerns, and the direction of the extensive

operations of war, whether he has been able to seize at one glance the

long line of defenceless border presented by our enemy, the masses of

strength which we hold on different points of it, the facility this

gave us of attacking him, on the same day, on all his points, from the

extremity of the lakes to the neighborhood of Quebec, and the perfect

indifference with which this last place, impregnable as it is, might

be left in the hands of the enemy to fall of itself; whether, I say,

he could see and prepare vigorously for all this, or merely wrapped

himself in the cloak of cold defence, I am uninformed. I clearly think

with you on the competence of Monroe to embrace great views of action.

The decision of his character, his enterprise, firmness, industry, and

unceasing vigilance, would, I believe, secure, as I am sure they would

merit, the public confidence, and give us all the success which our means

can accomplish. If our operations have suffered or languished from any

want of energy in the present head which directs them, I have so much

confidence in the wisdom and conscientious integrity of Mr. Madison, as

to be satisfied, that however torturing to his feelings, he will fulfil

his duty to the public and to his own reputation, by making the necessary

change. Perhaps he may be preparing it while we are talking about it;

for of all these things I am uninformed. I fear that Hull's surrender

has been more than the mere loss of a year to us. Besides bringing on

us the whole mass of savage nations, whom fear and not affection has

kept in quiet, there is danger that in giving time to an enemy who can

send reinforcements of regulars faster than we can raise them, they

may strengthen Canada and Halifax beyond the assailment of our lax and

divided powers. Perhaps, however, the patriotic efforts from Kentucky

and Ohio, by recalling the British force to its upper posts, may yet

give time to Dearborne to strike a blow below. Effectual possession of

the river from Montreal to the Chaudiere, which is practicable, would

give us the upper country at our leisure, and close forever the scenes

of the tomahawk and scalping knife.

But these things are for others to plan and achieve. The only succor

from the old must lie in their prayers. These I offer up with sincere

devotion; and in my concern for the great public, I do not overlook my

friends, but supplicate for them, as I do for yourself, a long course

of freedom, happiness and prosperity.

TO THOMAS C. FLOURNEY, ESQ.

MONTICELLO, October 1, 1812.

SIR,--Your letter of August 29th is just now received, having lingered

long on the road. I owe you much thankfulness for the favorable opinion

you entertain of my services, and the assurance expressed that they would

again be acceptable in the executive chair. But, sir, I was sincere in

stating age as one of the reasons of my retirement from office, beginning

then to be conscious of its effects, and now much more sensible of

them. Servile inertness is not what is to save our country; the conduct

of a war requires the vigor and enterprise of younger heads. All such

undertakings, therefore, are out of the question with me, and I say so

with the greater satisfaction, when I contemplate the person to whom

the executive powers were handed over. You probably do not know Mr.

Madison personally, or at least intimately, as I do. I have known him

from 1779, when he first came into the public councils, and from three

and thirty years' trial, I can say conscientiously that I do not know in

the world a man of purer integrity, more dispassionate, disinterested

and devoted to genuine republicanism; nor could I, in the whole scope

of America and Europe, point out an abler head. He may be illy seconded

by others, betrayed by the Hulls and Arnolds of our country, for such

there are in every country, and with sorrow and suffering we know it.

But what man can do will be done by Mr. Madison. I hope, therefore,

there will be no difference among republicans as to his re-election,

and we shall know his value when we have to give him up, and to look at

large for his successor. With respect to the unfortunate loss of Detroit

and our army, I with pleasure see the animation it has inspired through

our whole country, but especially through the Western States, and the

determination to retrieve our loss and our honor by increased exertions.

I am not without hope that the Western efforts under General Harrison,

may oblige the enemy to remain at their upper posts, and give Dearborne a

fair opportunity to strike a blow below. A possession of the river from

Montreal to the Chaudiere, gives us the upper country of course, and

closes forever the scenes of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. Quebec is

impregnable, but it is also worthless, and may be safely left in their

hands to fall of itself. The vigorous minds and bodies of our countrymen

leave me no fear as to ultimate results. In this confidence I resign

myself to the care of those whom in their younger days I assisted in

taking care of, and salute you with assurances of esteem and respect.

TO DOCTOR ROBERT PATTERSON.

MONTICELLO, December 27, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--After an absence of five weeks at a distant possession of mine,

to which I pay such visits three or four times a year, I find here your

favor of November 30th. I am very thankful to you for the description

of Redhefer's machine. I had never before been able to form an idea of

what his principle of deception was. He is the first of the inventors

of perpetual motion within my knowledge, who has had the cunning to put

his visitors on a false pursuit, by amusing them with a sham machinery

whose loose and vibratory motion might impose on them the belief that

it is the real source of the motion they see. To this device he is

indebted for a more extensive delusion than I have before witnessed on

this point. We are full of it as far as this State, and I know not how

much farther. In Richmond they have done me the honor to quote me as

having said that it was a possible thing. A poor Frenchman who called on

me the other day, with another invention of perpetual motion, assured me

that Dr. Franklin, many years ago, expressed his opinion to him that it

was not impossible. Without entering into contest on this abuse of the

Doctor's name, I gave him the answer I had given to others before, that

the Almighty himself could not construct a machine of perpetual motion

while the laws exist which he has prescribed for the government of matter

in our system; that the equilibrium established by him between cause

and effect must be suspended to effect that purpose. But Redhefer seems

to be reaping a rich harvest from the public deception. The office of

science is to instruct the ignorant. Would it be unworthy of some one of

its votaries who witness this deception, to give a popular demonstration

of the insufficiency of the ostensible machinery, and of course of the

necessary existence of some hidden mover? And who could do it with more

effect on the public mind than yourself?

I received, at the same time, the Abbé Rochon's pamphlets and book on

his application of the double refraction of the Iceland Spath to the

measure of small angles. I was intimate with him in France, and had

received there, in many conversations, explanations of what is contained

in these sheets. I possess, too, one of his lunettes which he had given

to Dr. Franklin, and which came to me through Mr. Hopkinson. You are

therefore probably acquainted with it. The graduated bar on each side

is 12 inches long. The one extending to 37´ of angle, the other to

3,438 diameter in distance of the object viewed. On so large a scale of

graduation, a nonias might distinctly enough sub-divide the divisions

of 10´´ to 10´´ each; which is certainly a great degree of precision.

But not possessing the common micrometer of two semi-lenses, I am not

able to judge of their comparative merit. * * * * *

TO MR. ADAMS.

MONTICELLO, December 28, 1812.

DEAR SIR,--An absence of five or six weeks, on a journey I take three

or four times a year, must apologize for my late acknowledgment of your

favor of October 12th. After getting through the mass of business which

generally accumulates during my absence, my first attention has been

bestowed on the subject of your letter. I turned to the passages you

refer to in Hutchinson and Winthrop, and with the aid of their dates, I

examined our historians to see if Wollaston's migration to this State was

noticed by them. It happens, unluckily, that Smith and Stith, who alone

of them go into minute facts, bring their histories, the former only to

1623, and the latter to 1624. Wollaston's arrival in Massachusetts was

in 1625, and his removal to this State was "some time" after. Beverly &

Keith, who came lower down, are nearly superficial, giving nothing but

those general facts which every one knew as well as themselves. If our

public records of that date were not among those destroyed by the British

on their invasion of this State, they may possibly have noticed Wollaston.

What I possessed in this way have been given out to two gentlemen, the

one engaged in writing our history, the other in collecting our ancient

laws; so that none of these resources are at present accessible to me.

Recollecting that Nathaniel Morton, in his New England memorial, gives

with minuteness the early annals of the colony of New Plymouth, and

occasionally interweaves the occurrences of that on Massachusetts Bay, I

recurred to him, and under the year 1628, I find he notices both Wollaston

and Thomas Morton, and gives with respect to both, some details which

are not in Hutchinson or Winthrop. As you do not refer to him, and so

possibly may not have his book, I will transcribe from it the entire

passage, which will prove at least my desire to gratify your curiosity

as far as the materials within my power will enable me.

Extract from Nathaniel Morton's New England's Memorial, pp. 93 to 99,

Anno 1628. "Whereas, about three years before this time, there came

over one Captain Wollaston,[2] a man of considerable parts, and with him

three or four more of some eminency, who brought with them a great many

servants, with provisions and other requisites for to begin a plantation,

and pitched themselves in a place within the Massachusetts Bay, which

they called afterwards by their captain's name, Mount Wollaston; which

place is since called by the name of Braintry. And amongst others that

came with him, there was one Mr. Thomas Morton, who, it should seem,

had some small adventure of his own of other men's amongst them, but

had little respect, and was slighted by the meanest servants they kept.

They having continued some time in New England, and not finding things

to answer their expectation, nor profit to arise as they looked for, the

said Captain Wollaston takes a great part of the servants and transports

them to Virginia, and disposed of them there, and writes back to one Mr.

Rasdale, one of his chief partners, (and accounted then merchant,) to

bring another part of them to Virginia, likewise intending to put them

off there as he had done the rest; and he, with the consent of the said

Rasdale, appointed one whose name was Filcher, to be his Lieutenant, and

to govern the remainder of the plantation until he or Rasdale should

take further order thereabout. But the aforesaid Morton, (having more

craft than honesty,) having been a petty-fogger at Furnival's-inn, he,

in the other's absence, watches an opportunity, (commons being put hard

among them,) and got some strong drink and other junkets, and made them

a feast, and after they were merry, he began to tell them he would give

them good counsel. You see, (saith he,) that many of your fellows are

carried to Virginia, and if you stay still until Rasdale's return, you

will also be carried away and sold for slaves with the rest; therefore I

would advise you to thrust out Lieutenant Filcher, and I having a part

in the plantation, will receive you as my partners and consociates, so

you may be free from service, and we will converse, plant, trade and

live together as equals (or to the like effect). This counsel was easily

followed; so they took opportunity, and thrust Lieutenant Filcher out of

doors, and would not suffer him to come any more amongst them, but forced

him to seek bread to eat and other necessaries amongst his neighbors,

till he would get passage for England. (See the sad effect of want of

good government.)

"After this they fell to great licentiousness of life, in all

prophaneness, and the said Morton became lord of misrule, and maintained

(as it were) a school of Atheism, and after they had got some goods into

their hands, and got much by trading with the Indians, they spent it as

vainly, in quaffing and drinking both wine and strong liquors in great

excess, (as some have reported,) ten pounds worth in a morning, setting

up a May pole, drinking and dancing about like so many fairies, or

furies rather, yea and worse practices, as if they had anew revived and

celebrated the feast of the Roman goddess Flora, or the beastly practices

of the mad Bacchanalians. The said Morton likewise to show his poetry,

composed sundry rythmes and verses, some tending to licentiousness,

and others to the detraction and scandal of some persons names, which

he affixed to his idle or idol May-pole; they changed also the name of

their place, and instead of calling it Mount Wollaston, they called it

the Merry Mount, as if this jollity would have lasted always. But this

continued not long, for shortly after that worthy gentleman Mr. John

Endicot, who brought over a patent under the broad seal of England for

the government of the Massachusetts, visiting those parts, caused that

May-pole to be cut down, and rebuked them for their prophaneness, and

admonished them to look to it that they walked better; so the name was

again changed and called Mount Dagon.

"Now to maintain this riotous prodigality and profuse expense, the said

Morton thinking himself lawless, and hearing what gain the fishermen made

of trading of pieces, powder, and shot, he as head of this consortship,

began the practice of the same in these parts; and first he taught the

Indians how to use them, to charge and discharge 'em, and what proportion

of powder to give the piece; according to the size of bigness of the

same, and what shot to use for fowl, and what for deer; and having

instructed them, he employed some of them to hunt and fowl for him; so

as they became somewhat more active in that imployment than any of the

English, by reason of their swiftness of foot, and nimbleness of body,

being also quick-sighted, and by continual exercise, well knowing the

haunt of all sorts of game; so as when they saw the execution that a

piece would do, and the benefit that might come by the same, they became

very eager after them, and would not stick to give any price they could

attain to for them; accounting their bows and arrows but baubles in

comparison of them.

"And here we may take occasion to bewail the mischief which came by this

wicked man, and others like unto him; in that notwithstanding laws for

the restraint of selling ammunition to the natives, that so far base

covetousness prevailed, and doth still prevail, as that the Salvages

became amply furnished with guns, powder, shot, rapiers, pistols, and

also well skilled in repairing of defective arms: yea some have not

spared to tell them how gunpowder is made, and all the materials in it,

and they are to be had in their own land; and would (no doubt, in case

they could attain to the making of Saltpeter) teach them to make powder,

and what mischief may fall out unto the English in these parts thereby,

let this pestilent fellow Morton (aforenamed) bear a great part of the

blame and guilt of it to future generations. But lest I should hold the

reader too long in relation to the particulars of his vile actings; when

as the English that then lived up and down about the Massachusetts, and

in other places, perceiving the sad consequences of his trading, so as

the Indians became furnished with the English arms and ammunition, and

expert in the improving of them, and fearing that they should at one

time or another get a blow thereby; and also taking notice, that if he

were let alone in his way, they should keep no servants for him, because

he would entertain any, how vile soever, sundry of the chief of the

straggling plantations met together, and agreed by mutual consent to

send to Plimouth, who were then of more strength to join with them, to

suppress this mischief who considering the particulars proposed to them

to join together to take some speedy course to prevent (if it might be)

the evil that was accruing towards them; and resolved first to admonish

him of his wickedness respecting the premises, laying before him the

injury he did to their common safety, and that his acting considering the

same was against the King's proclamation; but he insolently persisted

on in his way, and said the King was dead, and his displeasure with

him, and threatened them that if they come to molest him, they should

look to themselves; so that they saw that there was no way but to take

him by force; so they resolved to proceed in such a way, and obtained

of the Governor of Plimouth to send Capt. Standish and some other aid

with him, to take the said Morton by force, the which accordingly was

done; but they found him to stand stiffly on his defence, having made

fast his doors, armed his consorts, set powder and shot ready upon the

table; scoffed and scorned at them, he and his complices being fitted

with strong drink, were desperate in their way; but he himself coming

out of doors to make a shot at Capt. Standish, he stepping to him put

by his piece and took him, and so little hurt was done; and so he was

brought prisoner to Plimouth, and continued in durance till an opportunity

of sending him for England, which was done at their common charge, and

letters also with him, to the honorable council for New England, and

returned again into the country in some short time, with less punishment

than his demerits deserved (as was apprehended). The year following he

was again apprehended, and sent for England, where he lay a considerable

time in Exeter gaol; for besides his miscarriage here in New England,

he was suspected to have murthered a man that had ventured monies with

him when he came first into New England; and a warrant was sent over

from the Lord Chief Justice to apprehend him, by virtue whereof, he

was by the Governor of Massachusetts sent into England, and for other

of his misdemeanors amongst them in that government, they demolished

his house, that it might no longer be a roost for such unclean birds.

Notwithstanding he got free in England again, and wrote an infamous and

scurrilous book against many godly and chief men of the country, full

of lies and slanders, and full fraught with prophane calumnies against

their names and persons, and the way of God. But to the intent I may

not trouble the reader any more with mentioning of him in this history;

in fine, sundry years after he came again into the country, and was

imprisoned at Boston for the aforesaid book and other things, but denied

sundry things therein, affirming his book was adulterated. And soon after

being grown old in wickedness, at last ended his life at Piscataqua.

But I fear I have held the reader too long about so unworthy a person,

but hope it may be useful to take notice how wickedness was beginning,

and would have further proceeded, had it not been prevented timely."

So far Nathaniel Morton. The copy you have of Thomas Morton's New English

Canaan, printed in 1637 by Stam of Amsterdam, was a second edition of

that "infamous and scurrilous book against the godly." The first had been

printed in 1632, by Charles Green, in a 4to of 188 pages, and is the one

alluded to by N. Morton. Both of them made a part of the American library

given by White Kennett in 1713 to the Society for the propagation of

the Gospel in foreign parts. This society being a chartered one, still,

as I believe, existing, and probably their library also, I suppose that

these and the other books of that immense collection, the catalogue of

which occupies 275 pages 4to, are still to be found with them. If any

research I can hereafter make should ever bring to my knowledge anything

more of Wollaston, I shall not fail to communicate it to you. Ever and

affectionately yours.

FOOTNOTE:

[2] This gentleman's name is here occasionally used, and although

he came over in the year 1625, yet these passages in reference

to Morton fell out about this year, and therefore referred to

this place.

TO HENRY MIDDLETON, ESQ.

MONTICELLO, January 8, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of November 25th was a month on its passage to me.

I received with great pleasure this mark of your recollection, heightened

by the assurance that the part I have acted in public life has met your

approbation. Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down

to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have

cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt,

believing that these were the high road to public as well as to private

prosperity and happiness. And, certainly, there never before has been a

state of the world in which such forbearances as we have exercised would

not have preserved our peace. Nothing but the total prostration of all

moral principle could have produced the enormities which have forced us

at length into the war. On one hand, a ruthless tyrant, drenching Europe

in blood to obtain through future time the character of the destroyer

of mankind; on the other, a nation of buccanniers, urged by sordid

avarice, and embarked in the flagitious enterprise of seizing to itself

the maritime resources and rights of all other nations, have left no

means of peace to reason and moderation. And yet there are beings among

us who think we ought still to have acquiesced. As if while full war was

waging on one side, we could lose by making some reprisal on the other.

The paper you were so kind as to enclose me is a proof you are not of

this sentiment; it expresses our grievances with energy and brevity,

as well as the feelings they ought to excite. And I see with pleasure

another proof that South Carolina is ever true to the principles of

free government. Indeed it seems to me that in proportion as commercial

avarice and corruption advance on us from the north and east, the

principles of free government are to retire to the agricultural states

of the south and west, as their last asylum and bulwark. With honesty

and self-government for her portion, agriculture may abandon contentedly

to others the fruits of commerce and corruption. Accept, I pray you,

the assurances of my great esteem and respect.

TO MR. RONALDSON.

MONTICELLO, Jan. 12, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of November 2d arrived a little before I sat out

on a journey on which I was absent between five and six weeks. I have

still therefore to return you my thanks for the seeds accompanying it,

which shall be duly taken care of, and a communication made to others

of such as shall prove valuable. I have been long endeavoring to procure

the Cork tree from Europe, but without success. A plant which I brought

with me from Paris died after languishing some time, and of several

parcels of acorns received from a correspondent at Marseilles, not one

has ever vegetated. I shall continue my endeavors, although disheartened

by the nonchalance of our southern fellow citizens, with whom alone they

can thrive. It is now twenty-five years since I sent them two shipments

(about 500 plants) of the Olive tree of Aix, the finest Olives in the

world. If any of them still exist, it is merely as a curiosity in their

gardens, not a single orchard of them has been planted. I sent them also

the celebrated species of Sainfoin,[3] from Malta, which yields good

crops without a drop of rain through the season. It was lost. The upland

rice which I procured fresh from Africa and sent them, has been preserved

and spread in the upper parts of Georgia, and I believe in Kentucky.

But we must acknowledge their services in furnishing us an abundance

of cotton, a substitute for silk, flax and hemp. The ease with which it

is spun will occasion it to supplant the two last, and its cleanliness

the first. Household manufacture is taking deep root with us. I have a

carding machine, two spinning machines, and looms with the flying shuttle

in full operation for clothing my own family; and I verily believe that

by the next winter this State will not need a yard of imported coarse or

middling clothing. I think we have already a sheep for every inhabitant,

which will suffice for clothing, and one-third more, which a single year

will add, will furnish blanketing. With respect to marine hospitals, which

are one of the subjects of your letter, I presume you know that such

establishments have been made by the general government in the several

States, that a portion of seaman's wages is drawn for their support, and

the government furnishes what is deficient. Mr. Gallatin is attentive to

them, and they will grow with our growth. You doubt whether we ought to

permit the exportation of grain to our enemies; but Great Britain, with

her own agricultural support, and those she can command by her access

into every sea, cannot be starved by withholding our supplies. And if

she is to be fed at all events, why may we not have the benefit of it

as well as others? I would not, indeed, feed her armies landed on our

territory, because the difficulty of inland subsistence is what will

prevent their ever penetrating far into the country, and will confine

them to the sea coast. But this would be my only exception. And as to

feeding her armies in the peninsula, she is fighting our battles there,

as Bonaparte is on the Baltic. He is shutting out her manufactures from

that sea, and so far assisting us in her reduction to extremity. But if

she does not keep him out of the peninsular, if he gets full command of

that, instead of the greatest and surest of all our markets, as that

has uniformly been, we shall be excluded from it, or so much shackled

by his tyranny and ignorant caprices, that it will become for us what

France now is. Besides, if we could, by starving the English armies,

oblige them to withdraw from the peninsular, it would be to send them

here; and I think we had better feed them there for pay, than feed and

fight them here for nothing. A truth, too, not to be lost sight of is,

that no country can pay war taxes if you suppress all their resources.

To keep the war popular, we must keep open the markets. As long as good

prices can be had, the people will support the war cheerfully. If you

should have an opportunity of conveying to Mr. Heriot my thanks for his

book, you will oblige me by doing it. Accept the assurance of my great

esteem and respect.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Called Sulla.

TO MR. MELISH.

MONTICELLO, January 13, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--I received duly your favor of December the 15th, and with it

the copies of your map and travels, for which be pleased to accept my

thanks. The book I have read with extreme satisfaction and information.

As to the western States, particularly, it has greatly edified me; for of

the actual condition of that interesting portion of our country, I had

not an adequate idea. I feel myself now as familiar with it as with the

condition of the maritime States. I had no conception that manufactures

had made such progress there, and particularly of the number of carding

and spinning machines dispersed through the whole country. We are but

beginning here to have them in our private families. Small spinning

jennies of from half a dozen to twenty spindles, will soon, however, make

their way into the humblest cottages, as well as the richest houses; and

nothing is more certain, than that the coarse and middling clothing for

our families, will forever hereafter continue to be made within ourselves.

I have hitherto myself depended entirely on foreign manufactures; but

I have now thirty-five spindles agoing, a hand carding machine, and

looms with the flying shuttle, for the supply of my own farms, which

will never be relinquished in my time. The continuance of the war will

fix the habit generally, and out of the evils of impressment and of the

orders of council, a great blessing for us will grow. I have not formerly

been an advocate for great manufactories. I doubted whether our labor,

employed in agriculture, and aided by the spontaneous energies of the

earth, would not procure us more than we could make ourselves of other

necessaries. But other considerations entering into the question, have

settled my doubts.

The candor with which you have viewed the manners and condition of our

citizens, is so unlike the narrow prejudices of the French and English

travellers preceding you, who, considering each the manners and habits of

their own people as the only orthodox, have viewed everything differing

from that test as boorish and barbarous, that your work will be read

here extensively, and operate great good.

Amidst this mass of approbation which is given to every other part of

the work, there is a single sentiment which I cannot help wishing to

bring to what I think the correct one; and, on a point so interesting,

I value your opinion too highly not to ambition its concurrence with my

own. Stating in volume one, page sixty-three, the principle of difference

between the two great political parties here, you conclude it to be,

'whether the controlling power shall be vested in this or that set of

men.' That each party endeavors to get into the administration of the

government, and exclude the other from power, is true, and may be stated

as a motive of action: but this is only secondary; the primary motive

being a real and radical difference of political principle. I sincerely

wish our differences were but personally who should govern, and that the

principles of our constitution were those of both parties. Unfortunately,

it is otherwise; and the question of preference between monarchy and

republicanism, which has so long divided mankind elsewhere, threatens

a permanent division here.

Among that section of our citizens called federalists, there are three

shades of opinion. Distinguishing between the _leaders_ and _people_

who compose it, the _leaders_ consider the English constitution as

a model of perfection, some, with a correction of its vices, others,

with all its corruptions and abuses. This last was Alexander Hamilton's

opinion, which others, as well as myself, have often heard him declare,

and that a correction of what are called its vices, would render the

English an impracticable government. This government they wished to have

established here, and only accepted and held fast, _at first_, to the

present constitution, as a stepping-stone to the final establishment of

their favorite model. This party has therefore always clung to England

as their prototype, and great auxiliary in promoting and effecting this

change. A weighty minority, however, of these _leaders_, considering the

voluntary conversion of our government into a monarchy as too distant,

if not desperate, wish to break off from our Union its eastern fragment,

as being, in truth, the hot-bed of American monarchism, with a view to a

commencement of their favorite government, from whence the other States

may gangrene by degrees, and the whole be thus brought finally to the

desired point. For Massachusetts, the prime mover in this enterprise, is

the last State in the Union to mean a _final_ separation, as being of all

the most dependent on the others. Not raising bread for the sustenance of

her own inhabitants, not having a stick of timber for the construction

of vessels, her principal occupation, nor an article to export in them,

where would she be, excluded from the ports of the other States, and

thrown into dependence on England, her direct, and natural, but now

insidious rival? At the head of this MINORITY is what is called the Essex

Junto of Massachusetts. But the MAJORITY of these _leaders_ do not aim

at separation. In this, they adhere to the known principle of General

Hamilton, never, under any views, to break the Union. Anglomany, monarchy,

and separation, then, are the principles of the Essex federalists.

Anglomany and monarchy, those of the Hamiltonians, and Anglomany alone,

that of the portion among the _people_ who call themselves federalists.

These last are as good republicans as the brethren whom they oppose, and

differ from them only in their devotion to England and hatred of France

which they have imbibed from their leaders. The moment that these leaders

should avowedly propose a separation of the Union, or the establishment

of regal government, their popular adherents would quit them to a man,

and join the republican standard; and the partisans of this change, even

in Massachusetts, would thus find themselves an army of officers without

a soldier.

The party called republican is steadily for the support of the present

constitution. They obtained at its commencement, all the amendments

to it they desired. These reconciled them to it perfectly, and if they

have any ulterior view, it is only, perhaps, to popularize it further,

by shortening the Senatorial term, and devising a process for the

responsibility of judges, more practicable than that of impeachment.

They esteem the people of England and France equally, and equally detest

the governing powers of both.

This I verily believe, after an intimacy of forty years with the public

councils and characters, is a true statement of the grounds on which

they are at present divided, and that it is not merely an ambition for

power. An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over

his fellow citizens. And considering as the only offices of power those

conferred by the people directly, that is to say, the executive and

legislative functions of the General and State governments, the common

refusal of these, and multiplied resignations, are proofs sufficient

that power is not alluring to pure minds, and is not, with them, the

primary principle of contest. This is my belief of it; it is that

on which I have acted; and had it been a mere contest who should be

permitted to administer the government according to its genuine republican

principles, there has never been a moment of my life in which I should

have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my friends

and books.

You expected to discover the difference of our party principles in General

Washington's valedictory, and my inaugural address. Not at all. General

Washington did not harbor one principle of federalism. He was neither

an Angloman, a monarchist, nor a separatist. He sincerely wished the

people to have as much self-government as they were competent to exercise

themselves. The only point on which he and I ever differed in opinion,

was, that I had more confidence than he had in the natural integrity and

discretion of the people, and in the safety and extent to which they

might trust themselves with a control over their government. He has

asseverated to me a thousand times his determination that the existing

government should have a fair trial, and that in support of it he would

spend the last drop of his blood. He did this the more repeatedly, because

he knew General Hamilton's political bias, and my apprehensions from

it. It is a mere calumny, therefore, in the monarchists, to associate

General Washington with their principles. But that may have happened

in this case which has been often seen in ordinary cases, that, by oft

repeating an untruth, men come to believe it themselves. It is a mere

artifice in this party to bolster themselves up on the revered name of

that first of our worthies. If I have dwelt longer on this subject than

was necessary, it proves the estimation in which I hold your ultimate

opinions, and my desire of placing the subject truly before them. In so

doing, I am certain I risk no use of the communication which may draw

me into contention before the public. Tranquillity is the _summum bonum_

of a Septagenaire.

To return to the merits of your work: I consider it as so lively a

picture of the real state of our country, that if I can possibly obtain

opportunities of conveyance, I propose to send a copy to a friend

in France, and another to one in Italy, who, I know, will translate

and circulate it as an antidote to the misrepresentations of former

travellers. But whatever effect my profession of political faith may

have on your general opinion, a part of my object will be obtained, if

it satisfies you as to the principles of my own action, and of the high

respect and consideration with which I tender you my salutations.

TO COLONEL DUANE.

MONTICELLO, January 22, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--I do not know how the publication of the Review turned out

in point of profit, whether gainfully or not. I know it ought to have

been a book of great sale. I gave a copy to a student of William and

Mary college, and recommended it to Bishop Madison, then President of

the college, who was so pleased with it that he established it as a

school-book, and as the young gentleman informed me, every copy which

could be had was immediately bought up, and there was a considerable

demand for more. You probably know best whether new calls for it have

been made. Pr. Madison was a good whig. * * * * * Your experiment on that

work will enable you to decide whether you ought to undertake another,

not of greater but of equal merit. I have received from France a MS. work

on Political Economy, written by De Tutt Tracy, the most conspicuous

writer of the present day in the metaphysical line. He has written a

work entitled Ideology, which has given him a high reputation in France.

He considers that as having laid a solid foundation for the present

volume on Political Economy, and will follow it by one on Moral Duties.

The present volume is a work of great ability. It may be considered as

a review of the principles of the Economists, of Smith and of Say, or

rather an elementary book on the same subject. As Smith had corrected

some principles of the Economists, and Say some of Smiths, so Tracy has

done as to the whole. He has, in my opinion, corrected fundamental errors

in all of them, and by simplifying principles, has brought the subject

within a narrow compass. I think the volume would be of about the size

of the Review of Montesquieu. Although he puts his name to the work, he

is afraid to publish it in France, lest its freedom should bring him

into trouble. If translated and published here, he could disavow it,

if necessary. In order to enable you to form a better judgment of the

work, I will subjoin a list of the chapters or heads, and if you think

proper to undertake the translation and publication, I will send the

work itself. You will certainly find it one of the very first order. It

begins with * * * * *

Our war on the land has commenced most inauspiciously. I fear we are

to expect reverses until we can find out who are qualified for command,

and until these can learn their profession. The proof of a general, to

know whether he will stand fire, costs a more serious price than that

of a cannon; these proofs have already cost us thousands of good men,

and deplorable degradation of reputation, and as yet have elicited but

a few negative and a few positive characters. But we must persevere till

we recover the rank we are entitled to.

Accept the assurances of my continued esteem and respect.

TO DOCTOR MORRELL.

MONTICELLO, February 5, 1813.

SIR,--The book which you were so kind as to take charge of at Paris for

me, is safely received, and I thank you for your care of it, and more

particularly for the indulgent sentiments you are so kind as to express

towards myself. I am happy at all times to hear of the welfare of my

literary friends in that country; they have had a hard time of it since

I left them. I know nothing which can so severely try the heart and

spirit of man, and especially of the man of science, as the necessity of

a passive acquiescence under the abominations of an unprincipled tyrant

who is deluging the earth with blood to acquire for himself the reputation

of a Cartouche or a Robin Hood. The petty larcenies of the Blackbeards

and Buccaneers of the ocean, the more immediately exercised on us, are

dirty and grovelling things addressed to our contempt, while the horrors

excited by the Scelerat of France are beyond all human execrations. With

my thanks for your kind attentions, be pleased to accept the assurance

of my respect.

TO GENERAL BAILEY.

MONTICELLO, February 6, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of January 25th is received, and I have to renew

my thanks to you for the map accompanying it. These proofs of friendly

remembrance give additional interest to the subjects which convey them.

The scenes, too, which compose the map, are become highly interesting.

Our first entrance on them has been peculiarly inauspicious. Our men

are good, but force without conduct is easily baffled. The Creator has

not thought proper to mark those in the forehead who are of stuff to

make good generals. We are first, therefore, to seek them blindfold,

and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great losses. But

our turn of success will come by-and-bye, and we must submit to the

previous misfortunes which are to be the price of it. I think with you

on the subject of privateers. Our ships of force will undoubtedly be

blockaded by the enemy, and we shall have no means of annoying them at

sea but by small, swift-sailing vessels; these will be better managed and

more multiplied in the hands of individuals than of the government. In

short, they are our true and only weapon in a war against Great Britain,

when once Canada and Nova Scotia shall have been rescued from them. The

opposition to them in Congress is merely partial. It is a part of the navy

fever, and proceeds from the desire of securing men for the public ships

by suppressing all other employments from them. But I do not apprehend

that this ill-judged principle is that of a majority of Congress. I

hope, on the contrary, they will spare no encouragement to that kind of

enterprise. Our public ships, to be sure, have done wonders. They have

saved our military reputation sacrificed on the shores of Canada; but

in point of real injury and depredation on the enemy, our privateers

without question have been most effectual. Both species of force have

their peculiar value. I salute you with assurances of friendship and

respect.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

MONTICELLO, February 8, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of the 27th ult. has been duly received. You have

had a long holiday from my intrusions. In truth I have had nothing to

write about, and your time should not be consumed by letters about

nothing. The enclosed paper however makes it a duty to give you the

trouble of reading it. You know the handwriting and the faith due to

it. Our intimacy with the writer leaves no doubt about his facts, and

in his letter to me he pledges himself for their fidelity. He says the

narrative was written at the request of a young friend in Virginia, and

a copy made for my perusal, on the presumption it would be interesting

to me. Whether the word "Confidential" at the head of the paper was

meant only for his young friend or for myself also, nothing in his

letter indicates. I must, therefore, govern myself by considerations of

discretion and of duty combined. Discretion dictates that I ought not so

to use the paper as to compromit my friend; an effect which would be as

fatal to my peace as it might be to his person. But duty tells me that

the public interest is so deeply concerned in your perfect knowledge

of the characters employed in its high stations, that nothing should

be withheld which can give you useful information. On these grounds I

commit it to yourself and the Secretary at War, to whose functions it

relates more immediately. It may have effect on your future designation

of those to whom particular enterprises are to be committed, and this

is the object of the communication. If you should think it necessary

that the minds of the other members of the Cabinet should be equally

apprized of its contents, although not immediately respecting their

departments, the same considerations, and an entire confidence in them

personally, would dictate its communication to them also. But beyond

this no sense of duty calls on me for its disclosure, and fidelity to

my friend strongly forbids it. The paper presents such a picture of

indecision in purpose, inattention to preparation, and imprudence of

demeanor, as to fix a total incompetence for military direction. How

greatly we were deceived in this character, as is generally the case in

appointments not on our own knowledge. I remember when we appointed him

we rejoiced in the acquisition of an officer of so much understanding

and integrity, as we imputed to him; and placed him as near the head of

the army as the commands then at our disposal admitted. Perhaps, still,

you may possess information giving a different aspect to this case, of

which I sincerely wish it may be susceptible. I will ask the return of

the paper when no longer useful to you.

The accession to your Cabinet meets general approbation. This is chiefly

at present given to the character most known, but will be equally so

to the other when better known. I think you could not have made better

appointments.

The autumn and winter have been most unfriendly to the wheat in red

lands, by continued cold and alternate frosts and thaws. The late snow

of about ten inches now disappearing, have received it. That grain is

got to $2 at Richmond. This is the true barometer of the popularity of

the war. Ever affectionately yours.

TO GENERAL ARMSTRONG.

MONTICELLO, February 8, 1813.

DEAR GENERAL,--I have long ago in my heart congratulated our country on

your call to the place you now occupy. But with yourself personally it

is no subject of congratulation. The happiness of the domestic fireside

is the first boon of heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that

which is the lot of the mass of mankind. The duties of office are a

Corvée which must be undertaken on far other considerations than those

of personal happiness. But whether this be a subject of congratulation

or of condolence, it furnishes the occasion of recalling myself to your

recollection, and of renewing the assurances of my friendship and respect.

Whatever you do in office, I know will be honestly and ably done, and

although we who do not see the whole ground may sometimes impute error,

it will be because we, not you, are in the wrong; or because your views

are defeated by the wickedness or incompetence of those you are obliged

to trust with their execution. An instance of this is the immediate cause

of the present letter. I have enclosed a paper to the President, with

a request to communicate it to you, and if he thinks it should be known

to your associates of the Cabinet, although not immediately respecting

their departments, he will communicate it to them also. That it should

go no further is rendered an obligation on me by considerations personal

to a young friend whom I love and value, and by the confidence which has

induced him to commit himself to me. I hope, therefore, it will never

be known that such a narrative has been written, and much less by whom

written, and to whom addressed. It is unfortunate that heaven has not set

its stamp on the forehead of those whom it has qualified for military

achievement. That it has left us to draw for them in a lottery of so

many blanks to a prize, and where the blank is to be manifested only

by the public misfortunes. If nature had planted the _fœnum in cornu_

on the front of treachery, of cowardice, of imbecility, the unfortunate

debut we have made on the theatre of war would not have sunk our spirits

at home, and our character abroad. I hope you will be ready to act on

the first breaking of the ice, as otherwise we may despair of wresting

Canada from our enemies. Their starving manufactories can furnish men

for its defence much faster than we can enlist them for its assault.

Accept my prayers for success in all your undertakings, and the assurance

of my affectionate esteem and respect.

TO DOCTOR RUSH.

MONTICELLO, March 6, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--I received some time ago a letter signed "James Carver,"

proposing that myself, and my friends in this quarter, should subscribe

and forward a sum of money towards the expenses of his voyage to London,

and maintenance there while going through a course of education in their

Veterinary school, with a view to his returning to America, and practising

the art in Philadelphia. The name, person and character of the writer,

were equally unknown to me, and unauthenticated, but as self-declared

in the letter. I supposed him an Englishman, from the style in which

he spoke of "His Majesty," and because an American, without offence to

the laws, could not now be going, nor be sent by private individuals to

England. The scheme did not appear to me either the shortest or surest

way of going to work to accomplish the object. Because, if the Veterinary

institution there be of the celebrity he described, it must already have

produced subjects prepared for entering into practice, and disposed to

come to a good position, claiming nothing till they should enter into

function, or not more than their passage. I did not receive the letter

until the day had elapsed on which the vessel was to depart wherein he

had taken his passage; and his desire that the answer should go through

you, is my only authority for troubling you with this, addressed to you,

whom I know, love, and revere, and not to him, who, for any evidence I

have but from himself, may be a zealous son of science, or an adventurer

wanting money to carry him to London. I know nothing of the Veterinary

institution of London, yet have no doubt it merits the high character he

ascribes to it. It is a nation which possesses many learned men. I know

well the Veterinary school of Paris, of long standing, and saw many of its

publications during my residence there. They were classically written,

announced a want of nothing but certainty as to their facts, which

granted, the hypotheses were learned and plausible. The coach-horses of

the rich of Paris were availed of the institution; but the farmers even

of the neighborhood could not afford to call a Veterinary Doctor to their

plough-horses in the country, or to send them to a livery stable to be

attended in the city. On the whole, I was not a convert to the utility

of the Institution. You know I am so to that of medicine, even in human

complaints, but in a limited degree. That there are certain diseases of

the human body, so distinctly pronounced by well-articulated symptoms,

and recurring so often, as not to be mistaken, wherein experience has

proved that certain substances applied, will restore order, I cannot

doubt. Such are Kinkina in Intermittents, Mercury in Syphilis, Castor

Oil in Dysentery, &c. And so far I go with the physicians. But there

are also a great mass of indistinct diseases, presenting themselves

under no form clearly characterized, nor exactly recognized as having

occurred before, and to which of course the application of no particular

substance can be known to have been made, nor its effect on the case

experienced. These may be called unknown cases, and they may in time be

lessened by the progress of observation and experiment. Observing that

there are in the construction of the animal system some means provided

unknown to us, which have a tendency to restore order, when disturbed

by accident, called by physicians the _vis medicatrix naturæ_, I think

it safer to trust to this power in the unknown cases, than to uncertain

conjectures built on the ever-changing hypothetical systems of medicine.

Now, in the Veterinary department all are unknown cases. Man can tell

his physician the seat of his pain, its nature, history, and sometimes

its cause, and can follow his directions for the curative process--but

the poor dumb horse cannot signify where his pain is, what it is, or when

or whence it came, and resists all process for its cure. If in the case

of man, then, the benefit of medical interference in such cases admits

of question, what must it be in that of the horse? And to what narrow

limits is the real importance of the Veterinary art reduced? When a boy,

I knew a Doctor Seymour, neighbor to our famous botanist Clayton, who

imagined he could cure the diseases of his tobacco plants; he bled some,

administered lotions to others, sprinkled powders on a third class, and

so on--they only withered and perished the faster. I am sensible of the

presumption of hazarding an opinion to you on a subject whereon you are

so much better qualified for decision, both by reading and experience.

But our opinions are not voluntary. Every man's own reason must be his

oracle. And I only express mine to explain why I did not comply with

Mr. Carver's request; and to give you a further proof that there are no

bounds to my confidence in your indulgence in matters of opinion.

Mr. Adams and myself are in habitual correspondence. I owe him a letter

at this time, and shall pay the debt as soon as I have something to write

about: for with the commonplace topic of politics we do not meddle. Where

there are so many others on which we agree, why should we introduce

the only one on which we differ. Besides the pleasure which our naval

successes have given to every honest patriot, his must be peculiar,

because a navy has always been his hobby-horse. A little further time will

show whether his ideas have been premature, and whether the little we

can oppose on that element to the omnipotence of our enemy there, would

lessen the losses of the war, or contribute to shorten its duration,

the legitimate object of every measure. On the land, indeed, we have

been most unfortunate; so wretched a succession of generals never before

destroyed the fairest expectations of a nation, counting on the bravery

of its citizens, which has proved itself on all these trials. Our first

object must now be the vindication of our character in the field; after

that, peace with the _liberum mare_, personal inviolability there, and

ouster from this continent of the incendiaries of savages. God send us

these good things, and to you health and life here, till you wish to

awake to it in another state of being.

TO M. DE LOMERIE.

MONTICELLO, April 3, 1813.

SIR,--Your letter of the 26th has been received, as had been that of the

5th. The preceding ones had been complied with by applications verbal

and written to the members of the government, to which I could expect

no specific answers, their whole time being due to the public, and

employed on their concerns. Had it been my good fortune to preserve at

the age of seventy, all the activity of body and mind which I enjoyed

in earlier life, I should have employed it now, as then, in incessant

labors to serve those to whom I could be useful. But the torpor of age

is weighing heavily on me. The writing table is become my aversion,

and its drudgeries beyond my remaining powers. I have retired, then,

of necessity, from all correspondence not indispensably called for by

some special duty, and I hope that this necessity will excuse me with

you from further interference in obtaining your passage to France, which

requires solicitations and exertions beyond what I am able to encounter.

I request this the more freely, because I am sure of finding, in your

candor and consideration, an acquiescence in the reasonableness of my

desire to indulge the feeble remains of life in that state of ease and

tranquillity which my condition, physical and moral, require. Accept,

then, with my adieux, my best wishes for a safe and happy return to your

native country, and the assurances of my respect.

TO MR. THOMAS PAINE M'MATRON.

MONTICELLO, April 3, 1813.

SIR,--Your favor of March 24th is received, and nothing could have been

so pleasing to me as to have been able to comply wit the request therein

made, feeling especial motives to become useful to any person connected

with Mr. M'Matron. But I shall state to you the circumstances which

control my will, and rest on your candor their just estimate. When I

retired from the government four years ago, it was extremely my wish to

withdraw myself from all concern with public affairs, and to enjoy with

my fellow citizens the protection of government, under the auspices and

direction of those to whom it was so worthily committed. Solicitations

from my friends, however, to aid them in their applications for office,

drew from me an unwary compliance, till at length these became so

numerous as to occupy a great portion of my time in writing letters to

the President and heads of departments, and although these were attended

to by them with great indulgence, yet I was sensible they could not fail

of being very embarrassing. They kept me, at the same time, standing

forever in the attitude of a suppliant before them, daily asking favors

as humiliating and afflicting to my own mind, as they were unreasonable

from their multitude. I was long sensible of the necessity of putting

an end to these unceasing importunities, when a change in the heads of

the two departments to which they were chiefly addressed, presented me

an opportunity. I came to a resolution, therefore, on that change, never

to make another application. I have adhered to it strictly, and find

that on its rigid observance, my own happiness and the friendship of

the government too much depend, for me to swerve from it in future. On

consideration of these circumstances, I hope you will be sensible how

much they import, both to the government and myself; and that you do

me the justice to be assured of the reluctance with which I decline an

opportunity of being useful to one so nearly connected with Mr. M'Matron,

and that with the assurance of my regrets, you will accept that of my

best wishes for your success, and of my great respect.

TO COLONEL DUANE.

MONTICELLO, April 4, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of February 14th has been duly received, and the

MS. of the commentary on Montesquieu is also safe at hand. I now forward

to you the work of Tracy, which you will find a valuable supplement and

corrective to those we already possess on political economy. It is a

little unlucky that its outset is of a metaphysical character, which may

damp the ardor of perusal in some readers. He has been led to this by a

desire to embody this work, as well as a future one he is preparing on

morals, with his former treatise on Ideology. By-the-bye, it is merely to

this work that Bonaparte alludes in his answer to his Council of State,

published not long since, in which he scouts "the dark and metaphysical

doctrine of Ideology, which, diving into first causes, founds on this

basis a legislation of the people, &c." If, indeed, this answer be not

a forgery, for everything is now forged, even to the fat of our beef

and mutton: yet the speech is not unlike him, and affords scope for an

excellent parody. I wish you may succeed in getting the commentary on

Montesquieu reviewed by the Edinburgh Reviewers. I should expect from

them an able and favorable analysis of it. I sent a copy of it to a

friend in England, in the hope he would communicate it to them; not,

however, expressing that hope, lest the source of it should have been

made known. But the book will make its way, and will become a standard

work. A copy which I sent to France was under translation by one of the

ablest men of that country.

It is true that I am tired of practical politics, and happier while

reading the history of ancient than of modern times. The total banishment

of all moral principle from the code which governs the intercourse of

nations, the melancholy reflection that after the mean, wicked and

cowardly cunning of the cabinets of the age of Machiavel had given

place to the integrity and good faith which dignified the succeeding

one of a Chatham and Turgot, that this is to be swept away again by the

daring profligacy and avowed destitution of all moral principle of a

Cartouche and a Blackbeard, sickens my soul unto death. I turn from the

contemplation with loathing, and take refuge in the histories of other

times, where, if they also furnished their Tarquins, their Catalines and

Caligulas, their stories are handed to us under the brand of a Livy, a

Sallust and a Tacitus, and we are comforted with the reflection that the

condemnation of all succeeding generations has confirmed the censures

of the historian, and consigned their memories to everlasting infamy, a

solace we cannot have with the Georges and Napoleons but by anticipation.

In surveying the scenes of which we make a part, I confess that three

frigates taken by our gallant little navy, do not balance in my mind

three armies lost by the treachery, cowardice, or incapacity of those

to whom they were intrusted. I see that our men are good, and only want

generals. We may yet hope, however, that the talents which always exist

among men will show themselves with opportunity, and that it will be

found that this age also can produce able and honest defenders of their

country, at what further expense, however, of blood and treasure, is yet

to be seen. Perhaps this Russian mediation may cut short the history

of the present war, and leave to us the laurels of the sea, while our

enemies are bedecked with those of the land. This would be the reverse

of what has been expected, and perhaps of what was to be wished.

I have never seen the work on Political Economy, of which you speak. Say

and Tracy contain the sum of that science as far as it has been soundly

traced in my judgment. And it is a pity that Say's work should not, as

well as Tracy's, be made known to our countrymen by a good translation.

It would supplant Smith's book altogether, because shorter, clearer and

sounder.

Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of continued esteem and

respect.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

MONTICELLO, May 21, 1813.

DEAR SIR,--The enclosed letter from Whit was unquestionably intended for

you. The subject, the address, both of title and place, prove it, and

the mistake of the name only shows the writer to be a very uninquisitive

statesman. Dr. Waterhouse's letter, too, was intended for your eye,

and although the immediate object fails by previous appointment, yet

he seems to entertain further wishes. I enclose, too, the newspapers

he refers to, as some of their matter may have escaped your notice, and

the traitorous designs fostered in Massachusetts, and explained in them,

call for attention.

We have never seen so unpromising a crop of wheat as that now growing.

The winter killed an unusual proportion of it, and the fly is destroying

the remainder. We may estimate the latter loss at one-third at present,

and fast increasing from the effect of the extraordinary drought. With

such a prospect before us, the blockade is acting severely on our past

labors. It caught nearly the whole wheat of the middle and upper country

in the hands of the farmers and millers, whose interior situation had

prevented their getting it to an earlier market. From this neighborhood

very little had been sold. When we cast our eyes on the map, and see

the extent of country from New York to North Carolina inclusive, whose

produce is raised on the waters of the Chesapeake, (for Albemarle sound

is, by the canal of Norfolk, become a water of the Chesapeake,) and

consider its productiveness, in comparison with the rest of the Atlantic

States, probably a full half, and that all this can be shut up by two

or three ships of the line lying at the mouth of the bay, we see that

an injury so vast to ourselves and so cheap to our enemy, must forever

be resorted to by them, and constantly maintained. To defend all the

shores of those waters in detail is impossible. But is there not a single

point where they may be all defended by means to which the magnitude of

the object gives a title? I mean at the mouth of the Chesapeake. Not by

ships of the line, or frigates; for I know that with our present enemy

we cannot contend in that way. But would not a sufficient number of

gun-boats of _small_ draught, stationed in Lynhaven river, render it

unsafe for ships of war either to ascend the Chesapeake or to lie at

its mouth? I am not unaware of the effect of the ridicule cast on this

instrument of defence by those who wished for engines of offence. But

resort is had to ridicule only when reason is against us. I know, too,

the prejudices of the gentlemen of the navy, and that these are very

natural. No one has been more gratified than myself by the brilliant

achievements of our little navy. They have deeply wounded the pride of

our enemy, and been balm to ours, humiliated on the land where our real

strength was felt to lie. But divesting ourselves of the enthusiasm these

brave actions have justly excited, it is impossible not to see that all

these vessels must be taken and added to the already overwhelming force

of our enemy; that even while we keep them, they contribute nothing to

our defence, and that so far as we are to be defended by anything on

the water, it must be by such vessels as can assail under advantageous

circumstances, and under adverse ones withdraw from the reach of the

enemy. This, in shoally waters, is the humble, the ridiculed, but the

formidable gun-boats. I acknowledge that in the case which produces these

reflections, the station of Lynhaven river would not be safe against land

attacks on the boats, and that a retreat for them is necessary in this

event. With a view to this there was a survey made by Colonel Tatham,

which was lodged either in the war or navy office, showing the depth and

length of a canal which would give them a retreat from Lynhaven river

into the eastern branch of Elizabeth river. I think the distance is not

over six or eight miles, perhaps not so much, through a country entirely

flat, and little above the level of the sea. A cut of ten yards wide

and four yards deep, requiring the removal of forty cubic yards of earth

for every yard in length of the canal, at twenty cents the cubic yard,

would cost about $15,000 a mile. But even doubling this to cover all

errors of estimate, although in a country offering the cheapest kind of

labor, it would be nothing compared with the extent and productions of

the country it is to protect. It would, for so great a country, bear no

proportion to what has been expended, and justly expended by the Union,

to defend the single spot of New York.

While such a channel of retreat secures effectually the safety of the

gun-boats, it insures also their aid for the defence of Norfolk, if

attacked from the sea. And the Norfolk canal gives them a further passage

into Albemarle sound, if necessary for their safety, or in aid of the

flotilla of that sound, or to receive the aid of that flotilla either

at Norfolk or in Lynhaven river. For such a flotilla there also will

doubtless be thought necessary, that being the only outlet now, as during

the last war, for the waters of the Chesapeake. Colonel Monroe, I think,

is personally intimate with the face of all that country, and no one,

I am certain, is more able or more disposed than the present Secretary

of the Navy, to place himself above the navy prejudices, and do justice

to the aptitude of these humble and economical vessels to the shallow

waters of the South. On the bold Northern shores they would be of less

account, and the larger vessels will of course be more employed there.

Were they stationed with us, they would rather attract danger than ward

it off. The only service they can render us would be to come _in a body_

when the occasion offers, of overwhelming a weaker force of the enemy

occupying our bay, to oblige them to keep their force in a body, leaving

the mass of our coast open.

Although it is probable there may not be an idea here which has not

been maturely weighed by yourself, and with a much broader view of

the whole field, yet I have frankly hazarded them, because possibly

some of the facts or ideas may have escaped in the multiplicity of the

objects engaging your notice, and because in every event they will cost

you but the trouble of reading. The importance of keeping open a water

which covers wholly or considerably five of the most productive States,

containing three-fifths of the population of the Atlantic portion of

our Union, and of preserving their resources for the support of the

war, as far as the state of war and the means of the confederacy will

admit; and especially if it can be done for less than is contributed by

the Union for more than one single city, will justify our anxieties to

have it effected. And should my views of the subject be even wrong, I am

sure they will find their apology with you in the purity of the motives

of personal and public regard which induce a suggestion of them. In

all cases I am satisfied you are doing what is for the best, as far as

the means put into your hands will enable you, and this thought quiets

me under every occurrence, and under every occurrence I am sincerely,

affectionately and respectfully yours.

TO MADAME LA BARONNE DE STAEL-HOLSTEIN.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, May 24, 1813.

I received with great pleasure, my dear Madam and friend, your letter

of November the 10th, from Stockholm, and am sincerely gratified by the

occasion it gives me of expressing to you the sentiments of high respect

and esteem which I entertain for you. It recalls to my remembrance a happy

portion of my life, passed in your native city; then the seat of the most

amiable and polished society of the world, and of which yourself and your

venerable father were such distinguished members. But of what scenes has

it since been the theatre, and with what havoc has it overspread the

earth! Robespierre met the fate, and his memory the execration, he so

justly merited. The rich were his victims, and perished by thousands.

It is by millions that Bonaparte destroys the poor, and he is eulogized

and deified by the sycophants even of science. These merit more than

the mere oblivion to which they will be consigned; and the day will come

when a just posterity will give to their hero the only pre-eminence he

has earned, that of having been the greatest of the destroyers of the

human race. What year of his military life has not consigned a million of

human beings to death, to poverty and wretchedness! What field in Europe

may not raise a monument of the murders, the burnings, the desolations,

the famines and miseries it has witnessed from him! And all this to

acquire a reputation, which Cartouche attained with less injury to

mankind, of being fearless of God or man.