PART II.--Continued.

LETTERS WRITTEN WHILE IN EUROPE.

1784-1790.

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, March 15, 1789.

Dear Sir,--I wrote you last on the 12th of January; since which I have

received yours of October the 17th, December the 8th and 12th. That of

October the 17th, came to hand only February the 23d. How it happened to

be four months on the way, I cannot tell, as I never knew by what hand

it came. Looking over my letter of January the 12th, I remark an error

of the word "probable" instead of "improbable," which doubtless, however,

you had been able to correct.

Your thoughts on the subject of the declaration of rights, in the letter

of October the 17th, I have weighed with great satisfaction. Some of them

had not occurred to me before, but were acknowledged just in the moment

they were presented to my mind. In the arguments in favor of a declaration

of rights, you omit one which has great weight with me; the legal check

which it puts into the hands of the judiciary. This is a body, which, if

rendered independent and kept strictly to their own department, merits

great confidence for their learning and integrity. In fact, what degree

of confidence would be too much, for a body composed of such men as

Wythe, Blair and Pendleton? On characters like these, the "_civium ardor

prava jubentium_" would make no impression. I am happy to find that, on

the whole, you are a friend to this amendment. The declaration of rights

is, like all other human blessings, alloyed with some inconveniences,

and not accomplishing fully its object. But the good in this instance,

vastly overweighs the evil. I cannot refrain from making short answers

to the objections which your letter states to have been raised. 1. That

the rights in question are reserved, by the manner in which the federal

powers are granted. Answer. A constitutive act may, certainly, be so

formed, as to need no declaration of rights. The act itself has the

force of a declaration, as far as it goes; and if it goes to all material

points, nothing more is wanting. In the draught of a constitution which

I had once a thought of proposing in Virginia, and printed afterwards, I

endeavored to reach all the great objects of public liberty, and did not

mean to add a declaration of rights. Probably the object was imperfectly

executed; but the deficiencies would have been supplied by others, in the

course of discussion. But in a constitutive act which leaves some precious

articles unnoticed, and raises implications against others, a declaration

of rights becomes necessary, by way of supplement. This is the case of

our new federal Constitution. This instrument forms us into one State,

as to certain objects, and gives us a legislative and executive body for

these objects. It should, therefore, guard us against their abuses of

power, within the field submitted to them. 2. A positive declaration of

some essential rights could not be obtained in the requisite latitude.

Answer. Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our

rights, let us secure what we can. 3. The limited powers of the federal

government, and jealousy of the subordinate governments, afford a security

which exists in no other instance. Answer. The first member of this seems

resolvable into the first objection before stated. The jealousy of the

subordinate governments is a precious reliance. But observe that those

governments are only agents. They must have principles furnished them,

whereon to found their opposition. The declaration of rights will be

the text, whereby they will try all the acts of the federal government.

In this view, it is necessary to the federal government also; as by the

same text, they may try the opposition of the subordinate governments.

4. Experience proves the inefficacy of a bill of rights. True. But

though it is not absolutely efficacious under all circumstances, it is

of great potency always, and rarely inefficacious. A brace the more will

often keep up the building which would have fallen, with that brace the

less. There is a remarkable difference between the characters of the

inconveniences which attend a declaration of rights, and those which

attend the want of it. The inconveniences of the declaration are, that

it may cramp government in its useful exertions. But the evil of this

is short-lived, moderate and reparable. The inconveniences of the want

of a declaration are permanent, afflicting and irreparable. They are in

constant progression from bad to worse. The executive, in our governments,

is not the sole, it is scarcely the principal object of my jealousy. The

tyranny of the legislatures is the most formidable dread at present, and

will be for many years. That of the executive will come in its turn; but

it will be at a remote period. I know there are some among us, who would

now establish a monarchy. But they are inconsiderable in number and weight

of character. The rising race are all republicans. We were educated in

royalism; no wonder, if some of us retain that idolatry still. Our young

people are educated in republicanism; an apostasy from that to royalism,

is unprecedented and impossible. I am much pleased with the prospect

that a declaration of rights will be added; and I hope it will be done in

that way, which will not endanger the whole frame of government, or any

essential part of it.

I have hitherto avoided public news in my letters to you, because your

situation insured you a communication of my letters to Mr. Jay. This

circumstance being changed, I shall, in future, indulge myself in these

details to you. There had been some slight hopes, that an accommodation

might be effected between the Turks and two empires; but these hopes do

not strengthen, and the season is approaching which will put an end to

them, for another campaign, at least. The accident to the King of England

has had great influence on the affairs of Europe. His mediation, joined

with that of Prussia, would certainly have kept Denmark quiet, and so

have left the two empires in the hands of the Turks and Swedes. But the

inactivity to which England is reduced, leaves Denmark more free, and

she will probably go on in opposition to Sweden. The King of Prussia,

too, had advanced so far, that he can scarcely retire. This is rendered

the more difficult, by the troubles he has excited in Poland. He cannot

well abandon the party he had brought forward there; so that it is very

possible he may be engaged in the ensuing campaign. France will be quiet

this year, because this year, at least, is necessary for settling her

future constitution. The States will meet the 27th of April; and the

public mind will, I think, by that time, be ripe for a just decision of

the question, whether they shall vote by orders or persons. I think there

is a majority of the Nobles already for the latter. If so, their affairs

cannot but go on well. Besides settling for themselves a tolerably free

constitution, perhaps as free a one as the nation is as yet prepared

to bear, they will fund their public debts. This will give them such a

credit, as will enable them to borrow any money they may want, and of

course, to take the field again, when they think proper. And I believe

they mean to take the field, as soon as they can. The pride of every

individual in the nation, suffers under the ignominies they have lately

been exposed to, and I think the States General will give money for a war,

to wipe off the reproach. There have arisen new bickerings between this

court and that of the Hague; and the papers which have passed, show the

most bitter acrimony rankling at the heart of this ministry. They have

recalled their ambassador from the Hague, without appointing a successor.

They have given a note to the Diet of Poland, which shows a disapprobation

of their measures. The insanity of the King of England has been fortunate

for them, as it gives them time to put their house in order. The English

papers tell you the King is well; and even the English ministry say so.

They will naturally set the best foot foremost; and they guard his person

so well, that it is difficult for the public to contradict them. The King

is probably better, but not well, by a great deal. 1. He has been bled,

and judicious physicians say, that in his exhausted state, nothing could

have induced a recurrence to bleeding, but symptoms of relapse. 2. The

Prince of Wales tells the Irish deputation, he will give them a definitive

answer in some days; but if the King had been well, he could have given

it at once. 3. They talk of passing a standing law, for providing a

regency in similar cases. They apprehend then, they are not yet clear of

the danger of wanting a regency. 4. They have carried the King to church;

but it was his private chapel. If he be well, why do not they show him

publicly to the nation, and raise them from that consternation into which

they have been thrown, by the prospect of being delivered over to the

profligate hands of the Prince of Wales. In short, judging from little

facts, which are known in spite of their teeth, the King is better, but

not well. Possibly he is getting well, but still, time will be wanting

to satisfy even the ministry, that it is not merely a lucid interval.

Consequently, they cannot interrupt France this year in the settlement of

her affairs, and after this year it will be too late.

As you will be in a situation to know when the leave of absence will be

granted me, which I have asked, will you be so good as to communicate it,

by a line, to Mr. Lewis and Mr. Eppes? I hope to see you in the summer,

and that if you are not otherwise engaged, you will encamp with me at

Monticello for awhile.

I am, with great and sincere attachment, dear Sir, your affectionate

friend and servant.

TO THOMAS PAINE.

Paris, March 17, 1789.

Dear Sir,--My last letter to you extended from December the 23d to January

the 11th. A confidential opportunity now arising, I can acknowledge the

receipt of yours of January the 15th, at the date of which you could not

have received mine.

You knew, long ago, that the meeting of the States is to be at Versailles

on the 27th of April. This country is entirely occupied in its elections,

which go on quietly and well. The Duke d'Orleans is elected for Villers

Cotterels. The Prince of Condé has lost the election he aimed at; nor is

it certain he can be elected anywhere. We have no news from Auvergne,

whither the Marquis de La Fayette is gone. In general, all the men of

influence in the country are gone into the several provinces to get their

friends elected, or be elected themselves. Since my letter to you, a

tumult arose in Bretagne, in which four or five lives were lost. They are

now quieter, and this is the only instance of a life lost, as yet, in this

revolution. The public mind is now so far ripened by time and discussion,

that there seems to be but one opinion on the principal points. The

question of voting by persons of orders is the most controverted; but even

that seems to have gained already a majority among the Nobles. I fear more

from the number of the Assembly, than from any other cause. Twelve hundred

persons are difficult to keep to order, and will be so, especially, till

they shall have had time to frame rules of order. Their funds continue

stationary, and at the level they have stood at for some years past. We

hear so little of the parliaments for some time past, that one is hardly

sensible of their existence. This unimportance is probably the forerunner

of their total re-modification by the nation. The article of legislation,

is the only interesting one on which the court has not explicitly declared

itself to the nation. The Duke d'Orleans has given instructions to his

proxies in the baillages, which would be deemed bold in England, and are

reasonable beyond the reach of an Englishman, who, slumbering under a kind

of half reformation in politics and religion, is not excited by anything

he sees or feels, to question the remains of prejudice. The writers of

this country, now taking the field freely and unrestrained, or rather

involved by prejudice, will rouse us all from the errors in which we have

been hitherto rocked.

We had, at one time, some hope that an accommodation would have been

effected between the Turks and two empires. Probably the taking Oczakow,

while it has attached the Empress more to the Crimea, is not important

enough to the Turks, to make them consent to peace. These hopes are

vanishing. Nor does there seem any prospect of peace between Russia and

Sweden. The palsied condition of England leaves it probable that Denmark

will pursue its hostilities against Sweden. It does not seem certain

whether the King of Prussia has advanced so far in that mediation, and in

the troubles he has excited in Poland, as to be obliged to become a party.

Nor will his becoming a party draw in this country, the present year, if

England remains quiet. Papers which lately passed between this court and

the government of Holland, prove that this nourishes its discontent, and

only waits to put its house in order, before it interposes. They have

recalled their ambassador from the Hague, without naming a successor. The

King of Sweden, not thinking that Russia and Denmark are enough for him,

has arrested a number of his Nobles, of principal rank and influence. It

is a bold measure, at least, and he is too boyish a character to authorize

us to presume it a wise one, merely because he has adopted it. His army

was before disgusted. He now puts the Nobles and all their dependents on

the same side, and they are sure of armed support, by Russia on the north,

and Denmark on the south. He can have no salvation but in the King of

Prussia.

I have received two letters from Ledyard, the one dated Alexandria, August

the 15th, the other Grand Cairo, September the 10th; and one lately from

Admiral Paul Jones, dated St. Petersburg, January the 31st. He was just

arrived there, on the call of the Empress, and was uncertain where he

should be employed the next campaign. Mr. Littlepage has returned from the

Black Sea to Warsaw, where he has been perfectly received by the King. I

saw this from under the King's own hand, and was pleased with the parental

expressions towards him.

We have no news from America later than the middle of January. My letters

inform me that even the friends of the new Constitution have come over

to the expediency of adding a declaration of rights. There is reason to

hope that this will be proposed by Congress to the several legislatures,

and that the plan of New York for calling a new convention, will be

rejected. Hitherto no State had acceded to it but Virginia, in which Henry

and anti-federalism had got full possession of their legislature. But

the people are better disposed. My departure for America is likely to be

retarded, by the want of a Congress to give me permission. I must obtain

it from the new government. I am anxious to know how much we ought to

believe of the recovery of the King of England. By putting little facts

together, I see that he is not well. Mr. Rumsey (who came in while I was

writing the preceding page) tells me you have a long letter ready for me.

I shall be happy to receive it.

I am, with great and sincere attachment, dear Sir, your affectionate

friend and servant.

TO COLONEL HUMPHREYS.

Paris, March 18, 1789.

Dear Sir,--Your favor of November the 29th, 1788, came to hand the last

month. How it happened that mine of August, 1787, was fourteen months on

its way, is inconceivable. I do not recollect by what conveyance I sent

it. I had concluded, however, either that it had miscarried, or that

you had become indolent, as most of our countrymen are, in matters of

correspondence.

The change in this country since you left it, is such as you can form

no idea of. The frivolities of conversation have given way entirely to

politics. Men, women and children talk nothing else; and all, you know,

talk a great deal. The press groans with daily productions, which, in

point of boldness, makes an Englishman stare, who hitherto has thought

himself the boldest of men. A complete revolution in this government has,

within the space of two years, (for it began with the Notables of 1787,)

been effected merely by the force of public opinion, aided, indeed, by

the want of money, which the dissipations of the court had brought on.

And this revolution has not cost a single life, unless we charge to it

a little riot lately in Bretagne, which began about the price of bread,

became afterwards political, and ended in the loss of four or five

lives. The assembly of the States General begins the 27th of April. The

representation of the people will be perfect. But they will be alloyed by

an equal number of nobility and clergy. The first great question they will

have to decide will be, whether they shall vote by orders or persons. And

I have hopes that the majority of the Nobles are already disposed to join

the Tiers Etat, in deciding that the vote shall be by persons. This is

the opinion _a la mode_ at present, and mode has acted a wonderful part in

the present instance. All the handsome young women, for example, are for

the Tiers Etat, and this is an army more powerful in France, than the two

hundred thousand men of the King. Add to this, that the court itself is

for the Tiers Etat, as the only agent which can relieve their wants; not

by giving money themselves, (they are squeezed to the last drop,) but by

pressing it from the non-contributing orders. The King stands engaged to

pretend no more to the power of laying, continuing or appropriating taxes;

to call the States General periodically; to submit _lettres de cachet_

to legal restrictions; to consent to freedom of the press; and that all

this shall be fixed by a fundamental constitution, which shall bind his

successors. He has not offered a participation in the legislature, but

it will surely be insisted on. The public mind is so ripened on all these

subjects, that there seems to be now but one opinion. The clergy, indeed,

think separately, and the old men among the Nobles; but their voice is

suppressed by the general one of the nation. The writings published on

this occasion are, some of them, very valuable; because, unfettered by

the prejudices under which the English labor, they give a full scope to

reason, and strike out truths, as yet unperceived and unacknowledged on

the other side the channel. An Englishman, dosing under a kind of half

reformation, is not excited to think by such gross absurdities as stare a

Frenchman in the face, wherever he looks, whether it be towards the throne

or the altar. In fine, I believe this nation will, in the course of the

present year, have as full a portion of liberty dealt out to them, as the

nation can bear at present, considering how uninformed the mass of their

people is. This circumstance will prevent the immediate establishment

of the trial by jury. The palsied state of the executive in England is a

fortunate circumstance for France, as it will give her time to arrange her

affairs internally. The consolidation and funding their debts, will give

government a credit which will enable them to do what they please. For

the present year, the war will be confined to the two empires and Denmark,

against Turkey and Sweden. It is not yet evident whether Prussia will be

engaged. If the disturbances of Poland break out into overt acts, it will

be a power divided in itself, and so of no weight. Perhaps, by the next

year, England and France may be ready to take the field. It will depend on

the former principally; for the latter, though she may be then able, must

wish a little time to see her new arrangements well under way. The English

papers and English ministry say the King is well. He is better but not

well; no malady requires a longer time to insure against its return, than

insanity. Time alone can distinguish accidental insanity from habitual

lunacy.

The operations which have taken place in America lately, fill me with

pleasure. In the first place, they realize the confidence I had, that

whenever our affairs go obviously wrong, the good sense of the people will

interpose, and set them to rights. The example of changing a constitution,

by assembling the wise men of the State, instead of assembling armies,

will be worth as much to the world as the former examples we had given

them. The Constitution, too, which was the result of our deliberations,

is unquestionably the wisest ever yet presented to men, and some of the

accommodations of interest which it has adopted, are greatly pleasing

to me, who have before had occasions of seeing how difficult those

interests were to accommodate. A general concurrence of opinion seems

to authorize us to say, it has some defects. I am one of those who

think it a defect, that the important rights, not placed in security

by the frame of the Constitution itself, were not explicitly secured

by a supplementary declaration. There are rights which it is useless to

surrender to the government, and which governments have yet always been

found to invade. These are the rights of thinking, and publishing our

thoughts by speaking or writing; the right of free commerce; the right of

personal freedom. There are instruments for administering the government,

so peculiarly trust-worthy, that we should never leave the legislature

at liberty to change them. The new Constitution has secured these in

the executive and legislative department; but not in the judiciary. It

should have established trials by the people themselves, that is to say,

by jury. There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation,

and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors, that

those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained

from keeping such instruments on foot, but in well-defined cases. Such

an instrument is a standing army. We are now allowed to say, such a

declaration of rights, as a supplement to the constitution where that is

silent, is wanting, to secure us in these points. The general voice has

legitimated this objection. It has not, however, authorized me to consider

as a real defect, what I thought and still think one, the perpetual

re-eligibility of the President. But three States out of eleven, having

declared against this, we must suppose we are wrong, according to the

fundamental law of every society, the _lex majoris partis_, to which we

are bound to submit. And should the majority change their opinion, and

become sensible that this trait in their Constitution is wrong, I would

wish it to remain uncorrected, as long as we can avail ourselves of the

services of our great leader, whose talents and whose weight of character,

I consider as peculiarly necessary to get the government so under way, as

that it may afterwards be carried on by subordinate characters.

I must give you sincere thanks, for the details of small news contained in

your letter. You know how precious that kind of information is to a person

absent from his country, and how difficult it is to be procured. I hope,

to receive soon permission to visit America this summer, and to possess

myself anew, by conversation with my countrymen, of their spirit and their

ideas. I know only the Americans of the year 1784. They tell me this is

to be much a stranger to those of 1789. This renewal of acquaintance is no

indifferent matter to one, acting at such a distance, as that instructions

cannot be received hot and hot. One of my pleasures, too, will be that of

talking over the old and new with you. In the meantime, and at all times,

I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your

friend and servant.

TO DOCTOR WILLARD.

Paris, March 24, 1789.

Sir,--I have been lately honored with your letter of September the

24th, 1788, accompanied by a diploma for a Doctorate of Laws, which the

University of Harvard has been pleased to confer on me. Conscious how

little I merit it, I am the more sensible of their goodness and indulgence

to a stranger, who has had no means of serving or making himself known to

them. I beg you to return them my grateful thanks, and to assure them that

this notice from so eminent a seat of science, is very precious to me.

The most remarkable publications we have had in France, for a year or two

past, are the following: "Les Voyages d'Anacharsis par l'Abbé Barthelemi,"

seven volumes, octavo. This is a very elegant digest of whatever is known

of the Greeks; useless, indeed, to him who has read the Original authors,

but very proper for one who reads modern languages only. The works of

the King of Prussia. The Berlin edition is in sixteen volumes, octavo.

It is said to have been gutted at Berlin; and here it has been still

more mangled. There are one or two other editions published abroad, which

pretend to have rectified the maltreatment both of Berlin and Paris. Some

time will be necessary to settle the public mind, as to the best edition.

Montignot has given us the original Greek, and a French translation of

the seventh book of Ptolemy's great work, under the title of "Etat des

Etoiles fixes au second Siecle," in quarto. He has given the designation

of the same stars by Flamstead and Beyer, and their position in the year

1786. A very remarkable work is the "Mechanique Analytique," of Le Grange,

in quarto. He is allowed to be the greatest mathematician now living,

and his personal worth is equal to his science. The object of his work

is to reduce all the principles of mechanics to the single one of the

equilibrium, and to give a simple formula applicable to them all. The

subject is treated in the algebraic method, without diagrams to assist

the conception. My present occupations not permitting me to read anything

which requires a long and undisturbed attention, I am not able to give you

the character of this work from my own examination. It has been received

with great approbation in Europe. In Italy, the works of Spallanzani on

Digestion and Generation, are valuable. Though, perhaps, too minute, and

therefore tedious, he has developed some useful truths, and his book is

well worth attention; it is in four volumes, octavo. Clavigaro, an Italian

also, who has resided thirty-six years in Mexico, has given us a history

of that country, which certainly merits more respect than any other

work on the same subject. He corrects many errors of Dr. Robertson; and

though sound philosophy will disapprove many of his ideas, we may still

consider it as an useful work, and assuredly the best we possess on the

same subject. It is in four thin volumes, small quarto. De La Lande has

not yet published a fifth volume.

The chemical dispute about the conversion and reconversion of air and

water, continues still undecided. Arguments and authorities are so

balanced, that we may still safely believe, as our fathers did before us,

that these principles are distinct. A schism of another kind, has taken

place among the chemists. A particular set of them here, have undertaken

to remodel all the terms of the science, and to give to every substance

a new name, the composition, and especially the termination of which,

shall define the relation in which it stands to other substances of the

same family. But the science seems too much in its infancy as yet, for

this reformation; because, in fact, the reformation of this year must be

reformed again the next year, and so on, changing the names of substances

as often as new experiments develop properties in them undiscovered

before. The new nomenclature has, accordingly, been already proved to

need numerous and important reformations. Probably it will not prevail.

It is espoused by the minority only here, and by very few, indeed, of the

foreign chemists. It is particularly rejected in England.

In the arts, I think two of our countrymen have presented the most

important inventions. Mr. Paine, the author of "Common Sense," has

invented an iron bridge, which promises to be cheaper by a great deal

than stone, and to admit of a much greater arch. He supposes it may be

ventured for an arch of five hundred feet. He has obtained a patent for

it in England, and is now executing the first experiment with an arch of

between ninety and one hundred feet. Mr. Rumsey has also obtained a patent

for his navigation by the force of steam, in England, and is soliciting a

similar one here. His principal merit is in the improvement of the boiler,

and, instead of the complicated machinery of oars and paddles, proposed

by others, the substitution of so simple a thing as the reaction of a

stream of water on his vessel. He is building a sea vessel at this time in

England, and she will be ready for an experiment in May. He has suggested

a great number of mechanical improvements in a variety of branches; and

upon the whole, is the most original and the greatest mechanical genius

I have ever seen. The return of La Peyrouse (whenever that shall happen)

will probably add to our knowledge in Geography, Botany, and Natural

History. What a field have we at our doors to signalize ourselves in!

The Botany of America is far from being exhausted, its Mineralogy is

untouched, and its Natural History or Zoology, totally mistaken and

misrepresented. As far as I have seen, there is not one single species of

terrestrial birds common to Europe and America, and I question if there

be a single species of quadrupeds. (Domestic animals are to be excepted.)

It is for such institutions as that over which you preside so worthily,

Sir, to do justice to our country, its productions and its genius. It is

the work to which the young men, whom you are forming, should lay their

hands. We have spent the prime of our lives in procuring them the precious

blessing of liberty. Let them spend theirs in showing that it is the great

parent of _science_ and of virtue; and that a nation will be great in

both, always in proportion as it is free. Nobody wishes more warmly for

the success of your good exhortations on this subject, than he who has the

honor to be, with sentiments of great esteem and respect, Sir, your most

obedient humble servant.

TO J. SARSFIELD.

Paris, April 3, 1789.

Sir,--I could not name to you the day of my departure from Paris, because

I do not know it. I have not yet received my congé, though I hope to

receive it soon, and to leave this some time in May, so that I may be back

before the winter.

_Impost_ is a duty paid on any imported article, in the _moment of its

importation_, and of course it is collected in the seaports only. _Excise_

is a duty on any article, whether imported or raised at home, and paid

in the _hands of the consumer or retailer_; consequently, it is collected

through the whole country. These are the true definitions of these words

as used in England, and in the greater part of the United States. But in

Massachusetts, they have perverted the word excise to mean a tax on all

liquors, whether paid in the moment of importation or at a later moment,

and on nothing else. So that in reading the debates of the Massachusetts

convention, you must give this last meaning to the word excise.

_Rotation_ is the change of officers required by the laws at certain

epochs, and _in a certain order_: thus, in Virginia, our justices of the

peace are made sheriffs one after the other, each remaining in office two

years, and then yielding it to his next brother in order of seniority.

This is the just and classical meaning of the word. But in America, we

have extended it (for want of a proper word) to all cases of officers who

must be necessarily changed at a fixed epoch, though the successor be not

pointed out in any particular order, but comes in by free election. By the

term _rotation in office_, then we mean _an obligation on the holder of

that office to go out at a certain period_. In our first Confederation,

the principle of rotation was established in the office of President of

Congress, who could serve but one year in three, and in that of a member

of Congress, who could serve but three years in six.

I believe all the countries in Europe determine their standard of money

in gold as well as silver. Thus, the laws of England direct that a pound

Troy of gold, of twenty-two carats fine, shall be cut into forty-four

and a half guineas, each of which shall be worth twenty-one and a half

shillings, that is, into 956 3-4 shillings. This establishes the shilling

at 5.518 grains of _pure_ gold. They direct that a pound of silver,

consisting of 11 1-10 ounces of pure silver and 9-10 of an ounce alloy,

shall be cut into sixty-two shillings. This establishes the shilling at

85.93 grains of pure silver, and, consequently, the proportion of gold to

silver as 85.93 to 5.518, or as 15.57 to 1. If this be the true proportion

between the value of gold and silver at the general market of Europe,

then the value of the shilling, depending on two standards, is the same,

whether a payment be made in gold or in silver. But if the proportion of

the general market at Europe be as fifteen to one, then the Englishman who

owes a pound weight of gold at Amsterdam, if he sends the pound of gold to

pay it, sends 1043.72 shillings; if he sends fifteen pounds of silver, he

sends only 1030.5 shillings; if he pays half in gold and half in silver,

he pays only 1037.11 shillings. And this medium between the two standards

of gold and silver, we must consider as furnishing the true medium value

of the shilling. If the parliament should now order the pound of gold (of

one-twelfth alloy as before) to be put into a thousand shillings instead

of nine hundred and fifty-six and three-fourths, leaving the silver as

it is, the medium or true value of the shilling would suffer a change of

half the difference; and in the case before stated, to pay a debt of a

pound weight of gold, at Amsterdam, if he sent the pound weight of gold,

he would send 1090.9 shillings; if he sent fifteen pounds of silver, he

would send 1030.5 shillings; if half in gold and half in silver, he would

send 1060.7 shillings; which shows that this parliamentary operation would

reduce the value of the shilling in the proportion of 1060.7 to 1037.11.

Now this is exactly the effect of the late change in the quantity of

gold contained in your louis. Your _marc d'argent fin_ is cut into 53.45

livres (fifty-three livres and nine sous), the _marc de l'or fin_ was

cut, heretofore, by law, into 784.6 livres (seven hundred and eighty-four

livres and twelve sous); gold was to silver then as 14.63 to 1. And if

this was different from the proportion at the markets of Europe, the

true value of your livre stood half way between the two standards. By the

ordinance of October the 30th, 1785, the _marc_ of pure gold has been cut

into 828.6 livres. If your standard had been in gold alone, this would

have reduced the value of your livre in the proportion of 828.6 to 784.6.

But as you had a standard of silver as well as gold, the true standard is

the medium between the two; consequently the value of the livre is reduced

only one-half the difference, that is, as 806.6 to 784.6, which is very

nearly three per cent. Commerce, however, has made a difference of four

per cent., the average value of the pound sterling, formerly twenty-four

livres, being now twenty-five livres. Perhaps some other circumstance has

occasioned an addition of one per cent. to the change of your standard.

I fear I have tired you by these details. I did not mean to be so lengthy

when I began. I beg you to consider them as an appeal to your judgment,

which I value, and from which I will expect a correction, if they are

wrong.

I have the honor to be, with very great esteem and attachment, dear Sir,

your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE

Paris, May 6, 1789.

My Dear Friend,--As it becomes more and more possible that the Noblesse

will go wrong, I become uneasy for you. Your principles are decidedly with

the Tiers Etat, and your instructions against them. A complaisance to the

latter on some occasions, and an adherence to the former on others, may

give an appearance of trimming between the two parties, which may lose

you both. You will, in the end, go over wholly to the Tiers Etat, because

it will be impossible for you to live in a constant sacrifice of your own

sentiments to the prejudices of the Noblesse. But you would be received

by the Tiers Etat at any future day, coldly, and without confidence.

This appears to me the moment to take at once that honest and manly stand

with them which your own principles dictate. This will win their hearts

forever, be approved by the world, which marks and honors you as the

man of the people, and will be an eternal consolation to yourself. The

Noblesse, and especially the Noblesse of Auvergne, will always prefer

men who will do their dirty work for them. You are not made for that.

They will therefore soon drop you, and the people, in that case, will

perhaps not take you up. Suppose a scission should take place. The Priests

and Nobles will secede, the nation will remain in place, and, with the

King, will do its own business. If violence should be attempted, where

will you be? You cannot then take side with the people in opposition

to your own vote, that very vote which will have helped to produce the

scission. Still less can you array yourself against the people. That

is impossible. Your instructions are indeed a difficulty. But to state

this at its worst it is only a single difficulty, which a single effort

surmounts. Your instructions can never embarrass you a second time,

whereas an acquiescence under them will reproduce greater difficulties

every day, and without end. Besides, a thousand circumstances offer as

many justifications of your departure from your instructions. Will it

be impossible to persuade all parties that (as for good legislation two

Houses are necessary) the placing the privileged classes together in one

House, and the unprivileged in another, would be better for both than a

scission? I own, I think it would. People can never agree without some

sacrifices; and it appears but a moderate sacrifice in each party, to

meet on this middle ground. The attempt to bring this about might satisfy

your instructions, and a failure in it would justify your siding with the

people, even to those who think instructions are laws of conduct. Forgive

me, my dear friend, if my anxiety for you makes me talk of things I know

nothing about. You must not consider this as advice. I know you and myself

too well to presume to offer advice. Receive it merely as the expression

of my uneasiness, and the effusion of that sincere friendship with which

I am, my dear Sir, yours affectionately.

TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.

Paris, May 8, 1789.

Dear Sir,--Your favor of January the 26th, to March the 27th, is duly

received, and I thank you for the interesting papers it contained. The

answer of Don Ulloa, however, on the subject of the canal through the

American isthmus, was not among them, though mentioned to be so. If

you have omitted it through accident, I shall thank you for it at some

future occasion, as I wish much to understand that subject thoroughly.

Our American information comes down to the 16th of March. There had

not yet been members enough assembled of the new Congress to open the

tickets. They expected to do it in a day or two. In the meantime, it was

said from all the States, that their vote had been unanimous for General

Washington, and a good majority in favor of Mr. Adams, who is certainly,

therefore, Vice President. The new government would be supported by very

cordial and very general dispositions in its favor from the people. I

have not yet seen a list of the new Congress. This delay in the meeting

of the new government, has delayed the determination on my petition for

leave of absence. However, I expect to receive it every day, and am in

readiness to sail the instant I receive it, so that this is probably the

last letter I shall write you hence till my return. While there, I shall

avail government of the useful information I have received from you, and

shall not fail to profit of any good occasion which may occur, to show the

difference between your real situation and what it ought to be. I consider

Paris and Madrid as the only two points at which Europe and America should

touch closely, and that a connection at these points should be fostered.

We have had, in this city, a very considerable riot, in which about one

hundred people have been probably killed. It was the most unprovoked, and

is, therefore, justly, the most unpitied catastrophe of that kind I ever

knew. Nor did the wretches know what they wanted, except to do mischief.

It seems to have had no particular connection with the great national

question now in agitation. The want of bread is very seriously dreaded

through the whole kingdom. Between twenty and thirty ship loads of wheat

and flour has already arrived from the United States, and there will

be about the same quantity of rice sent from Charleston to this country

directly, of which about half has arrived. I presume that between wheat

and rice, one hundred ship loads may be counted on in the whole from us.

Paris consumes about a ship load a day (say two hundred and fifty tons).

The total supply of the West Indies for this year, rests with us, and

there is almost a famine in Canada and Nova Scotia. The States General

were opened the day before yesterday. Viewing it as an opera, it was

imposing; as a scene of business, the King's speech was exactly what it

should have been, and very well delivered; not a word of the Chancellor's

was heard by anybody, so that, as yet, I have never heard a single guess

at what it was about. Mr. Neckar's was as good as such a number of details

would permit it to be. The picture of their resources was consoling, and

generally plausible. I could have wished him to have dwelt more on those

great constitutional reformations, which his "Rapport au roy" had prepared

us to expect. But they observe, that these points were proper for the

speech of the Chancellor. We are in hopes, therefore, they were in that

speech, which, like the Revelations of St. John, were no revelations at

all. The Noblesse, on coming together, show that they are not as much

reformed in their principles as we had hoped they would be. In fact, there

is real danger of their totally refusing to vote by persons. Some found

hopes on the lower clergy, which constitute four-fifths of the deputies

of that order. If they do not turn the balance in favor of the Tiers

Etat, there is real danger of a scission. But I shall not consider even

that event as rendering things desperate. If the King will do business

with the Tiers Etat, which constitutes the nation, it may be well done

without Priests or Nobles. From the best information I can obtain, the

King of England's madness has terminated in an imbecility, which may very

possibly be of long continuance. He is going with his Queen to Germany.

England chained to rest, the other parts of Europe may recover or retain

tranquillity.

I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most

obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. LITTLEPAGE.

Paris, May 8, 1789.

Dear Sir,--Your favor of February 12th has been duly received, and in

exchange for its information, I shall give you that which you desire

relative to American affairs. Those of Europe you can learn from other

sources. All our States acceded unconditionally to the new Constitution,

except North Carolina and Rhode Island. The latter rejects it in toto.

North Carolina neither rejected nor received it, but asked certain

amendments before it should receive it. Her amendments concur with those

asked by Virginia, New York and Massachusetts, and consist chiefly in a

declaration of rights. Even the warmest friends to the new form begin to

be sensible it wants the security, and it is pretty generally agreed that

a declaration of rights shall be added. New York and Virginia, though

they have acceded to this government, are less contented with it than the

others. In New York, it is the effect of the intrigues and influence of

Governor Clinton, who it is hoped will be exchanged for a Judge Yates.

In Virginia, it is perhaps the apprehension that the new government will

oblige them to pay their debts. Our letters are as late as the 16th of

March. There were not yet members enough of the new Congress assembled to

open the tickets. It was expected there would be in two or three days.

Information, however, from all the States, gave reason to be satisfied

that General Washington was elected unanimously, and Mr. John Adams by a

sufficient plurality to ensure his being the Vice President. The elections

to Congress had been almost entirely in favor of persons well-disposed

to the new government, which proves the mass of the people in its favor.

In general, there are the most favorable dispositions to support it,

and those heretofore disheartened, now write in great confidence of our

affairs. That spirit of luxury which sprung up at the peace, has given

place to a laudable economy. Home manufactures are encouraged, and the

balance last year was greatly on the side of exportation. The settlement

of the Western country has gone on with astonishing rapidity. A late

unaccountable event may slacken by scattering it. Spain has granted the

exclusive navigation of the Mississippi, with a large tract of country

on the western side of the river, to Col. Morgan of New Jersey, to whom

great numbers of settlers are flocking over from Kentucky. While this

measure weakens somewhat the United States for the present, it begins

our possession of that country considerably sooner than I had expected,

and without a struggle till no struggle can be made. Great crops of corn

last year in the United States, and a great demand for it in British and

French America, and in Europe. Remarkable deaths are, Gen. Nelson, and

John Bannisters, father and son. I expect every day to receive a leave of

absence for six months, and shall sail within a week after receiving it.

I hope to be back before winter sets in. I have the honor to be, with very

great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, May 9, 1789.

Sir,--Since my letter of March the 1st, by the way of Havre, and those of

March the 12th and 15th, by the way of London, no opportunity of writing

has occurred, till the present to London.

There are no symptoms of accommodation between the Turks and two empires,

nor between Russia and Sweden. The Emperor was, on the 16th of the last

month, expected to die, certainly; he was, however, a little better when

the last news came away, so that hopes were entertained of him; but it

is agreed that he cannot get the better of his complaints ultimately, so

that his life is not at all counted on. The Danes profess, as yet, to do

no more against Sweden than furnish their stipulated aid. The agitation

of Poland is still violent, though somewhat moderated by the late change

in the demeanor of the King of Prussia. He is much less thrasonic than

he was. This is imputed to the turn which the English politics may be

rationally expected to take. It is very difficult to get at the true state

of the British King; but from the best information we can get, his madness

has gone off, but he is left in a state of imbecility and melancholy.

They are going to carry him to Hanover, to see whether such a journey

may relieve him. The Queen accompanies him. If England should, by this

accident, be reduced to inactivity, the southern countries of Europe may

escape the present war. Upon the whole, the prospect for the present year,

if no unforeseen accident happens, is, certain peace for the powers not

already engaged, a probability that Denmark will not become a principal,

and a mere possibility that Sweden and Russia may be accommodated. The

interior disputes of Sweden are so exactly detailed in the Leyden gazette,

that I have nothing to add on that subject.

The revolution of this country has advanced thus far, without encountering

anything which deserves to be called a difficulty. There have been riots

in a few instances, in three or four different places, in which there

may have been a dozen or twenty lives lost. The exact truth is not to

be got at. A few days ago, a much more serious riot took place in this

city, in which it became necessary for the troops to engage in regular

action with the mob, and probably about one hundred of the latter were

killed. Accounts vary from twenty to two hundred. They were the most

abandoned banditti of Paris, and never was a riot more unprovoked and

unpitied. They began, under a pretence that a paper manufacturer had

proposed in an assembly to reduce their wages to fifteen sous a day.

They rifled his house, destroyed everything in his magazines and shops,

and were only stopped in their career of mischief by the carnage above

mentioned. Neither this nor any other of the riots, have had a professed

connection with the great national reformation going on. They are such as

have happened every year since I have been here, and as will continue to

be produced by common incidents. The States General were opened on the

4th instant, by a speech from the throne, one by the Garde des Sceaux,

and one from Mr. Neckar. I hope they will be printed in time to send you

herewith: lest they should not, I will observe, that that of Mr. Neckar

stated the real and ordinary deficit to be fifty-six millions, and that

he showed that this could be made up without a new tax, by economies

and bonifications which he specified. Several articles of the latter

are liable to the objection, that they are proposed on branches of the

revenue, of which the nation has demanded a suppression. He tripped too

lightly over the great articles of constitutional reformation, these being

not as clearly enounced in this discourse as they were in his "Rapport

au roy," which I sent you some time ago. On the whole, his discourse

has not satisfied the patriotic party. It is now, for the first time,

that their revolution is likely to receive a serious check, and begins

to wear a fearful appearance. The progress of light and liberality in

the order of the Noblesse, has equalled expectation in Paris only and

its vicinities. The great mass of deputies of that order, which come

from the country, show that the habits of tyranny over the people are

deeply rooted in them. They will consent, indeed, to equal taxation;

but five-sixths of that chamber are thought to be, decidedly, for voting

by orders; so that, had this great preliminary question rested on this

body, which formed heretofore the sole hope, that hope would have been

completely disappointed. Some aid, however, comes in from a quarter whence

none was expected. It was imagined the ecclesiastical elections would

have been generally in favor of the higher clergy; on the contrary, the

lower clergy have obtained five-sixths of these deputations. These are

the sons of peasants, who have done all the drudgery of the service for

ten, twenty and thirty guineas a year, and whose oppressions and penury,

contrasted with the pride and luxury of the higher clergy, have rendered

them perfectly disposed to humble the latter. They have done it, in many

instances, with a boldness they were thought insusceptible of. Great hopes

have been formed, that these would concur with the Tiers Etat in voting

by persons. In fact, about half of them seem as yet so disposed; but the

bishops are intriguing, and drawing them over with the address which has

ever marked ecclesiastical intrigue. The deputies of the Tiers Etat seem,

almost to a man, inflexibly determined against the vote by orders. This

is the state of parties, as well as can be judged from conversation only,

during the fortnight they have been now together. But as no business

has been yet begun, no votes as yet taken, this calculation cannot be

considered as sure. A middle proposition is talked of, to form the two

privileged orders into one chamber. It is thought more possible to bring

them into it than the Tiers Etat. Another proposition is, to distinguish

questions, referring those of certain descriptions to a vote by persons,

others to a vote by orders. This seems to admit of endless altercation,

and the Tiers Etat manifest no respect for that, or any other modification

whatever. Were this single question accommodated, I am of opinion, there

would not occur the least difficulty in the great and essential points of

constitutional reformation. But on this preliminary question the parties

are so irreconcilable, that it is impossible to foresee what issue it

will have. The Tiers Etat, as constituting the nation, may propose to

do the business of the nation, either with or without the minorities in

the Houses of Clergy and Nobles which side with them. In that case, if

the King should agree to it, the majorities in those two Houses would

secede, and might resist the tax gatherers. This would bring on a civil

war. On the other hand, the privileged orders, offering to submit to equal

taxation, may propose to the King to continue the government in its former

train, resuming to himself the power of taxation. Here, the tax gatherers

might be resisted by the people. In fine, it is but too possible, that

between parties so animated, the King may incline the balance as he

pleases. Happy that he is an honest, unambitious man, who desires neither

money or power for himself; and that his most operative minister, though

he has appeared to trim a little, is still, in the main, a friend to

public liberty.

I mentioned to you in a former letter, the construction which our bankers

at Amsterdam had put on the resolution of Congress, appropriating the last

Dutch loan, by which the money for our captives would not be furnished

till the end of the year 1790. Orders from the board of treasury have now

settled this question. The interest of the next month is to be first paid,

and after that, the money for the captives and foreign officers is to be

furnished, before any other payment of interest. This insures it when the

next February interest becomes payable. My representations to them, on

account of the contracts I had entered into for making the medals, have

produced from them the money of that object, which is lodged in the hands

of Mr. Grand.

Mr. Neckar, in his discourse, proposes among his bonifications of revenue,

the suppressions of our two free ports of Bayonne and L'Orient, which,

he says, occasion a loss of six hundred thousand livres annually, to the

crown, by contraband. (The speech being not yet printed, I state this only

as it struck my ear when he delivered it. If I have mistaken it, I beg you

to receive this as my apology, and to consider what follows as written

on that idea only.) I have never been able to see that these free ports

were worth one copper to us. To Bayonne our trade never went, and it is

leaving L'Orient. Besides, the right of entrepôt is a perfect substitute

for the right of free port. The latter is a little less troublesome only,

to the merchants and captains. I should think, therefore, that a thing

so useless to us and prejudicial to them might be relinquished by us, on

the common principles of friendship. I know the merchants of these ports

will make a clamor, because the franchise covers their contraband with all

the world. Has Monsieur de Moustier said anything to you on this subject?

It has never been mentioned to me. If not mentioned in either way, it is

rather an indecent proceeding, considering that this right of free port is

founded in treaty. I shall ask of M. de Montmorin, on the first occasion,

whether he has communicated this to you through his ministry; and if he

has not, I will endeavor to notice the infraction to him in such a manner,

as neither to reclaim nor abandon the right of free port, but leave our

government free to do either.

The gazettes of France and Leyden, as usual, will accompany this. I am in

hourly expectation of receiving from you my leave of absence, and keep

my affairs so arranged, that I can leave Paris within eight days after

receiving the permission. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the

most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble

servant.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Paris, May 10, 1789.

Sir,--I am now to acknowledge the honor of your two letters of Nov. the

27th and Feb. the 13th, both of which have come to hand since my last to

you of Dec. the 4th and 5th. The details you are so good as to give me on

the subject of the navigation of the waters of the Potomac and Ohio, are

very pleasing to me, as I consider the union of these two rivers, as among

the strongest links of connection between the eastern and western sides of

our confederacy. It will, moreover, add to the commerce of Virginia, in

particular, all the upper parts of the Ohio and its waters. Another vast

object, and of much less difficulty, is to add, also, all the country on

the lakes and their waters. This would enlarge our field immensely, and

would certainly be effected by an union of the upper waters of the Ohio

and lake Erie. The Big Beaver and Cayahoga offer the most direct line,

and according to information I received from General Hand, and which

I had the honor of writing you in the year 1783, the streams in that

neighborhood head in lagoons, and the country is flat. With respect to

the doubts which you say are entertained by some, whether the upper waters

of Potomac can be rendered capable of navigation on account of the falls

and rugged banks, they are answered, by observing, that it is reduced to

a maxim, that whenever there is water enough to float a batteau, there

may be navigation for a batteau. Canals and locks may be necessary, and

they are expensive; but I hardly know what expense would be too great, for

the object in question. Probably, negotiations with the Indians, perhaps

even settlement, must precede the execution of the Cayahoga canal. The

States of Maryland and Virginia should make a common object of it. The

navigation, again, between Elizabeth River and the Sound, is of vast

importance, and in my opinion, it is much better that these should be done

at public than private expense.

Though we have not heard of the actual opening of the new Congress, and

consequently, have not official information of your election as President

of the United States, yet, as there never could be a doubt entertained of

it, permit me to express here my felicitations, not to yourself, but to

my country. Nobody who has tried both public and private life, can doubt

but that you were much happier on the banks of the Potomac than you will

be at New York. But there was nobody so well qualified as yourself, to put

our new machine into a regular course of action; nobody, the authority

of whose name could have so effectually crushed opposition at home, and

produced respect abroad. I am sensible of the immensity of the sacrifice

on your part. Your measure of fame was full to the brim; and, therefore,

you have nothing to gain. But there are cases wherein it is a duty to

risk all against nothing, and I believe this was exactly the case. We may

presume, too, according to every rule of probability, that after doing

a great deal of good, you will be found to have lost nothing but private

repose.

In a letter to Mr. Jay, of the 19th of Nov., I asked a leave of absence

to carry my children back to their own country, and to settle various

matters of a private nature, which were left unsettled, because I had

no idea of being absent so long. I expected that letter would have been

received in time to be decided on by the Government then existing. I know

now that it would arrive when there was no Congress, and consequently,

that it must have awaited your arrival at New York. I hope you found

the request not an unreasonable one. I am excessively anxious to receive

the permission without delay, that I may be able to get back before the

winter sets in. Nothing can be so dreadful to me, as to be shivering

at sea for two or three months in a winter passage. Besides, there has

never been a moment at which the presence of a minister here could be so

well dispensed with, from certainty of no war this summer, and that the

government will be so totally absorbed in domestic arrangements, as to

attend to nothing exterior. Mr. Jay will, of course, communicate to you

some ciphered letters lately written, and one of this date. My public

letter to him contains all the interesting public details. I enclose with

the present, some extracts of a letter from Mr. Paine, which he desired

me to communicate; your knowledge of the writer will justify my giving

you the trouble of these communications, which their interesting nature

and his respectability, will jointly recommend to notice. I am in great

pain for the Marquis de La Fayette. His principles, you know, are clearly

with the people; but having been elected for the Noblesse of Auvergne,

they have laid him under express instructions, to vote for the decision

by orders and not persons. This would ruin him with the Tiers Etat, and

it is not possible he could continue long to give satisfaction to the

Noblesse. I have not hesitated to press on him to burn his instructions,

and follow his conscience as the only sure clue, which will eternally

guide a man clear of all doubts and inconsistencies. If he cannot effect

a conciliatory plan, he will surely take his stand manfully at once, with

the Tiers Etat. He will in that case be what he pleases with them, and

I am in hopes that base is now too solid to render it dangerous to be

mounted on it. In hopes of being able in the course of the summer, to pay

my respects to you personally, in New York, I have the honor to be, with

sentiments of the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most

obedient, and most humble servant.

[_Extract of the letter from Thomas Paine, referred to in the preceding,

to General Washington._]

"London, March the 12th, 1789. I do not think it is worth while for

Congress to appoint any minister at this court. The greater distance

Congress observes on this point, the better. It will be all money thrown

away, to go to any expense about it, at least during the present reign. I

know the nation well, and the line of acquaintance I am in, enables me to

judge better on this matter than any other American can judge, especially

at a distance. I believe I am not so much in the good graces of the

Marquis of Lansdowne as I used to be. I do not answer his purpose. He was

always talking of a sort of re-connection of England and America, and my

coldness and reserve on this subject checked communication. I believe he

would be a good minister for England, with respect to a better agreement

with France."

(Same letter continued) "April 10. The acts for regulating the trade with

America are to be continued as last year. A paper from the Privy Council

respecting the American fly, is before parliament. I had some conversation

with Sir Joseph Banks upon this subject, as he was the person whom the

Privy Council referred to. I told him that the Hessian fly attacked only

the green plant, and did not exist in the dry grain. He said, that with

respect to the Hessian fly, they had no apprehension, but it was the

weavil they alluded to. I told him the weavil had always, more or less,

been in the wheat countries of America, and that if the prohibition was

on that account, it was as necessary fifty or sixty years as now; that I

believed it was only a political manœuvre of the ministry to please the

landed interest, as a balance for prohibiting the exportation of wool,

to please the manufacturing interest. He did not reply, and as we are on

very sociable terms, I went farther, by saying, the English ought not to

complain of the non-payment of debts from America, while they prohibit the

means of payment. I suggest to you a thought on this subject. The debts

due before the war ought to be distinguished from the debts contracted

since, and all and every mode of payment and remittance under which

they might have been discharged at the time they were contracted, ought

to accompany those debts so long as any of them shall continue unpaid,

because the circumstances of payment became united with the debt, and

cannot be separated by subsequent acts of one side only. If this was taken

up in America, and insisted on as a right coëval with and inseparable from

those debts, it would force some of the restrictions here to give way.

While writing this, I am informed that the minister has had a conference

with some of the American creditors, and proposed to them to assume the

debts, and give them ten shillings in the pound. The conjecture is, that

he means, when the new Congress is established, to demand the payment.

If you are writing to General Washington, it may not be amiss to mention

this, and if I hear further on this matter, I will inform you. But as,

being a money matter, it cannot come forward but through parliament, there

will be notice given of the business. This would be a proper time to show,

that the British acts since the peace militate against the payment, by

narrowing the means by which those debts might have been paid when they

were contracted, and which ought to be considered as constituent parts of

the contract."

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, May 11, 1789.

Dear Sir,--My last to you was of the 15th of March. I am now in hourly

expectation of receiving my leave of absence. The delay of it a little

longer, will endanger the throwing my return into the winter, the very

idea of which is horror itself to me. I am in hopes this is the last

letter I shall have the pleasure of writing to you, before my departure.

The madness of the King of England has gone off, but left him in a state

of imbecility and melancholy. They talk of carrying him to Hanover. If

they do, it will be a proof he does not mend, and that they take that

measure, to authorize them to establish a regency. But if he grows better,

they will perhaps keep him at home, to avoid the question, who shall be

regent? As that country cannot be relied on in the present state of its

executive, the King of Prussia has become more moderate; he throws cold

water on the fermentation he had excited in Poland. The King of Sweden

will act as nobody, not even himself, can foresee; because he acts from

the caprice of the moment, and because the discontents of his army and

nobles may throw him under internal difficulties, while struggling with

external ones. Denmark will probably only furnish its stipulated aid to

Russia. France is fully occupied with internal arrangement. So that, on

the whole, the prospect of this summer is, that the war will continue

between the powers actually engaged in the close of the last campaign,

and extend to no others; certainly, it will not extend, this year, to the

southern States of Europe. The revolution of France has gone on with the

most unexampled success, hitherto. There have been some mobs, occasioned

by the want of bread, in different parts of the kingdom, in which there

may have been some lives lost; perhaps a dozen or twenty. These had no

professed connection, _generally_, with the constitutional revolution.

A more serious riot happened lately in Paris, in which about one hundred

of the mob were killed. This execution has been universally approved, as

they seemed to have no view but mischief and plunder. But the meeting of

the States General presents serious difficulties, which it had been hoped

the progress of reason would have enabled them to get over. The nobility

of and about Paris, have come over, as was expected, to the side of the

people, in the great question of voting by persons or orders. This had

induced a presumption that those of the country were making the same

progress, and these form the great mass of the deputies of that order.

But they are found to be where they were centuries ago, as to their

disposition to keep distinct from the people, and even to tyrannize over

them. They agree, indeed, to abandon their pecuniary privileges. The

clergy seem, at present, much divided. Five-sixths of that representation

consists of the lower clergy, who, being the sons of the peasantry, are

very well with the Tiers Etat. But the Bishops are intriguing, and drawing

them over daily. The Tiers Etat is so firm to vote by persons or to go

home, that it is impossible to conjecture what will be the result. This is

the state of parties, as well as we can conjecture from the conversation

of the members; for, as yet, no vote has been given which will enable us

to calculate, on certain ground.

Having formerly written to you on the subject of our finances, I enclose

you now an abstract of a paper on that subject, which Gouverneur Morris

communicated to me. You will be a better judge of its merit than I am. It

seems to me worthy good attention.

I have a box of books packed for you, which I shall carry to Havre, and

send by any ship bound to New York or Philadelphia. I have been so inexact

as to take no list of them before nailing up the box. Be so good as to do

this, and I will take with me my bookseller's account, which will enable

us to make a statement of them. They are chiefly Encyclopedies, from the

twenty-third to the thirtieth livraison. Paul Jones has desired me to

send to yourself and Colonel Carrington each, his bust. They are packed

together in the same box. There are three other boxes, with two in each,

for other gentlemen. I shall send them all together, and take the liberty

of addressing them to you. I rejoice extremely to hear you are elected, in

spite of all cabals. I fear your post will not permit me to see you but

in New York, and consequently but a short time only. I shall much regret

this.

I am, with sentiments of sincere attachment and respect, dear Sir, your

friend and servant.

TO THE HONORABLE MR. JAY.

Paris, May 12, 1789.

Sir,--I am this moment returned from Versailles, and it is the last

moment allowed me to write by this occasion. The Tiers Etat remain

unshaken in their resolution to do no business with the other orders, but

voting by persons. The Nobles are equally determined, and by a majority

of four-fifths or five-sixths to vote only by orders. Committees of

accommodation indeed are appointed, but with little prospect of effect.

Already the ministry of the Nobles began to talk of abandoning their

body, and going to take their places among the Tiers. Perhaps they may

be followed by the timid part of their orders, and it might be hoped, by

a majority of the Clergy, which still remain undebauched by the bishops.

This would form a States General of the whole Tiers, a majority of the

Clergy, and a fraction of the Nobles. This may be considered, then, as

one of the possible issues this matter may take, should reconciliation be

impracticable.

I am able to speak now more surely of the situation of the Emperor. His

complaint is pulmonary. The spitting of blood is from the lungs. The

hemorrhage which came on was critical, and relieved him for the moment;

but the relief was momentary only. There is little expectation he can

last long. The King of England's voyage to Hanover is spoken of more

doubtfully. This would be an indication that his complaint is better, or,

at least, not worse. I find, on receiving Mr. Neckar's discourse in print,

that he has not proposed in direct terms to put down our free ports. The

expression is, "on se borne en ce moment a vous faire observer," &c.,

&c. I spoke on the subject to M. de Montmorin to-day, and he says they

meant and mean to confer with me on it before my departure. I spoke to

him also to bring Schweighauser and De Bree's affair to a conclusion;

and to Mr. Rayneval on the same subject. They told me they had just

received a letter from the Count de La Luzerne, justifying the detention

of our stores; that they were so much dissatisfied with the principles

he advanced, that they should take upon themselves to combat and protest

against them, and to insist on a clear establishment of the rule that the

property of one sovereign within the dominions of another, is not liable

to the territorial jurisdiction. They have accordingly charged one of

their ablest counsels with the preparation of a memoir to establish this

point. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem

and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MONSIEUR DE PONTIÈRE.

Paris, May 17, 1789.

Sir,--I am honored with your letter of the 6th instant, and am sincerely

sorry that you should experience inconveniences for the want of arrearages

due to you from the United States. I have never ceased to take every

measure which could promise to procure to the foreign officers the payment

of these arrears. At present, the matter stands thus: Congress have

agreed to borrow a sum of money in Holland, to enable them to pay the

individual demands in Europe. They have given orders that these arrearages

shall be paid out of this money, when borrowed, and certain bankers in

Amsterdam are charged to borrow the money. I am myself of opinion, they

will certainly procure the money in the course of the present year; but

it is not for me to affirm this, nor to make any engagement. The moment

the money is ready, it shall be made known to Colonel Gourion, who, at

the desire of many of the officers, has undertaken to communicate with

me on the subject, and to inform them, from time to time, of the progress

of this business. He will readily answer your letters on this subject. I

depart in a few days for America, but shall leave such instructions here,

as that this matter will suffer no delay on that account.

I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO MR. VAUGHAN.

Paris, May 17, 1789.

Dear Sir,--I am to acknowledge, all together, the receipt of your favors

of March the 17th, 26th, and May the 7th, and to return you abundant

thanks for your attention to the article of dry rice, and the parcel of

seeds you sent me. This is interesting, because, even should it not take

place of the wet rice, in South Carolina, it will enable us to cultivate

this grain in Virginia, where we have not lands disposed for the wet rice.

The collection of the works of Monsieur de Poivre has not, as I believe,

been ever published. It could hardly have escaped my knowledge if they

had been ever announced. The French translation of the book on trade,

has not yet come to my hands. Whenever I receive the copies they shall

be distributed, and principally among the members of the Etats Generaux.

I doubt whether, at this session, they will take up the subject of

commerce. Whenever they do, they will find better principles nowhere than

in that book. I spoke with Mr. Stewart yesterday on the subject of the

distribution, and if I should be gone before the books come to hand, he

will execute the commission. Your nation is very far from the liberality

that treatise inculcates. The proposed regulation on the subject of our

wheat, is one proof. The prohibition of it in England would, of itself,

be of no great moment, because I do not know that it is much sent there.

But it is the publishing a libel on our wheat, sanctioned with the name of

parliament, and which can have no object but to do us injury, by spreading

a groundless alarm in those countries of Europe where our wheat is

constantly and kindly received. It is a mere assassination. If the insect

they pretend to fear, be the Hessian fly, it never existed in the grain.

If it be the weavil, our grain always had that; and the experience of a

century has proved that either the climate of England is not warm enough

to hatch the egg and continue the race, or that some other unknown cause

prevents any evil from it. How different from this spirit, my dear Sir,

has been your readiness to help us to the dry rice, to communicate to us

the bread tree, &c. Will any of our climates admit the cultivation of the

latter? I am too little acquainted with it, to judge. I learn that your

newspapers speak of the death of Ledyard, at Grand Cairo. I am anxious

to know whether there be foundation for this. I have not yet had time to

try the execution of the wood hygrometer proposed by Dr. Franklin. Though

I have most of the articles ready made, I doubt now whether I shall be

able to do it before my departure for America, the permission for which,

I expect every hour; and I shall go off the instant I receive it. While

there, I shall have the pleasure of seeing your father and friends. I

expect to return in the fall. In the meantime I have the honor to be,

with very great esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient humble

servant.

TO THOMAS PAINE.

Paris, May 19, 1789.

Dear Sir,--Your favors of February the 16th to April the 13th, and of May

the 3d and 10th, are received; and the two last are sent to Mr. Leroy,

who will communicate them to the Academy.

You know that the States General have met, and probably have seen the

speeches at the opening of them. The three orders sit in distinct

chambers. The great question, whether they shall vote by orders or

persons can never be surmounted amicably. It has not yet been proposed

in form; but the votes which have been taken on the outworks of that

question show that the Tiers Etat are unanimous, a good majority of the

Clergy (consisting of the Curés) disposed to side with the Tiers Etat,

and in the chamber of the Noblesse, there are only fifty-four in that

sentiment, against one hundred and ninety, who are for voting by orders.

Committees to find means of conciliation are appointed by each chamber;

but conciliation is impossible. Some think the Nobles could be induced

to unite themselves with the _higher Clergy_ into one House, the lower

Clergy and Tiers Etat forming another. But the Tiers Etat are immovable.

They are not only firm, but a little disdainful. The question is, what

will ensue? One idea is to separate, in order to consult again their

constituents, and to take new instructions. This would be doing nothing,

for the same instructions would be repeated; and what, in the meantime, is

to become of a government, absolutely without money, and which cannot be

kept in motion with less than a million of livres a day? The more probable

expectation is as follows. As soon as it shall become evident that no

amicable determination of the manner of voting can take place, the Tiers

Etat will send an invitation to the two other orders to come and take

their places in the common chamber. A majority of the Clergy will go, and

the minority of the Noblesse. The chamber thus composed will declare that

the States General are constituted, will notify it to the King, and that

they are ready to proceed to business. If the King refuses to do business

with them, and adheres to the Nobles, the common chamber will declare all

taxes at an end, will form a declaration of rights, and do such other acts

as circumstances will permit, and go home. The tax-gatherers will then

be resisted, and it may well be doubted whether the soldiery and their

officers will not divide, as the Tiers Etat and Nobles. But it is more

likely that the King will agree to do business with the States General,

so constituted, professing that the necessities of the moment force

this, and that he means to negotiate (as they go along) a reconciliation

between the seceding members and those which remain. If the matter takes

this turn, there may be small troubles and ebullitions excited by the

seceding Noblesse and higher Clergy; but no serious difficulty can arise.

M. de Lamoignon, the Garde des Sceaux of the last year, has shot himself.

The Emperor's complaint is pulmonary and incurable. The Grand Seignior

is dead; his successor, young and warlike. I congratulate you sincerely

on the success of your bridge. I was sure of it before from theory; yet

one likes to be assured from practice also. I am anxious to see how Mr.

Rumsey's experiment succeeds.

_May_ the 21st. I have this moment received a letter from Ledyard, dated

Cairo, November the 15th. He therein says, "I am doing up my baggage,

and most curious baggage it is, and I leave Cairo in two or three days.

I travel from hence southwest, about three hundred leagues, to a black

King; there my present conductors leave me to my fate. Beyond, I suppose,

I go alone. I expect to hit the continent across, between the parallels of

twelve and twenty degrees north latitude. I shall, if possible, write you

from the kingdom of this black gentleman." This seems to contradict the

story of his having died at Cairo in January, as he was then, probably,

in the interior parts of Africa. If Sir Joseph Banks has no news from him

later than the letter of September, it may do him pleasure, if you will

communicate the above. If he or any other person knows whether there is

any foundation for the story of his death, I will thank you to inform me

of it. My letter being to go off to-morrow, I shall only add assurances of

the esteem and respect with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO DOCTOR PRICE.

Paris, May 19, 1789.

Dear Sir,--Your favor of the 4th instant is duly received. I am in hourly

expectation of receiving letters permitting me to go to America for a few

months, and shall leave Paris within a very few days after I shall have

received them. As this is probably the last letter I can have the honor

of writing you before my return, I will do myself the pleasure of putting

you in possession of the state of things here at this moment, as it may

enable you better to decide between truth and falsehood for some time to

come. You already know that the States General are met, and have seen the

speeches of the King, the Garde des Sceaux, and of Mr. Neckar. The three

orders as yet, set in different chambers. The great parliamentary question

whether they shall vote by orders or persons is undecided. It has not

yet been formally proposed, but the votes already given in the separate

chambers on the outworks of that question, show that the Tiers Etat are

unanimous for voting by persons. A good majority of the Clergy of the same

disposition, and only fifty-four of the Noblesse against one hundred and

ninety of the same body, who are for voting by orders. The chambers have

appointed committees to confer together on the means of conciliation,

but this is mere form, conciliation being impracticable. The Noblesse, as

some think, would be induced to unite themselves into one house, with the

higher Clergy, the lower Clergy and Tiers forming another. But the Tiers

are firm, and will agree to no modification. They are disposed to reduce

the State to one order as much as possible. As we are always disposed

to conjecture on the future, it is natural to form conjectures as to the

issue from the present difficulty. One idea is, that they will separate

to consult their constituents. I think they will not do this, because

they know their constituents will repeat the same instructions. And what

in the meantime is to become of a government which cannot keep in motion

with less than a million of livres a day? A more probable conjecture is,

that when it shall be manifest that conciliation is impracticable, the

Tiers will invite the other orders to come and take their places in the

common chamber. The majority of the Clergy, (to wit, the curés, and the

minority of the Noblesse,) will accept the invitation. The chamber thus

composed, will declare that the States General are now constituted, will

notify it to the King, and prepare to proceed to business. If he refuses

to acknowledge them, and adheres to the principles of the Noblesse,

they will suspend all taxes, form a declaration of rights, and do such

other acts as circumstances will admit, and go home. The tax-gatherers

will be resisted, and perhaps the soldiery take side with the Tiers, and

their officers with the Noblesse. But I rather suppose the King will do

business with the States so constituted, negotiating at the same time as

they go along, a reconciliation with the seceding members. The latter

may in that case excite small and partial troubles, but cannot make a

serious resistance. It is very important that the lower Clergy side with

the Tiers. They are the effective part of that order, while the bishops

and archbishops are held in detestation. But you are to keep in mind that

these are conjectures, and you know how small a circumstance may give

a totally different turn from what has been plausibly conjectured. My

hope is that the mass of the Bourgeoisie is too well in motion, and too

well-informed to be resisted or misled, and ultimately that this great

country will obtain a good constitution, and show the rest of Europe

that reformation in government follows reformation in opinion. I am, with

sentiments of the most perfect esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your most

obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MONSIEUR DE CREVECOEUR.

Paris, May 20, 1789.