Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson
Chapter 101 : Th: Jefferson.LETTER CXLVII.--TO MR. BELLINI, July 25,1788 TO MR. BELLINI.Paris, July

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLVII.--TO MR. BELLINI, July 25,1788

TO MR. BELLINI.

Paris, July 25,1788.

Dear Sir,

Though I have written to you seldom, you are often the object of my thoughts, and always of my affection. The truth is, that the circ.u.mstances with which I am surrounded, offer little worth detailing to you. You are too wise to feel an interest in the squabbles, in which the pride, the dissipations, and the tyranny of kings, keep this hemisphere constantly embroiled. Science, indeed, finds some aliment here, and you are one of her sons. But this I have pretty regularly communicated to Mr. Madison, with whom, I am sure, you partic.i.p.ate of it. It is with sincere pleasure I congratulate you on the good fortune of our friend Mazzei, who is appointed here, to correspond with the King of Poland. The particular character given him is not well defined, but the salary is, which is more important. It is eight thousand livres a year, which will enable him to live comfortably, while his duties will find him that occupation, without which he cannot exist. Whilst this appointment places him at his ease, it affords a hope of permanence also. It suspends, if not entirely prevents, the visit he had intended to his native country, and the return to his adoptive one, which the death of his wife had rendered possible. This last event has given him three quarters of the globe elbow-room, which he had ceded to her, on condition she would leave him quiet in the fourth. Their part.i.tion of the next world will be more difficult, if it be divided only into two parts, according to the protestant faith. Having seen by a letter you wrote him, that you were in want of a pair of spectacles, I undertook to procure you some, which I packed in a box of books addressed to Mr.

Wythe, and of which I beg your acceptance. This box lay forgotten at Havre the whole of the last winter, but was at length s.h.i.+pped, and I trust has come to hand. I packed with the spectacles three or four pair of gla.s.ses, adapted to the different periods of life, distinguished from each other by numbers, and easily changed. You see I am looking forward in hope of a long life for you; and that it may be long enough to carry you through the whole succession of gla.s.ses, is my sincere prayer.

Present me respectfully to Mrs. Bellini, a.s.sure her of my affectionate remembrance of her, and my wishes for her health and happiness; and accept yourself very sincere professions of the esteem and attachment with which I am, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLVIII.--TO JAMES MADISON, July 31, 1788

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, July 31, 1788.

Dear Sir,

My last letters to you were of the 3rd and the 25th of May. Yours from Orange, of April the 22nd, came to hand on the 10th instant.

My letter to Mr. Jay containing all the public news that is well authenticated, I will not repeat it here, but add some details in the smaller way, which you may be glad to know. The disgrace of the Marquis de la Fayette, which, at any other period of their history, would have had the worst consequences for him, will, on the contrary, mark him favorably to the nation, at present. During the present administration, he can expect nothing; but perhaps it may serve him with their successors, whenever a change shall take place. No change of the Princ.i.p.al will probably take place, before the meeting of the States General; though a change is to be wished, for his operations do not answer the expectations formed of him. These had been calculated, on his brilliancy in society. He is very feebly aided too. Montmorin is weak, though a most worthy character. He is indolent and inattentive too, in the extreme. Luzerne is considerably inferior in abilities to his brother, whom you know. He is a good man too, but so much out of his element, that he has the air of one _huskanoyed_. The _Garde des Sceaux_ is considered as the Princ.i.p.al's bull-dog, braving danger like the animal. His talents do not pa.s.s mediocrity. The Archbishop's brother, and the new minister Villedeuil, and Lambert, have no will of their own. They cannot raise money for the peace establishment the next year, without the States General; much less if there be war; and their administration will probably end with the States General.

Littlepage, who was here as a secret agent for the King of Poland, rather overreached himself. He wanted more money. The King furnished it, more than once. Still he wanted more, and thought to obtain a high bid, by saying he was called for in America, and asking leave to go there.

Contrary to his expectation, he received leave; but he went to Warsaw instead of America, and from thence, to join the * * * * I do not know

[* Several paragraphs of this letter are in cipher, A few words here could not be deciphered.]

these facts certainly, but collect them, by putting several things together. The King then sent an ancient secretary here, in whom he had much confidence, to look out for a correspondent, a mere letter-writer for him. A happy hazard threw Mazzei in his way. He recommended him, and he is appointed. He has no diplomatic character whatever, but is to receive eight thousand livres a year, as an intelligencer. I hope this employment may have some permanence. The danger is, that he will over-act his part.

The Marquis de la Luzerne had been for many years married to his brother's wife's sister, secretly. She was ugly and deformed, but sensible, amiable, and rather rich. When he was amba.s.sador to London, with ten thousand guineas a year, the marriage was avowed, and he relinquished his cross of Malta, from which he derived a handsome revenue for life, and which was very open to advancement. Not long ago, she died. His real affection for her, which was great and unfeigned, and perhaps the loss of his order, for so short-lived a satisfaction, has thrown him almost into a state of despondency. He is now here.

I send you a book of Dupont's, on the subject of the commercial treaty with England. Though its general matter may not be interesting, yet you will pick up, in various parts of it, such excellent principles and observations, as will richly repay the trouble of reading it. I send you, also, two little pamphlets of the Marquis de Condorcet, wherein is the most judicious statement I have seen, of the great questions which agitate this nation at present. The new regulations present a preponderance of good over their evil; but they suppose that the King can model the const.i.tution at will, or, in other words, that his government is a pure despotism. The question then arising is, whether a pure despotism in a single head, or one which is divided among a king, n.o.bles, priesthood, and numerous magistracy, is the least bad. I should be puzzled to decide: but I hope they will have neither, and that they are advancing to a limited, moderate government, in which the people will have a good share.

I sincerely rejoice at the acceptance of our new const.i.tution by nine States. It is a good canva.s.s, on which some strokes only want retouching. What these are, I think are sufficiently manifested by the general voice from north to south, which calls for a bill of rights.

It seems pretty generally understood, that this should go to juries, _habeas corpus_, standing armies, printing, religion, and monopolies.

I conceive there may be difficulty in finding general modifications of these, suited to the habits of all the States. But if such cannot be found, then it is better to establish trials by jury, the right of _habeas corpus_, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, in all cases, and to abolish standing armies in time of peace, and monopolies in all cases, than not to do it in any. The few cases wherein these things may do evil, cannot be weighed against the mult.i.tude, wherein the want of them will do evil. In disputes between a foreigner and a native, a trial by jury may be improper. But if this exception cannot be agreed to, the remedy will be to model the jury, by giving the _medietas linguae_, in civil as well as criminal cases. Why suspend the _habeas corpus_ in insurrections and rebellions? The parties who may be arrested, may be charged instantly with a well-defined crime: of course, the judge will remand them. If the public safety requires, that the government should have a man imprisoned on less probable testimony in those than in other emergencies, let him be taken and tried, retaken and retried, while the necessity continues, only giving him redress against the government, for damages. Examine the history of England. See how few of the cases of the suspension of the _habeas corpus_ law have been worthy of that suspension. They have been either real treason, wherein the parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots, where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. Yet for the few cases, wherein the suspension of the _habeas corpus_ has done real good, that operation is now become habitual, and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its constant suspension. A declaration, that the federal government will never restrain the presses from printing any thing they please, will not take away the liability of the printers for false facts printed. The declaration, that religious faith shall be unpunished, does not give impunity to criminal acts, dictated by religious error. The saying--there shall be no monopolies, lessens the incitements to ingenuity, which is spurred on by the hope of a monopoly for a limited time, as of fourteen years; but the benefit of even limited monopolies is too doubtful, to be opposed to that of their general suppression. If no check can be found to keep the number of standing troops within safe bounds, while they are tolerated as far as necessary, abandon them altogether, discipline well the militia, and guard the magazines with them. More than magazine guards will be useless, if few, and dangerous, if many. No European nation can ever send against us such a regular army as we need fear, and it is hard, if our militia are not equal to those of Canada or Florida. My idea then, is, that though proper exceptions to these general rules are desirable, and probably practicable, yet if the exceptions cannot be agreed on, the establishment of the rules, in all cases, will do ill in very few.

I hope, therefore, a bill of rights will be formed, to guard the people against the federal government, as they are already guarded against their State governments, in most instances. The abandoning the principle of necessary rotation in the Senate, has, I see, been disapproved by many: in the case of the President, by none. I readily, therefore, suppose my opinion wrong, when opposed by the majority, as in the former instance, and the totality, as in the latter. In this, however, I should have done it with more complete satisfaction, had we all judged from the same position.

Solicitations, which cannot be directly refused, oblige me to trouble you often with letters, recommending and introducing to you persons who go from hence to America. I will beg the favor of you to distinguish the letters wherein I appeal to recommendations from other persons, from those which I write on my own knowledge. In the former, it is never my intention to compromit myself or you. In both instances, I must beg you to ascribe the trouble I give you, to circ.u.mstances which do not leave me at liberty to decline it.

I am, with very sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CXLIX.--TO JOHN JAY, August 3, 1788

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, August 3, 1788.

Sir,

My last letters to you were of the 4th and 23d of May, with a Postscript of the 27th. Since that, I have been honored with yours of April the 24th, May the 16th, and June the 9th.

The most remarkable internal occurrences since my last are these. The _n.o.blesse_ of Bretagne, who had received with so much warmth the late innovations in the government, a.s.sembled, and drew up a memorial to the King, and chose twelve members of their body to come and present it.

Among these was the Marquis de la Rouerie (Colonel Armand). The King, considering the _n.o.blesse_ as having no legal right to a.s.semble, declined receiving the memorial. The deputies, to give greater weight to it, called a meeting of the landed proprietors of Bretagne, resident at Paris, and proposed to them to add their signatures--They did so, to the number of about sixty, of whom the Marquis de la Fayette was one. The twelve deputies, for having called this meeting, were immediately sent to the Bastile where they now are, and the Parisian signers were deprived of such favors as they held of the court. There were only four of them, however, who held any thing of that kind. The Marquis de la Fayette was one of these. They had given him a military command, to be exercised in the south of France, during the months of August and September of the present year. This they took from him; so that he is disgraced, in the ancient language of the court, but in truth, honorably marked in the eyes of the nation. The ministers are so sensible of this, that they have had, separately, private conferences with him, to endeavor, through him, to keep things quiet. From the character of the province of Bretagne, it was much apprehended, for some days, that the imprisonment of their deputies would have produced an insurrection.

But it took another turn. The _Cours intermediaire_ of the province, acknowledged to be a legal body, deputed eighteen members of their body to the King. To these he gave an audience, and the answer, of which I send you a copy. This is hard enough. Yet I am in hopes the appeal to the sword will be avoided, and great modifications in the government be obtained without bloodshed. As yet none has been spilt, according to the best evidence I have been able to obtain, notwithstanding what the foreign newspapers have said to the contrary. The convocation of the States General has now become inevitable. Whenever the time shall be announced certainly, it will keep the nation quiet till they meet.

According to present probabilities, this must be in the course of the next summer; but to what movements their meeting and measures may give occasion, cannot be foreseen. Should a foreign war take place, still they must a.s.semble the States General, because they cannot, but by their aid, obtain money to carry it on. Monsieur de Malesherbes will, I believe, retire from the King's Council. He has been much opposed to the late acts of authority. The Baron de Breteuil has resigned his secretarys.h.i.+p of the domestic department; certainly not for the same reasons, as he is known to have been of opinion, that the King had compromitted too much of his authority. The real reason has probably been, an impatience of acting under a princ.i.p.al minister. His successor is M. de Villedeuil, lately Comptroller General.

The amba.s.sadors of Tippoo Saib have arrived here. If their mission has any other object than that of pomp and ceremony, it is not yet made known. Though this court has not avowed that they are in possession of Trincomale, yet the report is believed, and that possession was taken by General Conway, in consequence of orders given in the moment that they thought a war certain. The dispute with the States General of the United Netherlands, on account of the insult to M. de St. Priest, does not tend as yet towards a settlement. He has obtained leave to go to the waters, and perhaps from thence he may come to Paris, to await events. Sweden has commenced hostilities against Russia, by the taking a little fortress by land. This having been their intention, it is wonderful, that when their fleet lately met three Russian s.h.i.+ps of one hundred guns each, they saluted instead of taking them. The Empress has declared war against them in her turn. It is well understood, that Sweden is set on by England, and paid by the Turks. The prospect of Russia has much brightened by some late successes. Their fleet of galleys and gun-boats, twenty-seven in number, having been attacked by fifty-seven Turkish vessels of the same kind, commanded by the Captain Pacha, these were repulsed, with the loss of three vessels. In the action, which was on the 18th of June, Admiral Paul Jones commanded the right wing of the Russians, and the Prince of Na.s.sau the left. On the 26th of the same month, the Turkish princ.i.p.al fleet, that is to say, their s.h.i.+ps of the line, frigates, &c, having got themselves near the swash, at the mouth of the Borysthenes, the Prince of Na.s.sau took advantage of their position, attacked them while so engaged in the mud that they could not manoeuvre, burnt six, among which were the admiral's and vice-admiral's, took two, and made between three and four thousand prisoners. The first reports gave this success to Admiral Paul Jones; but it is now rendered rather probable that he was not there, as he commands the vessels of war which are said not to have been there. It is supposed, that his presence in the affair of the 18th was accidental. But if this success has been so complete as it is represented, the Black Sea must be tolerably open to the Russians: in which case, we may expect, from what we know of that officer, that he will improve to the greatest advantage the situation of things on that sea. The Captain Pacha's standard was taken in the last action, and himself obliged to make his escape in a small vessel. Prince Potemkin immediately got under march for Oczakow, to take advantage of the consternation into which that place was thrown.

The Spanish squadron, after cruising off the Western Isles and Cape St.

Vincent, has returned into port.

A dispute has arisen between the Papal See and the King of Naples, which may, in its progress, enable us to estimate what degree of influence that See retains at the present day. The kingdom of Naples, at an early period of its history, became feudatory to the See of Rome, and in acknowledgment thereof, has annually paid a hackney to the Pope in Rome, to which place it has always been sent by a splendid emba.s.sy. The hackney has been refused by the King this year, and the Pope, giving him three months to return to obedience, threatens, if he does not, to proceed seriously against him.

About three weeks ago a person called on me, and informed me, that Silas Deane had taken him in for a sum of one hundred and twenty guineas, and that being unable to obtain any other satisfaction, he had laid hands on his account book and letter book, and had brought them off to Paris, to offer them first to the United States, if they would repay him his money, and if not, that he should return to London, and offer them to the British minister. I desired him to leave them with me four and twenty hours, that I might judge whether they were worth our notice. He did so. They were two volumes. One contained all his accounts with the United States, from his first coming to Europe to January the 10th, 1781. Presuming that the treasury board was in possession of this account till his arrival in Philadelphia, August, 1778, and that he had never given in the subsequent part, I had that subsequent part copied from the book, and now enclose it, as it may on some occasion or other, perhaps, be useful in the treasury office. The other volume contained all his correspondences from March the 30th to August the 23d, 1777. I had a list of the letters taken by their dates and addresses, which will enable you to form a general idea of the collection. On perusal of many of them, I thought it desirable that they should not come to the hands of the British minister, and from an expression dropped by the possessor of them, I believe he would have fallen to fifty or sixty guineas. I did not think them important enough, however, to justify my purchasing them without authority; though, with authority, I should have done it.

Indeed, I would have given that sum to cut out a single sentence, which contained evidence of a fact, not proper to be committed to the hands of enemies. I told him I would state his proposition to you, and await orders. I gave him back the books, and he returned to London without making any promise, that he would await the event of the orders you might think proper to give.

News of the accession of nine States to the new form of federal government has been received here about a week. I have the honor to congratulate you sincerely on this event. Of its effect at home, you are in the best situation to judge. On this side the Atlantic, it is considered as a very wise reformation. In consequence of this, speculations are already begun here, to purchase up our domestic liquidated debt. Indeed, I suspect that orders may have been previously lodged in America to do this, as soon as the new const.i.tution was accepted effectually. If it is thought that this debt should be retained at home, there is not a moment to lose; and I know of no means of retaining it, but those I suggested to the treasury board, in my letter to them of March the 29th. The transfer of these debts to Europe will excessively embarra.s.s, and perhaps totally prevent the borrowing any money in Europe, till these shall be paid off. This is a momentous object, and, in my opinion, should receive instantaneous attention.

The gazettes of France, to the departure of my letter, will accompany it, and those of Leyden to the 22nd of July, at which time their distribution in this country was prohibited. How long the prohibition may continue, I cannot tell. As far as I can judge, it is the only paper in Europe worth reading. Since the suppression of the packet-boats, I have never been able to find a safe conveyance for a letter to you, till the present by Mrs. Barclay. Whenever a confidential person shall be going from hence to London, I shall send my letters for you to the care of Mr. Trumbull, who will look out for safe conveyances. This will render the epochs of my writing very irregular. There is a proposition under consideration, for establis.h.i.+ng packet-boats on a more economical plan, from Havre to Boston; but its success is uncertain, and still more, its duration.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CL.--TO COLONEL MONROE, August 9, 1788