Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson
Chapter 79 : Dear Sir, Having got back to Paris three days ago, I resume immediately the corresponde

Dear Sir,

Having got back to Paris three days ago, I resume immediately the correspondence with which you have been pleased to honor me. I wish I could have begun it with more agreeable information than that furnished me by Mr. Grand, that the funds of the United States here are exhausted, and himself considerably in advance; and by the board of treasury at New York, that they have no immediate prospect of furnis.h.i.+ng us supplies. We are thus left to s.h.i.+ft for ourselves, without previous warning. As soon as they shall replenish Mr. Grand's hands, I will give you notice, that you may recommence your usual drafts on him; unless the board should provide a separate fund for you, dependant on yourself alone, which I have strongly and repeatedly pressed on them, in order to remove the indecency of suffering your drafts to pa.s.s through any intermediate hand for payment.

My letters from America came down to the 24th of April. The disturbances in the Eastern States were entirely settled. I do not learn that the government had made any examples. Mr. Hanc.o.c.k's health being re-established, the want of which had occasioned him to resign the government of Ma.s.sachusetts, he has been re-elected to the exclusion of Governor Bowdoin. New York still refuses to pa.s.s the impost in any form, and were she to pa.s.s it, Pennsylvania will not uncouple it from the supplementary funds. These two States and Virginia, are the only ones, my letters say, which have paid any thing into the Continental treasury, for a twelvemonth past. I send you a copy of a circular letter from Congress to the several States, insisting on their removing all obstructions to the recovery of British debts. This was hurried, that it might be delivered to the a.s.sembly of New York before they rose. It was delivered, but they did nothing in consequence of it. The convention to be a.s.sembled at Philadelphia will be an able one. Ten States were known to have appointed delegates. Maryland was about to appoint; Connecticut was doubtful; and Rhode Island had refused. We are sure, however, of eleven States. South Carolina has prohibited the importation of slaves for three years; which is a step towards a perpetual prohibition.

Between six and seven hundred thousand acres of land are actually surveyed into towns.h.i.+ps, and the sales are to begin immediately.

They are not to be sold for less than a dollar the acre, in public certificates. I wrote you from Bordeaux on the subject of Colonel Smith.

I was sorry I missed him there, for other reasons as well as from a curiosity to know his errand. The Notables have laid the foundation of much good here: you have seen it detailed in the public papers. The Prince of Wales is likely to recover from his illness, which was very threatening. It is feared, that three powers have combined to lift the Prince of Orange out of his difficulties. Have you yet the cipher of which I formerly wrote to you, or any copy of it?

I am, with sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LIX.--TO J. BANNISTER, JUNIOR, June 19, 1787

TO J. BANNISTER, JUNIOR.

Paris, June 19, 1787.

Dear Sir,

I have received your favor of April the 23d, from New York, and am sorry to find you have had a relapse. Time and temperance, however, will cure you; to which add exercise. I hope you have long ago had a happy meeting with your friends, with whom a few hours would be to me an ineffable feast. The face of Europe appears a little turbid, but all will subside.

The Empress has endeavored to bully the Turk, who laughed at her, and she is going back. The Emperor's reformations have occasioned the appearance of insurrection in Flanders, and he, according to character, will probably tread back his steps. A change of system here with respect to the Dutch, is suspected; because the Kings of Prussia and England openly espouse the cause of the Stadtholder, and that of the Patriots is likely to fall. The American acquaintances whom you left here, not being stationary, you will hardly expect news of them. Mrs. Barrett, lately dead, was, I think, known to you. I had a letter from Ledyard lately, dated at St. Petersburg. He had but two s.h.i.+rts, and yet more s.h.i.+rts than s.h.i.+llings. Still he was determined to obtain the palm of being the first circ.u.mambulator of the earth. He says, that having no money, they kick him from place to place, and thus he expects to be kicked round the globe. Are you become a great walker? You know I preach up that kind of exercise. Shall I send you a _conte-pas_? It will cost you a dozen louis, but be a great stimulus to walking, as it will record your steps.

I finished my tour a week or ten days ago. I went as far as Turin, Milan, Genoa; and never pa.s.sed three months and a half more delightfully. I returned through the ca.n.a.l of Languedoc, by Bordeaux, Nantes, L'Orient, and Rennes; then returned to Nantes, and came up the Loire to Orleans. I was alone through the whole, and think one travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

Present me in the most friendly terms to Mrs. Bannister and to your father, and be a.s.sured of the sincere esteem of, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LX.--TO JAMES MADISON, June 20, 1787*

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, June 20, 1787.

[* Much of this letter is in cipher: but the notes annexed to it, have enabled the Editor to decipher and publish it.]

Dear Sir,

I wrote you last on the 30th of January, with a Postscript of February the 5th. Having set out the last day of that month to try the waters of Aix, and been journeying since, till the 10th instant, I have been unable to continue my correspondence with you. In the mean time, I have received your several favors of February the 15th, March the 18th and 19th, and April the 23d. The last arrived here about the 25th of May, while those of March the 18th and 19th, though written, five weeks earlier, arrived three weeks later. I mention this, to show you how uncertain is the conveyance through England.

The idea of separating the executive business of the confederacy from Congress, as the judiciary is already, in some degree, is just and necessary. I had frequently pressed on the members individually, while in Congress, the doing this by a resolution of Congress for appointing an executive committee, to act during the sessions of Congress, as the committee of the States was to act during their vacations. But the referring to this committee all executive business, as it should present itself, would require a more persevering self-denial than I suppose Congress to possess. It will be much better to make that separation by a federal act. The negative proposed to be given them on all the acts of the several legislatures, is now, for the first time, suggested to my mind. _Prima facie_, I do not like it. It fails in an essential character; that the hole and the patch should be commensurate. But this proposes to mend a small hole, by covering the whole garment. Not more than one out of one hundred State acts, concern the confederacy. This proposition, then, in order to give them one degree of power, which they ought to have, gives them ninety-nine more, which they ought not to have, upon a presumption that they will not exercise the ninety-nine.

But upon every act there will be a preliminary question, Does this act concern the confederacy? And was there ever a proposition so plain, as to pa.s.s Congress without a debate? Their decisions are almost always wise; they are like pure metal. But you know of how much dross this is the result. Would not an appeal from the State judicature to a federal court, in all cases where the act of Confederation controlled the question, be as effectual a remedy, and exactly commensurate to the defect. A British creditor, for example, sues for his debt in Virginia; the defendant pleads an act of the State, excluding him from their courts; the plaintiff urges the confederation, and the treaty made under that, as controlling the State law; the judges are weak enough to decide according to the views of their legislature. An appeal to a federal court gets all to rights. It will be said, that this court may encroach on the jurisdiction of the State courts. It may. But there will be a power, to wit, Congress, to watch and restrain them. But place the same authority in Congress itself, and there will be no power above them to perform the same office. They will restrain within due bounds a jurisdiction exercised by others, much more rigorously than if exercised by themselves.

I am uneasy at seeing that the sale of our western lands is not yet commenced. That valuable fund for the immediate extinction of our debt will, I fear, be suffered to slip through our fingers. Every day exposes it to events, which no human foresight can guard against. When we consider the temper of the people of that country, derived from the circ.u.mstances which surround them, we must suppose their separation possible, at every moment. If they can be retained till their governments become settled and wise, they will remain with us always, and be a precious part of our strength and our virtue. But this affair of the Mississippi, by showing that Congress is capable of hesitating on a question, which proposes a clear sacrifice of the western to the maritime States, will with difficulty be obliterated. The proposition of my going to Madrid, to try to recover there the ground which has been lost at New York, by the concession of the vote of seven States, I should think desperate. With respect to myself, weighing the pleasure of the journey and bare possibility of success in one scale, and the strong probability of failure and the public disappointment directed on me, in the other, the latter preponderates. Add to this, that jealousy might be excited in the breast of a person, who could find occasions of making me uneasy.

The late changes in the ministry here, excite considerable hopes. I think we gain in them all. I am particularly happy at the reentry of Malesherbes into the Council. His knowledge and integrity render his value inappreciable, and the greater to me, because, while he had no views of office, we had established together the most unreserved intimacy. So far, too, I am pleased with Montmorin. His honesty proceeds from the heart as well as the head, and therefore may be more surely counted on. The King loves business, economy, order, and justice, and wishes sincerely the good of his people; but he is irascible, rude, very limited in his understanding, and religious bordering on bigotry. He has no mistress, loves his queen, and is too much governed by her. She is capricious, like her brother, and governed by him; devoted to pleasure and expense; and not remarkable for any other vices or virtues.

Unhappily the King shows a propensity for the pleasures of the table.

That for drink has increased lately, or at least it has become more known.

For European news in general, I will refer you to my letter to Mr. Jay.

Is it not possible, that the occurrences in Holland may excite a desire in many of leaving that country, and transferring their effects out of it, and thus make an opening for s.h.i.+fting into their hands the debts due to this country, to its officers, and Farmers? It would be surely eligible. I believe Dumas, if put on the watch, might alone suffice; but he surely might, if Mr. Adams should go when the moment offers. Dumas has been in the habit of sending his letters open to me, to be forwarded to Mr. Jay. During my absence, they pa.s.sed through Mr. Short's hands, who made extracts from them, by which I see he has been recommending himself and me for the money-negotiations in Holland. It might be thought, perhaps, that I have encouraged him in this. Be a.s.sured, my Dear Sir, that no such idea ever entered my head. On the contrary, it is a business which would be the most disagreeable to me of all others, and for which I am the most unfit person living. I do not understand bargaining, nor possess the dexterity requisite for the purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Adams, whom I expressly and sincerely recommend, stands already on ground for that business, which I could not gain in years.

Pray set me to rights in the minds of those, who may have supposed me privy to this proposition. _En pa.s.sant_, I will observe with respect to Mr. Dumas, that the death of the Count de Vergennes places Congress more at their ease, how to dispose of him. Our credit has been ill treated here in public debate, and our debt here deemed apocryphal. We should try to transfer this debt elsewhere, and leave nothing capable of exciting ill thoughts between us. I shall mention in my letter to Mr.

Jay, a disagreeable affair which Mr. Barclay has been thrown into, at Bordeaux. An honester man cannot be found, nor a slower, nor more decisive one. His affairs, too, are so embarra.s.sed and desperate, that the public reputation is, every moment, in danger of being compromitted with him. He is perfectly amiable and honest, with all his embarra.s.sments.

By the next packet, I shall be able to send you some books, as also your watch and pedometer. The two last are not yet done. To search for books, and forward them to Havre, will require more time than I had between my return and the departure of this packet. Having been a witness, heretofore, to the divisions in Congress on the subject of their foreign ministers, it would be a weakness in me to suppose none with respect to myself, or to count with any confidence on the renewal of my commission, which expires on the 10th day of March next; and the more so, as instead of requiring the disapprobation of seven States, as formerly, that of one suffices for a recall, when Congress consists of only seven States, two, when of eight, &c. which I suppose to be habitually their numbers at present. Whenever I leave this place, it will be necessary to begin my arrangements six months before my departure; and these, once fairly begun and under way, and my mind set homewards, a change of purpose could hardly take place. If it should be the desire of Congress that I should continue still longer, I could wish to know it, at farthest, by the packet which will sail from New York in September. Because, were I to put off longer the quitting my house, selling my furniture, he, I should not have time left to wind up my affairs; and having once quitted, and sold off my furniture, I could not think of establis.h.i.+ng myself here again. I take the liberty of mentioning this matter to you, not with a desire to change the purpose of Congress, but to know it in time. I have never fixed in my mind, the epoch of my return, so far as shall depend on myself, but I never supposed it very distant. Probably I shall not risk a second vote on this subject. Such trifling things may draw on me the displeasure of one or two States, and thus submit me to the disgrace of a recall.

I thank you for the paccan nuts, which accompanied your letter of March.

Could you procure me a copy of the bill for proportioning crimes and punishments, in the form in which it was ultimately rejected by the House of Delegates? Young Mr. Bannister desired me to send him regularly the _Mercure de France_. I will ask leave to do this through you, and that you will adopt such method of forwarding them to him, as will save him from being submitted to postage, which they would not be worth. As a compensation for your trouble, you will be free to keep them till you shall have read them. I am, with sentiments of the most sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXI.--TO JOHN JAY, June 21,1787

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, June 21,1787.

Sir,

I had the honor of addressing you in a letter of May the 4th, from Ma.r.s.eilles, which was to have gone by the last packet. Bat it arrived a few hours too late for that conveyance, and has been committed to a private one, pa.s.sing through England, with a promise that it should go through no post-office.

I was desirous, while at the sea-ports, to obtain a list of the American vessels which have come to them since the peace, in order to estimate their comparative importance to us, as well as the general amount of our commerce with this country, so far as carried on in our own bottoms.

At Ma.r.s.eilles, I found there had been thirty-two, since that period; at Cette, not a single one; at Bayonne, one of our free ports, only one.

This last fact I learned from other information, not having visited that place; as it would have been a deviation from my route, too considerable for the importance of the object. At Bordeaux, Nantes, and L'Orient, I could not obtain lists in the moment; but am in hopes I shall be able to get them ere long. Though more important to us, they will probably be more imperfect than that of Ma.r.s.eilles. At Nantes, I began with Monsieur Dobree an arrangement of his claims. I visited the military stores, which have been detained there so long, opened some boxes of each kind, and found the state of their contents much better than had been represented. An exact list of the articles is to be sent me.

The importations into L'Orient of other fish-oils, besides those of the whale, brought to my notice there a defect in the letter of Monsieur de Calonne, of October the 22nd, which letter was formerly communicated to you. In that, whale oil only was named. The other fish-oils, therefore, have continued to pay the old duties. In a conference with Monsieur de Villedeuil, the present Comptroller General, since my return, I proposed the extending the exemption to all fish-oils, according to the letter of the Hanseatic treaty, which had formed the basis of the regulations respecting us. I think this will be agreed to. The delays of office first, then the illness of Monsieur de Colonne, and lastly, his removal and the throng of business occasioned by the _a.s.semblee des Notables_, have prevented the reducing the substance of the letter into the form of an _Arret_, as yet though I have continued soliciting it as much as circ.u.mstances would bear. I am now promised that it shall be done immediately, and it shall be so far retrospective to the date of the letter, as that all duties paid since that, shall be refunded.

The new accessions of the ministry are valued here. Good is hoped from the Archbishop of Toulouse, who succeeds the Count de Vergennes as _Chef du Conseil de finance_. Monsieur de Villedeuil, the Comptroller General, has been approved by the public, in the offices he has heretofore exercised. The Duke de Nivernois, called to the Council, is reckoned a good and able man; and Monsieur de Malesherbes, called also to the Council, is unquestionably the first character in the kingdom, for integrity, patriotism, knowledge, and experience in business. There is a fear that the Marechal de Castries is disposed to retire.

The face of things in Europe is a little turbid, at present; but probably all will subside. The Empress of Russia, it is supposed, will not push her pretensions against the Turks to actual war. Weighing the fondness of the Emperor for innovation, against his want of perseverance, it is difficult to calculate what he will do with his discontented subjects in Brabant and Flanders. If those provinces alone were concerned, he would probably give back; but this would induce an opposition to his plan, in all his other dominions. Perhaps he may be able to find a compromise. The cause of the Patriots in Holland is a little clouded at present.

England and Prussia seem disposed to interpose effectually. The former has actually ordered a fleet of six sail of the line, northwardly, under Gore; and the latter threatens to put her troops into motion. The danger of losing such a weight in their scale, as that of Prussia, would occasion this court to prefer conciliation to war. Add to this, the distress of their finances, and perhaps not so warm a zeal in the new ministry for the innovations in Holland. I hardly believe they will think it worth while to purchase the change of const.i.tution proposed there, at the expense of a war. But of these things, you will receive more particular and more certain details from Mr. Dumas, to whom they belong.

Mr. Eden is appointed amba.s.sador from England to Madrid. To the hatred borne us by his court and country, is added a recollection of the circ.u.mstances of the unsuccessful emba.s.sy to America, of which he made a part. So that I think he will carry to Madrid, dispositions to do us all the ill he can.

The late change in the ministry is very favorable to the prospects of the Chevalier de la Luzerne. The Count de Montmorin, Monsieur de Malesherbes, and Monsieur de Lamoignon, the _Garde des Sceaux_, are his near relations. Probably something will be done for him, and without delay. The promise of the former administration to the Count de Moutier, to succeed to this vacancy, should it take place, will perhaps be performed by the present one.