THE WRITINGS OF



THOMAS JEFFERSON



Definitive Edition



CONTAINING HIS



AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, PARLIA-



MENTARY MANUAL,  OFFICIAL PAPERS,



MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES, AND OTHER

WRITINGS, OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE,



NOW COLLECTED AND







PUBLISHED IN THEIR ENTIRETY FOR THE FIRST TIME



INCLUDING







ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT



OF STATE AND PUBLISHED IN 1853 BY ORDER OF THE



JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS



AND



A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYTICAL INDEX







ALBERT ELLERY BERGH



EDITOR



VOL. XIII.











ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF







THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION



OF THE UNITED STATES



WASHINGTON, D. C.



1907 



           







CONTENTS.







                                                        Page



JEFFERSON AS A GEOGRAPHER.  By General A. W.

  Greely, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A.. . . . . . . . . i



EULOGY ON JEFFERSON. Delivered by Hon. William

  Wirt, LL. D., Attorney-General of the United States,

  on October  19,1826. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix





LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE

  UNITED STATES, 1789-1826. . . . . . . . . . . .     1-441

   To Doctor Benjamin Rush, January 16, 1811      . . . . 1

   To John Lynch, January 21,1811       . . . . . . . . .10

   To Monsieur Destutt de Tracy; January 26, 1811. . . . 13

   To the President of the United States (James

     Madison), March 8, 1811 . . . . . . . . . . .  .    22

   To General James Wilkinson, March 10, 1811. . . . .   23

   To John Melish, March 10, 1811. . . . .  . . . . .    24

   To Colonel William Duane, March 28, 1811. . . . . .   25

   To B. H. Latrobe, April 14, 1811. . . . . . . . . .   31

   To Baron Alexander Von Humboldt, April 14, 1811   . . 33

   To Monsieur Paganel, April 15, 1811 . . . . . .. . . .36

   To Monsieur Dupont de Nemours, April 15, 1811 . . .   37

   To General Thaddeus Kosciusko, April 13, 1811. . .    40

   To Joel Barlow, April 16, 1811 . . . . . . . . . .    44

   To Albert Gallatin, April 24, 1811. . . . . . . . . . 45

   To Robert Smith, April 30, 1811. . .. . . . . . . . . 46

   To Colonel William Duane, April 30, 1811 . . . . . .  47

   To William Wirt, May 3, 1811. . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

   To William Wirt, May 3, 1811  . . . . . . . . . . . ..56

   To John Hollins, May 5, 1811..... . . . .. . . . . .  57

   To James Monroe, May 5, 1811. . . . . . . . . . . .   59








ix              Contents



LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE

UNITED STATES, 1789-1826-Continued

To John Severin Vater, Professor at Konigsberg,

May 11, 1811...... ........ ..... .............      60

To Count John Potocki, May 12, 1811    .... . .      61

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), July 3, 1811..... ..... ...... ...         63

To Joel Barlow, July 22, 1811....... ..... ..        64

To Colonel William Duane, July 25, 1811.. ...        65

Ta James Ogilvie, August 4, 1811.. ...... ..         68

To Judge Archibald Stuart, August 8, 1811...         71

To General Henry Dearborn, August 14, 1811...        72

To Dr. Benjamin Rush, August 17, 1811 .. ....        74

To William A. Burwell, August 19, 1811.. . ..        77

To Charles W. Peale, August 20, 1811 .... . ...      78

To Charles Clay, August 23, 1811..... ......         80

To Levi Lincoln, August 25, 1811... . . ....         81

To James L. Edwards, September 5, 1811......         82

To James Lyon, September 5, 1811... . . ..           84

To Dr. Robert Patterson, September 11, 1811..        85

To Clement Caine, September 16, 1811..... ..         89

To John W. Eppes, September 29, 1811..... ..         92

To Paine Todd, October 10, 1811..... . ...           94

To Dr. Robert Patterson, November 10, 1811..         95

To Dr. Robert Patterson, November 10, 1811..        108

To H. A. S. Dearborn, November 15, 1811.....        110

To Melatiah Nash, November 15, 1811... .. .         112

To Dr. Benjamin Rush, December 5, 1811... ..        114

To Dr. John Crawford, January 2, 1812..... .        117

To Thomas Sully, January 8, 1812... . ... .         119

To James Monroe, January 11, 1812.: ..... .         120

To John Adams, January 21, 1812 . . . . . .  . .    122

To Governor James Barbour, January 22, 1812..       125

To Benjamin Galloway, February 2, 1812  .. . .      129

To Ezra Sargeant, February 3, 1812 .... .. ..       131








                  Contents



LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE,

UNITED STATES, 1759-1826---Continued              Page

To Dr. Wheaton, February 14, 1812 .. .. ...        133

To Charles Christian, March 21 ; 1812  ... .. ..   134

To F. A. Van Der Kemp, March 22, 1812  ... ..      135

To Hugh Nelson, April 2, 1812.. . .. .. . .        137

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), April 17, 1812  . .. .. . . . .          139

To John Adams, April 20, 1812 ... ... . ..         141

To James Maury, April 25, 1812.... ... .. .        144

To John Rodman, April 25, 1812    ... .. . ..      149

To John Jacob Astor, May 24, 1812 ...... ...       150

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), May 30, 1812  .... .. .. .. .. .         153

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), June 6, 1812..... . .. . . . . . .       154

To John Adams, June 11, 1812  .. . .. . .. ..      156

To Elbridge Gerry, June 11, 1812  .. . . .. ..     161

To Judge John Tyler, June 17, 1812 .... . . .      165

To General Thaddeus Kosciusko, June 28, 1812 ..    168

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), June 29, 1812 ... . . .. . .  . .        172

To Nathaniel Green, July 5, 1812... .. . .. .      174

To Thomas Cooper, July 10, 1812... . . .. ..       176

To B. H. Latrobe, July 12, 1812  ... . .. . .      178

To Colonel William Duane, August 4, 1812  . . .    180

To General Thaddeus Kosciusko, August 5, 1812      182

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), August 5, 1812 ... .. .. . . . . . .     183

To Robert Wright, August 8, 1812 .. . .. . ..      184

To Thomas Letre, August 8, 1812.. .. .. .          185

To Coionel William Duane,0ctober 1, 1812 ....      186

To Thomas C. Flourney,0ctober 1, 1812  .. ..       190

To Dr. Robert Patterson, December 27, 1812   ...   191

To John Adams, December, 28, 1812. . . . .         193











ix            Contents



LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE

UNITED STATES, 1759-1526--Continued.                 Page

To Henry Middleton, January 8, 1813.. ... ..          202

To James Ronaldson, January 12, 1813 .. .....         204

To John Melish, January 13, 1813.......... .          206

To Colonel William Duane, January 22, 1813    ..      213

To Dr. Robert Morrell, February 5, 1813.......        215

To General Theodorus Bailey, February 6, 1813.        216

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), February 8, 1813.............               218

To General John Armstrong, February 8, 1813..         220

To Dr. Benjamin Rush, March 6, 1813........           222

To Monsieur De Lomerie, April 3, 1813... ....         226

To Thomas Paine McMatron, April 3, 1813...            227

To Colonel William Duane, April 4, 1813..........     229

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), May 21, 181 .... ... ..... ... .            232

To Madame La Baronne De Stael-Holstein, May

24,1813...........................                    237

To John Adams,  May 27, 1813... . . ..... .           246

To James Monroe, May 30, 1813... ..... ....           250

To John Adams, June 15, 1813  ... .. ..... ...        252

To William Short, June 18, 1813... ..... ...          257

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), June 18, 1813...............                259

To James Monroe, June 18, 1813... .. . .. ..          261

To Matthew Carr, June 19, 1813....... . ....          263

To the President of the United States (James

Madison), June 21, 1813..... ... ... .....            265

To John W. Eppes, June 24, 1813.... ... ....          269

To John Adams, June 27, 1813..... ... . ..            279

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813.        284

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813.        290

To Dr. John L. E. W. Shecut, John 29; 1813.. .        295

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, June 30, 1813         296








                Contents            xi



LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN TO THE

UNITED STATES, 1789-1826--Continued.               Page

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July, 1813..        300

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 9, 1813        302

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 13, 1813       306

To Dr. Samuel Brown, July 14, 1813 .........        310

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1813..     313

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 16, 1813 ...   316

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 18, 1813       319

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 22, 1813..     322

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, August 9, 1813      324

To Isaac McPherson, August 13, 1813 ...........     326

To John Waldo, August 16, 1813.................     338

To John Wilson, August 17, 1813 ................    347

To John Adams, August 22, 1813..............        349

To John W. Eppes, September 11, 1813..........      353

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson; September 14,

1813. ..............................                368

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, September 15,

1813.... ............ .. .                          373

To William Canby, September 18, 181 3 .......       376

To General William Duane, September 18,1813 ...     378

To Isaac McPherson, September 18, 1813........      379

To James Martin, September 20, 1813.......          381

To Dr. George Logan,October 3, 1813 .........       384

To John Adams,October 13, 1813 .............        387

To John Adams,October 28, 1813..............        394

To John W. Eppes, November 6, 1813............      404

To John Jacob Astor, November 9, 1813........       432

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 12,

1813. ..............................                434

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson,November 15,

1813. ..... . ..... ... ... .                       437



                       






                      COPYRIGHT, 1905,



                            BY



           THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL



                   ASSOCIATION 






JEFFERSON AS A GEOGRAPHER.







Among the associations that in late years have paid tribute to the immortal
honor of Thomas Jefferson may be mentioned the National Geographic Society,
which in 1896 visited as a body Monticello and the tomb of Jefferson.



It was not in recognition of the political ideas, statesman-like views nor even
the patriotic labors of this great American that the pilgrimage was made, but
in acknowledgment of his great services to science in general and to American
geography in particular.



The reasons that make Monticello a shrine to the intelligent visitor are too
well known to need extended comment. As long as the love of liberty abides in
American hearts ; as long as services in the interest of humanity merit man's
admiration; as long as desire of knowledge stirs youthful aspirations, so long
will the name and memory of Thomas Jefferson be cherished by the rising
generations.



He was a man worthy of honor, whether considered as an individual founding the
University of Virginia, as a Virginian shedding lustre on his native State, or
as an American, doing, in the broader national field, things of the greatest
import for his



VOL., XIII-A 






ii         Jefferson as a Geographer



countrymen and for oppressed humanity everywhere. Trite may have been the
truths he uttered, but they are the bases of human liberty ; and he voiced so
aptly and clearly the aspirations of the people that his words thrilled
mankind, and will do so in ages to come.



The National Geographic Society erred not in making Monticello the scene of its
annual field day, for its members realized that of all our Presidents,
Jefferson is the only one of whom it can be said:" He was a geographer."



We do not know how far he aided his father in the surveys or draughting that
resulted in the  famed Jefferson and Fry map of Virginia, published in London
in 1775, under Jeffreys the royal geographer. We can well imagine, however,
young Jefferson eagerly studying this valuable chart of Virginia, especially
its southwestern and scarcely known frontiers, then given over to the trapper,
the Indian and the Spaniard.



  Men of genius make all knowledge tributary to their particular interests and
ambitions; and doubtless through such studies his comprehending mind, in a
manner common to all such men, stored those geographic facts and concrete ideas
which better  fitted him for his duties in after life:



In the days of travail for this nation, when to Europe America was a land of
savages and forests, then it was that Jefferson did his first public
geographical work, writing "Notes on Virginia" to 






        Jefferson as a Geographer   iii



make known to the statesmen of France the resources and possibilities of a
struggling colony. We know that the book was timely and effective, and we
believe that its preparation broadened the mind of its author.



Jefferson's merit as a geographer is scarcely appreciated by the men of this
generation, who are so familiar with the phases of scientific geography which
have resulted from the knowledge, labor and genius of Alexander von Humboldt.
However Jefferson, 1781, may be said to stand in geographical tendencies
between Bernhard Varenius, who in "Geographia generalis," 1650, essayed the
interpretation of the climatic conditions and the physical changes of the
earth's surf ace, and Humboldt's "Kosmos," 1845. The latter supplemented
Varenius by pointing out the connection of climate and soil formations with the
distribution of plant and animal life, and yet more important the relation  of
geographic environment to the development of mankind, especially as to
colonization, commerce and industry.



  Jefferson's " Notes on Virginia," fifty years in advance of Humboldt, is
along lines definitely formulated by the latter in scientific geography.
Jefferson does not confine himself to a mere enumeration of towns, rivers,
boundaries, inhabitants, industries, productions and form of government in
Virginia. He describes not only its rivers, but their relations to commerce and
especially to their possible utility 






 iv       Jefferson as a Geographer



 in trade with Ohio, the Great Lakes and the Mis-

sissippi Valley. The plants and trees are classified

as to their value for ornamental, medicinal and

esculent purposes. Comparative views are given

of native birds and animals with those of Europe.

The subject of climate is handled admirably for

such an early date. The pressure, rain, tempera-

ture and wind are treated briefly and clearly in their

general aspects.  The effect of seawinds on salt-

making; the prevalence of sunshine, the temperatures

at which frosts occur and their effect on plant-life;

and other similar notes evidence the acuteness of

Jefferson's observations and his happy powers of

generalization. If he had exclusively applied him-

self to geography there is little doubt that he would

have distinguished himself in the science.



  Nor does Jefferson's merit as a geographer depend

alone on the publication of a book, but there are

constantly recurring acts which emphasize his

realization of the importance of geography in the

evolution of a nation. But for this quality the

United States might well to-day be a country cut

off from direct access either to the Gulf of Mexico

or the Pacific Ocean.



  While President he frequently forecast the direc-

tions in which the United States must grow. He

speaks of it in his first inaugural as "A rising nation

spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing

all seas with the rich production of its industry. "

Under him the " First Census " was completed











       Jefferson as a Geographer



and he says of it : " We contemplate this rapid growth, and the prospect it
holds to us, with a view to the settlement of the extensive country still
remaining vacant within our limits. "



He realized more keenly-and therein acted more wisely-than other Presidents the
value to contiguous nations of exact and definite boundaries, and in frequent
messages spoke of work inaugurated by him to mark out the boundaries between
the United States, the Indians, and the British possessions.



  His greatest geographical measure was his extraconstitutional act of
annexation by purchase of the great territory of Louisiana. He realized that
the natural and only satisfactory southern boundary of the United States was
the Gulf of Mexico, from which we were cut off by the Floridas. While the then
western limit was the Mississippi River, his opinion was clear, in' his age of
ante-steam transportation, that by this route the great crops of the West must
pass to Europe and other lands. In regard to Louisiana, not only was the
Mississippi Valley vital to the growing interests of the country, but Jefferson
realized that the great fur trade of the Northwest should find outlet in the
United States to the southward through the accessible Missouri Valley rather
than to the northward across the difficult Hudson Bay territory. Within a month
after submitting to Congress the convention with France for the cession of
Louisiana to the



    VOL. XIII--B 






vi     Jefferson as a Geographer



United States he transmitted an extensive and valuable description of
Louisiana, as of utility to Congress in providing for the government of that
country.



Nor was his action confined to messages alone, for, Louisiana acquired,
Jefferson like a good geographer initiated a survey of its immense and unknown
areas, sending Lewis and Clarke to the West, and Pike to the North and then to
the Southwest. With unwonted wisdom and courage, even before the territory was
formally transferred, he ordered Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke
on a long and perilous mission, the first as well as the most important of all
American explorations. Their three years' journey won the way to the Pacific
overland, and this discovery of the upper valley of the 'Columbia, conjoined
with Gray's entrance at the mouth of that noble waterway in 1792, insured the
title of the United States to Oregon territory in 1845. Without Jefferson's
original action we might have no foothold on the Pacific to-day. .



There are also due to Jefferson's action the explorations of Lieutenant Pike of
the upper Mississippi and northwestern Minnesota, and of the extension of our
geographical knowledge to the Upper Rio Grande and other parts of the Spanish
dominion, then known as New Spain.



Nor was Jefferson insensible to the geographical conditions of the Southwest.
He caused to be com






        Jefferson as a Geographer    vii



piled and submitted to Congress an account by Dr. Sibley of the Red River
Valley, including the Washita, and caused these sections to be explored.



 Jefferson took an active and conservative interest in the extinction of Indian
titles to lands, so that the trans-Allegheny regions might be peaceably opened
to enterprising settlers.



  It should also be remembered that he was foremost, if not first, in
formulating plans and methods whereby the public lands should not lie wild and
fallow, but serve their purpose of developing the nation's power by passing
systematically and easily into the hands of the settler and the farmer, a
policy which has proved to be a dominant factor in our phenomenal growth and
prosperity.



  While we pay tribute to Jefferson as an individual, as a citizen, as a lover
of liberty, and as a President, let us not then forget his special claim to
recognition as one of the greatest of American geographers.



 WIRT'S EULOGY ON JEFFERSON.'



 Having in this imperfect manner, fellow-citizens, touched rather than traced
the incidents by which Mr. Adams was prepared and conducted into the scenes of
' the Revolution, let us turn to the great luminary of the South.



Virginia, as you know, had been settled by other causes than those which had
peopled Massachusetts; and the colonists themselves were of a different
character. The first attempts at settlement in that quarter of the world had
been conducted, as you remember, under the auspices of the gallant Raleigh,
that " man of wit and man of the sword " as Sir Edward Coke tauntingly called
him, and certainly one of the brightest flowers in the courts of Elizabeth and
James. He did not live to make a permanent establishment in Virginia; but his
genius seems, nevertheless, to have presided over the State, and to have
stamped his own character on her distinguished sons. Virginia had experienced
none of those early and long-continued conflicts which had contributed to form
the robust character of the North ; on the contrary, during the



  1 From eulogy on Thomas Jefferson and John Adams delivered by William Wirt at
Washington, D. C, on October 19, 1826, in the Hall of the House of
Representatives of the United States. 






x  Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



century that Massachusetts had been buffeting with the storm, Virginia, resting
on a halcyon sea, had been cultivating the graces of science and literature and
the genial elegancies of social. life. But her moral and. intellectual
character was not less firm and vigorous than that of her Northern sister : for
the invader came, and Athens as well as Sparta was found ready to do her duty,
and to do it too, bravely, ably, heroically.



At the time of Mr. Jefferson's appearance, the society of Virginia was much
diversified, and reflected pretty distinctly an image of that of England. There
was, first, the landed aristocracy, shadowing forth the order of English
nobility; then the sturdy yeomanry, common to them both'; and last a foeculum
of beings, as they were called by Mr. Jefferson, corresponding with the mass of
the English plebeians.



Mr. Jefferson, by birth, belonged to the aristocracy; but the idle and
voluptuous life which marked that order had no charms for a mind like his. He
relished better the strong, unsophisticated, and racy character of the
yeomanry, and attached himself, of choice, to that body. Born to an inheritance
then deemed immense, and with a decided taste for literature and science, it
would not have been surprising if he had devoted himself, exclusively, to the
luxury of his studies, and left the toils and the hazards of public action to
others.



But he was naturally ardent and fond of action, 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson xi



and of action, too, on a great scale ; and so readily did he kindle in the
feelings that were playing around him, that he could no more have stood still
while his country was agitated, than the war horse can sleep under sound of the
trumpet. He was a republican and a philanthropist from the earliest dawn of his
character. He read with a sort of poetic illusion, which identified him with
every scene that his author spread before him. Enraptured with the brighter
ages of republican Greece and Rome, he had followed, with an aching heart, the
march of history which had told him of the desolation of those fairest portions
of the earth ; and had seen, with dismay and indignation, that swarm of
monarchies, the progeny of the Scandinavian hive, under which genius and
liberty were now everywhere crushed. He loved his own country with a passion
not less intense, deep, and holy, than that.. of his great compatriot : and
with this love he combined an expanded philanthropy which encircled the globe.
From the working of the strong energies within him, there arose an early
vision, too, which cheered his youth and accompanied him through life-the
vision of emancipated man throughout the world. Nor was this a dream of the
morning that passed away and was forgotten. On the contrary, like the
heaven-descended banner of Constantine, he hailed it as an omen of certain
victory, and girded his loins for the onset, with the omnipotence of truth. .



On his early studies we have already touched.











xii      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



The study of the law he pursued under George Wythe : a man of Roman stamp, in
Rome's best age. Here he acquired that unrivaled neatness, system, and method
in business, which, through all his future life, and in every office that he
filled, gave him, in effect, the hundred hands of Briareus ; here, too,
following the giant step of his master, he traveled the whole round of the
civil and common law. From the same example, he caught that untiring spirit of
investigation which never left a subject till he had searched it to the bottom,
and of which we have so noble a specimen in his correspondence with Mr.
Hammond, on the subject of British debts. In short, Mr. Wythe performed for him
what Jeremiah Gridley had done for Mr. Adams; he placed on his head the crown
of legal preparation : and well did it become him. Permit me, here, to correct
an error which seems to have prevailed. It has been thought that Mr. Jefferson
made no figure at the bar: but the case was far otherwise. There are still
extant, in his own fair and neat hand, in the manner of his master, a number of
arguments which were delivered by him at the bar upon some of the most
intricate questions of the law; which, if they shall ever see the light, will
vindicate his claim to the first honors of the profession. It is true he was
not distinguished in popular debate; why he was not so, has often been matter
of surprise to those who have seen his eloquence on paper and heard it in
conversation. He

       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson         Xiii



had all the attributes of the mind and the heart and the soul, which are
essential to eloquence of the highest order. The only defect was a physical
one: he wanted volume and compass of voice for a large deliberative assembly;
and his voice, from the excess of his sensibility, instead of rising with his
feelings and conceptions, sunk under their pressure and became guttural and
inarticulate. The consciousness of this infirmity repressed any attempt in a
large body in which he knew he must fail. But his voice was all-sufficient for
the purposes of judicial debate ; and there is no reason to doubt that, if the
service ' of his country had not called him away so soon from his profession,
his fame as a lawyer would now have stood upon the same distinguished ground
which he confessedly occupies as a statesman, an author, and a scholar.



  It was not until 1764, when the Parliament of Great Britain passed its
resolutions preparatory to the Stamp Act, that Virginia seems to have been
thoroughly startled from her repose. Her legislature was then in session; and
her patriots, taking the alarm, remonstrated promptly and firmly against this
assumed power. The remonstrance, however, was, as usual, disregarded, and the
Stamp Act came. But it came to meet, on the floor of the House, an unlooked-for
champion, whom Heaven had just raised up for the good of his country and of
mankind. I speak of that untortured child of nature, Patrick Henry, who had
now, for the first time, left 






xiv    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



his native forests to show the metal of which he was made, and " give the world
assurance of a man."



The Assembly met in the city of Williamsburg, where Mr. Jefferson was still
pursuing the study of the law. Mr. Henry's celebrated resolutions against the
Stamp Act were introduced in May, 1765. How they were resisted, and how
maintained; has been already stated to the world, in terms that have been
pronounced extravagant, by those who modestly consider themselves as furnishing
a fair standard of Revolutionary excellence. The coldest glowworm in the hedge
is about as f air a standard of the power of the sun. To the present purpose,
it is only necessary to remark, that Mr: Jefferson was present at this debate,
and has left us an account of it in his own words. He was then, he says, but a
student, and stood in the door of communication between the House and the
lobby, where he heard the whole of this magnificent debate. The opposition to
the last resolution was most vehement ; the debate upon it, to use his own
strong language, " most bloody : " but he adds, torrents of sublime eloquence
from Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of Johnson, prevailed; and the
resolution was carried by a single vote. I well remember, he continues, the cry
of " treason, " by the Speaker, echoed from every part of the House, against
Mr. Henry: I well remember his pause, and the admirable address with which he
recovered himself and baffled the charge thus vociferated. 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xv



He here alludes, as you must perceive, to that memorable exclamation of Mr.
Henry, now become almost too familiar f or quotation :, " Caesar had his
Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third (` Treason!' cried
the Speaker. ` Treason! treason!' echoed the House;) may profit by their
example. If this be treason, make the most of it."



While I am presenting to you this picture of Mr. Jefferson in his youth,
listening to the almost superhuman eloquence of Henry on the great subject
which formed the hinge of the American Revolution, are you not forcibly
reminded of the parallel scene which had passed only four years before in the
Hall of Justice in Boston : Mr. Adams catching from Otis "the breath of life"?
How close the parallel, and how interesting the incident ! Who can think of
these two young men, destined themselves to make so great a figure in the
future history of their country, thus lighting the fires of their own genius at
the altars of Henry and of Otis, without being reminded of another picture,
which had been exhibited to us by an historian of Rome?-the younger Scipio
Africanus, then in his military novitiate, standing a youthful spectator on a
hill near Carthage, and looking down upon the battlefield on which those
veteran generals, Hamilcar and Massanissa, were driving, with so much glory,
the car of war! Whether Otis or Henry first breathed into this nation the
breath of life, (a question merely for curious and friendly 'speculation,) it
is 






xvi    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



very certain that they breathed into their two young hearers that breath which
has made them both immortal.



From this day forth Mr. Jefferson, young as he was, stood forward as a champion
for his country. It was now in the fire of his youth, that he adopted those
mottos for his seals, so well remembered in Virginia:, "Ab eo libertas, a quo
spiritus," and " Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." He joined the band
of the brave who were for the boldest measures : and by the light, the
contagious spirit and vigor of his conversation, as well as by his enchanting
and powerful pen, he contributed eminently to lift Virginia to that height
which placed her by the side of her Northern sister. It is an historical f act
well known to us all, that these two great States, then by far the most
populous and powerful in the Union, led off, as it was natural and fit that
they should do, all the strong measures that ended in the Declaration of
Independence. Together, and stroke for stroke, they breasted the angry surge,
and threw .it aside "with hearts of controversy," until they reached that shore
from which we now look back with so much pride and triumph.



It was in his thirtieth year, as you remember, that Mr. Adams gave to the world
his first great work, the Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law; and it was
about the same period of his life, that Mr. Jefferson produced his first great
political 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson   xvii



work, "A Summary View of the Rights of British America." The history of this
work is somewhat curious and interesting, and I give it to you on the authority
of Mr. Jefferson himself. He had been elected a member of that State Convention
of Virginia which, in August, 1774, appointed the first Delegates to the
Continental Congress. Arrested by sickness on his way to Williamsburg, he sent
forward, to be laid on the table, a draught of instructions to the Delegates
whom Virginia should send. This was read by the members, and they published it,
under the title of "A Summary View of the Rights of British America. " A copy
of this work having found its way to England, it received from the pen of the
celebrated Burke such alterations as adapted it to the purposes of the
opposition there, and it there reappeared in a new edition; an honor which, as
Mr. Jefferson afterwards learned, occasioned the insertion of his name in a
bill of attainder, which, however, never saw the light. So far Mr. Jefferson.
Let me add, that the old inhabitants of Williamsburg, a few years back, well
remembered the effect of that work of Lord Dunmore, then the royal Governor of
the State. His fury broke out in the most indecent and unmitigated language.
Mr. Jefferson's name was marked high on his list of proscription, and the
victim was only reprieved until the rebellion should be crushed; but that
rebellion became revolution, and the high priest of the meditated sacrifice was
sent to howl his 






xviii      Wirt's  Eulogy on Jefferson disappointment to the hills and winds of
his native Scotland.



In the next year, 1775, Mr. Jefferson young as he was, was singled out by the
Virginia legislature to answer Lord North's famous "conciliatory proposition, "
called, in the language of the day, his " olive branch. " But it was an olive
branch that hid the guileful serpent, or, in the language of Mr. Adams, " it
was an asp in a basket of flowers. " The answer stands upon the records of the
country. Cool, calm., close, full of compressed energy and keen sagacity, while
at the same time it preserves the most perfect decorum, it is one of the most
nervous and manly productions even of that age of men.



The second Congress met on the 10th of May,



Mr. Adams was, of course, again a member. Mr. Jefferson having been deputed,
contingently, (to supply the place of Peyton Randolph, ) did not take his seat
at the commencement of the session. Of the political works of this Congress, as
well as of the preceding, their petitions, memorials, remonstrances, to the
throne, to the Parliament, to the people of England, of Ireland, and of Canada,
I have forborne to speak, because they are familiar to you all. Let us suffice
to say, that in the estimation of so great a judge as Lord Chatham, they were
such as had never been surpassed even in the States of the world, in ancient
Greece and Rome ; 'and although they produced no good effect on the unhappy
monarch of Britain; though Pharaoh's's















           Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson      xix



heart was hardened so that they moved not him, they moved all heaven and all
earth besides, and opened a passage for our fathers through the great deep. The
plot of the awful drama now began to thicken



The sword had been drawn. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought;
and Warren, the rose of American chivalry, had been cut down, in his bloom, on
that hill which his death has hallowed. The blood which had been shed in
Massachusetts cried from the ground in every quarter of the Union. Congress
heard that cry, and resolved on war. Troops were ordered to be raised. A
commander-in-chief came to be appointed, and General Ward, of Massachusetts,
was put in nomination. Here we have an incident in the life of Mr. Adams most
strikingly characteristic of the man. Giving to the winds all local
prepossessions, and looking only to the cause that filled his soul, the cause
of his country, he prompted and sustained the nomination of that patriot hero
whom the Almighty, in His goodness, had formed for the occasion. Washington was
elected, and the choice was ratified in heaven. He accepted his commission on
the very day on which the soul of Warren winged its flight from Bunker Hill,
and well did he avenge the death of that youthful hero.



    Five days after General Washington's appointment, Mr. Jefferson, for the
first time, took his seat as a member of Congress; and here, for the first 






xx     Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



time, met the two illustrious men whom we are endeavoring to commemorate. They
met, and at once became friends-to part no more, but for a short season, and
then to be .reunited, both for time and eternity.



There was now open war between Great Britain and her colonies. Yet the latter
looked no farther than resistance to the specific power of the parent country
to tax them at pleasure. A dissolution of the Union had not yet been
contemplated, either by Congress or the nation; and many of those who had voted
for the war, would have voted, and did afterwards vote, against that
dissolution.



  Such was the state of things under which the Congress of 1776 assembled, when
Adams and Jefferson again met. It was, as you know, in this Congress, that the
question of American Independence came, for the first time, to be discussed;
and never, certainly, has a more momentous question been discussed in any age
or in any country; for it was fraught not only with the destinies of this wide
extended continent, but as the event has shown, and is still showing, with the
destinies of man all over the world.



  How fearful that question then was, no one can tell but those who, forgetting
all that had since passed, can transport themselves back to the time, and plant
their feet on the ground which those patriots then occupied.



  " Shadows, clouds, and darkness " then covered











        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson all the future, and the present was full
only of danger and terror. A more unequal contest never was proposed. It was,
indeed, as it was then said to be, the shepherd boy of Israel going forth to
battle against the giant of Gath ; and there was yet among us, enough to
tremble when they heard that giant say, " Come to me, and I will give thy flesh
to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field." But there were those who
never trembled-who knew that there was a God in Israel, and who were willing to
commit their cause " to His even-handed justice," and His Almighty power. That
their great trust was in Him, is manifest from the remarks that were
continually breaking from the lips of the patriots. Thus, the patriot Hawley,
when pressed upon the inequality of the contest, could only answer, " We must
put to sea-Providence will bring us into port ; " and Patrick Henry, when urged
upon the same topic, exclaimed, " True, true ; but there is a God above, who
rules and overrules the destinies of nations."



Amid this appalling array that surrounded them, the first to enter the breach,
sword in hand, was John Adams-the vision of his youth at his heart, and his
country in every nerve. On the sixth of May, he offered in committee of the
whole the significant resolution that the colonies should form governments
independent of the crown. This was the harbinger of more important measures,
and seems to have been put forward to feel the pulse



    VOL. XIII-C 






xxii    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



of the House. The resolution, after a bloody struggle, was adopted on the 15th
day of May following. On the 7th of June, by previous concert, Richard Henry
Lee moved the great resolution of Independence, and was seconded by John Adams;
and " then came the tug of war. " The debate upon it was continued from the 7th
to the 10th, when the further consideration of it was postponed to the 1st of
July, and at the same time a committee of five was appointed to prepare,
provisionally, a draught of a Declaration of Independence. At the head of this
important committee, which was then appointed by a vote of the House, although
he was probably the youngest member, and one of the youngest men in the House,
(for he had served only part of the former session, and was but thirty-two
years of age,) stands the name of Thomas Jefferson-Mr. Adams stands next. And
these two gentlemen having been deputed a sub-committee to prepare the draught,
that draught, at Mr. Adams' earnest importunity, was prepared by his more
youthful friend. Of this transaction Mr. Adams is himself the historian, and
the authorship of the Declaration, though once disputed, is thus placed forever
beyond the reach of question.



The final debate on the resolution was postponed, as we have seen, for nearly a
month. In the meantime all who are conversant with the course of action of all
deliberative bodies know how much is done by conversation among the members. It
is not 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson     xxiii 

often, indeed, that proselytes are made on great questions by public debate. On
such questions, opinions are far more frequently formed in private, and so
formed that debate is seldom known to change them. Hence the value of the
out-of-door talent of chamber consultation, where objections candidly stated
are candidly, calmly, and mildly discussed' where neither pride, nor shame, nor



anger takes part in the discussion nor stands in the way of a correct
conclusion ; but where everything being conducted frankly, delicately,
respectfully, and kindly, the better cause and the better reasoner are almost
always sure of success.



  In this kind of service, as well as in all that depended on the power of
composition, Mr. Jefferson was as much a master magician as his eloquent friend
Adams was in debate. They were, in truth, hemispheres of the. same golden
globe, and required only to be brought and put together, to prove that they
were parts of the same heaven-formed whole.



  On the present occasion, however, much still remained to be effected by
debate. The first of July came, and the great debate on the resolution for
Independence was resumed, with fresh spirit. The discussion was again
protracted for two days, which, in addition to the former three, were
sufficient, in that age, to call out all the speaking talent of the House.
Botta, the Italian historian of our Revolution; has made Mr. Dickinson and Mr. 
Lee the principal speakers on the opposite sides of this 






xxiv     Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



question ; and availing himself of that dramatic license of ancient historians;
which the fidelity of modern history has exploded, he has drawn, from his own
fancy, two orations, which he has put into the mouths of those distinguished
men. With no disposition to touch, with a hostile hand, one leaf of the
well-earned laurels of Mr. Lee, (which every American would feel far more
pleasure in contributing to brighten and to cherish,) and with no feelings but
those of reverence and gratitude for the memory of the other great patriots who
assisted in that debate; may we not say, and are we not bound in justice to say
that Botta is mistaken in the relative prominency of one, at least, of his
prolocutors ?



Mr. Jefferson has told us that " the Colossus of that Congress-the great pillar
of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest advocate and
champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams. " How he supported it, can
now be only matter of imagination: for the debate was conducted with closed
doors, and there was no reporter on the floor to catch the strains living as
they rose. I will not attempt what Mr. Adams himself, if he were alive, could
not accomplish. He might recall the topics of argument : but with regard to
those flashes of inspiration, those bursts of passion, which grew out of the
awful feelings of the moment, they are gone forever, with the reality of the
occasion: and the happiest effort of fancy to supply their 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson     xxv



place, (by me, at least) would bear no better resemblance to the original, than
the petty criminations of an artificial volcano, to the sublime explosions of
thundering AEtna. Waiving, therefore, the example of Botta, let it suffice for
us to know that in that moment of darkness, of terror, and of consternation,
when the election was to be made between an attempt at liberty and independence
on the one hand, and defeat, subjugation, and death on the other the courage of
Adams, in the true spirit of heroism, rose in proportion to the dangers that
pressed around him; and that he poured forth that only genuine eloquence, the
eloquence of the soul, which, in the language of Mr. Jefferson, " moved his
hearers from their seats." The objections of his advers saries were seen no
longer but in a state of wreck; floating, in broken fragments, on the billows
of ' the storm : and over rocks, over breakers, and amid ingulfing whirlpools,
that everywhere surrounded him, he brought the gallant ship of the nation safe
into port.



  It was on the evening of the day on which this great victory was achieved,
(before which, in moral grandeur, the trophies of Marengo and the Nile fade
away,) and while his mind was y=et rolling with the agitation of the recent
tempest, that he wrote that letter to the venerable partner of his bosom, which
has now become matter of history; in which, after announcing the adoption of
the resolution, he foretells the future glories of his country, and the honors 






 xxvi       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



 with which the returning anniversary of her Declara-

tion of Independence would be hailed; till time

should be no more. That which strikes us on the

first perusal of this letter, is, the prophetic char-

acter with which it is stamped, and the exactness

with which its predictions have been fulfilled. But

his biographer will remark in it another character :

the deep political calculations of results, through

which the mind of the writer, according to its habit,

had flashed ; and the firm and undoubting confi-

dence with which, in spite of those appearances that

alarmed and misled weaker minds, he looked to the

triumphant close of the struggle. .



  The resolution having been carried, the draught

of the Declaration came to be examined in detail;

and so faultless had it issued from the hands of its

author, that it was adopted as he had prepared it,

pruned only of a few of its brightest inherent beau-

ties, through a prudent deference to some of the

States. It was adopted about noon of the Fourth,

and proclaimed to an exulting nation on the evening

of the same day.



  That brave and animated band who signed it-

where are they now ? What heart does not sink at

the question ? One only survives : Charles Carroll,

of Carrollton-a noble specimen of the age that is

gone by, and now the single object of that age, on

whom the veneration and prayers of his country

are concentrated. The rest have bequeathed to us

the immortal record of their virtue and patriotism,





       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson  xxvii







 and have ascended to a brighter reward than man can confer.



  Of that instrument to which you listen with

reverence on every returning anniversary of its adoption " which forms the
ornament of our halls, and the first political lesson of our children " it is
needless to speak. You know that in its origin and object it was a statement of
the causes which had compelled our fathers to separate themselves from Great
Britain, and to declare these States free and independent.  It was the voice of
the American nation addressing herself to the other nations of the earth ; and
the address is, in all respects, worthy of this noble personification. It is
the great argument of America in vindication of her course ; and as Mr. Adams
had been the Colossus of the cause on the floor of Congress, his illustrious
friend, the author of this instrument, may well be pronounced to have been its
Colossus on the theatre of the world.



  The decisive step which fixed the destiny of the nation had now been taken :
and that step was irrevocable. " The die was now indeed cast. The Rubicon had
been crossed, " effectually, finally,  forever. There was no return but to
chains, to slavery, and death. No such backward step was meditated by the firm
hearts that led on the march of the nation ; but, confiding in the justice of
Heaven and the final triumph of truth, they moved forward in solid phalanx and
with martial step, regardless of the tempest that was breaking around them. 






xxviii      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



 Their confidence in the favor and protection of Heaven, however, strong and
unshaken as it was, did not dispose them to relax their own exertions, nor to
neglect the earthly means of securing their triumph. They were not of the
number of those who call upon Hercules, and put not their own shoulders ta the
wheel. Our adversary was one of the most powerful nations on earth. Our whole
strength consisted of a few stout hearts and a good cause. But we were wofully
deficient in all the sinews of war : we wanted men, we wanted arms, we wanted
money; and these could be procured only from abroad. But the intervening ocean
was covered with 'the fleets of the enemy; and the patriot Laurens, one of
their captives, was already a prisoner in the Tower of London. Who was there to
undertake this perilous service ? He who was ever ready to peril any service in
the cause of his country : John Adams. Congress knew their man, and did not
hesitate on the choice. Appointed a minister to France, he promptly obeyed the
sacred call, and, with a brave and fearless heart, he ran the gantlet through
the hostile fleet, and arrived in safety. Passing from court to court, he
pleaded the cause of his country with all the resistless energy of truth; and
availing himself adroitly of the selfish passions and interests of those
courts, he ceased not to ply his efforts with matchless dexterity, until the
objects of his mission were completely attained. "With the exception of one
short interval of a return 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson  xxix



 home in 1779, when he aided in giving form to the Constitution of his native
State, he remained abroad in France, in Holland-wherever he could be most
useful-in the strenuous, faithful and successful service of his country,
receiving repeated votes of thanks from Congress, till the storm was over, and
peace and liberty came to crown his felicity and realize the cherished vision
of his youth.



  Mr. Jefferson meanwhile was not less strenuously and successfully engaged at
home in forwarding and confirming the great objects of the Revolution and
making it a revolution of mind as well as of government. Marking, with. that
sagacity. which distinguished him, the series of inventions by which tyranny
had contrived to tutor the mind to subjection, and educate it in habits of
servile subordination, he proceeded, in Virginia, with the aid of Pendleton and
Wythe, to break off the manacles, one by one, and deliver the imprisoned
intellect from this debasing sorcery. The law of entails, that feudal
contrivance to foster and nourish a vicious aristocracy at the expense of the
community, had, at a previous period, been broken up, on their suggestion ; and
property was left to circulate freely, and impart health and vigor to the
operations of society. The law of primogeniture, that other feudal contrivance
to create and keep up an artificial inequality among men whom their Creator had
made equal, was now repealed, and the parent and his children were restored to
their natural relation. And, above 






xxx    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



all, that daring usurpation on the rights of the Creator, as well as the
creature, which presumes to dictate to man what he shall believe, and in what
form he shall offer the worship of his heart, and this, too, for the vile
purpose of strengthening the hands of a temporal tyrant, by feeding and
pampering the tools of his power, was indignantly demolished, and the soul was
restored to its free communion with the God who gave it.



The preamble to the bill establishing religious freedom in Virginia, is one of
the most morally sublime of human productions. By its great author it was
always esteemed as one of his happiest efforts, and the measure itself one of
his best services, as the short and modest epitaph left by him attests. Higher
praise cannot and need not be given to it, than to say, it is in all respects
worthy of the pen which wrote the Declaration of Independence : that it
breathes the same lofty and noble spirit, and is a fit companion for that
immortal instrument.



The legislative enactments that have been mentioned, form a small part only of
an entire revision of the laws of Virginia. The collection of bills passed by
these great men, (one hundred and twenty-six ( 126) in number, ) presents a
system of jurisprudence so comprehensive, profound, and beautiful, so
perfectly, so happily adapted to the new state of things, that, if its authors
had never done anything else, impartial history would have assigned them a
place by the side of Solon and Lycurgus. 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xxxi



 In 1779, Mr. Jefferson was called to assume the helm of government in Virginia
in succession to Patrick Henry. He took that helm at the moment when war, for
the first time, had entered the limits of the commonwealth. With what strength,
fidelity and ability he held it, under the most trying circumstances, the
highest testimonials now stand on the journals of Congress, as well as those of
Virginia.



  It is true that a poor attempt was made, in after times, to wound the honor
of his administration. But he bore a charmed character ; and this, like every
other blow that has ever been aimed at it, only recoiled to crush his accuser,
and to leave him the brighter and stronger for the assault.



  In 1781 his alert and active mind, which watched the rising character of his
new-born country, with all the jealous vigilance of an anxious father, found a
new occasion to call him into the intellectual field. Our country was yet but
imperfectly known in Europe. Its face, its soil, its physical capacities, its
animals and even the men who inhabited it, were so little known, as to have
furnished to philosophers abroad a theme of unfounded and degrading
speculation. Those visionaries, dreaming over theories which they wanted the
means or the inclination to confront with facts, had advanced, among others,
the fantastic notion that even man degenerated by transplantation to America.
To refute this insolent position, and to place his country before Europe and
the world on the elevated ground 






   xxxii    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



she was entitled to hold, the "Notes on Virginia" were prepared and published.
He there pointed to Washington, to Franklin, and to Rittenhouse, as being alone
sufficient to exterminate this heresy; and we may now point to Jefferson and to
Adams, as sufficient to annihilate it. This pure and proud offering on the
altar of his country, the " Notes on Virginia, " honored its author abroad not
less than at home; and when, shortly afterwards, the public service called him
to Europe, it gave him a prompt y and distinguished passport into the highest
circles of science and literature.



  Thus actively and usefully employed in guarding the fame and advancing the
honor and happiness of his country, the War of the Revolution came to its close
; and on the 19th of October, 1781, of which this day is the anniversary, Great
Britain bowed to the ascendancy of our cause. Her last effective army struck
her standard on the heights of York, and peace and independence came to bless
our land. Mr. Adams was still abroad when this great consummation of his early
hopes took place ; and, although the war was over, a difficult task still
remained to be performed. The terms of peace were yet to be arranged, and to be
arranged under circumstances of the most complicated embarrassment.



  That the acknowledgment of our independence was to be its first and
indispensable condition, was well understood; and Mr. Adams, then at the Hague,







        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson xxxiii



with that decision which always marked his character, refused to leave his post
and take part in the negotiation at Paris, until the powers of the British
Commissioner should be so enlarged as to authorize him to make that
acknowledgment unequivocally. I will not detain you by a rehearsal of what you
so well know, the difficulties and intricacies by which this negotiation was
protracted. Suffice it to say, that the firmness and skill of the American
Commissioners triumphed on every point. The treaty of peace was executed; and
the last seal was thus put to the independence of these States.



  Thus closed the great drama of the American Revolution. And here for a moment
let us pause. If the services of our departed fathers had closed at this point,
as it did with many of their compatriots---with too many, if the wishes and
prayers of their country could have averted it-what obligations, what honors,
should we not owe to their memories ! What would not the world owe to them !
But, as if they had not already done enough, as if, indeed, they had done
nothing, while anything yet remained to be done, they were ready with renovated
youth and elastic step, to take a new start in the career of their emancipated
country.  



The Federal Constitution was adopted, and a new

leaf was turned in the history of man. With what : characters the page should
be inscribed-whether ' it should open a great era of permanent good to the
human family, or pass away like a portent of











xxxiv     Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



direful evil, was now to depend on the wisdom and virtue of America. At this
time our two great patriots were both abroad in the public service: Mr. Adams
in England, where in 1787 he refuted, by his great work, " The Defence of the
American Constitutions," the wild theories of Turgot, DeMalby, and Price ; and
Mr. Jefferson in France, where he was presenting in his own person a living and
splendid refutation of the notion of degeneracy in the American man. On the
adoption of the Federal Constitution, they were both called home, to lend the
weight of their character and talents to this new and momentous experiment on
the capacity of man for self-government. Mr. Adams was called to fill the
second office under the new government, the first having been justly conferred
by the rule "deter fortiori"; and Mr. Jefferson to take the direction of the
highest Executive Department. The office of Vice-President afforded, as you are
aware, no scope for the public display of talent. But the leisure which is
allowed enabled Mr. Adams to pour out, from his full-fraught mind, another
great political work, his Discourses on Davilla; and while he presided over the
Senate with unexceptionable dignity and propriety President Washington always
found in him an able and honest adviser, in whom his confidence was implicit
and unbounded.



Mr. Jefferson had a theatre that called for action. The Department of State was
now, for the first; to be organized. Its operations were all to be moulded











        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xxxv





 into system, and an intellectual character was to be given to it, as well as
the government to which it belonged, before this nation and before the world.



  The frequent calls made by Congress for reports on the most abstruse
questions of science connected with government, and on those vast and novel and
multifarious subjects of political economy, peculiar to this wide extended and
diversified continent : discussions with the ministers of foreign governments,
more especially with those of France and England and Spain, on those great and
agitating questions of international law, which were then continually arising;
and instructions to our own ministers abroad, resident at the courts of the
great belligerent powers, and who had consequently the most delicate and
discordant interests to manage; presented a series of labors for the mind,
which few, very few men in this or any other country could have sustained with
reputation. How Mr. Jefferson acquitted himself you all know.



  It is one of the peculiarities of his character to have discharged the duties
of every office to which he was called, with such exact, appropriate, and
felicitous ability, that he seemed, for the time, to have been born for that
alone.



  As an evidence of the unanimous admiration of the matchless skill and talent
with which he discharged the duties of this office, I hope it may be mentioned,
without awaking any asperity of feeling, that when, at a subsequent period, he
was put in 






xxxvi      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



nomination by his friends for the office of President, his adversaries publicly
objected-" that nature had made him only for a Secretary of State."



President Washington having set the great example, which has ingrafted on the
Constitution as firmly as if it had formed one of its express provisions, the
principle of retiring from the office of President at the end of eight years,
Mr. Adams succeeded him, and Mr. Jefferson followed Mr. Adams in the office of
Vice-President.



  Mr. Adams came into the office of President at a time of great commotion,
produced chiefly by the progress of the revolution in France, and those strong
sympathies which it naturally generated here. The spirit of party was high, and
in the feverish excitement of the day much was said and done, on both sides,
which the voice of impartial history, if it shall descend to such details, will
unquestionably condemn, and which the candid and the good on both sides lived,
themselves, to regret.



  One incident I will mention, because it is equally honorable to both the
great men whom we are uniting in these obsequies. In Virginia, where the
opposition ran high, the younger politicians of the day, taking their tone from
the public journals, have, on more occasions than one, in the presence of Mr.
Jefferson, imputed to Mr. Adams a concealed design to sap the foundations of
the Republic; and to supply its place with a monarchy, on the British 






      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson     xxxvii



model. The uniform answer of Mr. Jefferson to this charge will never be
forgotten by those who have heard it, and of whom (as I have recently had
occasion to prove) there are many still living, besides the humble individual
who is now addressing you. It was this : " Gentlemen, you do not know that man
: There is not upon this earth a more perfectly honest man than John Adams.
Concealment is no part of his character ; of that he is utterly incapable : it
is not in his nature to meditate anything that he would not publish to the
world. The measures of the General Government are a fair subject for difference
of opinion. But do not found your opinions on the notion that there is the
smallest spice of dishonesty, moral or political, in the character of John
Adams: for I know him well, and I repeat it, that a man more perfectly honest
never issued from the hands of his Creator." And such is now, and has long
been, the unanimous opinion of his countrymen.



  Of the measures adopted during his administration you do not expect me to
speak. I should offend against your own sense of propriety, were I to attempt
it. We are here to mingle together over the grave of the departed patriot, our
feelings of reverence and gratitude for services whose merit we all acknowledge
: and cold must be the heart which does not see and feel, in his life, enough
to admire and to love, without striking one string that could produce one
unhallowed note.



   VOL. XIII---D 






xxxviii       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



 History and biography will do ample justice to every part of his character,
public and private ; and impartial posterity will correct whatever errors of
opinion may have been committed to his prejudice by his contemporaries. Let it
suffice for us, at this time, to know, that he administered the government with
a pure, and honest, and upright heart, and that whatever he advised flowed from
the master passion of his breast, a holy and all-absorbing love for the
happiness and honor of his country.



Mr. Jefferson, holding the Vice-Presidency, did not leave even that negative
office, as, indeed, he never left any other, without marking its occupancy with
some useful and permanent vestige. For it was during this term that he digested
and compiled that able manual which now gives the law of proceeding, not only
to the two Houses of Congress, but to all the legislatures of the States
throughout the Union.



  On Mr. Adams' retirement, pursuing the destiny which seems to have tied them
together, Mr. Jefferson again followed him in the office which he vacated, the
Presidency of the United States: and he had the good fortune to find, or to
make a smoother sea. The violence of the party storm gradually abated, and he
was soon able to pursue his peaceful course without any material interruption.
Having forborne, for the obvious reasons which have been suggested, to touch
the particulars of Mr. Adams' administration, the same forbearance, for the
same 






      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xxxix



reasons, must be exercised with regard to Mr. Jefferson. But, forbearing
details, it will be no departure from this rule to state, in general, the
facts: that Mr. Jefferson continued at the helm for eight years, the term which
the example of Washington had consecrated ; that he so administered the
government as to meet the admiration and applause of a great majority of his
countrymen, as the overwhelming suffrage at his second election attests : that
.by that majority he was thought to have presented a perfect model of a
republican administration, on the true basis, and in the true spirit of the
Constitution ; and that, by them the measures of all the succeeding
administrations have been continually brought to the standard of Mr.
Jefferson's as to an established and unquestionable test, and approved or
condemned in proportion to their accordance with that standard.



  These are facts which are known to you all. Another f act I will mention,
because it redounds so highly to the honor of his magnanimous and patriotic
rival. It is this : that  that part of Mr. Jefferson's administration, and of
his successor treading in his steps, which was most violently opposed, the
policy pursued towards the British Government subsequent to 1806, received the
open, public and powerful support of the pen, as well as the tongue, of the
great sage of Quincy. The banished Aristides never gave a nobler proof of pure
and disinterested patriotism. It was a genuine











xl     Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



emanation from the altar of the Revolution, and in perfect accordance with the
whole tenor of the life of our illustrious patriot sage.



Waiving all comment on Mr. Jefferson's public measures, there is yet a minor
subject, which, standing where we do, there seems to be a peculiar propriety in
noticing: for, small as it is, it is strikingly characteristic of the man, and
we have an immediate interest in the subject. It is this: the great objects of
national concern, and the great measures which he was continually projecting
and executing for the public good, on a new and vast scheme of policy wholly
his own, and stamped with all the vigor and grandeur of his Olympic mind,
although they were such as would not only have engrossed but overwhelmed almost
any other man, did not even give full employment to him; but with that
versatile and restless activity which was prone to busy itself usefully and
efficaciously with all around him, he found time to amuse himself and to
gratify his natural taste for the beautiful, by directing and overlooking in
person, (as many of you can witness) the improvements and ornaments of this
city of the nation : and it is to his taste and industry that we owe, among
other things which it were needless to' enumerate, this beautiful avenue 1
which he left in such order as to excite the admiration of all who approached
us.

Having closed his administration, he was followed



 1 Pennsylvania avenue. 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xli



by the applause, the gratitude, and blessings of his country, into that
retirement which no 'man was ever better fitted to grace and enjoy. And from
that retirement, together with his precursor, the venerable patriarch of
Quincy, could enjoy, that supreme of all earthly happiness, the retrospect of a
life well and greatly spent in the service of his country and mankind. The
successful warrior, who had desolated whole empires for his own aggrandizement,
the successful usurper of his country's rights and liberties, may have their
hours of swelling pride, in which they may look back with a barbarous joy upon
the triumph of their talents, and feast upon the adulation of the sycophants
that surround them ; but, night and silence come ; and conscience takes her
turn. The bloody field rises upon the startled imagination. The shades of the
slaughtered innocent stalk in terrific procession before the couch. The
agonizing cry of countless widows and orphans invades the ear. The bloody
dagger of the assassin plays, in airy terror, before the vision. Violated
liberty lifts her avenging lance, and a down-trodden nation rises before them,
in all the majesty of its wrath. What, what are the hours of a splendid wretch
like this, compared with those that shed their poppies and their roses upon the
pillows. of our peaceful and virtuous patriots! Every night bringing to them
the balm and health of repose, and every morning offering to them " their
history in a nation's eyes! " This, this it is to be 






xlii       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



greatly virtuous : and be this the only ambition that shall ever touch an
American bosom !



Still unexhausted by such a life of service in the cause of his country, Mr.
Jefferson found yet another and most appropriate employment for his old age:
the erection of a seat of science in his native State. The University of
Virginia is his work. His, the first conception : his, the whole impulse and
direction; his, the varied and beautiful architecture, and the entire
superintendence of its erection : the whole scheme of its studies, its
organization, and government, are his. He is therefore, indeed, the father of
the University of Virginia. That it may fulfill to the full extent the great
and patriotic purposes and hopes of its founder, cannot fail to be the wish of
every American bosom. This was the last and crowning labor of Mr. Jefferson's
life : a crown so poetically appropriate, that fancy might well suppose it to
have been wreathed and placed on his brow by the hand of the epic muse herself.



It is the remark of one of the most elegant writers of antiquity, in the
beautiful essay which he has left us, " on old age; " that " to those who have
not within themselves the resources of living well and happily, every age is
oppressive ; but that to those who have, nothing is an evil which the necessity
of nature brings along with it. " How rich our two patriots were in these
internal resources, you all know. How lightly they bore the burden of
increasing years was apparent from the cheerfulness and 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    xliii





 vigor with which, after having survived the age to which they properly
belonged, they continued to live among their posterity. How happy they were in
their domestic relations, how beloved by their neighbors and friends, how
revered and honored by their country and by the friends of liberty in every
quarter of the world, is a matter of open and public notoriety. Their houses
were the constant and thronged resort of the votaries of virtue, and science,
and genius, and patriotism, from every portion of the civilized globe; and no
one ever left them without confessing that his highest expectation had been
realized, and even surpassed, in the interview.



  Of "the chief of the Argonauts," as Mr. Jefferson so classically and so
happily styled his illustrious friend of the North, it is my misfortune to be
able to speak only by report. But every representation concurs, in drawing the
same pleasing and affecting picture of the Roman simplicity in which that
Father of his Country lived; of the frank, warm, cordial, and elegant reception
that he gave to all who approached him ; of the interesting kindness with which
he disbursed the golden treasures of his experience, and shed around him the
rays of his descending sun. His conversation was rich in anecdote and
characters of the times that were past; rich in political and moral
instruction; full of that best of wisdom, which is learnt from real life, and
flowing from his heart with that warm and honest 






xliv       Wirt's' Eulogy on Jefferson



frankness, that fervor of feeling and force of diction, which so strikingly
distinguished him in the meridian of his life. Many of us heard that simple and
touching account given of a parting scene with him, by one of our eloquent
divines : when he rose up from that little couch behind the door, on which he
was wont to rest his aged and weary limbs, and with his silver locks hanging on
each side of his honest face, stretching forth that pure hand, which was never
soiled even by a suspicion, and gave his kind and parting benediction. Such was
the blissful and honored retirement of the sage of Quincy. Happy the life
which, verging upon a century, had met with but one serious political
disappointment ! And even for that, he had lived to receive a golden atonement
" even in that quarter in which he had garnered up his heart." Let us now turn
for a moment to the patriot of the South. The Roman moralist, in that great
work which he has left for the government of man in all the offices of life,
has descended even to prescribe the kind of habitation in which an honored and
distinguished man should dwell. It should not, he says, be small, and mean, and
sordid: nor, on the other hand, extended with profuse and wanton extravagance.
It should be large enough to receive and accommodate the visitors which such a
man never fails to attract, and suited in its ornaments, as well as its
dimensions, to the character and fortune of the individual. Monticello has now
lost its great charm. Those of you 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson     xlv



who have not already visited it, will not be very apt to visit it hereafter:
arid from the feelings which you cherish for its departed owner, I persuade
myself that you will not be displeased with a brief and rapid sketch of that
abode of domestic bliss, that temple of science. Nor is it, indeed, foreign to
the express purpose of this meeting, which in looking to "his life .and
character," naturally embraces his home and domestic habits. Can anything be
indifferent to us, which was so dear to him and which was a subject of such
just admiration to the hundreds and thousands that were continually resorting
to it, as to an object of pious pilgrimage?



  The mansion house at Monticello was built and furnished in the days of his
prosperity. In its dimensions, its architecture, its arrangements and
ornaments, it is such a one as became the character and fortune of the man. It
stands upon an elliptic plain, formed by cutting down the apex of a mountain ;
and on the west, stretching away to the north and the south, it commands a view
of the Blue Ridge for a hundred and fifty miles, and brings under the eye one
of the boldest and most beautiful horizons in the world; while on the east, it
presents an extent of prospect, bounded only by the spherical form of the
earth, in which nature seems to sleep in eternal repose, as if to form one of
her finest contrasts with the rude and rolling grandeur of the west. In the
wide prospect, and scattered to the north and south, are several detached
mountains, 






xlvi        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



which contribute to animate and diversify this enchanting landscape; and among
them to the south, Williss' Mountain, which is so interestingly depicted in his
notes. From this summit the philosopher was wont to enjoy that spectacle, among
the sublimest of Nature's operations, the looming of the distant mountains; and
to watch the motions of the planets, and the greater revolution of the
celestial sphere. From this summit, too, the patriot could look down with
uninterrupted vision upon the wide expanse of the world around, for which he
considered himself born; and upward to the open and vaulted heavens which he
seemed to approach, as if to keep him continually in mind of his high
responsibility. It is, indeed, a prospect in which you see and feel at once
that nothing mean or little could live.



  It is a scene fit to nourish those great and high-souled principles which
formed the elements of his character and was a most noble and appropriate post,
for such a sentinel, over the rights and liberties of man. Approaching the
house on the east, the visitor instinctively paused to cast around one
thrilling glance at this magnificent panorama; and then passed to the
vestibule, where, if he had not been previously informed, he would immediately
perceive that he was entering the house of no common man. In the spacious and
lofty hall which opens before him, he marks no tawdry and unmeaning ornaments :
but before, on the right, on the left, 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson xlv





 all around, the eye is struck and gratified with objects of science and taste
so classed and arranged as to produce their finest effect. On one side,
specimens of sculpture set out, in such order, as to exhibit at a coup d'oeil
the historical progress of that art' from the first rude attempts of the
aborigines of our country, up to that exquisite and finished bust of the great
patriot himself, from the master hand of Ciracchi. On the other side the
visitor sees displayed a vast collection of specimens of Indian art, their
paintings, weapons, ornaments, and manufactures ' on another, an array of the
fossil productions of our country, mineral and animal ; the polished remains of
those colossal monsters that once trod our forests, and are no more; and a
variegated display of the branching honors of those " monarchs of the waste, "
that still people the wilds of the American continent.



  From this hall he was ushered into a noble salon, from which the glorious
landscape of the west again burst upon his view ; and which, within, is hung
thick around with the finest productions of the pencil-historical paintings of
the most striking subjects from all countries and all ages; the portraits of
distinguished men and patriots, both of Europe and America, and medallions and
engravings in endless profusion. While the visitor was yet lost in the
contemplation of these treasures of the arts and sciences, he was startled by
the approach of a strong and sprightly step, and turning with 






xlviii      Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



instinctive reverence to the door of entrance, he was met by the tall and
animated and stately figure of the patriot himself-his countenance beaming with
intelligence and benignity, and his outstretched hand, with its strong and
cordial pressure, confirming the courteous welcome of his lips. And then came
that charm of manner and conversation that passes all description-so
cheerful-so unassuming-so free, and easy, and frank, and kind, and gay-that
even the young and overawed and embarrassed visitor at once forgot his fears,
and felt himself by the side of an old and familiar friend. There was no
effort, no ambition in the conversation of the philosopher. It was as simple
and unpretending as nature itself. And while in this easy manner he was pouring
out instruction, like light from an inexhaustible solar fountain, .he seemed
continually to be asking, instead of giving information. The visitor felt
himself lifted by the contact into a new and nobler region of thought, and
became surprised at his own buoyancy and vigor. ' He could not, indeed, help
being astounded, now and then, at those transcendent leaps of the mind, which
he saw made without the slightest exertion, and. the ease with which. this
wonderful man played with subjects which he had been in the habit of
considering among the argumenta crucis of the intellect. And then there seemed
to be no end to his knowledge. He was a thorough master of every subject that
was touched. From the details of 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson     xlix



the humblest mechanic art, up to the highest summit of science, he was
perfectly at his ease and everywhere at home. There seemed to be no longer any
terra incognita of the human understanding : for, what the visitor had thought
so, he now found reduced to a familiar garden walk ; and all this carried off
so lightly, so playfully, so gracefully, so engagingly, that he won every heart
that approached him, as certainly as he astonished every mind.



Mr. Jefferson was wont to remark, that he never left the conversation of Dr.
Franklin without carrying away with him something new and useful. How often,
and how truly, has the same remark been made of him. Nor is this wonderful,
when we reflect that that mind of matchless vigor and versatility had been, all
his life, intensely engaged in conversing with the illustrious dead, or
following the march of science in every land, or bearing away on its own steady
and powerful wing into new and unexplored regions of thought. Shall I follow
him to the table of his elegant hospitality, and show him to you in the bosom
of his enchanting family ? Alas ! those Attic days are gone ; that sparkling
eye is quenched; that voice of pure and delicate affection, which ran with such
brilliancy and effect through the whole compass of colloquial music, now bright
with wit, now melting with tenderness, is hushed forever in the grave! But let
me leave a theme on which friendship and gratitude have, I fear, already been
tempted to linger too long. There 






l       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



was one solace of the declining years of both of these great men, which must
not be passed. It is that correspondence which arose between them, after their
retirement from public life. That correspondence, it is to be hoped, will be
given to the world.'



If it ever shall, I speak from knowledge when I say, it will be found to be one
of the most interesting and affecting that the world has ever seen. That " cold
cloud" which had hung for a time over their friendship, passed away with the
conflict out of which it had grown, and the attachment of their early life
returned in all its force.



They had both now bid adieu, a final adieu, to all public employments, and were
done with all the agitating passions of life. They were dead to the ambitious
world ; and this correspondence resembles, more than anything else, one of
those conversations in the Elysium of the ancients, which the shades of the
departed great were supposed by them to hold, with regard to the affairs of the
world they had left. There are the same playful allusions to the points of
difference that had divided their parties : the same mutual, and light, and
unimpassioned raillery on their own past misconceptions and mistakes ; the same
mutual and just admiration and respect for their many virtues and services to
mankind. That correspondence was, to



 1 The most interesting part of the correspondence here referred to by the
orator (William Wirt) has been incorporated in the present work. See Contents
of Volumes XIII, XIV, XV, XVI. 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    li



them both, one of the most genial employments of their old age : and it reads a
lesson of wisdom on the bitterness of party spirit, by which the wise and the
good will not fail to profit.



  Besides this affectionate intercourse between them, you are aware of the
extensive correspondence which they maintained with others, and of which some
idea may be formed by those letters which, since their death, have already
broken .upon us through the press, from quarters so entirely unexpected. They
were considered as the living historians of the Revolution and of the past age,
as well as oracles of wisdom to all who consulted them. Their habit in this
particular seems to have been the same; never to omit answering any respectful
letter they received, no matter how obscure the individual, or how
insignificant the subject. With Mr. Jefferson this was a sacred law, and as he
always wrote at a polygraphic desk, copies have been preserved of every letter.
His correspondence travelled far beyond his own country, and embraced within
its circle many of the most distinguished men of his age in Europe. What a
feast for the mind may we not expect from the published letters of these
excellent men ! They were both masters in this way, though somewhat contrasted.
Mr. Adams, plain, nervous, and emphatic, the thought couched in the fewest and
strongest words, and striking with a kind of epigrammatic force. Mr. Jefferson,
flowing with easy and careless melody, the language 






lii     Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



at the same time pruned of every redundant word, and giving the thought with
the happiest precision, the aptest words dropping unbidden and unsought into
their places, as if they had fallen from the skies; and so beautiful, so
felicitous, as to fill the mind with a succession of delightful surprises,
while the judgment is, at the same time, made captive by the closely compacted
energy of the argument.



  Mr. Jefferson's style is so easy and harmonious, as to have led superficial
readers to remark, that he was deficient in strength : as if ruggedness and
abruptness were essential to strength. Mr. Jefferson's strength was inherent in
the thoughts and conceptions, though hidden by the light and graceful vestments
which he threw over them. The internal divinity existed and was felt, though
concealed under the finely harmonized form of the man; and if he did not
exhibit himself in his compositions with the. insignia of Hercules, the shaggy
lion's skin and the knotted club, he bore the full quiver and the silver bow of
Apollo ; and every polished shaft that he loosened from the string, told with
unerring and fatal precision.



These two great men, so eminently distinguished among the patriots of the
Revolution, and so illustrious by their subsequent services, became still more
so, by having so long survived all that were most highly conspicuous among
their coevals. All the stars of first magnitude in the equatorial and 






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson    liii







 tropical regions had long since gone down, and still they remained. Still they
stood full in view, like those two resplendent constellations near the opposite
poles, which never set to the inhabitants of the neighboring zones.



  But they, too, were doomed at length to set : and such was their setting as
no American bosom can ever forget!



  In the midst of their fast-decaying strength, and when it was seen that the
approach of death was certain, their country and its glory still occupied their
thoughts, and circulated with the last blood that was ebbing to their hearts.
Those who surrounded the death-bed of Mr. Jefferson report that, in the few
short intervals of delirium that occurred, his mind manifestly relapsed to the
age of the Revolution. He talked in broken sentences of the Committees of
Safety and the rest of that great machinery which he imagined to be still in
action. One of his exclamations was, " Warn the Committee to be on their guard
; " and he instantly rose in his bed, with the help of his attendants, and went
through the act of writing a hurried note. But these intervals were few and
short: His reason was almost constantly on her throne, and the only aspiration
he was heard to breathe, was the prayer that he might live to see the Fourth of
July. When that day came, all that he was heard to whisper was the repeated
ejaculation,-` `Nunc Domine dimittis," Now, Lord, let Thy servant depart in
peace!



  VOL.XIII-E 






liv    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



And the prayer of the patriot was heard and answered.



The patriarch of Quincy, too, with the same certainty of death before him,
prayed only for the protraction of his life to the same day. His prayer also
was heard: and when a messenger from the neighboring festivities, unapprized of
his danger, was deputed to ask him for the honor of a toast, he showed the
object on which his dying eyes were fixed, and exclaimed with energy, "
Independence forever!" His country first, his country last, his country always
! " O save my country-Heaven ! " he said, and died.



  Hitherto, fellow citizens, the Fourth of July had been celebrated among us,
only as anniversary of our Independence, and its votaries had been merely human
beings. But at its last recurrence-the great jubilee of the nation-the
anniversary, it may well be termed, of the liberty of man-Heaven itself mingled
visibly in the celebration, and hallowed the day anew by a double apotheosis.
Is there one among us to whom this language seems too strong? Let him recall
his own feelings, and the objection will vanish. When the report first reached
us, of the death of the great man, whose residence was nearest, who among us
was not struck with the circumstance that he should have been removed on the
day of his own highest glory? And who, after the first shock of the
intelligence had passed, did not feel a thrill of mournful delight at the char






       Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



acteristic beauty of the close of such a life? But while our bosoms were yet
swelling with admiration at this singularly beautiful coincidence, when the
second report immediately followed, of the death of the great sage of Quincy,
on the same day, I appeal to yourselves-is there a voice that was not hushed,
is there a heart that did not quail, at this close manifestation of the hand of
Heaven in our affairs? Philosophy, recovered of her surprise, may affect to
treat the coincidence as fortuitous. But Philosophy herself was mute, at the
moment, under the pressure of the feeling that these illustrious men had rather
been translated than had died. It is in vain to tell us that men die by
thousands every day in the year, all over the world. The wonder is not that two
men have died on the same day, but that two such men, after having performed so
many and such splendid services in the cause of liberty-after the multitude of
other coincidences which seemed to have linked the destinies together-after
having lived so long together, the objects of their country's joint
veneration--after having been spared to witness the great triumph of their
toils at home-and looked together f rom Pisgah's top on the sublime effort of
that grand impulse which they had given to the same glorious cause throughout
the world, should on this fiftieth anniversary of the day on which they had
ushered that cause into light, be both caught up to Heaven together, in the
midst of their rap






lvi    Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson



tures! Is there a being, of heart so obdurate and sceptical as not to feel the
hand and hear the voice of Heaven in this wonderful dispensation ? And may we
not, with reverence, interpret its language ? Is it not this ? " These are My
beloved servants, in whom I am well pleased. They have finished the work for
which I sent them into the world: and are now called to their reward. Go ye,
and do likewise ! "



One circumstance alone remains to be noticed. In a private memorandum found
among some other obituary papers and relics of Mr. Jefferson, is a suggestion,
in case a memorial over him should ever be thought of, that a granite obelisk,
of small dimensions, should be erected, with the following inscription :



                  Here was buried



                 THOMAS JEFFERSON,



    Author of the Declaration of American Independence,



                  of



 The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom,



                      and



    Father of the University of Virginia.



 All the long catalogue of his great and splendid and glorious services,
reduced to this brief and modest summary !



Thus lived and thus died our sainted Patriots! May their spirits still continue
to hover over their countrymen, inspire all their counsels, and guide 






        Wirt's Eulogy on Jefferson   lvii

them in the same virtuous and noble path! And may that God in whose hands are
the issues of all things, confirm and perpetuate to us the inestimable boon
which through their agency He has bestowed, and make our Columbia the bright
exemplar for all the struggling sons of liberty around the globe.



            JEFFERSON'S WORKS.







LETTERS WRITTEN AFTER HIS RETURN



TO THE UNITED STATES.



1789-1826.











    TO DOCTOR BENJAMIN RUSH.



             MONTICELLO, January 16, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I had been considering for some days, whether it was not time by a
letter, to bring myself to your recollection, when I received your welcome
favor of the 2d instant. I had before heard of the heartrending calamity you
mention, and had sincerely sympathized with your afflictions. But I had not
made it the subject of a letter, because I knew that condolences were but
renewals of grief. Yet I thought, and still think, this is one of the cases
wherein we should " not sorrow, even as others who have no hope."



* * * * * * * * *



You ask if I have read Hartley? I have not My present course of life admits
less reading than I wish. From breakfast, or noon at latest, to dinner, I am



   VOL. XIII-I 






             Jefferson's Works



mostly on horseback, attending to my farm or other concerns, which I find
healthful to my body, mind and affairs; and the few hours I can pass in my
cabinet, are devoured by correspondences ; not those with my intimate friends,
with whom I delight to interchange sentiments, but with others, who, writing to
me on concerns of their own in which I have had an agency, or from motives of
mere respect and approbation, are entitled to be answered with respect and a
return of good will. My hope is that this obstacle to the delights of
retirement, will wear away with the oblivion which follows that, and that I may
at length be indulged in those studious pursuits, from which nothing but
revolutionary duties would ever have called me.



  I shall receive your proposed publication and read it with the pleasure which
everything gives me from your pen. Although much of a sceptic in the practice
of medicine, I read with pleasure its ingenious theories.



  I receive with sensibility your observations on the discontinuance of
friendly correspondence between Mr. Adams and myself, and the concern you take
in its restoration. This discontinuance has not proceeded from me, nor from the
want of sincere desire and of effort on my part, to renew our intercourse. You
know the perfect coincidence of principle and of action, in the early part of
the Revolution, which produced a high degree of mutual respect and esteem
between Mr. Adams and myself. Cer-






            Correspondence            3



tainly no man was ever truer than he was, in that day, to those principles of
rational republicanism which, after the 'necessity of throwing off our
monarchy, dictated all our efforts in the establishment of a new government.
And although he swerved, afterwards, towards the principles of the English
constitution, our friendship did not abate on that account. While he was
Vice-President, and I Secretary of State, T received a letter from President
Washington, then at Mount Vernon, desiring me to call together the Heads of
departments, and to invite Mr. Adams to join us (which, by-the-bye, was the
only instance of that being done) in order to determine on some measure which
required despatch ; and he desired me to act on it, as decided, without again
recurring to him. I invited them to dine with me, and after dinner, sitting at
our wine, having settled our question, other conversation came on, in which a
collision of opinion arose between Mr. Adams and Colonel Hamilton, on the
merits of the British constitution, Mr. Adams giving it as his opinion, that,
if some of its defects and abuses were corrected, it would be the most perfect
constitution of government ever devised by man. Hamilton, on the contrary,
asserted, that with its existing vices, it was the most perfect model of
government that could be formed; and that the correction of its vices would
render it an impracticable government. And this you may be assured was the real
line of difference 






 4            Jefferson's Works



between the political principles of these two gentlemen. Another incident took
place on the same occasion, which will further delineate Mr. Hamilton's
political principles. The room being hung around with a collection of the
portraits of remarkable men, among them were those of Bacon, Newton and Locke,
Hamilton asked me who they were. I told him they were my trinity of the three
greatest men the world had ever produced, naming them. He paused for some time:
"the greatest man," said he, " that ever lived, was Julius Caesar. " Mr. Adams
was honest as a politician, as well as a man ; Hamilton honest as a man, but,
as a politician, believing in the necessity of either force or corruption to
govern men.



  You remember the machinery which the federalists played off, about that time,
to beat down the friends to the real principles of our Constitution, to silence
by terror every expression in their favor, to bring us into war with France and
alliance with England, and finally to homologize our Constitution with that of
England. Mr. Adams, you know, was overwhelmed with feverish addresses, dictated
by the fear, and often by the pen, of the bloody buoy, and was seduced by them
into some open indications of his new principles of government, and in fact,
was so elated as to mix with his kindness a little superciliousness towards me.
Even Mrs. Adams, with all her good sense and prudence, was sensibly flushed.
And you recollect the short suspension of our inter






            Correspondence             5



course, and the circumstance which gave rise to it, which you were so good as
to bring to an early explanation, and have set to rights, to the cordial
satisfaction of us all. The nation at length passed condemnation on the
political principles of the federalists, by refusing to continue Mr. Adams in
the Presidency. On the day on which we learned in Philadelphia the vote of the
city of New York, which it was well known would decide the vote of the State,
and that, again, the vote of the Union, I called on Mr. Adams on some official
business. He was very sensibly affected, and accosted me with these words : "
Well, I understand that you are to beat me in this contest, and I will only say
that I will be as faithful a subject as any you will have." " Mr. Adams," said
I, " this is no personal contest between you and me. Two systems of principles
on the subject of government divide our fellow citizens into two parties. With
one of these you concur, and I with the other. As we have been longer on the
public stage than most of those now living, our names happen to be more
generally known. One of these parties, therefore, has put your name at its
head, the other mine. Were we both to die to-day, to-morrow two other names
would be in the place of ours, without any change in the motion of the
machinery. Its motion is from its principle, not from you or myself." " I
believe you are right," said he, " that we are but passive instruments, and
should not suffer this 






 6            Jefferson's Works



matter to affect our personal dispositions." But he did not long retain this
just view of the subject. I have always believed that the thousand calumnies
which the federalists, in bitterness of heart, and mortification at their
ejection, daily invented against me, were carried to him by their busy
intriguers, and made some impression. When the election between Burr and myself
was kept in suspense by the federalists, and they were meditating to place the
President of the Senate at the head of the government, I called on Mr. Adams
with a view to have this desperate measure prevented by his negative. He grew
warm in an instant, and said with a vehemence he had not used towards me
before, " Sir, the event of the election is within your own power. You have
only to say you will do justice to the public creditors, maintain the navy, and
not disturb those holding offices, and the government will instantly be put
into y our hands. We know it is the wish of the people it should be so. " " Mr.
Adams," said I, " I know not what part of my conduct, in either public or
private life, can have authorized a doubt of my fidelity to the public
engagements. I say, however, I will not come into the government by
capitulation. I will not enter on it, but in perfect freedom to follow the
dictates of my own judgment." I had before given the same answer to the same
intimation from Gouverneur Morris. " Then, " said he, " things must take their
course. " I turned the conversation to something else, and soon took my 






            Correspondence          7



leave. It was the first time in our lives we had ever parted with anything like
dissatisfaction. And then followed those scenes of midnight appointment, which
have been condemned by all men. The last day of his political power, the last
hours, and even beyond the midnight, were employed in filling all offices, and
especially permanent ones, with the bitterest federalists, and providing for me
the alternative, either to execute the government by my enemies, whose study it
would be to thwart and defeat all my measures, or to incur the odium of such
numerous removals from office, as might bear me down. A little time and
reflection effaced in my mind this temporary dissatisf- action with Mr. Adams,
and restored me to that just estimate of his virtues and passions, which a long
acquaintance had enabled me to fix. And my first wish became that of making his
retirement easy by any means in my power; for it was understood he was not
rich. I suggested to some republican members of the delegation from his State,
the giving him, either directly or indirectly, an office, the most lucrative in
that State, and then offered to be resigned, if they thought he would not deem
it affrontive. They were of opinion he would take great offence at the offer;
and moreover, that the body of republicans would consider such a step in the
outset as auguring very ill of the course I meant to pursue. I dropped the
idea, therefore, but did not cease to wish for some opportunity of renewing'
our friendly understanding. 






8            Jefferson's Works



   Two or three years after, having had the misfortune to lose a daughter,
between whom and Mrs. Adams there had been a considerable attachment, she made
it the occasion of writing me a letter, in which, with the tenderest
expressions of concern at this event, she carefully avoided a single one of
friendship towards myself, and even concluded it with the wishes " of her who
once took pleasure in subscribing herself your friend, Abigail Adams."
Unpromising as was the complexion of this letter, I determined to make an
effort towards removing the cloud from between us. This brought on a
correspondence which I now enclose for your perusal, after which be so good as
to return it to me, as I have never communicated it to any mortal breathing,
before. I send it to you, to convince you I have not been wanting either in the
desire, or the endeavor to remove this misunderstanding. Indeed, I thought it
highly disgraceful to us both, as indicating minds not sufficiently elevated to
prevent a public competition from affecting our personal friendship. I soon
found from the correspondence that conciliation was desperate, and yielding to
an intimation in her last letter, I ceased from further explanation. I have the
same good opinion of Mr. Adams which I ever had. I know him to be an honest
man, an able one with his pen, and he was a powerful advocate on the floor of
Congress. He has been alienated from me, by belief in the lying suggestions
contrived for electioneering purposes, that I perhaps mixed in 






            Correspondence



the activity and intrigues of the occasion. My most intimate friends can
testify that I was perfectly passive. They would sometimes, indeed, tell me
what was going on ; but no man ever heard me take part in such conversations;
and none ever misrepresented Mr. Adams in my presence, without my asserting his
just character. With very confidential persons I have doubtless disapproved of
the principles and practices of his administration. This was unavoidable. But
never with those with whom it could do him any injury. Decency would have
required this conduct from me, if disposition had not ; and I am satisfied Mr.
Adams' conduct was equally honorable towards me. But I think it part of his
character to suspect foul play in those of whom he is jealous, and not easily
to relinquish his suspicions.



  I have gone, my dear friend, into these details, that you might know
everything which had passed between us, might be fully possessed of the state
of facts and dispositions, and judge for yourself whether they admit a revival
of that friendly intercourse for which you are so kindly solicitous. I shall
certainly not be wanting in anything on my part which may second your efforts,
which will be the easier with me, inasmuch as I do not entertain a sentiment of
Mr. Adams, the expression of which could give him reasonable offence. And I
submit the whole to yourself, with the assurance, that whatever be the issue,
my friendship and respect for yourself will remain unaltered and unalterable. 






            Jefferson's Works







             TO JOHN LYNCH.



             MONTICELLO, January 21, 1811.



  SIR,-You have asked my opinion on the proposition of Mrs. Mifflin, to take
measures for procuring, on the coast of Africa, an establishment to which the
people of color of these States might, from time to time, be colonized, under
the auspices of different governments. Having long ago made up my mind on this
subject; I have no hesitation in saying that I have ever thought it the most
desirable measure which could be adopted, for gradually drawing off this part
of our population, most advantageously for themselves as well as for us. Going
from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might be the means of
transplanting them among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus carry back
to the country of their origin, the seeds of civilization which might render
their sojournment and sufferings here a blessing in the end to that country.



I received, in the first year of my coming into the administration of the
General Government, a letter from the Governor of Virginia, (Colonel Monroe,)
consulting me, at the request of the legislature of the State, on the means of
procuring some such asylum, to which these people might be occasionally sent. I
proposed to him the establishment of Sierra Leone, to which a private company
in England had already colonized a number of Negroes, and particularly the
fugitives from these States during the 






            Correspondence



Revolutionary War; and at the same time suggested, if this could not be
obtained, some of the Portuguese possessions in South America, as next most
desirable. The subsequent legislature approving these ideas, I wrote, the
ensuing year, 1802, to Mr. King, our Minister in London, to endeavor to
negotiate with the Sierra Leone company a reception of such of these people as
might be colonized thither. He opened a correspondence with Mr. Wedderburne and
Mr. Thornton, secretaries of the company, on the subject, and in 1803 I
received through Mr. King the result, which was that the colony was going on,
but in a languishing condition; that the funds of the company were likely to
fail, as they received no returns of profit to keep them up ; that they were
therefore in treaty with their government to take the establishment off their
hands ; but that in no event should they be willing to receive more of these
people from the United States, as it was exactly that portion of their settlers
which had gone from hence, which, by their idleness and turbulence, had kept
the settlement in constant danger of dissolution, which could not have been
prevented but for the aid of the Maroon Negroes from the West Indies, who were
more industrious and orderly than the others, and supported the authority of
the government and its laws. I think I learned afterwards that the British
government had taken the colony into its own hands, and I believe it still
exists. The effort which I made with Portugal, to 






  12           Jefferson's Works



obtain an establishment for them within their claims in South America, proved
also abortive.



  You inquire further, whether I would use my endeavors to procure for such an
establishment security against violence from other powers, and particularly
from France? Certainly, I shall be willing to do anything I can to give it
effect and safety. But I am but a private individual, and could only use
endeavors with private individuals ; whereas, the National Government can
address themselves at once to those of Europe to obtain the desired security,
and will unquestionably be . ready to exert its influence with those nations
for an object so benevolent in itself, and so important to a great portion of
its constituents. Indeed, nothing is more to be wished than that the United
States would themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of
Africa. Exclusive of motives of humanity, the commercial advantages to be
derived from it might repay all its expenses. But for this, the national mind
is not yet prepared. It may perhaps be doubted whether many of these people
would voluntarill consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain
that few of those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be
capable of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the
experiment, nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with
all the prudent cautions and attentions requisite 






             Correspondence



to reconcile it to the interests, the safety and the prejudices of all parties.



  Accept the assurances of my respect and esteem.







       TO MONSIEUR DESTUTT DE TRACY.



             MONTICELLO, January 26, 1811.



  SIR,-The length of time your favor of June the 12th, 1809, was on its way to
me, and my absence from home the greater part of the autumn, delayed very much
the pleasure which awaited me of reading the packet which accompanied it. I
cannot express to you the satisfaction which I received from its perusal. I
had, with the world, deemed Montesquieu's work of much merit ; but saw in it,
with every thinking man, so much of paradox, of false principle and misapplied
fact, as to render its value equivocal on the whole. Williams and others had
nibbled only at its errors. A radical correction of them, therefore, was a
great desideratum. This want is now supplied, and with a depth of thought,
precision of idea, of language and of logic, which will force conviction into
every mind. I declare to you, Sir, in the spirit of truth and sincerity, that I
consider it the most precious gift the present age has received. But what would
it have been, had the author, or would the author, take up the whole scheme of
Montesquieu's work, and following the correct analysis he has here developed,
fill up all its parts according to his sound views of them? Montes






            Jefferson's Works



quieu's celebrity would be but a small portion of that which would immortalize
the author. And with whom? With the rational and high-minded spirits of the
present and all future ages. With those whose approbation is both incitement
and reward to virtue and ambition. Is then the hope desperate? To what .object
can the occupation of his future life be devoted so usefully to the world, so
splendidly to himself ? But I must leave to others who have higher claims on
his attention, to press these considerations.



  My situation, far in the interior of the country, was not favorable to the
object of getting this work translated and printed. Philadelphia is the least
distant of the great towns of our States, where there exists any enterprise in
this way; and it was not till the spring following the receipt of your letter,
that I obtained an arrangement for its execution. The translation is just now
completed. The sheets came to me by post, from time to time, for revisal; but
not being accompanied by the original, I could not judge of verbal accuracies.
I think, however, it is substantially correct, without being an adequate
representation of the excellences of the original; as indeed no translation can
be. I found it impossible to give it the appearance of an original composition
in our language. I therefore think it best to divert inquiries after the author
towards a quarter where he will not be found; and with this view, propose to
prefix the prefatory epistle now enclosed. As soon 






             Correspondence         15



as a copy of the work can be had, I will send it to you by duplicate. The
secret of the author will be faithfully preserved during his and my joint
lives; and those into whose hands my papers will fall at my death, will be
equally worthy of confidence. When the death of the author, or his living
consent shall permit the world to know their benefactor, both his and my papers
will furnish the evidence. In the meantime, the many important truths the work
so solidly establishes, will, I hope, make it the political rudiment of the
young, and manual of our older citizens.



  One of. its doctrines, indeed, the preference of a plural over a singular
executive, will probably not be assented to here. When our present government
was first established, we had many doubts on this question, and many leanings
towards a supreme executive council. It happened that at that time the
experiment of such an one was commenced in France, while the single executive
was under trial here. We watched the motions and effects of these two rival
plans, with an interest and anxiety proportioned to the importance of a choice
between them. The experiment in France failed after a short course, and not
from any circumstance peculiar to the times or nation, but from those internal
jealousies and dissensions in the Directory, which will ever arise among men
equal in power, without a principal to decide and control their differences. We
had tried a similar experiment in 1784, by establishing a com






16          Jefferson's Works



mittee of the States, composed of a member from every State, then thirteen, to
exercise the executive functions during the recess of Congress. They fell
immediately into schisms and dissensions, which became at length so inveterate
as to render all cooperation among them impracticable; they dissolved
themselves, abandoning the helm of government, and it continued without a head,
until Congress met the ensuing winter. This was then imputed to the temper of
two or three individuals; but the wise ascribed it to the nature of man. The
failure of the French Directory, and from the same cause, seems to have
authorized a belief that the form of a plurality, however promising in theory,
is impracticable with men constituted with the ordinary passions While the
tranquil and steady tenor of our single executive, during a course of
twenty-two year s of the most tempestuous times the history of the world has
ever presented, gives a rational hope that this important problem is at length
solved. Aided by the counsels of a Cabinet of heads of departments, originally
four, but now five, with whom the President consults, either singly or all
together, he has the benefit of their wisdom and information, brings their
views to one centre, and produces an unity of action and direction in all the
branches of the government. The excellence of this construction of the
executive power has already manifested itself here under very opposite
circumstances. During the administration of our first President, his Cabinet of







            Correspondence



four members was equally divided by as marked an opposition of principle as
monarchism and republicanism could bring into conflict. Had that Cabinet been a
directory, like positive and negative quantities in Algebra , the opposing
wills would have balanced each other and produced a state of absolute inaction.
But the President heard with calmness the opinions and reasons of each, decided
the course to be pursued, and kept the government steadily in it, unaffected by
the agitation. The public knew well the dissensions of the Cabinet, but never
had an uneasy thought on their account, because they knew also they had
provided a regulating power which would keep the machine in steady movement. I
speak with an intimate knowledge of these scenes, quorum pars fui; as I may of
others of a character entirely opposite. The third administration, which was of
eight years, presented an example of harmony in a Cabinet of six persons, to
which perhaps history has furnished no parallel. There never arose, during the
whole time, an instance of an unpleasant thought or word between the members.
We sometimes met under differences of opinion, but scarcely ever failed, by
conversing and reasoning, so to modify each other's ideas, as to produce an
unanimous result. Yet, able and amicable as these members were, I am not
certain this would have been the case, had each possessed equal and independent
powers. Ill-defined limits of their respective departments, jealousies,
trifling at first, but nourished and strengthened



    VOL. XIII-2 






 18             Jefferson's Works



by repetition of occasions, intrigues without doors of designing persons to
build an importance to themselves on the divisions of others, might, from small
beginnings, have produced persevering oppositions. But the power of decision in
the President left no object for internal dissension, and external intrigue was
stifled in embryo by the knowledge which incendiaries possessed, that no
division they could foment would change the course of the executive power. I am
not conscious that my participation in executive authority have produced any
bias in favor of the single executive; because the parts I have acted have been
in the subordinate, as well as superior stations, and because, if I know
myself, what I have felt, and what I have wished, I know that I have never been
so well pleased, as when I could shift power from my own, on the shoulders of
others; nor have I ever been able to conceive how any rational being could
propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.



  I am still, however, sensible of the solidity of your principle, that, to
insure the safety of the public liberty, its depository should be subject to be
changed with the greatest ease possible, and without suspending or disturbing
for a moment the movements of the machine of government. You apprehend that a
single executive, with eminence of talent, and destitution of principle, equal
to the object, might, by usurpation, render his powers hereditary. Yet I think
history furnishes as many examples of a 






            Correspondence           19



single usurper arising out of a government by' a plurality, as of temporary
trusts of power in a single hand rendered permanent by usurpation. I do not
believe, therefore, that this danger is lessened in the hands of a plural
executive. Perhaps it is greatly increased, by the state of inefficiency to
which they are liable from feuds and divisions among themselves. The
conservative body you propose might be so constituted, as, while it would be an
admirable sedative in a variety of smaller cases, might also be a valuable
sentinel and check on the liberticide views of an ambitious individual. I am
friendly to this idea. But the true barriers of our liberty in this country are
our State governments ; and the wisest conservative power ever contrived by
man, is that of which our Revolution and present government found us possessed.
Seventeen distinct States, amalgamated into one as to their foreign concerns,
but single and independent as to their internal administration, regularly
organized with a legislature and governor resting on the choice of the people,
and enlightened by a free press, can never be so fascinated by the arts of one
man, as to submit voluntarily to his usurpation. Nor can they be constrained to
it by any force he can possess. While that may paralyze the single State in
which it happens to be encamped, sixteen others, spread over a country of two
thousand miles diameter, rise up on every side, ready organized for
deliberation by a constitutional legislature, and for action by their governor,
constitutionally the 






20          Jefferson's Works



commander of the militia of the State, that is to say, of every man in it able
to bear arms; and that militia, too, regularly formed into regiments and
battalions, into infantry, cavalry and artillery, trained under officers
general and subordinate, legally appointed, always in readiness, and to whom
they are already in habits of obedience. The republican government of France
was lost without a struggle, because, the party of " un et indivisible" had
prevailed; no provincial organizations existed to which the people. might.
rally under authority of the laws, the seats of the directory were virtually
vacant, and a small force sufficed to turn the legislature out of their
chamber, and to salute its leader chief of the nation. But with us, sixteen out
of seventeen States rising in mass, under regular organization, and legal
commanders, united in object and action by their Congress, or, if that be in
duresse, by a special convention, present such obstacles to an usurper as
forever to stifle ambition in the first conception of that object.



  Dangers of another kind might more reasonably be apprehended from this
perfect and distinct organization, civil and military, of the States ; to wit,
that certain States from local and occasional discontents, might attempt to
secede from the Union. This is certainly possible; and would be befriended by
this regular organization. But it is not probable that local discontents can
spread to such an extent, as to be able to face the sound parts of so extensive







            Correspondence           21



a Union; and if ever they should reach the majority, they would then become the
regular government, acquire the ascendency in Congress, and be able to redress
their own grievances by laws peaceably and constitutionally passed. And even
the States in which local discontents might engender a commencement of
fermentation, would be paralyzed and self-checked by that very division into
parties into which we have fallen, into which all States must fall wherein men
are at liberty to think, speak, and act freely, according to the diversities of
their individual conformations, and which are, perhaps, essential to preserve
the purity of the government, by the censorship which these parties habitually
exercise over each other.



  You will read, I am sure, with indulgence, the explanations of the grounds on
which I have ventured to form an opinion differing from yours. They prove my
respect for your judgment, and diffidence in my own, which have forbidden me to
retain, without examination, an opinion questioned by you. Permit me now to
render my portion of the general debt of gratitude, by acknowledgments in
advance for the singular benefaction which is the subject of this letter, to
tender my wishes for the continuance of a life so usefully employed, and to add
the assurances of my perfect esteem and respect. 






22           Jefferson's Works







TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



         (JAMES MADISON).



               MONTICELLO, March 8, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-On my return from a journey of five weeks to Bedford I found here
the two letters now enclosed, which though directed to me, belong, in their
matter, to you. I never before heard of either writer, and therefore leave them
to stand on their own grounds.



  I congratulate you on the close of your campaign. Although it has not
conquered your difficulties, it leaves you more at leisure to consider and
provide against them. Our only chance as to England is the accession of the
Prince of Wales to the throne. If only to the regency, himself and his
ministers may be less bold and strong to make a thorough change of system. It
will leave them, too, a pretext for doing less than right, if so disposed. He
has much more understanding and good humor than principle or application. But
it seems difficult to understand what Bonaparte means towards us. I have been
in hopes the consultations with closed doors were for taking possession of East
Florida. It would give no more offence anywhere than taking the western
province, and I am much afraid the Percival ministry may have given orders for
taking possession of it before they were put out of power.



  We have had a wretched winter for the farmer. Great consumption of food by
the cattle, and little 






            Correspondence           23



weather for preparing the ensuing crop. During my stay in Bedford we had seven
snows, that of February 22, which was of 15 inches about Richmond, was of 6
inches here, and only 3 1/2 in Bedford. Ever affectionately yours.







       TO GENERAL JAMES WILKINSON.



              MONTICELLO, March 10, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of January 21st has been received, and with it the 2d
volume of your Memoirs, with the appendices to the 1st, 2d and 4th volumes, for
which accept my thanks. I shall read them with pleasure. The expression
respecting myself, stated in your letter to have been imputed to you by your
calumniators, had either never been heard by me, or, if heard, had been
unheeded and forgotten. I have been too much the butt of such falsehoods myself
to do others the injustice of permitting them to make the least impression on
me. My consciousness that no man on earth has me under his thumb is evidence
enough that you never used the expression. Daniel Clarke's book I have never
seen, nor should I put Tacitus or Thucydides out of my hand to take that up. I
am even leaving off the newspapers, desirous to disengage myself from the
contentions of the world, and consign to entire tranquillity and to the kinder
passions what remains to me of life. I look back with commiseration on those
still buffeting the storm, and sincerely wish your argosy may 






            Jefferson's Works



ride out, unhurt, that in which it is engaged. My belief is that it will, and I
found that belief on my own knowledge of Burr's transactions, on my view of
your conduct in encountering them, and on the candor of your judges. I salute
you with my best wishes and entire respect.







             TO JOHN MELISH.



              MONTICELLO, March 10, 1811.



  SIR; I thank you for your letter of February 16th, and the communication of
that you had forwarded to the President. In his hands it may be turned to
public account ; in mine it is only evidence of your zeal for the general good.
My occupations. are now in quite a different line, more suited to my age, my
interests and inclinations. Having served my tour of duty, I leave public cares
to younger and more vigorous minds, and repose my personal well-being under
their guardianship, in perfect confidence of its safety. Our ship is sound, the
crew alert at their posts, and our ablest steersman at its helm. That she will
make a safe port I have no doubt ; and that she may, I offer to heaven my daily
prayers, the proper function of age, and add to yourself the assurance of my
respect.



             Correspondence           25







        TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



               MONTICELLO, March 28, 1811.



  DEAR SIR -I learn with sincere concern, from yours of the 15th received by
our last mail, the difficulties into which you are brought by the retirement of
particular friends from the accommodations they had been in the habit of
yielding you. That one of those you name should have separated from the censor
of John Randolph, is consonant with the change of disposition which took place
in him at Washington. That the other, far above that bias, should have done so,
was not expected. I have ever looked to Mr. Leiper as one of the truest
republicans of our country, whose mind, unaffected by personal incidents,
pursues its course with a steadiness of which we have rare examples. Looking
about for a motive, I have supposed it was to be found in the late arraignments
of Mr. Gallatin in your papers. However he might differ from you on that
subject, as I do myself, the indulgences in difference of opinion which we all
owe to one another, and every one needs for himself, would, I thought, in a
mind like his, have prevented such a manifestation of it. I believe Mr.
Gallatin to be of a pure integrity, and as zealously devoted to the liberties
and interests of our country as its most affectionate native citizen. Of this
his courage in Congress in the days of terror, gave proofs which nothing can
obliterate from the recollection of those who were 






26            Jefferson's Works



witnesses of it. These are probably the opinions of Mr. Leiper, as I believe
they are of every man intimately acquainted with Mr. Gallatin. An intercourse,
almost daily, of eight years with him, has given me opportunities of knowing
his character more thoroughly than perhaps any other man living; and I have
ascribed the erroneous estimate you have formed of it to the want of that
intimate knowledge of him which I possessed. Every one, certainly, must form
his judgment on the evidence accessible to himself ; and I have no more doubt
of the integrity of your convictions than I have of my own. They are drawn from
different materials and different sources of information, more or less perfect,
according to our opportunities. The zeal, the disinterestedness, and the
abilities with which you have supported the great principles of our revolution,
the persecutions you have suffered, and the firmness and independence with
which you have suffered them, constitute too strong a claim on the good wishes
of every friend of elective government, to be effaced by a solitary case of
difference in opinion. Thus I think, and thus I believe my much-esteemed friend
Leiper would have thought; and I am the more concerned he does not, as it is so
much more in his power to be useful to you than in mine. His residence, and his
standing at the great seat of the moneyed institutions, command a credit with
them, which no inhabitant of the country, and of agricultural pursuits only,
can have. The two or three 






            Correspondence



banks in our uncommercial State are too distant to have any relations with the
farmers of Albemarle. We are persuaded you have not overrated the dispositions
of this State to support yourself and your paper. They have felt its services
too often to be indifferent in the hour of trial. They are well aware that the
days of danger are not yet over. And I am sensible that if there were any means
of bringing into concert the good will of the friends of the " Aurora"
scattered over this State, they would not deceive your expectations. One month
sooner might have found such an opportunity in the assemblage of our
legislature in Richmond. But that is now dispersed not to meet again under a
twelvemonth. We, here, are but one of a hundred counties, and on consultation
with friends of the neighborhood, it is their opinion that if we can find an
endorser resident in Richmond, (for that is indispensable,) ten or twelve
persons of this county would readily engage, as you suggest, for their $100
each, and some of them for more. It is believed that the republicans in that
city can and will do a great deal more ; and perhaps their central position may
enable them to communicate with other counties. We have written to a
distinguished friend to the cause of liberty there to take the lead in the
business, as far as concerns that place; and for our own, we are taking
measures for obtaining the aid of the bank of the same place. In all this I am
nearly a cypher. Forty years of almost constant absence from the 






28          Jefferson's Works



State have made me a stranger in it, have left me a solitary tree, from around
which the axe of time has felled all the companions of its youth and growth. I
have, however, engaged some active and zealous friends to do what I could not.
Their personal acquaintance and influence with those now in active life can
give effect to their efforts. But our support can be but partial, and far
short, both in time and measure, of your difficulties. They will be little more
than evidences of our friendship. The truth is that farmers, as we all are,
have no command of money. Our necessaries are all supplied, either from our
farms, or a neighboring store. Our produce, at the end of the year, is
delivered to the merchant, and thus the business of the year is done by barter,
without the intervention of scarcely a dollar; and thus also we live with a
plenty of everything except money. To raise that, negotiations and time are
requisite. I sincerely wish that greater and prompter effects could have flowed
from our good will. On my part, no endeavors or sacrifices shall be withheld.
But we are bound down by the laws of our situation.



  I do not know whether I am able at present to form a just idea of the
situation of our country. If I am, it is such as, during the bellum omnium in
omnia of Europe, will require the union of all its friends to resist its
enemies within and without. If we schismatize on either men or measures, if we
do not act in phalanx, as when we rescued it from the satellites of monarchism,
I will not say our party, 






             Correspondence           29



the term is false and degrading, but our nation will be undone. For the
republicans are the nation. Their opponents are but a faction, weak in numbers,
but powerful and profuse in the command of money; and backed by a nation,
powerful also and profuse in the use of the same means; and the more profuse,
in both cases, as the money they thus employ is not their own but their
creditors', to be paid off by a bankruptcy, which whether it pays a dollar or a
shilling in the pound is of little concern with them. The last hope of human
liberty in this world rests on us. We ought, for so dear a state, to sacrifice
every attachment and every enmity. Leave the President free to choose his own
coadjutors, to pursue his own measures, and support him and them, even if we
think we are wiser than they, honester than they are, or possessing more
enlarged information of the state of things. If we move in mass, be it ever so
circuitously, we shall attain our object ; but if we break into squads, every
one pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to
those who can now barely hold us in check. I repeat again, that we ought not to
schismatize on either men or measures. Principles alone can justify that. If we
find our government in all its branches rushing headlong, like our
predecessors, into the arms of monarchy, if we find them violating our dearest
rights, the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, the freedom of opinion,
civil or religious, or opening on our peace of mind or personal safety 






30          Jefferson's Works



the sluices of terrorism, if we see them raising standing armies, when the
absence of all other danger points to these as the sole objects on which they
are to be employed, then indeed let us withdraw and call the nation to its
tents. But while our functionaries are wise, and honest, and vigilant, let us
move compactly under their guidance, and we have nothing to fear. Things may
here and there go a little wrong. It is not in their power to prevent it. But
all will be right in the end, though not perhaps by the shortest means.



  You know, my dear Sir, that this union of republicans has been the constant
theme of my exhortations, that I have ever refused to know any subdivisions
among them, to take part in any personal differences; and therefore you will
not give to the present observations any other than general application. I may
sometimes differ in opinion from some of my friends, from those whose views are
as pure and sound as my own. I censure none, but do homage to every one's right
of opinion. If I have indulged my pen, therefore, a little further than the
occasion called for, you will ascribe it to a sermonizing habit, to the
anxieties of age, perhaps to its garrulity, or to any other motive rather than
the want of the esteem and confidence of which I pray you to accept sincere
assurances.



  P. S. Absorbed in a subject more nearly interesting, I had forgotten our book
on the heresies of 






             Correspondence           31



Montesquieu. I sincerely hope the removal of all embarrassment will enable you
to go on with it, or so to dispose of it as that our country may have the
benefit of the corrections it will administer to public opinion.







            TO B. H. LATROBE.



               MONTICELLO, April 14., 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I feel much concern that suggestions stated in your letter of the
5th instant, should at this distance of time be the subject of uneasiness to
you, and I regret it the more as they make appeals to memory, a faculty never
strong in me, and now too sensibly impaired to be relied on. It retains no
trace of the particular conversations alluded to, nor enables me to say that
they are or are not correct. The only safe appeal for me is to the general
impressions received at the time, and still retained with sufficient
distinctness. These were that you discharged the duties of your appointment
with ability, diligence and zeal, but that in the article of expense you were
not sufficiently guarded. You must remember my frequent cautions to you on this
head, the measures I took, by calling for frequent accounts of expenditures and
contracts, to mark to you, as well as to myself, when they were getting beyond
the limits of the appropriations, and the afflicting embarrassments on a
particular occasion where these limits had been unguardedly and greatly 






32          Jefferson's Works



transcended. These sentiments I communicated to you freely at the time, as it
was my duty to do. Another principle of conduct with me was to admit no
innovations on the established plans, but on the strongest grounds. When,
therefore, I thought first of placing the floor of the Repr- esentative chamber
on the level of the basement of the building, and of throwing into its height
the cavity of the dome, in the manner of the Halle aux Bleds at Paris, I deemed
it due to Dr. Thornton author of the plan of the Capitol, to consult him on the
change. He not only consented, but appeared heartily to approve of the
alteration. For the same reason, as well as on motives of economy, I was
anxious, in converting the Senate chamber into a Judiciary room, to preserve
its original form, and to leave the same arches and columns standing. On your
representation, however, that the columns were decayed and incompetent to
support the incumbent weight, I acquiesced in the change you proposed, only
striking out the addition which would have made part of the middle building,
and would involve a radical change in that which had not been sanctioned. I
have no reason to doubt but that in the execution of the Senate and Court
rooms, you have adhered to the plan communicated to me and approved; but never
having seen them since their completion, I am not able to say so expressly. On
the whole, I do not believe any one has ever done more justice to your
professional abilities than myself. Besides constant 






             Correspondence          33



commendations of your taste in architecture, and science in execution, I
declared on many and all occasions that I considered you as the only person in
the United States who could have executed the Representative chamber, or who
could execute the middle buildings on any of the plans proposed. There have
been too many witnesses of these declarations to leave any doubt as to my
opinion on this subject. Of the value I set on your society, our intercourse
before as well as during my office, can have left no doubt with you ; and I
should be happy in giving further proofs to you personally at Monticello, of
which you have sometimes flattered me with the hope of an opportunity. ,



I have thus, Sir, stated general truths without going into the detail of
particular facts or expressions, to which my memory does not enable me to say
yea or nay. But a consciousness of my consistency in private as well as public,
supports me in affirming that nothing ever passed from me contradictory to
these general truths, and that I have been misapprehended if it has ever been
so supposed. I return you the plans received with your letter, and pray you to
accept assurances of my continued esteem and respect.







TO BARON ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.



               MONTICELLO, April 14, 1811.



MY DEAR BARON,-The interruption of our intercourse with France for some time
past, has prevented



   VOL. XIII-3 






34          Jefferson's Works



my writing to you. A conveyance now occurs, by Mr. Barlow or Mr. Warden, both
of them going in a public capacity. It is the first safe opportunity offered of
acknowledging your favor of September 23d, and the receipt at different times
of the IIId part of your valuable work, 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th livraisons, and the
IVth part, 2d, 3d, and 4th livraisons, with the Tableaux de la nature, and an
interesting map of New Spain. For these magnificent and much esteemed favors,
accept my sincere thanks. They give us a knowledge of that country more
accurate than I believe we possess of Europe, the seat of the science of a
thousand years. It comes out, too, at a moment when those countries are
beginning to be interesting to the whole world. They are now becoming the
scenes of political revolution, to take their stations as integral members of
the great family of nations. All are now in insurrection. In several, the
Independents are already triumphant, and they will undoubtedly be so in all.
What kind of government will they establish ? How much liberty can they bear
without intoxication? Are their chiefs sufficiently enlightened to form a
well-guarded government, and their people to watch their chiefs? Have they mind
enough to place their domesticated Indians on a footing with the whites? All
these questions you can answer better than any other. I imagine they will copy
' our outlines of confederation and elective government, abolish distinction of
ranks, bow the neck to their priests, and 






             Correspondence        35



persevere in intolerantism. Their greatest difficulty will be in the
construction of their executive. I suspect that, regardless of the experiment
of France, and of that of the United States in 1784, they will begin with a
directory, and when the unavoidable schisms in that kind of executive shall
drive them to something else, their great question will come on whether to
substitute an executive elective for years, for life, or an hereditary one. But
unless instruction can be spread among them more rapidly than experience
promises, despotism may come upon them before they are qualified to save the
ground they will have gained. Could Napoleon obtain, at the close of the
present war, the independence of all the West India islands, and their
establishment in a separate confederacy, our quarter of the globe would exhibit
an enrapturing prospect into futurity. You will live to see much of this. I
shall follow, however, cheer fully, my fellow laborers, contented with having
borne a part in beginning this beatific reformation.



  I fear, from some expressions in your letter, that your personal interests
have not been duly protected, while vou were devoting your time, talents and
labor for the information of mankind. I should sincerely regret it for the
honor of the governing powers, as well as from affectionate attachment to
yourself and the sincerest wishes for your felicity, fortunes and fame.



  In sending you a copy of my Notes on Virginia, I do but obey the desire you
have expressed. They 






36         Jefferson's Works



must appear chetif enough to the author of the great work on South America. But
from the widow her mite was welcome, and you will add to this indulgence the
acceptance of my sincere assurances of constant friendship and respect.







           TO MONSIEUR PAGANEL.



                MONTICELLO, April 15, 1811.



  SIR,-I received, through Mr. Warden, the copy of your valuable work on the
French Revolution, for which I pray you to accept my thanks. That its sale
should have been suppressed is no matter of wonder with me. The friend of
liberty is too, feelingly manifested, not to give umbrage to its enemies. We
read in it, and weep over, the fatal errors which have lost to nations the
present hope of liberty, and to reason for fairest prospect of its final
triumph over all imposture, civil and religious. The testimony of one who
himself was an actor in the scenes he notes, and who knew the true mean between
rational liberty and the frenzies of demagogy, are a tribute to truth of
inestimable value. The perusal of this work has given me new views of the
causes of failure in a revolution of which I was a witness in its early part,
and then augured well of it. I had no means, afterwards, of observing its
progress but the public papers, and their information came through channels too
hostile to claim confidence. An acquaintance with many of the principal charac






            Correspondence           37



ters, and with their fate, furnished me grounds for conjectures, some of which
you have confirmed, and some corrected. Shall we ever see as free and faithful
a tableau of subsequent acts of this deplorable tragedy? Is reason to be
forever amused with the hochets of physical sciences, in which she is indulged
merely to divert her from solid speculations on the rights of man, and wrongs
of his oppressors ? It is impossible. The day of deliverance will come,
although I shall not live to see it. The art of printing secures us against the
retrogradation of reason and information, the examples of its safe and
wholesome guidance in government, which will be exhibited through the
wide-spread regions of the American continent, will obliterate, in time, the
impressions left by the abortive experiment of France. With my prayers for the
hastening of that auspicious day, and for the due effect of the lessons of your
work to those who ought to profit by them, accept the assurances of my great
esteem and respect.







      TO MONSIEUR DUPONT DE NEMOURS.



               MONTICELLO, April 15, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of January a o
and September 14, 1810, and, with the latter, your observations on the subject
of taxes. They bear the stamps of logic and eloquence which mark everything
coming from you, and place the doctrines of the Economists in their 






38         Jefferson's Works



strongest points of view. My present retirement and unmeddling disposition make
of this une question viseuse pour moi. But after reading the observations with
great pleasure, I forwarded them to the President and Mr. Gallatin, in whose
hands they may be useful. Yet I do not believe the change of our system of
taxation will be forced on us so early as you expect, if war be avoided. It is
true we are going greatly into manufactures; but the mass of them are household
manufactures of the coarse articles worn by the laborers and farmers of the
family. These I verily believe we shall succeed in making to the whole extent
of our necessities. But the attempts at fine goods will probably be abortive.
They are undertaken by company establishments, and chiefly in the towns; will
have little success and short continuance in a country where the charms of
agriculture attract every being who can engage in it. Our revenue will be less
than it would be were we to continue to import instead of manufacturing our
coarse goods. But the increase of population and production will keep pace with
that of manufactures, and maintain the quantum of exports at the present level
at least; and the imports need be equivalent to them, and consequently the
revenue on them be undiminished. I keep up my hopes that if war be avoided, Mr.
Madison will be able to complete the payment of the national debt within his
term, after which one-third of the present revenue would support the
government. Your information 






            Correspondence



that a commencement of excise had been again made, is entirely unfounded. I
hope the death blow to that most vexatious and unproductive of all taxes was
given at the commencement of my administration, and believe its revival would
give the death blow to any administration whatever. In most of the middle and
southern States some land tax is now paid into the State treasury, and for this
purpose the lands have been classed and valued, and the tax assessed according
to that valuation. In these an excise is most odious. In the eastern States
land taxes are odious, excises less unpopular. We are all the more reconciled
to the tax on importations, because it falls exclusively on the rich, and with
the equal partition of intestate's estates, constitutes the best agrarian law.
In fact, the poor man in this country who uses nothing but what is made within
his own farm or family, or within the United States, pays not a farthing of tax
to the general government, but on his salt; and should we go into that
manufacture as we ought to do, we will pay not one cent. Our revenues once
liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to
canals, roads, schools, etc., and the farmer will see his government supported,
his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the
contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spare a cent
from his earnings. The path we are now pursuing leads directly to this end,
which we cannot fail to attain unless our administration should fall into
unwise hands. 






             Jefferson's Works



  Another great field of political experiment is opening in our neighborhood,
in Spanish America. I fear the degrading ignorance into which their priests and
kings have sunk them, has disqualified them from the maintenance or even
knowledge of their rights, and that much blood may be shed for little
improvement in their condition. Should their new rulers honestly lay their
shoulders to remove the great obstacles of ignorance, and press the remedies of
education and information, they will still be in jeopardy until another
generation comes into place, and what may happen in the interval cannot be
predicted, nor shall you or I live to see it. In these cases I console myself
with the reflection that those who will come after us will be as wise as we
are, and as able to take care of themselves as we have been. I hope you
continue to preserve your health, and that you may long continue to do so in
happiness, is the prayer of yours affectionately.







      TO GENERAL THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.



                 MONTICELLO, April 13, 1811.



  MY DEAR GENERAL AND FRIEND,-My last letter to you was of the 26th of February
of the last year. Knowing of no particular conveyance, I confided it to the
Department of State, to be put under the cover of their public despatches tn
General Armstrong or Mr. Warden. Not having been able to learn whether it ever
got to hand, I now enclose a duplicate. 






           Correspondence



  Knowing your affections to this country, and the interest you take in
whatever concerns it, I therein gave you a tableau of its state when I retired
from the administration. The difficulties and embarrassments still continued in
our way by the two great belligerent powers, you are acquainted with. In other
times, when there was some profession of regard for right, some respect to
reason, when a gross violation of these marked a deliberate design of pointed
injury, these would have been causes of war. But when we see two antagonists
contending ad internecionem, so eager for mutual destruction as to disregard
all means, to deal their blows in every direction regardless on whom they may
fall, prudent bystanders, whom some of them may wound, instead of thinking it
cause to join in the maniac contest, get out of the way as well as they can,
and leave the cannibals to mutual ravin. It would have been perfect Quixotism
in us to have encountered these Bedlamites, to have undertaken the redress of
all wrongs against a world avowedly rejecting all regard to right. We have,
therefore, remained in peace, suffering frequent injuries, but, on the whole,
multiplying, improving, prospering beyond all example. It is evident to all,
that in spite of great losses much greater gains have ensued. When these
gladiators shall have worried each other into ruin or reason, instead of lying
among the dead on the bloody arena, we shall have acquired a growth and
strength which will place us hors d'insulte. Peace then has been our 






            Jefferson's Works



principle, peace is our interest, and peace has saved to the world this only
plant of free and rational government now existing in it. If it can still be
preserved, we shall soon see the final extinction of our national debt, and
liberation of our revenues for the defence and improvement of our country.
These revenues will be levied entirely on the rich, the business of household
manufacture being now so established that the farmer and laborer clothe
themselves entirely. The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone
the whole taxes of the General Government are levied. The poor man who uses
nothing but what is made in his own farm or family, or within his own country,
pays not a farthing of tax to the general government, but on his salt; and
should we go into that manufacture also, as is probable, he will pay nothing.
Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus
applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., the farmer will see his government
supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise
by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a
cent from his earnings. However., therefore, we may have been reproached for
pursuing our Quaker system, time will affix the stamp of wisdom on it, and the
happiness and prosperity of our citizens will attest its merit. And this, I
believe, is the only legitimate object of government, and the first duty of
governors, and not the slaughter of men and devastation of the 






            Correspondence          43



countries placed under their care, in pursuit of a fantastic honor, unallied to
virtue or happiness; or in gratification of the angry passions, or the pride of
administrators, excited by personal incidents, in which their citizens have no
concern. Some merit will be ascribed to the converting such times of
destruction into times of growth and strength for us. And behold! another
example of man rising in his might and bursting the chains of his oppressor,
and in the same hemisphere. Spanish America is all in revolt. The insurgents
are triumphant in many of the States, and will be so in all. But there the
danger is that the cruel arts of their oppressors have enchained their minds,
have kept them in the ignorance of children, and as incapable of
self-government as children. If the obstacles of bigotry and priest-craft can
be surmounted, we may hope that common sense will suffice to do everything
else. God send them a safe deliverance. As to the private matter explained in
my letter of February 26, the time I shall have occasion for your indulgence
will not be longer than there stated, and may be shortened if either your
convenience or will should require it. God bless you, and give you many years
of health and happiness, and that you may live to see more of the liberty you
love than present appearances promise.



 P. S. Mr. Barnes is now looking out for bills for your usual annual
remittance. 






44          Jefferson's Works







        TO JOEL BARLOW.



              MONTICELLO, April 16, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I felicitate you sincerely on your destination to Paris, because I
believe it will contribute both to your happiness and the public good. Yet it
is not unmixed with regret. What is to become of our past revolutionary history
? Of the antidotes of truth to the misrepresentations of Marshall? This example
proves the wisdom of the maxim, never to put off to tomorrow what can be done
to-day. But, putting aside vain regrets, I shall be happy to hear from you in
your new situation. I cannot offer you in. exchange the minutiae of the
Cabinet, the workings in Congress, or underworkings of those around them.
General views are all which we at a distance can have, but general views are
sometimes better taken at a distance than nearer. The working of the whole
machine is sometimes better seen elsewhere than at its centre. In return you
can give me the true state of things in Europe, what is its real public mind at
present, its disposition towards the existing authority, its secret purposes
and future prospects, seasoned with the literary news. I do not propose this as
an equal barter, because it is really asking you to give a dollar for a
shilling. I must leave the difference to be made up from other motives. I have
been long waiting for a safe opportunity to write to some friends and
correspondents in France, I troubled 






            Correspondence          45



Mr. Warden with some letters, and he kindly offered to take all I could get
ready before his departure. But his departure seems not yet definitely settled,
and should he not go with you, what is in your hands will be less liable to
violation than in his. I therefore take the liberty of asking your care of the
letters now enclosed, and their delivery through confidential hands. Most of
them are of a complexion not proper for the eye of the police, and might do
injury to those to whom they are addressed. Wishing to yourself and Mrs. Barlow
a happy voyage, and that the execution of the duties of your mission may be
attended with all agreeable circumstances, I salute you with assurance of my
perfect esteem and respect.







            TO ALBERT GALLATIN.



               MONTICELLO, APRIL 24, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-A book confided to me by a friend for translation and publication
has for a twelvemonth past kept me in correspondence with Colonel Duane. We
undertook to have it translated and published. The last sheets had been
revised, and in a late letter to him, I pressed the printing. I soon afterwards
received one from him informing me that it would be much retarded by
embarrassments recently brought on him by his friends withdrawing their aid who
had been in the habit of lending their names for his accommodation in the
banks. He painted 






            Jefferson's Works



his situation as truly distressing; and intimated the way in which relief would
be acceptable. The course I pursued on the occasion will be explained to you in
a letter which I have written to the President, and asked the favor of him to
communicate to you.



  A difference of quite another character gives me more uneasiness. No one
feels more painfully than I do, the separation of friends, and especially when
their sensibilities are to be daily harrowed up by cannibal newspapers. In
these cases, however, I claim from all parties the privilege of neutrality, and
to be permitted to esteem all as I ever did. The harmony which made me happy
while at Washington, is as dear to me now as then, and I should be equally
afflicted, were it, by any circumstance, to be impaired as to myself. I have so
much confidence in the candor and good sense of both parties, as to trust that
the misunderstanding will lead to no sinister effects, and my constant prayer
will be for blessings on you all.











     TO ROBERT SMITH, ESQ.



               MONTICELLO, April 30, 1811.



DEAR SIR,-I have learnt, with sincere concern, the circumstances which have
taken place at Washington. Some intimations had been quoted from federal
papers, which I had supposed false, as usual. Their first confirmation to me
was from the National 






             Correspondence         47



Intelligencer. Still my hopes and confidence were that your retirement was
purely a matter of choice on your part. A letter I have received from Mr.
Hollins makes me suppose there was a more serious misunderstanding than I had
apprehended. The newspapers indeed had said so, but I yield little faith to
them. No one feels more painfully than I do the separation of friends, and
especially when their sensibilities are to be daily harrowed up by cannibal
newspapers. Suffering myself under whatever inflicts sufferance on them, I
condole with them mutually, and ask the mutual permission to esteem all, as I
ever did; not to know their differences nor ask the causes of them. The harmony
which made me happy at Washington, is as dear to me now as it was then, and I
should be equally afflicted were it by any circumstance to be impaired as to
myself. I have so much confidence in the candor and liberality of both parties,
as to trust that the misunderstanding will not be permitted to lead to any
sinister effects, and my constant prayer will be for blessings on you all.







      TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.







            MONTICELLO, April 30, 1811.



    DEAR SIR -When I wrote you my letter of March



   28, I had great confidence that as much at least could



have been done for you as I therein supposed. The



   friend to whom I confided the business here, and who 






48          Jefferson's Works



was and is zealous, had found such readiness in those to whom he spoke, as left
no other difficulty than to find the bank responsible. But the Auroras which
came on while this was. in transaction, changed the prospect altogether, and
produced a general revulsion of sentiment. The President's popularity is high
through this State, and nowhere higher than here. They considered these papers
as a denunciation of war against him, and instantly withdrew their offers. I
cannot give you a better account of the effect of the same papers in Richmond
than by quoting the letter of a friend who there undertook the same office, and
with great cordiality. In a letter to me of April 17, he says, " yours of the
15th, in reply to mine of the 10th instant, has been brought to me from the
office this instant. On showing it to the effect of it was to dispose him to
lend $500, and I wrote my letter of the 10th to you in a persuasion produced by
that incident, as well as by its effect on my own feelings, that something
important might be done for D. in spite of the adverse spirit, or at least
distrust, which the equivocal character of his paper has lately excited,
equivocal in relation to Mr. Madison. But D.'s three or four last papers
contain such paragraphs in relation to Mr. Madison, that even your letter
cannot now serve him. The paper is now regarded as an opposition one, and the
republicans here have no sympathy with any one who carries opposition colors.
Every gentleman who mentions this subject in my hearing, speaks



             Correspondence        49



with the warmest resentment against D. Believe me, Sir, it is impossible to do
anything for him here now; and any further attempts would only disable me from
rendering any service to the cause hereafter. I am persuaded that you will see
this subject in its true light, and be assured that it is the impracticability
of serving him, produced by himself; as well as the violation which I feel it
would be of my sentiments for Mr. Madison, that prevents me from proceeding."
The firm, yet modest character of the writer of this letter gives great weight
to what he says, and I have thought it best to state it in his own terms,
because it will be better evidence to you than any general description I could
give of the impression made by your late papers. Indeed I could give none, for
going little from home, I cannot personally estimate the public sentiment. The
few I see are very unanimous in support of their executive and legislative
functionaries. I have thought it well, too, that you should know exactly the
feelings here, because if you get similar information from other respectable
portions of the union, it will naturally beget some suspicion in your own mind
that finding such a mass of opinion variant from your own, you may be under
erroneous impressions, meriting re-examination and consideration. I think an
editor should be independent, that is, of personal influence, and not be moved
from his opinions on the mere authority of any individual But, with respect to
the general opinion of the political section



   VOL. XIII-4 






50            Jefferson's Works



with which he habitually accords, his duty seems very like that of a member of
Congress. Some of these indeed think that independence requires them to follow
always their own opinion, without respect for that of others. This has never
been my opinion, nor my practice, when I have been of that or any other body.
Differing, on a particular question, from those whom I knew to be of the same
political principles with myself, and with whom I generally thought and acted,
a consciousness of the fallibility of the human mind, and of my own in
particular, with a respect for the accumulated judgment of my friends, has
induced me to suspect erroneous impressions in myself, to suppose my own
opinion wrong, and to act with them on theirs. The want of this spirit of
compromise, or of self-distrust, proudly, but falsely, called independence, is
what gives the federalists victories which they could never obtain, if these
brethren could learn to respect the opinions of their friends more than of
their enemies, and prevents many able and honest men from doing all the good
they otherwise might do. I state these considerations because they have often
quieted my own conscience in voting and acting on the judgment of others
against my own ; and because they may suggest doubts to yourself in the present
case. Our executive and legislative authorities are the choice of the nation,
and possess the nation's confidence. They are chosen because they possess it,
and the recent elections prove it has not been abated by the











             Correspondence         51



attacks which have for some time been kept up against them. If the measures
which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the
minority to acquiesce and conform. It is true indeed that dissentients have a
right to go over to the minority, and to act with them. But I do not believe
your mind has contemplated that course, that it has deliberately viewed the
strange company into which it may be led, step by step, unintended and
unperceived by itself. The example of John Randolph is a caution to all honest
and prudent men, to sacrifice a little of self-confidence, and to go with their
friends, although they may sometimes think they are going wrong. After so long
a course of steady adherence to the general sentiments of the republicans, it
would afflict me sincerely to see you separate from the body, become auxiliary
to the enemies of our government, who have to you been the bitterest enemies,
who are now chuckling at the prospect of division among us, and, as I am told,
are subscribing for your paper. The best indication of error which my
experience has tested, is the approbation of the federalists. Their conclusions
necessarily follow the false bias of their principles. I claim, however, no
right of guiding the conduct of others ; but have indulged myself in these
observations from the sincere feelings of my heart. Retired from all political
interferences I have been induced into this one by a desire, first, of being
useful to you personally, and next of 






52          Jefferson's Works



maintaining the republican ascendency. Be its effect what it may, I am done
with it, and shall look on as an inactive, though not an unfeeling, spectator
of what is to ensue. As far as my good will may go, for I can no longer act, I
shall adhere to my government executive and legislative, and, as long as they
are republican, I shall go with their measures, whether I think them right or
wrong ; because I know they are honest, and are wiser and better informed than
I am. In doing this, however, I shall not give up the friendship of those who
differ from me, and who have equal right with myself to shape their own course.
In this disposition be assured of my continued esteem and respect.



  P. S. Be so good as to consider the extract from my friend's letter as
confidential, because I have not his permission to make this use of it.







             TO WILLIAM WIRT.



                 MONTICELLO, May 3, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-The interest you were so kind as to take, at my request, in the
case of Duane, and the communication to you of my first letter to him, entitles
you to a communication of the second, which will probably be the last. I have
ventured to quote your letter in it, without giving your name, and even
softening some of its expressions respecting him. It is possible Duane may be
reclaimed as to Mr. Madi






             Correspondence;         53



son. But as to Mr. Gallatin, I despair of it. That enmity took its rise from a
suspicion that Mr. Gallatin interested himself in the election of their
governor against the views of Duane and his friends. I do not believe Mr.
Gallatin meddled in it. I was in conversation with him nearly every day during
the contest, and never heard him express any bias in the case. The ostensible
grounds of the attack on Mr. Gallatin are all either false or futile. 1st. They
urge his conversations with John Randolph. But who has revealed these
conversations? What evidence have we of them? Merely some oracular sentences
from J. R., uttered in the heat of declamation, and never stated with all their
circumstances. For instance, that a Cabinet member informed him there was no
Cabinet. But Duane himself has always denied there could be a legal one.
Besides, the fact was true at that moment, to wit : early in the session of
Congress. I had been absent from Washington from the middle of July to within
three weeks of their meeting. During the separation of the members there could
be no consultation, and between our return to Washington and the meeting of
Congress, there really had arisen nothing requiring general consultation,
nothing which could not be done in the ordinary way by consultation between the
President and the head of the department to which the matter belonged, which is
the way everything is transacted which is not difficult as well as important.
Mr. Gallatin might therefore have said 






54          Jefferson's Works



this as innocently as truly, and a malignant perversion of it was perfectly
within the character of John Randolph. But the story of the two millions. Mr.
Gallatin satisfied us that this affirmation of J. R. was as unauthorized as the
fact itself was false. It resolves itself, therefore, into his inexplicit
letter to a committee of Congress. As to this, my own surmise was that Mr.
Gallatin might have used some hypothetical expression in conversing on that
subject, which J. R. made a positive one, and he being a duellist, and Mr.
Gallatin with a wife and children depending on him for their daily subsistence,
the latter might wish to avoid collision and insult from such a man. But they
say he was hostile to me. This is false. I was indebted to nobody for more
cordial aid than to Mr. Gallatin, nor could any man more solicitously interest
himself in behalf of another than he did of myself. His conversations with
Erskine are objected as meddling out of his department. Why, then, do they not
object Mr. Smith's with Rose? The whole nearly, of that negotiation, as far as
it was transacted verbally, was by Mr. Smith. The business was in this way
explained informally, and on understandings thus obtained, Mr. Madison and
myself shaped our formal proceedings. In fact, the harmony among us was so
perfect, that whatever instrument appeared most likely to effect the object,
was always used without jealousy. Mr. Smith happened to catch Mr. Rose's favor
and confidence at once. We perceived that 






            Correspondence           55



Rose would open himself more frankly to him than to Mr. Madison, and we
therefore made him the medium of obtaining an understanding of Mr. Rose. Mr.
Gallatin's support of the bank has, I believe, been disapproved by many. He was
not in Congress when that was established, and therefore had never committed
himself, publicly, on the constitutionality of that institution, nor do I
recollect ever to have heard him declare himself on it. I know he derived
immense convenience from it, because they gave the effect of ubiquity to his
money wherever deposited. Money in New Orleans or Maine was at his command, and
by their agency transformed in an instant into money in London, in Paris,
Amsterdam or Canton. He was, therefore, cordial to the bank. I often pressed
him to divide the public deposits among all the respectable banks, being
indignant myself at the open hostility of that institution to a government on
whose treasuries they were fattening. But his repugnance to it prevented my
persisting. And if he was in favor of the bank, what is the amount of that
crime or error in which he had a majority save one in each House of Congress as
participators? Yet on these facts, endeavors are made to drive from the
administration the ablest man except the President, who ever was in it, and to
beat down the President himself, because he is unwilling to part with so able a
counsellor. I believe Duane to be a very honest man and sincerely republican ;
but his passions are stronger than his pru






56           Jefferson's Works



dence, and his personal as well as general antipathies render him very
intolerant. These traits lead him astray, and require his readers, even those
who value him for his steady support of the republican cause, to be on their
guard against his occasional aberrations. He is eager for war against England,
hence his abuse of the two last Congresses. But the people wish for peace. The
re-elections of the same men prove it. And indeed, war against Bedlam would be
just as rational as against Europe in its present condition of total
demoralization. When peace becomes more losing than war, we may prefer the
latter on principles of pecuniary calculation. But for us to attempt, by war,
to reform all Europe, and bring them back to principles of morality and a
respect for the equal rights of nations, would show us to be only maniacs of
another character. We should, indeed, have the merit of the good intentions as
well as of the folly of the hero of La Mancha. But I am getting beyond the
object of my letter, and will therefore here close it with assurances of my
great esteem and respect.







             TO WILLIAM WIRT.



                 MONTICELLO, May 3, 1811.



I have rejoiced to see Ritchie declare himself in favor of the President on the
late attack against him, and wish he may do the same as to Mr. Gallatin. I am
sure he would if his information Was full. I have 






             Correspondence



not an intimacy with him which might justify my writing to him directly, but
the enclosed letter to you is put into such a form as might be shown to him, if
you think proper to do so. Perhaps the facts stated in it, probably unknown to
him, may have some effect. But do in this as you think best. Be so good as to
return the letter to Duane, being my only copy, and to be assured of my
affectionate esteem and respect







           TO JOHN HOLLINS, ESQ.



                 MONTICELLO, May 5, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of April 17th came duly to hand. Nobody has regretted
more sincerely than myself, the incidents which have happened at Washington.
The early intimations which I saw quoted from federal papers were disregarded
by- me, because falsehood is their element. The first confirmation was from the
National Intelligencer, soon followed by the exultations of other papers whose
havoc is on the feelings of the virtuous. Sincerely the friend of all the
parties, I ask of none why they have fallen out by the way, and would gladly
infuse the oil and wine of the Samaritan into all their wounds. I hope that
time, the assuager of all evils, will heal these also; and I pray from them all
a continuance of their affection, and to be permitted to bear to all the same
unqualified esteem. Of one thing I am certain, that they will not suffer
personal dissatisfactions to endanger the republican cause. 






58          Jefferson's Works



Their principles, I know, are far above all private considerations. And when we
reflect that the eyes of the virtuous all over the earth are turned with
anxiety on us, as the only depositories of the sacred fire of liberty, and that
our falling into anarchy would decide forever the destinies of mankind, and
seal the political heresy that man is incapable of self-government, the only
contest between divided friends should be who will dare farthest into the ranks
of the common enemy. With respect to Mr. Foster's mission, it cannot issue but
as Rose's and Jackson's did. It can no longer be doubted that Great Britain
means to claim the ocean as her conquest, and to suffer not even a cock-boat,
as they express it, to traverse it but on paying them a transit duty to support
the very fleet which is to keep the nations under tribute, and to rivet the
yoke around their necks. Although their government has never openly avowed
this, yet their orders of council, in their original form, were founded on this
principle, and I have observed for years past, that however ill success may at
times have induced them to amuse by negotiation, they have never on any
occasion dropped a word disclaiming this pretension, nor one which they would
have to retract when they shall judge the times ripe for openly asserting it.
Protraction is therefore the sole object of Foster's mission. They do not wish
war with us, but will meet it rather than relinquish their purpose.



  With earnest prayers to all my friends to cherish



            Correspondence           59



mutual good will, to promote harmony and conciliation, and above all things to
let the love of our country soar above all minor passions, I tender you the
assurance of my affectionate esteem and respect.







        TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.



               MONTICELLO, May 5, 1811.



DEAR SIR,-Your favor on your departure from Richmond, came to hand in due time.
Although I may not have been among the first, I am certainly with the
sincerest, who congratulate you on your entrance into the national councils.
Your value there has never been unduly estimated by those whom personal
feelings did not misguide. The late misunderstandings at Washington have been a
subject of real concern to me. I know that the dissolutions of personal
friendship are among the most painful occurrences in human life. I have sincere
esteem for all who have been affected by them, having passed with them eight
years of great harmony and affection. These incidents are rendered more
distressing in our country than elsewhere, because our printers ravin on the
agonies of their victims, as wolves do on the blood of the lamb. But the
printers and the public are very different personages. The former may lead the
latter a little out of their track, while the deviation is insensible; but the
moment they usurp their direction and that of their government, they will be
reduced to their 






60          Jefferson's Works



true places. The two last Congresses have been the theme of the most licentious
reprobation for printers thirsting after war, some against France and some
against England. But the people wish for peace with both. They feel no
incumbency on them to become the reformers of the other hemisphere, and to
inculcate, with fire and sword, a return to moral order. When, indeed, peace
shall become more losing than war, they may owe to their interests what these
Quixotes are clamoring for on false estimates of honor. The public are unmoved
by these clamors, as the re-election of their legislators shows, and they are
firm to their executive on the subject of the more recent clamors.



  We ' are suffering here, both in the gathered and the growing crop. The
lowness of the river, and great quantity of produce brought to Milton this
year, render it almost impossible to get our crops to market. This is the case
of mine as well as yours, and the Hessian fly appears alarmingly in our growing
crops. Everything is in distress for the want of rain.



  Present me respectfully to Mrs. Monroe, and accept yourself assurances of my
constant and affectionate esteem.







TO JOHN SEVERIN VATER, PROFESSOR AT KONIGSBERG.



                MONTICELLO, May II, 1811.



  SIR,-Your favor of November 4, 1809, did not get to my hands till a
twelvemonth after its date. 






             Correspondence          61



Be pleased to accept my thanks for the publication you were pleased to send me.
That for Dr. Barton I forwarded to him. His researches into the Indian
languages of our continent being continued, I hope it will be in his power to
make to you communications useful to the object you are pursuing. This will
lessen to me the regret that my retirement into an interior part of the
country, as well as my age and little intercourse with the world, will scarcely
afford me opportunities of contributing to your information. It is extremely to
be desired that your researches should receive every aid and encouragement. I
have long considered the filiation of languages as the best proof we can ever
obtain of the filiation of nations. With my best wishes for the success of your
undertaking, accept the assurances of my high consideration and respect.







           TO COUNT JOHN POTOCKI.



                 MONTICELLO, May 12, 1811.



  SIR,-I have received your letter of August 19th, and with it the volume of
chronology you were so kind as to send me, for which be pleased to accept my
thanks. It presents a happy combination of sparse and ' unconnected facts,
which, brought together and fitted to each other, forms a whole of symmetry as
well as of system. It is as a gleam of light flashed over the dark abyss of
times past. Nothing would be more flattering to me than to 






62          Jefferson's Works



give aid to your inquiries as to this continent, and to weave its ancient
history into the web of the old world ; and with this view, to accept the
invitation to a correspondence with you on the subject. But time tells me I am
nearly done with the history of the world; that I am now far advanced in the
last chapter of my own, and that its last verse will be read out ere a few
letters could pass between St. Petersburg and Monticello. I shall serve you
therefore more permanently, by bequeathing to you another correspondent, more
able, more industrious, and more likely to continue in life than myself. Dr.
Benjamin S. Barton, one of the professors of the College of Philadelphia, is
learned in the antiquities of this country, has employed much time and
attention on researches into them, is active and punctual, and will, I think,
better fulfil your wishes than any other person in the United States. If you
will have the goodness to address a letter to him on the subject, with the
inquiries you wish to make, he will, I am sure, set a just value on the
correspondence proposed, for which I shall take care to prepare him, and in
committing to better hands an honor which in earlier life I should have taken a
pleasure in endeavoring to merit, I make a sacrifice of my own self-love, which
is the strongest proof I can give you of the high respect and consideration of
which I now tender you the assurance. 






            Correspondence          63







TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



            (JAMES MADISON).



                MONTICELLO, July 3, 1811.



 DEAR SIR,-I have Seen with very great concern the late address of Mr. Smith to
the public. He has been very ill-advised, both personally and publicly. As far
as I can judge from what I hear, the impression made is entirely unfavorable to
him. Every man's own understanding readily answers all the facts and
insinuations, one only excepted, and for that they look for explanations
without any doubt that they will be satisfactory. What is Irving's case? I have
answered the inquiries of several on this head, telling them at the same time
what was really the truth, that the failure of my memory enabled me to give
them rather conjectures than recollections. For in truth, I have but indistinct
recollections of the case. I know that what was done was on a joint
consultation between us, and I have no fear that what we did will not have been
correct and cautious. What I retain of the case, on being reminded of some
particulars, will reinstate the whole firmly in my remembrance, and enable me
to state them to inquirers with correctness, which is the more important from
the part I bore in them. I must therefore ask the favor of you to give me a
short outline of the facts, which may correct as well as supply my own
recollections. But who is to give an explanation to the public? not yourself,
certainly. 






            Jefferson's Works



The Chief Magistrate cannot enter the arena of the newspapers. At least the
occasion should be of a much higher order. I imagine there is some pen at
Washington competent to it. Perhaps the best form would be that of some one
personating the friend of Irving, some one apparently from the North. Nothing
labored is requisite. A short and simple statement of the case will, I am sure,
satisfy the public. We are in the midst of a so-so harvest, probably one-third
short of the last. We had a very fine rain on Saturday last. Ever
affectionately yours.







             TO JOEL BARLOW.



                MONTICELLO, July 22, 1811.



DEAR SIR,-I had not supposed a letter would still find you at Washington. Yours
by late post tells me otherwise. Those of May 2d and 15th had been received in
due time. With respect to my books, lodged at the President's house, if you
should see Mr. Coles, the President's Secretary, and be so good as to mention
it, he will be so kind as to have them put on board some vessel bound to
Richmond, addressed to the care of Gibson & Jefferson there, whom he knows.
Your doubts whether any good can be effected with the Emperor of France are too
well grounded. He has understanding enough, but it is confined to particular
lines. Of the principles and advantages of commerce he appears to be 






            Correspondence           65



ignorant, and his domineering temper deafens him moreover to the dictates of
interest, of honor and of morality. A nation like ours, recognizing no
arrogance of language or conduct, can never enjoy the favor of such a
character. The impression, too, which our public has been made to receive from
the different styles of correspondence used by two of our foreign agents, has
increased the difficulties of steering between the bristling pride of the two
parties. It seems to point out the Quaker style of plain reason, void of
offence:-the suppression of a11 passion, and chaste language of good sense.
Heaven prosper your endeavors for our good, and preserve you in health and
happiness.







        TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



                MONTICELLO, July 25, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-Your letter of the 5th, with the volume of Montesquieu accompanying
it, came to hand in due time; the latter indeed in lucky time, as, enclosing it
by the return of post, I was enabled to get it into Mr. Warden's hands before
his departure, for a friend abroad to whom it will be a most acceptable
offering. Of the residue of the copies I asked, I would wish to receive one
well bound for my own library, the others in boards as that before sent. One of
these in boards may come to me by post, for use until the others are received,
which I would prefer having sent by water, as vessels depart



   V0L. XIII--5 






            Jefferson's Works



almost daily from Philadelphia for Richmond. Messrs. Gibson & Jefferson of that
place will receive and forward the packet to me. Add to it, if you please, a
copy of Franklin's works, bound, and send me by post a note of the amount of
the whole, and of my newspaper account, which has been suffered to run in
arrear by .the difficulty of remitting small and fractional sums to a distance,
from a canton having only its local money, and little commercial intercourse
beyond its own limits.



  I learnt with sincere regret that my former letters had given you pain.
Nothing could be further from their intention. What I had said and done was
from the most friendly dispositions towards yourself, and from a zeal for
maintaining the Republican ascendency. Federalism, stripped as it now nearly
is, of its landed and laboring support, is monarchism and Anglicism, and
whenever our own dissensions shall let these in upon us, the last ray of free
government closes on the horizon of the world. I have been lately reading
Komarzewski's coup d'oeil on the history of Poland. Though without any charms
of style or composition, it gives a lesson which all our countrymen should
study; the example of a country erased from the map of the world by the
dissensions of its own citizens. The papers of every day read them the counter
lesson of the impossibility of subduing a people acting with an undivided will
Spain, under all her disadvantages, physical and mental, is an encouraging
example of this. She 






             Correspondence.



proves, too, another truth not less valuable, that a people having no king to
sell them for a mess of pottage for himself, no shackles to restrain their
powers of self-defence, find resources within themselves equal to every trial.
This we did during the Revolutionary War, and this we can do again, let who
will attack us, if we act heartily with one another. This is my creed. To the
principles of union I sacrifice all minor differences of opinion. These, like
differences of face, are a law of our nature, and should be viewed with the
same tolerance. The clouds which have appeared for some time to be gathering
around us, have given me anxiety lest an enemy, always on the watch, always
prompt and firm, and acting in well-disciplined phalanx, should find an opening
to dissipate hopes, with the loss of which I would wish that of life itself. To
myself personally the sufferings would be short. The powers of life have
declined with me more in the last six months than in as many preceding years. A
rheumatic indisposition, under which your letter found me, has caused this
delay in acknowledging its receipt, and in the expressions of regret that I had
inadvertently said or done anything which had given you uneasiness. I pray you
to be assured ' that no unkind motive directed me, and that my sentiments of
friendship and respect continue the same. 






68           Jefferson's Works







       TO JAMES OGILVIE.



               MONTICELLO, August 4, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of May 24th was very long on its passage to me. It gave
us all pleasure to learn from yourself the progress of your peregrination, and
your prospect of approaching rest for awhile, among our western brethren-of "
rest for the body some, none for the mind. " To that, action is said to be all
its joy; and we have no more remarkable proof of it than in yourself. The
newspapers have kept us informed of the splendid course you have run, and of
the flattering impressions made on the public mind, and which must have been so
grateful to yourself. The new intellectual feast you are preparing for them in
your western retirement, will excite new appetites, and will be hailed like the
returning sun, when he re-appears in. the East. Your peripatetic enterprise,
when first made known to us, alarmed our apprehensions for you, lest the taste
of the times, and of our country, should not be up to the revival of this
classical experiment: Much to their credit, however, unshackled by the
prejudices which chain down the minds of the common mass of Europe, the
experiment has proved that, where thought is free in its range, we need never
fear to hazard what is good in itself. This sample of the American mind is an
additional item for the flattering picture your letter presents of our
situation, and our prospects. I firmly believe in them all; and



            Correspondence



that human nature has never looked forward, under circumstances so auspicious,
either for the sum of happiness, or the spread of surface provided to receive
it. Very contrary opinions are inculcated in Europe, and in England especially,
where I much doubt if you would be tolerated in presenting the views you
propose. The English have been a wise, a virtuous and truly estimable people.
But commerce and a corrupt government have rotted them to the core. Every
generous, nay, every just sentiment, is absorbed in the thirst for gold. I
speak of their cities, which we may certainly pronounce to be ripe for
despotism, and fitted for no other government. Whether the leaven of the
agricultural body is sufficient to regenerate the residuary mass, and maintain
it in a sound state under any reformation of government, may well be doubted.
Nations, like individuals, wish to enjoy a fair reputation.. It is therefore
desirable for us that the slanders on our country, disseminated by hired or
prejudiced travellers, should be corrected; but politics, like religion, hold
up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error. Nor is it in the theatre
of Ephesus alone that tumults have been excited when the crafts were in danger.
You must be cautious, therefore, in telling unacceptable truths beyond the
water. You wish me to suggest any subject which occurs to myself as fit for the
rostrum. But your own selection has proved you would have been aided by no
counsel, and that, you can best judge of the topics 






 70             Jefferson's Works



 which open to your own mind a field for develop-



ment, and promise to your hearers instruction better



adapted to the useful purposes of society, than the



weekly disquisitions of their hired instructors. All



the efforts of these people are directed to the main-



tenance of the artificial structure of their craft, view-



ing but as a subordinate concern the inculcation of



morality. If we will be but Christians, according



to their schemes of Christianity, they will compound



good-naturedly with our immoralities.



  Cannot your circuit be so shaped as to lead you



through our neighborhood on your return ? It



would give us all great pleasure to see you, if it be



only en passant, for after such a survey of varied



country, we cannot flatter ourselves that ours would



be the selected residence. But whether you can



visit us or not, I shall always be happy to hear from



you, and to know that you succeed in whatever you



undertake. With these assurances accept those of



great esteem and respect from myself and all the



members of my family.



  P. S. Since writing the above, an interesting subject occurs. What would you
think of a discourse



on the benefit of the union, and miseries which would



follow a separation of the States, to be exemplified



in the eternal and wasting wars of Europe, in the



pillage and profligacy to which these lead, and the



abject oppression and degradation to which they



reduce its inhabitants ? Painted by your vivid 






                  Correspondence                  71



     pencil, what could make deeper impressions,  and



what impressions could come more home to our



concerns, or kindle a livelier sense of our present



blessings ?







         TO JUDGE ARCHIBALD STUART.



                    MONTICELLO, August 8, 1811.



        DEAR SIR,-I ask the favor of you to purchase



 for me as much fresh timothy seed as the enclosed



 bill will pay for, pack and forward, and that you



 will have the goodness to direct it to be lodged at



 Mr. Leitch's store in Charlottesville by the waggoner



 who brings it. You see how bold your indulgencies



 make me in intruding on your kindness.



        I do not know that the government means to make



 known what has passed between them and Foster



 before the meeting of Congress; but in the mean-



 time individuals who are in the way, think they



      have a right to fish it out, and in this way the sum



 of it has become known. Great Britain has certainly



 come forward and declared to our government by



 an official paper, that the conduct of France towards



 her during this war has obliged her to take possession



 of the ocean, and to determine that no commerce



 shall be carried on with the nations connected with



 France; that, however, she is disposed to relax in



  this determination so far as to permit the commerce



  which may be carried on through the British ports.

       I have, for three or four years, been confident that,







        Jefferson's Works



knowing that her own resources were not adequate to the maintenance of her
present navy, she meant with it to claim the conquest of the ocean, and to
permit no nation to navigate it, but on payment of a tribute for the
maintenance of the fleet necessary to secure that dominion. A thousand
circumstances brought together left me without a doubt  that  that policy
directed all her conduct, although not avowed. This is the first time she has
thrown off the mask. The answer and conduct of the government have been what
they ought to have been, and Congress is called a little earlier, to be ready
to act on the receipt of the reply, for which time has been given.



  God bless you. From yours affectionately.







        TO GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN.



           POPLAR FOREST, August 14, 1811.



  DEAR GENERAL AND. FRIEND,-I am happy to learn that your own health is good,
and I hope it will long continue so. The friends we left behind us have fallen
out by the way. I sincerely lament it, because I sincerely esteem them all, and
because it multiplies schisms where harmony is safety. As far as I have been
able to judge, however, it has made no sensible impression against the
government. Those who were murmuring before are a little louder now; but the
mass of our citizens is firm and unshaken. It furnishes, as an incident,
another proof that they are perfectly 






             Correspondence                    73



equal to the purposes of self-government, and that we have nothing to fear for
its stability. The spirit, indeed, which manifests itself among the tories of
your quarter, although I believe there is a majority there sufficient to keep
it down in peaceable times, leaves me not without some disquietude. Should the
determination of England, now formally expressed, to take possession of the
ocean, and to suffer no commerce on it but through her ports, force a war upon
us, I foresee a possibility of a separate treaty between her and your Essex
men, on the principles of neutrality and commerce. Pickering here, and his
nephew Williams there, can easily negotiate this. Such a lure to the quietists
in our ranks with you, might recruit theirs to a majority. Yet, excluded as
they would be from intercourse with the rest of the Union and of Europe, I
scarcely see the gain they would propose to themselves, even for the moment.
The defection would certainly disconcert the other States, but it could not
ultimately endanger their safety. They are adequate, in all points, to a
defensive war. However, I hope your majority, with the aid it is entitled to,
will save us from this trial, to which I think it possible we are advancing.
The death of George may come to our relief ; but I fear the dominion of the sea
is the insanity of the nation itself also. Perhaps, if some stroke of fortune
were to rid us at the same time from the Mammoth of the land as well as the
Leviathan of the ocean, the people of 






            Jefferson's Works



England might lose their fears, and recover their sober senses again. Tell my
old friend, Governor Gerry, that I gave him glory for the rasping with which he
rubbed down his herd of traitors. Let them have justice and protection against
personal violence, but no favor. Powers and preeminences conferred on them are
daggers put into the hands of assassins, to be plunged into our own bosoms in
the moment the thrust can go home to the heart. Moderation can never reclaim
them: They deem it timidity, and despise without fearing the tameness from
which it flows. Backed by England, they never lose the hope that their day is
to come, when the terrorism of their earlier power is to be merged in the more
gratifying system of deportation and the guillotine. Being now hors de combat
myself, I resign to others these cares. A long attack of rheumatism has greatly
enfeebled me, and warns me that they will not very long be within my ken. But
you may have to meet the trial, and in the focus of its fury. God send you a
safe deliverance, a happy issue out of all afflictions, personal and public,
with long life, long health, and friends as sincerely attached as yours
affectionately.







           TO DR. BENJAMIN RUSH.



           POPLAR FOREST, August 17, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I write to you from a place ninety miles from Monticello, near the
New London of 






            Correspondence                       75



this State, which I visit three or four times a year, and stay from a fortnight
to a month at a time. I have fixed myself comfortably, keep some books here,
bring others occasionally, am in the solitude of a hermit, and quite at leisure
to attend to my absent friends. I note this to show that I am not in a
situation to examine the dates of our letters, whether I have overgone the
annual period of asking how you do ? I know that within that time I have
received one or more letters from you, accompanied by a volume of your
introductory lectures, for which accept my thanks. I have read them with
pleasure and edification, for I acknowledge facts in medicine as far as they
go, distrusting only their extension by theory. Having to conduct my grandson
through his course of mathematics, I have resumed that study with great
avidity. It was ever my favorite one. We have no theories there, no
uncertainties remain on the mind ; all is demonstration and satisfaction. I
have forgotten much, and recover it with more difficulty than when in the vigor
of my mind I originally acquired it. It is wonderful to me that old. men should
not be sensible that their minds keep pace with their bodies in the progress of
decay. Our old revolutionary friend Clinton, for example, who was a hero, but
never a man of mind, is wonderfully jealous on this head. He tells eternally
the stories of his younger days to prove his memory, as if memory and reason
were the same faculty. . Nothing betrays 






76                Jefferson's Works



imbecility so much as the being insensible of it. Had not a conviction of the
danger to which an unlimited occupation of the executive chair would expose the
republican constitution of our government, made it conscientiously a duty to
retire when I did, the fear of becoming a dotard and of being insensible of it,
would of itself have resisted all solicitations to remain. I have had a long
attack of rheumatism, without fever and without pain while I keep myself still.
A total prostration of the muscles of the back, hips and thighs, deprived me of
the power of walking, and leaves it still in a very impaired state. A pain when
I walk, seems to have fixed itself in the hip, and to threaten permanence. I
take moderate rides, without much fatigue; but my journey to this place, in a
hard-going gig, gave me great sufferings which I expect will be renewed on my
return as soon as I am able. The loss of the power of taking exercise would be
a sore affliction to me. It has been the delight of my retirement to be in
constant bodily activity, looking after my affairs. It was never damped as the
pleasures of reading are, by the question of cui bono? for what object? I hope
your health of body continues firm. Your works show that of your mind. The
habits of exercise which your calling has given to both, will tend long to
preserve them. The sedentary character of my public occupations sapped a
constitution naturally sound and vigorous, and draws it to an earlier close.
But it will still last quite as long 






            Correspondence                     77



as I wish it. There is a fulness of time when men should go, and not occupy too
long the ground to which others have a right to advance. We must continue while
here to exchange occasionally our mutual good wishes. I find friendship to be
like wine, raw when new, ripened with age, the true old man's milk and
restorative cordial. God bless you and preserve you through a long and healthy
old age.







     TO WILLIAM A. BURWELL.



           POPLAR FOREST, August 19, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I am here after a long absence, having been confined at home a
month by rheumatism. I thought myself equal to the journey when I set out, but
I have suffered much coming, staying, and shall, returning. If I am not better
after a little rest at home, I shall set out for the warm springs. The object
of this letter is to inform Mrs. Burwell that .a ring, which she left where she
washed, the morning of leaving Fludd's, is safe and will be delivered to her
order or to herself when she passes. I have not seen the President since he
came home, nor do I know what has passed with Foster from the fountain head;
but through a channel in which I have confidence, I learn he has delivered a
formal note in the name of his government, declaring that the circumstances of
the war oblige them to take possession of the ocean, and permit no commerce on 






78              Jefferson's Works



it but through their ports. Thus their purpose is at length avowed. They cannot
from their own resources maintain the navy necessary to retain the dominion of
the ocean, and mean that other nations shall be assessed to maintain their own
chains. Should the king die, as is probable, although the ministry which would
come in stand so committed to repeal the orders of council, I doubt if the
nation will permit it. For the usurpation of the sea has become a national
disease. This state of things annihilates the culture of tobacco, except of
about 15,000 hogsheads on the prime lands. Wheat and flour keep up. Wheat was
at 9s. 6d. at Richmond ten days ago. I have sold mine here at the Richmond
price, abating as., but 8s. a bushel has been offered for machined wheat.
Present me respectfully to Mrs. Burwell, and accept assurances of affectionate
respect and esteem.







           TO CHARLES W. PEALE.



           POPLAR FOREST, August 20, 1811.



It is long, my dear Sir, since we have exchanged a letter. Our former
correspondence had always some little matter of business interspersed; but this
being at an end, I shall still be anxious to hear from you sometimes, and to
know that you are well and happy. I know indeed that your system is that of
contentment under any situation. I have heard that you have retired from the
city to a farm, 






             Correspondence               79



and that you give your whole time to that. Does not the museum suffer? And is
the farm as interesting? Here, as you know, we are all farmers, but not in a
pleasing style. We have so little labor in proportion to our land that,
although perhaps we make more profit from the same labor, we cannot give to our
grounds that style of beauty which satisfies the eye of the amateur. Our
rotations are corn, wheat, and clover, or corn, wheat, clover and clover, or
wheat, corn, wheat, clover and clover; preceding the clover by a plastering.
But some, instead of clover, substitute mere rest, and all are slovenly enough.
We are adding the care of Merino sheep. I have often thought that if heaven had
given me choice of my position and calling, it should have been on a rich spot
of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of the
garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and
no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some
one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the
success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the
year. Under a total want of demand except for our family table, I am still
devoted to the garden. But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.



  Your application to whatever you are engaged in I know to be incessant. But
Sundays and rainy days are always days of writing for the farmer. Think of me
sometimes when you have your pen in 






80             Jefferson's Works



hand, and give me information of your health and occupations ; and be always
assured of my great esteem and respect.







             TO CHARLES CLAY.



            POPLAR FOREST, August 23, 1811,



DEAR SIR,-While here, and much confined to the house by my rheumatism, I have
amused myself with calculating the hour lines of an horizontal dial for the
latitude of this place, which I find to be 370 degrees 22' 26". The
calculations are for every five minutes of time, and are always exact to within
less than half a second of a degree. As I do not know that anybody here has
taken this trouble before, I have supposed a copy would be acceptable to you.
It may be a good exercise for Master Cyrus to make you a dial by them. He will
need nothing but a protractor, or a line of chords and dividers. A dial of
size, say of from twelve inches to two feet square, is the cheapest and most
accurate measure of time for general use, and would I suppose be more common if
every one possessed the proper horary lines for his own latitude. Williamsburg
being very nearly in the parallel of Poplar Forest, the calculations now sent
would serve for all the counties in the line between that place and this, for
your own place, New London, and Lynchburg in this neighborhood. Slate, as being
less affected by the sun, is preferable to wood or metal, and needs 






             Correspondence                    81



but a saw and plane to prepare it, and a knife point to mark the lines and
figures. If worth the trouble, you will, of course, use the paper enclosed ; if
not, some of your neighbors may wish to do it, and the effort to be of some use
to you will strengthen the assurances of my great esteem and respect.







             TO LEVI LINCOLN.



              MONTICELLO, August 25, 1811.



  It is long, my good friend, since we have exchanged a letter; and yet I demur
to all prescription against it. I cannot relinquish the right of correspondence
with those I have learnt to esteem. If the extension of common acquaintance in
public life be an inconvenience, that with select worth is more than a
counterpoise. Be assured your place is high among those whose remembrance I
have brought with me into retirement, and cherish with warmth. I was overjoyed
when I heard you were appointed to the supreme bench of national justice, and
as much mortified when I heard you had declined it. You are too young to be
entitled to withdraw your services from your country. You cannot yet number the
quadraginta stipendia of the veteran. Our friends, whom we left behind, have
ceased to be friends among themselves. I am sorry for it, on their account and
on my own, for I have sincere affection for them all. I hope it will produce no
schisms among us, no desertions from our ranks;



   VOL. XIII-6 






82             Jefferson's Works



that no Essex man will find matter of triumph in it. The secret treasons of his
heart, and open rebellions on his tongue, will still be punished, while in
fieri, by the detestation of his country, and by its vengeance in the overt
act. What a pity that history furnishes so many abuses of the punishment by
exile, the most rational of all punishments for meditated treason ! Their great
king beyond the water would doubtless receive them as kindly as his Asiatic
prototype did the fugitive aristocracy of Greece. But let us turn to
good-humored things. How do you do? What are you doing? Does the farm or the
study occupy your time, or each by turns ? Do you read law or divinity ? And
which affords the most curious and cunning learning ? Which is most
disinterested? And which was it that crucified its Saviour? Or were the two
professions united among the Jews? In that case, what must their Caiaphases
have been ? Answer me these questions;`-or any others you like better, but let
me hear from you and know that you are well and happy. That you may long
continue so is the prayer of yours affectionately.







           TO JAMES L. EDWARDS.



            MONTICELLO, September 5, 1811.



  SIR,-Your letter of August 20th has truly surprised me. In that it is said
that, for certain services performed by Mr. James Lyon and Mr.



            Correspondence                 83



Samuel Morse, formerly editors of the Savannah Republican, I promised them the
sum of one thousand dollars. This, Sir, is totally unfounded. I never promised
to any printer on earth the sum of one thousand dollars, nor any other sum, for
certain services performed, or for any services which that expression would
imply. I have had no accounts with printers but for their newspapers, for which
I have paid always the ordinary price and no more. I have occasionally joined
in moderate contributions to printers, as I have done to other descriptions of
persons, distressed or persecuted, not by promise, but the actual payment of
what I contributed. When Mr. Morse went to Savannah, he called on me and told
me he meant to publish a paper there, for which I subscribed, and paid him the
year in advance. I continued to take it from his successors, Everett. & McLean,
and Everett & Evans, and paid for it at different epochs up to December 31,
1808, when I withdrew my subscription. You say McLean informed you "he had some
expectation of getting the money, as he had received a letter from me on the
subject." If such a letter exists under my name, it is a forgery. I never wrote
but a single letter to him ; that was of the 28th of January, 1810, and was on
the subject of the last payment made for his newspaper, and on no other
subject; and I have two receipts of his, (the last dated March 9, 1809,) of
payments for his paper, both stating to be in full of all demands, 






84             Jefferson's Works



and a letter of the 17th of April, 1810, in reply to mine, manifestly showing
he had no demand against me of any other nature. The promise is said to have
been made to Morse & Lyon. Were Mr. Morse living, I should appeal to him with
confidence, as I believe him to have been a very honest man. Mr. Lyon I suppose
to be living, and will, I am sure, acquit me of any such transaction as that
alleged. The truth, then, being that I never made the promise suggested, nor
any one of a like nature to any printer or other person whatever, every
principle of justice and of self-respect requires that I should not listen to
any such demand.







             TO JAMES LYON.



            MONTICELLO, September 5, 1811.



SIR,-I enclose you the copy of a letter I have received from a James L.
Edwards, of Boston. You will perceive at once its swindling object. It appeals
to two dead men, and one, (yourself,) whom he supposes I cannot get at. I have
written him an answer which may perhaps prevent his persevering in the attempt,
for the whole face of his letter betrays a consciousness of its guilt. But
perhaps he may expect that I would sacrifice a sum of money rather than be
disturbed with encountering a bold falsehood. In this he is mistaken ; and to
prepare to meet him, should he repeat his demand, and considering that he has
presumed to implicate your name in this 






            Correspondence           s 5



attempt, I take the liberty of requesting a letter from you bearing testimony
to the truth of my never having made to you, or within your knowledge or
information, any such promise to yourself, your partner Morse, or any other. .
My confidence in your character leaves me without a doubt of your honest aid in
repelling this base and bold attempt to fix on me practices to which no honors
or powers in this world would ever have induced me to stoop. I have solicited
none, intrigued for none. Those which my country has thought proper to confide
to me have been of their own mere motion, unasked by me. Such practices as this
letter-writer imputes to me, would have proved me unworthy of their confidence.



  It is long since I have known anything of your situation or pursuits. I hope
they have been successful, and tender you my best wishes that they may continue
so, and for your own health and happiness.







         TO DR. ROBERT PATTERSON.



           MONTICELLO, September 11, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-The enclosed work came to me without a scrip of a pen other than
what you see in the title-page-" A Monsieur le President de la Societe.'' From
this I conclude it intended for the Philosophical Society, and for them I now
enclose it to you. You will find the notes really of value. They embody and
ascertain to us all the scraps of new 






 86           Jefferson's Works



 discoveries which we have learned in detached



articles from less authentic publications. M. Gudin



has generally expressed his measures according



to the old as well as the new standard, which is a











convenience to me, as I do not make a point of



retaining the last in my memory. I confess, indeed,



I do not like the new system of French measures,



because not the best, and adapted to a standard



accessible to themselves exclusively, and to be



obtained by other nations only from them. For,



on examining the map of the earth, you will find



no meridian on it but the one passing through their



country, offering the extent of land on both sides



of the 45th degree, and terminating at both ends



in a portion of the ocean which the conditions of



the problem for an universal standard of measures



require. Were all nations to agree therefore to



adopt this standard, they must go to Paris to ask



it ; and they might as well long ago have all agreed



to adopt the French foot, the standard of which



they could equally have obtained from Paris.



Whereas the pendulum is equally fixed by the laws



of nature, is in possession of every nation, may be



verified everywhere and by every person, and at an



expense within every one's means. I am not there-



fore without a hope that the other nations of the

world will still concur, some day, in making the



pendulum the basis of a common system of meas-



ures, weights and coins, which applied to the present



metrical systems of France and of other countries, 






               Correspondence               87



will render them all intelligible to one another. England and this country may
give it a beginning, notwithstanding the war they are entering into. The
republic of letters is unaffected by the wars of geographical divisions of the
earth. France; by her power and science, now bears down everything. But that
power has its measure in time by the life of one man. The day cannot be distant
in the history of human revolutions, when the indignation of mankind will burst
forth, and an insurrection of the universe against the political tyranny of
France will overwhelm all her arrogations. Whatever is most opposite to them
will be most popular, and what is reasonable therefore in itself, cannot fail
to be adopted the sooner from that motive. But why leave this adoption to the
tardy will of governments who are. always, in their stock of information, a
century or two behind the intelligent part of mankind, and who have interests
against touching ancient institutions? Why should not the college of the
literary societies of the world adopt the second pendulum as the unit of
measure on the authorities of reason, convenience and common consent? And why
should not our society open the proposition by a circular letter to the other
learned institutions of the earth? If men of science, in their publications,
would .express measures always in multiples and decimals of the pendulum,
annexing their value in municipal measures as botanists add the popular to the
botanical names 






88              Jefferson's Works



of plants, they would soon become familiar to all men of instruction, and
prepare the way for legal adoptions. At any rate, it would render the writers
of every nation intelligible to the readers of every other, when expressing the
measures of things. The French, I believe, have given up their Decada Calendar,
but it does not appear that they retire from the centesimal division of the
quadrant. On the contrary, M. Borda has calculated according to that division,
new trigonometrical tables not yet, I believe, printed. In the excellent tables
of Callet, lately published by Didot, in stereotype, he has given a table of
logarithmic lines and tangents for the hundred degrees of the quadrant,
abridged from Borda's manuscript. But he has given others for the sexagesimal
division, which being for every 10" through the whole table, are more
convenient than Hutton's, Scherwin's, or any of their predecessors. It cannot
be denied that the centesimal division would facilitate our arithmetic, and
that it might have been preferable had it been originally adopted, as a
numeration by eights would have been more convenient than by tens. But the
advantages would not now compensate the embarrassments of a change.



  I extremely regret the not being provided with a time-piece equal to the
observations of the approaching eclipse of the sun. Can you tell me what would
be the cost in Philadelphia of a clock, the timekeeping part of which should be
perfect ? And 






             Correspondence                  89



what the difference of cost between a wooden and gridiron pendulum ? To be of
course without a striking apparatus, as it would be wanted for astronomical
purposes only. Accept assurances of affectionate esteem and respect.











       TO CLEMENT CAINE.



           MONTICELLO, September 16, 1811.



 SIR,-Your favor of April 2d was not received till the 23d of June last, with
the volume accompanying it, for which be pleased to accept my thanks. I have
read it with great satisfaction, and received from it information, the more
acceptable as coming from a source which could be relied on. The retort on
European censors, of their own practices on the liberties of man, the
inculcation on the master of the moral duties which he owes to the slave, in
return for the benefits of his service, that is to say, of food, clothing, care
in sickness, and maintenance under age and disability, so as to make him in
fact as comfortable and more secure than the laboring man in most parts of the
world; and the idea suggested of substituting free whites in all household
occupations and manual arts, thus lessening the call for the other kind of
labor, while it would increase the public security, give great merit to the
work, and will, I have no doubt, produce wholesome impressions. The habitual
violation of the 






90               Jefferson's Works



equal rights of the colonist by the dominant (for I will not call them the
mother) countries of Europe, the invariable sacrifice of their highest
interests to the minor advantages of any individual trade or calling at home,
are as immoral in principle as the continuance of them is unwise in practice,
after the lessons they have received. What, in short, is the whole system of
Europe towards America but an atrocious and insulting tyranny? One hemisphere
of the earth, separated from the other by wide seas on both sides, having a
different system of interests flowing from different climates, different soils,
different productions, different modes of existence, and its own local
relations and duties, is made subservient to all the petty interests of the
other, to their laws, their regulations, their passions and wars, and
interdicted from social intercourse, from the interchange of mutual duties and
comforts with their neighbors, enjoined on all men by the laws of nature.
Happily these abuses of human rights are drawing to a close on both our
continents, and are not likely to survive the present mad contest of the lions
and tigers of the other. Nor does it seem certain that the insular colonies
will not soon have to take care of themselves, and to enter into the general
system of independence and free intercourse with their neighboring and natural
friends. The acknowledged depreciation of the paper circulation of England,
with the known laws of its rapid progression to bankruptcy, will leave that
nation shortly with






              Correspondence               91



out revenue, and without the means of supporting the naval power necessary to
maintain dominion over the rights and interests of different nations. The
intention too, which they now formally avow, of taking possession of the ocean
as their exclusive domain, and of suffering no commerce on it but through their
ports, makes it the interest of all mankind to contribute their efforts to
bring such usurpations to an end. We have hitherto been able to avoid professed
war, and to continue to our industry a more salutary direction. But the
determination to take all our vessels bound to any other than her ports,
amounting to all the war she can make (for we fear no invasion), it would be
folly in us to let that war be all on one side only, and to make no effort
towards indemnification and retaliation by reprisal. That a contest thus forced
on us by a nation a thousand leagues from us both, should place your country
and mine in relations of hostility, who have not a single motive or interest
but of mutual friendship and interchange of comforts, shows the monstrous
character of the system under which we live. But however, in the event of war,
greedy individuals on both sides, availing themselves of its laws, may commit
depredations on each other, I trust that our quiet inhabitants, conscious that
no cause exists but for neighborly good will, and the furtherance of common
interests, will feel only those brotherly affections which nature has ordained
to be those of our situation. 






92         Jefferson's Works



  A letter of thanks for a good book has thus run away from its subject into
fields of speculation into which discretion perhaps should have forbidden me to
enter, and for which an apology is due. I trust that the reflections I hazard
will be considered as no more than what they really are, those of a private
individual, withdrawn from the councils of his country, uncommunicating with
them, and responsible alone for any errors of fact or opinion expressed; as the
reveries, in short, of an old man, who, looking beyond the present day, looks
into times not his own, and as evidences of confidence in the liberal mind of
the person to whom they are so freely addressed. Permit me, however, to add to
them my best wishes for his personal happiness, and assurances of the highest
consideration and respect.







            TO JOHN W. EPPES.



           MONTICELLO, September 29, 1811.



DEAR SIR,-The enclosed letter came under cover to me without any indication
from what quarter it came.



Our latest arrival brings information of the death of the king of England. Its
coming from Ireland and not direct from England would make it little worthy of
notice, were not the event so probable. On the 26th of July the English papers
say he was expected hourly to expire. This vessel sailed from 






              Correspondence              93



Ireland the 4th of August, and says an express brought notice the day before to
the government that he died on the 1st ; but whether on that day or not, we may
be certain he is dead, and entertain, therefore, a hope that a change of
ministers will produce that revocation of the orders of council for which they
stand so committed. In this event we may still remain at peace, and that
probably concluded between the other powers. I am so far, in that case, from
believing that our reputation will be tarnished by our not having mixed in the
mad contests of the rest of the world that, setting aside the ravings of
pepper-pot politicians, of whom there are enough in every age and country, I
believe it will place us high in the scale of wisdom, to have preserved our
country tranquil and prosperous during a contest which prostrated the honor,
power, independence, laws and property of every country on the other side of
the Atlantic. Which of them have better preserved their honor? Has Spain, has
Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia, Austria, the other German
powers Sweden, Denmark, or even Russia ?. And would we accept of the infamy of
France or England in exchange for our honest reputation, or of the result of
their enormities, despotism to the one, and bankruptcy and prostration to the
other, in exchange for the prosperity, the freedom and independence which we
have preserved safely through the wreck ? The bottom of my page warns me it is
time to present my homage to 






94              Jefferson's Works



Mrs. Eppes, and to yourself and Francis my affectionate adieux.







            TO PAINE TODD.



             MONTICELLO, October 10, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-According to promise I send you our observations of the solar
eclipse of September 17th. We had, you know, a perfect observation of the
passage of the sun over the meridian, and the eclipse began so soon after as to
leave little room for error from the time-piece. Her rate of going, however,
was ascertained by ten days' subsequent observation and comparison with the
sun, and the times, as I now give them to you, are corrected by these. I have
no confidence in the times of the first and ultimate contacts, because you know
we were not early enough on the watch, deceived by our time-piece which was too
slow. The impression on the sun was too sensible when we first observed it, to
be considered as the moment of commencement, and the largeness of our
conjectural correction (18") shows that that part of the observation should be
considered as nothing. The last contact was well enough observed, but it is on
the forming and breaking of the annulus that I rely with entire confidence. I
am certain there was not an error of an instant of time in either. I would be
governed, therefore, solely by them, and not suffer their result to be affected
by the others. I have not yet



             Correspondence           95



entered on the calculation of our ' longitude from them. They will enable you
to do it as a college exercise. Affectionately yours.



First contact, oh. 13' 54"



 Annulus formed, Ih. 53' 0" )      central time of annulus, )  central time of
the two

 Annulus broken, Ih. 59' 25")           Ih. 56' 12 ˝"         )     contacts,
Ih. 51' 28" 



Ultimate contact, 3h. 29' 2" 

Latitude of Monticello, 38degrees 8'







          TO DR. ROBERT PATTERSON.



            MONTICELLO, November 10, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of September 23d came to hand in due time, and I thank
you for the nautical almanac it covered for the year 1813. I learn with
pleasure that the Philosophical Society has concluded to take into
consideration the subject of a fixed standard of measures, weights and coins,
and you ask my ideas on it ; insulated as my situation is, I am sure I can
offer nothing but what will occur to the committee engaged on it, with the
advantage on their part of correction by an interchange of sentiments and
observations among themselves. I will, however, hazard some general ideas
because you desire it, and if a single one be useful, the labor will not be
lost.



The subject to be referred to as a standard, whether it be matter or motion,
should be fixed by nature, invariable and accessible to all nations,
independently of others, and with a convenience not disproportioned to its
utility. What subject in nature fulfils best these conditions? What system
shall 






96              Jefferson's  Works



we propose on this, embracing measures, weights and coins? and in what form
shall we present it to the world? These are the questions before the committee.



  Some other subjects have, at different times, been proposed as standards, but
two only have divided the opinions of men : first, a direct admeasurement of a
line on the earth's surface, or second, a measure derived from its motion on
its axis. To measure directly such a portion of the earth as would furnish an
element of measure, which might be found again with certainty in all future
times, would be too far beyond the competence of our means to be taken into
consideration. I am free, at the same time, to say that if these were within
our power in the most ample degree, this element would not meet my preference.
The admeasurement would of course be of a portion of some great circle of the
earth. If of the equator, the countries over which that passes, their character
and remoteness, render the undertaking arduous, and we may say impracticable
for most nations. If of some meridian, the varying measures of its degrees from
the equator to the pole, require a mean to be sought, of which some aliquot
part may furnish what is desired. For this purpose the 45th degree has been
recurred to, and such a length of line on both sides of it terminating at each
end in the ocean, as may furnish a satisfactory law for a deduction of the
unmeasured part of the quadrant. The portion resorted to by the French philoso






               Correspondence                97



phers, (and there is no other on the globe under circumstances equally
satisfactory,) is the meridian passing through their country and a portion of
Spain, from Dunkirk to Barcelona. The objections to such an admeasurement as an
element of measure, are the labor, the time, the number of highly-qualified
agents, and the great expense required. All this, too, is to be repeated
whenever any accident shall have destroyed the standard derived from it, or
impaired its dimensions. This portion of that particular meridian is accessible
of right to no one nation on earth. France, indeed, availing herself of a
moment of peculiar relation between Spain and herself, has executed such an
admeasurement. But how would it be at this moment, as to either France or
Spain? and how is it at all times as to other nations, in point either of right
or of practice ? Must these go through the same operation, or take their
measures from the standard prepared by France ? Neither case bears that
character of independence which the problem requires, and which neither the
equality nor convenience of nations can dispense with. How would it now be,
were England the deposit of a standard for the world? At war with all the
world, the standard would be inaccessible to all other nations. Against this,
too, are the inaccuracies of admeasurements over hills and valleys, mountains
and waters, inaccuracies often unobserved by the agent himself, and always
unknown to the world. The various results of the



   VOL. XIII-7 






98              Jefferson's Works



different measures heretofore attempted, sufficiently prove the inadequacy of
human means to make such an admeasurement with the exactness requisite.



Let us now see under what circumstances the pendulum offers itself as an
element of measure. The motion of the earth on its axis from noon to noon of a
mean solar day, has been divided from time immemorial, and by very general
consent, into 86,400 portions of time called seconds. The length of a pendulum
vibrating in one of those. portions, is determined by the laws of nature, is
invariable under the same parallel, and accessible independently to all men.
Like a degree of the meridian, indeed, it varies in its length from the equator
to the pole, and like it, too, requires to be reduced to a mean. In seeking a
mean in the first case, the 45th degree occurs with unrivalled preferences. It
is the mid-way of the celestial arc from the equator to the pole. It is a mean
between the two extreme degrees of the terrestial arc, or between any two
equi-distant from it, and it is also a mean value of all its degrees. In like
manner, when seeking a mean for the pendulum, the same 45th degree offers
itself on the same grounds, its increments being governed by the same laws
which determine those of the different degrees of the meridian.



  In a pendulum loaded with a bob, some difficulty occurs in finding the centre
of oscillation ; and consequently the distance between that and the point of
suspension. To lessen this, it has been proposed 






                Correspondence               99



to substitute for the pendulum, a cylindrical rod of small diameter, in which
the displacement of the centre of oscillation would be lessened. It has also
been proposed to prolong the suspending wire of the pendulum below the bob,
until their centres of oscillation shall coincide. But these propositions not
appearing to have received general approbation, we recur to the pendulum,
suspended and charged as has been usual. And the rather as the laws which
determine the centre of oscillation leave no room for error in finding it,
other than that minimum in practice to which all operations are subject in
their execution. The other sources of inaccuracy in the length of the pendulum
need not be mentioned, because easily guarded against. But the great and
decisive superiority of the pendulum, as a standard of measure, is in its
accessibility to all men, at all times and in all places. To obtain the second
pendulum for 450 it is not necessary to go actually to that latitude. Having
ascertained its length in our own parallel, both theory and observation give us
a law for ascertaining the difference between that and the pendulum of any
other. To make a new measure therefore, or verify an old one, nothing is
necessary in any place but a well-regulated time-piece, or a good meridian, and
such a knowledge of the subject as is common in all civilized nations.



  Those indeed who have preferred the other element do justice to the
certainty, as well as superior facilities of the pendulum, by proposing to
recur to one 






100             Jefferson's Works



of the length of their standard, and to ascertain its number of vibrations in a
day. These being once known, if any accident impair their standard it is to be
recovered by means of a pendulum which shall make the requisite number of
vibrations in a day. And among the several commissions established by the
Academy of Sciences for the execution of the several branches of their work on
measures and weights, that respecting the pendulum was assigned to Messrs.
Borda, Coulomb and Cassini, the result of whose labors, however, I have not
learned.



  Let our unit of measure then be a pendulum of such length as in the latitude
of 450, in the level of the ocean, and in a given temperature, shall perform
its vibrations, in small and equal arcs, in one second of mean time.



  What ratio shall we adopt for the parts and multiples of this unit? The
decimal without a doubt. Our arithmetic being founded in a decimal numeration,
the same numeration in a system of measures, weights and coins, tallies at once
with that. On this question, I believe, there has been no difference of
opinion.



  In measures of length, then, the pendulum is our unit. It is a little more
than our yard, and less than the ell. Its tenth or dime, will not be quite .4
inches. Its hundredth, or cent, not quite .4 of an inch; its thousandth, or
mill, not quite .o4 of an inch, and so on. The traveller will count his road by
a longer measure, 1,000 units, or a kiliad, will 






                 Correspondence             101



not be quite two-thirds of our present mile, and more nearly a thousand paces
than that.



For measures of surf ace, the square unit, equal to about ten square feet, or
one-ninth more than a square yard, will be generally convenient. But for those
of lands a larger measure will be wanted. A kiliad would be not quite a rood,
or quarter of an acre; a myriad not quite 2 ˝ acres.



For measures of capacity, wet and dry, The cubic Unit = .I would be about .35
cubic feet,



              .28 bushels dry, or 7/8 of a ton



              liquid.



      Dime = .I would be about 3.5 cubic feet,



           2.8 bushels, or about 7/8 of a



           barrel liquid.



      Cent =.01 about 50 cubic inches, or 7/8 of



           a quart.



      Mill = .001 =.5 of a cubic inch or 2/3 of



           a gill.             '



To incorporate into the same system our weights and coins, we must recur to
some natural substance, to be found everywhere, and of a composition
sufficiently uniform. Water has been considered as the most eligible substance,
and rain-water more nearly uniform than any other kind found in nature. That
circumstance renders it preferable to distilled water, and its variations in
weight may be called insensible. '



The cubic unit of this = .I would weigh about 2,165 pounds or a ton between the
long and short. 






 102               Jefferson's Works



 The Dime           =. 1 a little more than 2 kentals.



     Cent           =. 01 a little more than 20 lb.



     Mill           =  .001 a little more than 2 lb.



     Decimmil       =. 0001 about 3 ˝ oz. avoirdu-



                  poise.



     Centimmil      = .00001 a little more than 6



                   dwt.



     Millionth      = .000001 about 15 grains.



     Decimmillionth = .0000001 about 1 ˝ grains.



     Centimmillionth = .00000001 about .014 of a



                       grain.



     Billionth       = .000000001 about .014 of a



                  grain.



  With respect to our coins, the pure silver in a dollar being fixed by law at
347 1/4 grains, and all debts and contracts being bottomed on that value, we
can only state the pure silver in the dollar, which would be very nearly  23
millionths.



  I have used loose and round numbers (the exact unit being yet undetermined)
merely to give a general idea of the measures and weights proposed, when
compared with those we now use. And in the names of the subdivisions I have
followed the metrology of the ordinance of Congress of 1786, which for their
series below unit adopted the Roman numerals. For that above unit the Grecian
is convenient, and has been adopted in the new French system.



We come now to our last question, in what form shall we offer this metrical
system to the world ? In 






                Correspondence          103



some one which shall, be altogether unassuming; which shall not have the
appearance of taking the lead among our sister institutions in making a general
proposition. So jealous is the spirit of equality in the republic of letters,
that the smallest excitement of that would mar our views, however salutary for
all. We are in habits of correspondence with some of these institutions, and
identity of character and of object, authorize our entering into correspondence
with all. Let us then mature our system as far as can be done at present, by
ascertaining the length of the second pendulum of 450 by forming two tables,
one of which shall give the equivalent of every different denomination of
measures, weights and coins in these States, in the unit of that pendulum, its
decimals and multiples ; and the other stating the equivalent of all the
decimal parts and multiples of that pendulum, in the several denominations of
measures, weights and coins of our existing system. This done, we might
communicate to one or more of these institutions in every civilized country a
copy of those tables, stating as our motive, the difficulty we had experienced,
and often the impossibility of ascertaining the value of the measures, weights
and coins of other countries, expressed in any standard which we possess; that
desirous of being relieved from this, and of obtaining information which could
be relied on for the purposes of science, as well as of business, we had
concluded to ask it from the learned societies of other nations, who are
especially quali-






104                Jefferson's Works



fied to give it with the requisite accuracy; that in making this request we had
thought it our duty first to do ourselves, and to offer to others, what we
meant to ask from them, by stating the value of our own measures, weights and
coins, in some unit of measure already possessed, or easily obtainable, by all
nations ; that the pendulum vibrating seconds of mean time, presents itself as
such an unit; its length being determined by the laws of nature, and easily
ascertainable at all times and places ; that we have thought that of 450 would
be the most unexceptionable, as being a mean of all other parallels, and open
to actual trial in both hemispheres. In this, therefore, as an unit, and in its
parts and multiples in the decimal ratio, we have expressed, in the tables
communicated, the value of all the measures, weights and coins used in the
United States, and we ask in return from their body a table of the weights,
measures and coins in use within their country, expressed in the parts and
multiples of the same unit. Having requested the same favor from the learned
societies of other nations, our object is, with their assistance, to place
within the reach of our fellow citizens at large a perfect knowledge of the
measures, weights and coins of the countries with which they have commercial or
friendly intercourse; and should the societies of other countries interchange
their respective tables, the learned will be in possession of an uniform
language in measures, weights and coins, which may with time become useful to
other descrip






              Correspondence         105



tions of their citizens, and even to their governments. This, however, will
rest with their pleasure, not presuming, in the present proposition, to extend
our views beyond the limits of our own nation. I offer this sketch merely as
the outline of the kind of communication which I should hope would excite no
jealousy or repugnance.



  Peculiar circumstances, however, would require letters of a more special
character to the Institute of France, and the Royal Society of England. The
magnificent work which France has executed in the admeasurement of so large a
portion of the meridian, has a claim to great respect in our reference to it.
We should only ask a communication of their metrical system, expressed in
equivalent values of the second pendulum of 450 as ascertained by Messrs.
Borda, Coulomb and Cassini, adding, perhaps, the request of an actual rod of
the length of that pendulum.



With England, our explanations will be much more delicate. They are the older
country, the mother country, more advanced in the arts and sciences, possessing
more wealth and leisure for their improvement, and animated by a pride more
than laudable.l   It is their measures, too, which



 1 We are all occupied in industrious pursuits. They abound with persons living
on the industry of their fathers or on the earnings of their fellow citizens,
given away by their rulers in sinecures and pensions. Some of these, desirous
of laudable distinction, devote their time and means to the pursuits of
science, and become profitable members of society by an industry of a higher
order. 






106             Jefferson's Works



we undertake to ascertain and communicate to themselves. The subject should
therefore be opened to them with infinite tenderness and respect, and in some
way which might give them due place in its agency. The parallel of 450 being
within our latitude and not within theirs, the actual experiments under that
would be of course assignable to us. But as a corrective, I would propose that
they should ascertain the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in the city
of London, or at the observatory of Greenwich, while we should do the same in
an equidistant parallel to the south of 450, suppose in 380 29'. We might ask
of them, too, as they are in possession of the standards of Guildhall, of which
we can have but an unauthentic account, to make the actual application of those
standards to the pendulum when ascertained. The operation we should undertake
under the 45th parallel, (about Passamaquoddy,) would give us a happy occasion,
too, of engaging our sister society of Boston in our views, by referring to
them the execution of that part of the work. For that of 380 29' we should be
at a loss. It crosses the tide waters of the Potomac, about Dumfries, and I do
not know what our resources there would be unless we borrow them from
Washington, where there are competent persons.



  Although I have not mentioned Philadelphia in these operations, I by no means
propose to relinquish the benefit of observations to be made there. Her science
and perfection in the arts would be a 






                 Correspondence                107



valuable corrective to the less perfect state of them in the other places of
observation. Indeed, it is to be wished that Philadelphia could be made the
point of observation south of 450, and that the Royal Society would undertake
the counterpoint on the north, which would be somewhere between the Lizard and
Falmouth. The actual pendulums from both of our points of observation, and not
merely the measures of them, should be delivered to the Philosophical Society,
to be measured under their eye and direction.



  As this is really a work of common and equal interest to England and the
United States, perhaps it would be still more respectful to make our
proposition to her Royal Society in the outset, and to agree with them on a
partition of the work. In this case, any commencement of actual experiments on
our part should be provisional only, and preparatory to the ultimate results.
We might, in the meantime, provisionally also, form a table adapted to the
length of the pendulum of 450, according to the most approved estimates,
including those of the French commissioners. This would serve to introduce the
subject to the foreign societies, in the way before proposed, reserving to
ourselves the charge of communicating to them a more perfect one, when that
shall have been completed.



We may even go a step further, and make a general table of the measures,
weights and coins of all nations, taking their value hypothetically for the
present, 






108              Jefferson's Works



from the tables in the commercial dictionary of the encyclopedia methodique,
which are very extensive, and have the appearance of being made with great
labor and exactness. To these I expect we must in the end recur, as a
supplement for the measures which we may fail to obtain from other countries
directly. Their reference is to the foot .or inch of Paris, as a standard,
which we may convert into parts of the second pendulum of 450.



  I have thus, my dear Sir, committed to writing my general ideas on this
subject, the more freely as they are intended merely as suggestions for
consideration. It is not probable they offer 'anything which would not have
occurred to the committee itself. My apology on offering them must be found in
your request. My confidence in the committee, of which I take for granted you
are one, is too entire to have intruded a single idea but on that ground.



  Be assured of my affectionate and high esteem and respect.







         TO DR. ROBERT PATTERSON.



            MONTICELLO, November 10, 1811.



  DEAR SIR,-I write this letter separate, because you may perhaps think
something in the other of the same date, worth communicating to the committee.



  I accept, willingly, Mr. Voigt's offer to make me a time-piece, and with the
kind of pendulum he



             Correspondence           109



proposes. I wish it to be as good as hands can make it, in everything useful,
but no unnecessary labor to be spent on mere ornament. A plain but neat
mahogany case will be preferred.



  I have a curiosity to try the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds here,
and would wish Mr. Voigt to prepare one which could be substituted for that of
the clock occasionally, without requiring anything more than unhanging the one
and hanging the other in its place. The bob should be spherical, of lead, and
its radius, I presume, about one inch. As I should not have the convenience of
a room of uniform temperature, the suspending rod should be such as not to be
affected by heat or cold, nor yet so heavy as to affect too sensibly the centre
of oscillation. Would not a rod of wood not larger than a large wire, answer
this double view ? I remember Mr. Rittenhouse told me he had made experiments
on some occasion, on the expansibility of wood lengthwise by heat, which
satisfied him it was as good as the gridiron for a suspender of the bob. By the
experiments on the strength of wood and iron in supporting weights appended to
them, iron has been found but about six times as strong as wood, while its
specific gravity is eight times as great. Consequently, a rod of it of equal
strength, will weigh but three-fourths of one of iron, and disturb the centre
of oscillation less in proportion. A rod of wood of white oak, e. g. not larger
than a seine twine, would probably support a spherical bob of lead of 






110        Jefferson's Works



one inch radius. It might be worked down to that size, I suppose, by the
cabinet-makers, who are in the practice of preparing smaller threads of wood
for inlaying. The difficulty would be in making it fast to the bob at one end,
and scapement at the other, so as to regulate the length with ease and
accuracy. This Mr. Voigt's ingenuity can supply, and in all things I would
submit the whole matter to your direction to him, and be thankful to you to
give it. Yours affectionately. '







     TO H. A. S. DEARBORN.



           MONTICELLO, November 15, 1811.



SIR,-Your favor of October 14 was duly received, and with it Mr. Bowditch's
observations on the comet, for which I pray you to accept my thanks, and be so
good as to present them to Mr. Bowditch also. I am much pleased to find that we
have so able a person engaged in observing the path of this great phenomenon;
and hope that from his observations and those of others of our philosophical
citizens, on its orbit, we shall have ascertained, on this side of the
Atlantic, whether it be one of those which have heretofore visited us. On the
other side of the water they have great advantages in their well-established
observatories, the magnificent instruments provided for them, and the leisure
and information of their scientific men. The acquirements of Mr. Bowditch in
solitude and unaided by these advantages, do him great honor. 






            Correspondence          111



 With respect to the eclipse of September 17. I know of no observations made in
this State but my own, although I had no doubt that others had observed it. I
used myself an equatorial telescope, and was aided by a friend who happened to
be with me, and observed through an achromatic telescope of Dollard's. Two
others attended the time-pieces. I had a perfect observation of the passage of
the sun over the meridian, and the eclipse commencing but a few minutes after,
left little room f or error in our time. This little was corrected by the known
rate of going of the clock. But we as good as lost the first appulse by a want
of sufficiently early attention to be at our places, and composed. I have no
confidence, therefore, by several seconds, in the time noted. The last
oscillation of the two luminaries was better observed. Yet even there was a
certain term of uncertainty as to the precise moment at which the indenture on
the limb of the sun entirely vanished. It is therefore the forming of the
annulus, and its breaking, which alone possess my entire and complete
confidence. I am certain there was not an error of an instant of time in the
observation of either of them. Their result therefore should not be suffered to
be affected by either of the others, The four observations were as follows:



 The 1st appulse, oh. 13' 54"



 Annulus formed. Ih. 53' 0''   )    central time of annulus , )     central
time of the two

 Annulus broken Ih. 59' 25" )            Ih, 56' 12 ˝"         )       
Contacts, Ih. 51' 28"



Last oscillation,3 h. 29' 2"



 Latitude of Monticello, 38degrees 8' 






112         Jefferson's Works



 I have thus given you, Sir, my observations, with a candid statement of their
imperfections. If they can be of any use to Mr. Bowditch, it will be more than
was in view when they were made; and should I hear of any other observations
made in this State, I shall not fail to procure and send him a copy of them. Be
so good as to present me affectionately to your much-esteemed father, and to
accept the tender of my respect.







            TO MELATIAH NASH.



            MONTICELLO, NOVEMBER 15, 1811.



SIR,-I duly received your letter of October 24 on the publication of an
Ephemeris. I have long thought it desirable that something of that kind should
be published in the United States, holding a middle station between the
nautical and the common popular almanacs. It .would certainly be acceptable to
a numerous and respectable description of our fellow citizens, who, without
undertaking the higher astronomical operations, for which the former is
calculated, yet occasionally wish for information beyond the scope of the
common almanacs. What you propose to insert in your Ephemeris is very well so
far. But I think you might give it more of the character desired by the
addition of some other articles, which would not enlarge it more than a leaf or
two. For instance, the equation of time is essential to the regulation of our
clocks and watches, and 






             Correspondence          113



would only add a narrow column to your second page. The sun's declination is
often desirable, and would add but another narrow column to the same page. This
last would be the more useful as an element for obtaining the rising and
setting of the sun, in every part of the United States; for your Ephemeris
will, I suppose, give it only for a particular parallel, as of New York, which
would in a great measure restrain its circulation to that parallel. But the
sun's declination would enable every one to calculate sunrise for himself, with
scarcely more trouble than taking it from an almanac. If you would add at the
end of the work a formula for that calculation-, as, for example, that for
Delalande, ş 1026, a little altered. Thus, to the logarithmic tangent of the
latitude (a constant number) add the logarithmic tangent of the sun's
declination ; taking 10 from the Index, the remainder is the line of an arch
which, turned into time and added to six hours; gives sunrise for the winter
half and sunset for the summer half of the year, to which may be added three
lines only from the table of refractions, ş 1028, or, to save even this
trouble, and give the calculation ready made for every parallel, print a table
of semi-diurnal arches, ranging the latitudes from 35degrees to 45degrees in a
line at top, and the degrees of declination in a vertical line on the left, and
stating, in the line of the declination, the semi-diurnal arch for each degree
of latitude, so that every one knowing the latitude of his place and the
declination of the day, would find his sunrise or



   VOL. XIII-8











                                                 r 






            Jefferson's Works



his sunset where their horizontal and vertical lines meet. This table is to be
found in many astronomical books, as, for instance, in Wakeley's Mariner's
Compass Rectified, and more accurately in the Connoissance des tems, for 1788.
It would not occupy more than two pages at the end of the work, and would
render it an almanac for every part of the United States.



To give novelty, and increase the appetite for continuing to buy your Ephemeris
annually, you might every year select some one or two useful tables which many
would wish to possess and preserve. These are to be found in the requisite
tables, the Connoissance des tems for different years, and many in Pike's
arithmetic.



  I have given these hints because you requested my opinion. They may extend
the plan of your Ephemeris beyond your view, which will be sufficient reason
for not regarding them. In any event I shall willingly become a subscriber to
it, if you should have any place of deposit for them in Virginia where the
price can be paid. Accept the tender of my respects.







           TO DR. BENJAMIN RUSH.



           POPLAR FOREST, December 5, 1811.



DEAR SIR,-While at Monticello I am so much engrossed by business or society,
that I can only write on matters of strong urgency. Here I have 






             Correspondence         115



leisure, as I have everywhere the disposition to think of my friends. I recur,
therefore, to the subject of your kind letters relating to Mr. Adams and
myself, which a late occurrence has again presented to me. I communicated to
you the correspondence which had parted Mrs. Adams and myself, in proof that I
could not give friendship in exchange for such sentiments as she had recently
taken up towards myself, and avowed and maintained in her letters to me.
Nothing but a total renunciation of these could admit a reconciliation, and
that could be cordial only in proportion as the return to ancient opinions was
believed sincere. In these jaundiced sentiments of hers I had associated Mr.
Adams, knowing the weight which her opinions had with him, and notwithstanding.
she declared in her letters that they were not communicated to him. A late
incident has satisfied me that I. wronged him as well as her, in not yielding
entire confidence to this assurance on her part. Two of the Mr.     , my
neighbors and friends, took a tour to the northward during the last summer. In
Boston they fell into company with Mr. Adams, and by his invitation passed a
day with him at Braintree. He spoke out to them everything which came
uppermost, and as it occurred to his mind, without any reserve ; and seemed
most disposed to dwell on those things which happened during his own
administration. He spoke of his masters, as he called his Heads of departments,
as acting above his control, and often against his opinions. Among 






116            Jefferson's Works



many other topics, he adverted to the unprincipled licentiousness of the press
against myself, adding, " I always loved Jefferson, and still love him."



This is enough for me. I only needed this knowledge to revive towards him all
the affections of the most cordial moments of our lives. Changing a single word
only in Dr. Franklin's character of him, I knew him to be always an honest man,
often a great one, but sometimes incorrect and precipitate in his judgments;
and it is known to those who have ever heard me speak of Mr. Adams, that I have
ever done him justice myself, and defended him when assailed by others, with
the single exception as to political opinions. But with a man possessing so
many other estimable qualities, why should we be dissocialized by mere
differences of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, or anything
else? His opinions are as honestly formed as my own. Our different views of the
same subject are the result of a difference in our organization and experience.
I never withdrew from the society of any man on this account, although many
have done it from me; much less should I do it from one with whom I had gone
through, with hand and heart, so many trying scenes. I wish, therefore, but for
an apposite occasion to express to Mr. Adams my unchanged affections for him.
There is an awkwardness which hangs over the resuming a correspondence so long
discontinued, unless something could arise which should call for a letter. Time
and chance may 






           Correspondence           117



perhaps generate such an occasion, of which I shall not be wanting in
promptitude to avail myself. From this fusion of mutual affections, Mrs. Adams
is of course separated. It will only be necessary that I never name her. In
your letters to Mr. Adams, you can, perhaps, suggest my continued cordiality
towards him, and knowing this, should an occasion of writing first present
itself to him, he will perhaps avail himself of it, as I certainly will, should
it first occur to me. No ground for jealousy now existing, he will certainly
give fair play to the natural warmth of his heart. Perhaps I may open the way
in some letter to my old friend Gerry, who I know is in habits of the greatest
intimacy with him.



  I have thus, my friend, laid open my heart to you, because you were so kind
as to take an interest in healing again revolutionary affections, which have
ceased in expression only, but not in their existence. God ever bless you, and
preserve you in life and health.







           TO DR. JOHN CRAWFORD.



              MONTICELLO, January 2, 1812.



  SIR,-Your favor of December 17th, has been duly received, and with it the
pamphlet on the cause, seat and cure of diseases, fox which be pleased to
accept my thanks. The commencement which you propose by the natural history of
the diseases of the human body, is a very interesting one, and will cer-






118         Jefferson's Works



tainly be the best foundation for whatever relates to their cure. While surgery
is seated in the temple of the exact sciences, medicine has scarcely entered
its threshold. Her theories have passed in such rapid succession as to prove
the insufficiency of all, and their fatal errors are recorded in the necrology
of man. For some forms of disease, well known and well defined, she has found
substances which will restore order to the human system, and it is to be hoped
that observation and experience will add to their number. But a great mass of
diseases remain undistinguished and unknown, exposed to the random shot of the
theory of the day. If on this chaos you can throw such a beam of light as your
celebrated brother has done on the sources of animal heat, you will, like him,
render great service to mankind.



The fate of England, I think with you, is nearly decided, and the present form
of her existence is drawing to a close. The ground, the houses, the men will
remain; but in what new form they will revive and stand among nations, is
beyond the reach of human foresight. We hope it may be one of which the
predatory principle may not be the essential characteristic. If her
transformation shall replace her under the laws of moral order, it is for the
general interest that she should still be a sensible and independent weight in
the scale of nations, and be able to contribute, when a favorable moment
presents itself, to reduce under the same order, her 






             Correspondence         I =9



great rival in flagitiousness. We especially ought to pray that the powers of
Europe may be so poised and counterpoised among themselves, that their own
safety may require the presence of all their force at home, leaving the other
quarters of the globe in undisturbed tranquillity. When our strength will
permit us to give the law of our hemisphere, it should be that the meridian of
the mid-Atlantic should be the line of demarkation between war and peace, on
this side of which no act of hostility should be committed, and the lion and
the lamb lie down in peace together.



  I am particularly thankful for the kind expressions of your letter towards
myself, and tender you in return my best wishes and the assurances of my great
respect and esteem.







             TO THOMAS SULLY.



              MONTICELLO, January 8, 1812.



  SIR,-I have duly received your favor of December 22d, informing me that the
society of artists of the United States had made me an honorary member of their
society. I am very justly sensible of the honor they have done me, and I pray
you to return them my thanks for this mark of their distinction. I fear that I
can be but a very useless associate. Time, which withers the fancy, as the
other faculties of the mind and body, presses on me with a heavy hand, and
distance intercepts all personal inter






120        Jefferson's Works



course. I can offer, therefore, but my zealous good wishes for the success of
the institution, and that, embellishing with taste a country already
overflowing with the useful productions, it may be able to give an innocent and
pleasing direction to accumulations of wealth, which would otherwise be
employed in the nourishment of coarse and vicious habits. With these I tender
to the society and to yourself the assurances of my high respect and
consideration.











    TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.



             MONTICELLO, January 11, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-I thank you for your letter of the 6th. It is a proof of your
friendship, and of the sincere interest you take in whatever concerns me. Of
this I have never had a moment's doubt, and have ever valued it as a precious
treasure. The question indeed whether I knew or approved of General Wilkinson's
endeavors to prevent the restoration of the right of deposit at New Orleans,
could never require a second of time to answer. But it requires some time for
the mind to recover from the astonishment excited by the boldness of the
suggestion. Indeed, it is with difficulty I can believe he has really made such
an appeal ; and the rather as the expression in your letter is that you have "
casually heard it, " without stating the degree of reliance which you have in
the source of infor-






           Correspondence          121



mation. I think his understanding is above an expedient so momentary and so
finally overwhelming. Were Dearborn and myself dead, it might find credit with
some. But the world at large, even then, would weigh for themselves the
dilemma, whether it was more probable that, in the situation I then was,
clothed with the confidence and power of my country, I should descend to so
unmeaning an act of treason, or that he, in the wreck now threatening him,
should wildly lay hold of any plank. They would weigh his motives and views
against those of Dearborn and myself, the tenor of his life against that of
ours, his Spanish mysteries against my open cherishment of the western
interests ; and, living as we are, and ready to purge ourselves by any ordeal,
they must now weigh, in addition, our testimony against his. All this makes me
believe he will never seek this refuge. I have ever and carefully restrained
myself from the expression of any opinion respecting General Wilkinson, except
in the case of Burr's conspiracy, wherein, after he had got over his first
agitations, we believed his decision firm, and his conduct zealous for the
defeat of the conspiracy, and although injudicious, yet meriting, from sound
intentions, the support of the nation. As to the rest of his life, I have left
it to his friends and his enemies, to whom it furnishes matter enough for
disputation. I classed myself with neither, and least of all in this time of
his distresses, should I be disposed to add to their pressure. I hope,
therefore, 






122         Jefferson's Works



he has not been so imprudent as to write our names in the panel of his
witnesses.



Accept the assurances of my constant affections.







             TO JOHN ADAMS.



             MONTICELLO, January 21, 1812.



DEAR SIR,-I thank you beforehand (for they are not yet arrived) for the
specimens of homespun you have been so kind as to forward me by post. I doubt
not their excellence, knowing how far you are advanced in these things in your
quarter. Here we do little in the fine way, but in coarse and middling goods a
great deal. Every family in the country is a manufactory within itself, and is
very generally able to make within itself all the stouter and middling stuffs
for its own clothing and household use. We consider a sheep for every person in
the family as sufficient to clothe it, in addition to the cotton, hemp and flax
which we raise ourselves. For fine stuff we shall depend on your northern
manufactories. Of these, that is to say, of company establishments, we have
none. We use little machinery. The spinning jenny, and loom with the flying
shuttle, can be managed in a family; but nothing more complicated. The economy
and thriftiness resulting from our household manufactures are such that they
will never again be laid aside; and nothing more salutary for us has ever
happened than the British obstructions to our 






            Correspondence         123



demands for their manufactures. Restore free intercourse when they will, their
commerce with us will have totally changed its form, and the articles we shall
in future want from them will not exceed their own consumption of our produce.



A letter from you calls up recollections very dear to my mind. It carries me
back to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow
laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his
right of self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever
ahead, threatening to overwhelm us, and yet passing harmless under our bark, we
knew not how we rode through the storm with heart and hand, and made a happy
port. Still we did not expect to be without rubs and difficulties ; and we have
had them. First, the detention of the western posts, then the coalition of
Pilnitz, outlawing our commerce with France, and the British enforcement of the
outlawry. In your day, French depredations ; in mine, English, and the Berlin
and Milan decrees; now, the English orders of council, and the piracies they
authorize. When these shall be over, it will be the. impressment of our seamen
or something else ; and so we have gone on, and so we shall go on, puzzled and
prospering beyond example in the history of man. And I do believe we shall
continue to growl; to multiply and prosper until we exhibit an association,
powerful, wise and happy, beyond what has yet been seen by men. As for France
and Eng






124        Jefferson's Works 124            Jefferson's Works land, with all
their preeminence in science, the one is a den of robbers, and the other of
pirates. And if science produces no better fruits than tyranny, murder rapine
and destitution of national morality, I would rather wish our country to be
ignorant, honest and estimable, as our neighboring savages are. But whither is
senile garrulity leading me? Into politics, of which I have taken final leave.
I think little of them and say less. I have given up newspapers in exchange for
Tacitus and Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid, and I find myself much the
happier. Sometimes, indeed, I look back to former occurrences, in remembrance
of our old friends and fellow laborers, who have fallen before us. Of the
signers of the Declaration ' of Independence, I see now living not more than
half a dozen on your side of the Potomac, and on this side, myself alone. You
and I have been wonderfully spared, and myself with remarkable health, and a
considerable activity of body and mind. I am on horseback three or four hours
of every day; visit three or four times a year a possession I have ninety miles
distant, performing the winter journey on horseback. I walk little, however, a
single mile being too much for me, and I live in the midst of my grandchildren,
one of whom has lately promoted me to be a great-grandfather. I have heard with
pleasure that you also retain good health, and a greater power of exercise in
walking than I do. But I would rather have heard this from yourself, and that,
writing a letter 






            Correspondence          125



like mine, full of egotisms, and of details of your health, your habits,
occupations and enjoyments, I should have the pleasure of knowing that in the
race of life, you do not keep, in its physical decline, the same distance ahead
of me which you have done in political honors and achievements. No
circumstances have lessened the interest I feel in these particulars respecting
yourself ; none have suspended for one moment my sincere esteem for you, and I
now salute you with unchanged affection and respect.



                 ----



TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR JAMES BARBOUR.1



             MONTICELLO, January 22, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 14th has been duly received, and I sincerely
congratulate you, or rather my country, on the just testimony of confidence
which it has lately manifested to you. In your hands .I know that its affairs
will be ably and honestly administered.



  In answer to your inquiry whether, in the early times of our government,
where the council was divided, the practice was for the Governor to give the
deciding vote? I must observe that, correctly speaking, the Governor not being
a counsellor, his vote could make no part of an advice of council. That would
be to place an advice on their journals which they did not give, and could not
give because



1 Governor of Virginia, 






126            Jefferson's Works



of their equal division. But he did what was equivalent in effect. While I was
in the administration, no doubt was ever suggested that where the council,
divided in opinion, could give no advice, the Governor was free and bound to
act on his own opinion and his own responsibility. Had this been a change of
the practice of my predecessor, Mr. Henry, the first Governor, it would have
produced some discussion, which it never did. Hence, I conclude it was the
opinion and practice from the first institution of the government. During
Arnold's and Cornwall is' invasion, the council dispersed to their several
homes, to take care of their families. Before their separation, I obtained from
them a capitulary of standing advices for my government in such cases as
ordinarily occur : such as the appointment of militia officers, justices,
inspectors, etc., on the recommendations of the courts ; but in the numerous
and extraordinary occurrences of an invasion, which could not be foreseen, I
had to act on my own judgment and my own responsibility. The vote of general
approbation, at the session of the succeeding winter, manifested the opinion of
the legislature, that my proceedings had been correct. General Nelson, my
successor, staid mostly, I think, with the army; and I do not believe his
council followed the camp, although my memory does not enable me to affirm the
fact. Some petitions against him for impressment of property without authority
of law; brought his proceedings before the next legislature; 






            Correspondence



the questions necessarily involved were whether necessity, without express law,
could justify the impressment, and if it could, whether he could order it
without the advice of council. The approbation of the legislature amounted to a
decision of both questions. I remember this case the more especially, because I
was then a member. of the legislature, and was one of those who supported the
Governor's proceedings, and I think there was no division of the House on the
question. I believe the doubt was first suggested in Governor Harrison's time,
by some member of the council, on an equal division. Harrison, in his dry way,
observed that instead of one Governor and eight counsellors, there would then
be eight Governors and one counsellor, and continued, as I understood, the
practice of his predecessors. Indeed, it is difficult to suppose it could be
the intention of those who framed the Constitution, that when the council
should be divided the government should stand still ; and the more difficult as
to a Constitution formed during a war, and for the purpose of carrying on that
war, that so high an officer as their Governor should be created and salaried,
merely to act as the clerk and authenticator of the votes of the council. No
doubt it was intended that the advice of the council should control the
Governor. But the action of the controlling power being withdrawn, his would be
left free to proceed on its own responsibility. Where from division, absence,
sickness or other obstacle, no advice could be given, they could not 






128         Jefferson's Works



mean that their Governor, the person of their peculiar choice and confidence,
should stand by, an inactive spectator, and let their government tumble to
pieces for want of a will to direct it. In executive cases, where promptitude
and decision are all-important, an adherence to the letter of a law against its
probable intentions, (for every law must intend that itself shall be executed,)
would be fraught with incalculable danger. Judges may await further legislative
explanations, but a delay of executive action might produce irretrievable ruin.
The State is invaded, militia to be called out, an army marched, arms and
provisions to be issued from the public magazines, the legislature to be
convened, and the council is divided. Can it be believed to have been the
intention of the framers of the Constitution, that the Constitution itself and
their constituents with it should be destroyed for want of a will to direct the
resources they had provided for its preservation? Before such possible
consequences all verbal scruples must vanish ; construction must be made
secundum arbitrium boni viri, and the Constitution be rendered a practicable
thing. That exposition of it must be vicious, which would leave the nation
under the most dangerous emergencies without a directing will. The cautious
maxims of the bench, to seek the will of the legislator and his words only, are
proper and safer for judicial government. They act ever on an individual case
only, the evil of which is partial, and gives time for correction. But an
instant of delay 






           Correspondence



in executive proceedings may be fatal to the whole nation. They must not,
therefore, be laced up in the rules of the judiciary department. They must seek
the intention of the legislator in all the circumstances which may indicate it
in the history of the day, in the public discussions, in the general opinion
and understanding, in reason and in practice. The three great departments
having distinct functions to perform, must have distinct rules adapted to them.
Each must act under its own rules, those of no one having any obligation on
either of the others. When the opinion first began that a Governor could not
act when his council could not or would not advise, I am uninformed. Probably
not till after the war; for, had it prevailed then, no militia could have been
opposed to Cornwall is, nor necessaries furnished to the opposing army of La
Fayette. These, SIR, are my recollections and thoughts on the subject of your
inquiry, to which I will only add the assurances of my great esteem and
respect.







          TO BENJAMIN GALLOWAY.



             MONTICELLO, February 2, 1812.



  SIR,-I duly received your favor of the 1st instant, together with the volume
accompanying it, for which I pray you to accept my thanks, and to be so kind as
to convey them to Mrs. Debutts also, to whose obliging care I am indebted for
its transmission. But especially my thanks are due to the



   VOL, XIII-9 






130            Jefferson's Works



author himself for the honorable mention he has made of me. With the exception
of two or three characters of greater eminence in the revolution, we formed a
group of fellow laborers in the common cause, animated by a common zeal, and
claiming no distinction of one over another.



The spirit of freedom, breathed through the whole of Mr. Northmore's
composition, is really worthy of the purest times of Greece and Rome. It would
have been received in England, in the days of Hampden and Sidney, with more
favor than at this time. It marks a high and independent mind in the author,
one capable of rising above the partialities of country, to have seen in the
adversary cause that of justice and freedom, and to have estimated fairly the
motives and actions of those engaged in its support. I hope and firmly believe
that the whole world will, sooner or later, feel benefit from the issue of our
assertion of the rights of man. Although the horrors of the French Revolution
have damped for awhile the ardor of the patriots in every country, yet it is
not extinguished-it will never die. The sense of right has been excited in
every breast, and the spark will be rekindled by the very oppressions of that
detestable tyranny employed to quench it. The errors of the honest patriots of
France, and the crimes of her Dantons and Robespierres, will be forgotten in
the more encouraging contemplation of our sober example, and steady March to
our object. Hope will strengthen the presumption that what has been



             Correspondence          131



done once may be done again. As you have been the channel of my receiving this
mark of attention from Mr. Northmore, I must pray you to be that of conveying
to him my thanks, and an assurance of the high sense I have of the merit of his
work, and of its tendency to cherish the noblest virtues of the human
character.



  On the political events of the day I have nothing to communicate. I have
retired from them, and given up newspapers for more classical reading. I add,
therefore, only the assurances of my great esteem and respect.







            TO EZRA SARGEANT.



              MONTICELLO, February 3, 1812.



  SIR,-Observing that you edit the Edinburgh Review, reprinted in New York, and
presuming that your occupations in that line are not confined to that single
work, I take the liberty of addressing the present letter to you. If I am
mistaken, the obviousness of the inference will be my apology. Mr. Edward
Livingston brought an action against me for having removed his intrusion on the
beach of the river Mississippi opposite to New Orleans. At the request of my
counsel I made a statement of the facts of the case, and of the law applicable
to them, so as to form a full argument of justification. The case has been
dismissed from court for want of jurisdiction, and the public remain uninformed







132         Jefferson's Works



whether I had really abused the powers entrusted to .me, as he alleged. I wish
to convey to them this information by publishing the justification. The
questions arising in the case are mostly under the civil law; the laws of Spain
and of France, which are of course couched in French, in Spanish, in Latin, and
some in Greek; and the books being in few hands in this country, I was obliged
to make very long extracts from them. The correctness with which your edition
of the Edinburgh Review is printed, and of the passages quoted in those
languages, induces me to propose to you the publication of the case I speak of.
It will fill about 65 or 70 pages of the type and size of paper of the
Edinburgh Review. The MS. is in the handwriting of this letter, entirely fair
and correct. It will take between four and five sheets of paper, of sixteen
pages each. I should want 250 copies struck off for myself, intended
principally for the members of Congress, and the printer would be at liberty to
print as many more as he pleased for sale, but without any copyright, which I
should not propose to have taken out. It is right that I should add, that the
work is not at all for popular reading. It is merely a law argument, and a very
dry one; having been intended merely for the eye of my counsel. It may be in
some demand perhaps with lawyers, and persons engaged in the public affairs,
but very little beyond that. Will you be so good as to inform me if you will
undertake to edit this, and what would be the terms on which you can furnish 






             Correspondence          133



me with 250 copies ? I should want it to be done with as little delay as
possible, so that Congress might receive it before they separate; and I should
add as a condition, that not a copy should be sold until I could receive my
number, and have time to lay them on the desks of the members. This would
require a month from the time they should leave New York by the stage. In hopes
of an early answer I tender you the assurances of my respect.







             TO DR. WHEATON.



             MONTICELLO, February 14, 1812.



  Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Dr. Wheaton, and his thanks for
the address he was so kind as to enclose him on the advancement in medicine
Having little confidence in the theories of that art, which change in their
fashion with the ladies' caps and gowns, he has much in the facts it has
established by observation. The experience of physicians has proved that in
certain forms of disease certain substances will restore order to the human
system ; and he doubts not that continued observation will enlarge the
catalogue, and give relief to our posterity in cases wherein we are without it.
The extirpation of the small pox by vaccination, is an encouraging proof that
the condition of man is susceptible of amelioration, although we are not able
to fix its extent. He salutes Dr. Wheaton with esteem and respect. 






134        Jefferson's Works







     TO CHARLES CHRISTIAN.



              MONTICELLO, March 21, 1812.



SIR,-I have duly received your favor of the 10th instant, proposing to me to
join in a contribution for the support of the family of the late Mr. Cheetham
of New York. Private charities, as well as contributions to public purposes in
proportion to every one's circumstances, are certainly among the duties we owe
to society, and I have never felt a wish to withdraw from my portion of them.
The general relation in which I, some time since, stood to the citizens of all
our States, drew on me such multitudes of these applications as exceeded all
resource. Nor have they much abated since my retirement to the limited duties
of a private citizen, and the more limited resources of a private fortune. They
have obliged me to lay down as a law of conduct for myself, to restrain my
contributions for public institutions to the' circle of my own State, and for
private charities to that which is under my own observation ; and these calls I
find more than sufficient for everything I can spare. Nor was there anything in
the case of the late Mr. Cheetham,. which could claim with me to be taken out
of a general rule. On these considerations I must decline the contribution you
propose, not doubting that the efforts of the family, aided by those who stand
in the relation to them of neighbors and friends, in so great a mart for
industry, as they are placed in, will save











             Correspondence         135



them from all danger of want or suffering. With this apology for returning the
paper sent me, unsubscribed, be pleased to accept the tender of my respect.







          TO F. A. VAN DER KEMP.



               MONTICELLO, March 22, 1812.



  SIR,-I am indebted to you for the communication of the prospectus of a work
embracing the history of civilized man, political and moral, from the great
change produced in his condition by the extension of the feudal system over
Europe through all the successive effects of the revival of letters, the
invention of printing, that of the compass, the enlargement of science, and the
revolutionary spirit, religious and civil, generated by that. It presents a
vast anatomy of fact and reflection, which if duly filled up would offer to the
human mind a wonderful mass for contemplation.

  Your letter does not ascertain whether this work is already executed, or only
meditated ; but it excites a great desire to see it completed, and a confidence
that the author of the analysis is best able to develop the profound views
there only sketched. It would be a library in itself, and to our country
particularly desirable and valuable, if executed in the genuine republican
principles of our Constitution. The only orthodox object of the institution of
government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the
general mass of those associated under 






136         Jefferson's Works



it. The events which this work proposes to embrace will establish the fact that
unless the mass retains sufficient control over those intrusted with the powers
of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to
the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families
selected for the trust. Whether our Constitution has hit on the exact degree of
control necessary, is yet under experiment ; and it is a most encouraging
reflection that distance and other difficulties securing us against the brigand
governments of Europe, in the safe enjoyment of our farms and firesides, the
experiment stands a better chance of being satisfactorily made here than on any
occasion yet presented by history. To promote, therefore, unanimity and
perseverance in this great enterprise, to disdain despair, encourage trial, and
nourish hope, and the worthiest objects of every political and philanthropic
work; and that this would be the necessary result of that which you have
delineated, the facts it will review, and the just reflections arising out of
them, will sufficiently answer. I hope, therefore, that it is not in petto
merely, but already completed; and that my fellow citizens, warned in it of the
rocks and shoals on which other political associations have been wrecked, will
be able to direct theirs with a better knowledge of the dangers in its way.



The enlargement of your observations on the subjects of natural history,
alluded to in your letter,



                  Correspondence      137 






cannot fail to add to our lights respecting them, and will therefore ever be a
welcome present to every friend of science. Accept, I pray you, the assurance
of my great esteem and respect.







      TO THE HONORABLE HUGH NELSON.



                MONTICELLO, April 2, 1812.



DEAR SIR,-Your letter of March 22d has been duly received. By this time a
printed copy of my MS. respecting the batture has I hope been laid on your
desk, by which you will perceive that the MS. itself has been received long
enough to have been sent to New York, printed and returned to Washington.



On the subject of the omission of the officers of the Virginia State line, in
the provisions and reservations of the cession of Congress, my memory enables
me to say nothing more than that it was not through inattention, as I believe,
but the result of compromise. But of this the President, who was in Congress
when the arrangement was settled, can give the best account. I had nothing to
do but execute a deed according to that arrangement, made previous to my being
a member. Colonel Monroe being a member with me, is more likely to remember
what passed at that time; but the best resource for explanation of everything
we did, is in our weekly correspondence with the Governor of Virginia, which I
suppose is still among the Executive records. We 






138         Jefferson's Works



made it a point to write a letter to him every week, either jointly, or
individually by turns.



You request me to state the public sentiment of our part of the country as to
war and the taxes. You know I do not go out much. My own house and our court
yard are the only places where I see my fellow citizens. As far as I can judge
in this limited sphere, I think all regret that there is cause for war, but all
consider it as now necessary, and would, I think, disapprove of a much longer
delay of the declaration of it. As to the taxes, they expect to meet them,
would be unwilling to have them postponed, and are only dissatisfied with some
of the subjects of taxation; that is to say the stamp tax and excise. To the
former I have not seen a man who is not totally irreconcilable. If the latter
could be collected from those who buy to sell again, so as to prevent
domiciliary visits by the officers, I think it would be acceptable, and I am
sure a wholesome tax. I am persuaded the Secretary of the Treasury is mistaken
in supposing so immense a deduction from the duties on imports. We shall make
little less to sell than we do now, for no one will let his hands be idle ; and
consequently we shall export not much less, and expect returns. Some part will
be taken on the export and some on the import. But taking into account the
advance of prices, that revenue will not f all so far short as he thinks ; and
I have no doubt might be counted on to make good the entire suppression of the
stamp tax. Yet, 






            Correspondence          139



although a very disgusting pill, I think there can be no question the people
will swallow it, if their representatives determine on it. I get their
sentiments mostly from those who are most in the habit of intercourse with the
people than I am myself. Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect.







   TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



               MONTICELLO, April 17, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-The enclosed papers will explain themselves. Their coming to me is
the only thing not sufficiently explained.



  Your favor of the 3d came duly to hand. Although something of the kind had
been apprehended, the embargo found the farmers and planters only getting their
produce to market, and selling as fast as they could get it there. I think it
caught them in this part of the State with one-third of their flour or wheat
and three-quarters of their tobacco undisposed of. If we may suppose the rest
of the middle country in the same situation, and that the upper and lower
country may be judged by that as a mean, these will perhaps be the proportions
of produce remaining in the hands of the producers. Supposing the objects of
the government were merely to keep our vessels and men out of harm's way, and
that there is no idea that the want of our flour will starve Great Britain, the
sale of the remain






             Jefferson's Works



ing produce will be rather desirable, and what would be desired even in war,
and even to our enemies. For I am favorable to the opinion which has been urged
by others, sometimes acted on, and now partly so by France and Great Britain,
that commerce, under certain restrictions and licenses, may be indulged between
enemies mutually advantageous to the individuals, and not to their injury as
belligerents. The capitulation of Amelia Island, if confirmed, might favor this
object, and at any rate get off our produce now on hand. I think a people would
go through a war with much less impatience if they could dispose of their
produce, and that unless a vent can be provided for them, they will soon become
querulous and clamor for peace. They appear at present to receive the embargo
with perfect acquiescence and without a murmur, seeing the necessity of taking
care of our vessels and seamen. Yet they would be glad to dispose of their
produce in any way not endangering them, as by letting it go from a neutral
place in British vessels. In this way we lose the carriage only; but better
that than both carriage and cargo. The rising of the price of flour, 'since the
first panic is passed away, indicates some prospects in the merchants of
disposing of it. Our wheat had greatly suffered by the winter, but is as
remarkably recovered by the favorable weather of the spring. Ever
affectionately yours. 






             Correspondence







             TO JOHN ADAMS.



              MONTICELLO, April 20, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-I have it now in my power to send you a piece of homespun in return
for that I received from you. Not of the fine texture, or delicate character of
yours, or to drop. our metaphor, not filled as that was with that display of
imagination which constitutes excellence in Belles Lettres, but a mere sober,
dry and formal piece of logic. Ornari res ipsa negat. Yet you may have enough
left of your old taste for law reading, to cast an eye over some of the
questions it discusses. At any rate, accept it as the offering of esteem and
friendship.



  You wish to know something of the Richmond and Wabash prophets. Of Nimrod
Hews I never heard before. Christopher Macpherson I have known for twenty
years. He is a man of color, brought up as a book-keeper by a merchant, his
master, and afterwards enfranchised. He had understanding enough to post up his
ledger from his journal, but not enough to bear up against hypochondriac
affections, and the gloomy forebodings they inspire. He became crazy, foggy,
his head always in the clouds, and rhapsodizing what neither himself nor any
one else could understand. I think he told me he had visited you personally
while you were in the administration, and wrote you letters, which you have
probably forgotten in the mass of the correspondences of that crazy class, 






142         Jefferson's Works



of whose complaints, and terrors, and mysticisms, the several Presidents have
been the regular depositories. Macpherson was too honest to be molested by
anybody, and too inoffensive to be a subject for the mad-house; although, I
believe, we are told in the old book, that " every man that is mad, and maketh
himself a prophet, thou shouldest put him in prison and in the stocks. "



The Wabash prophet is a very different character, more rogue than fool, if to
be a rogue is not the greatest of all follies. He arose to notice while I was
in the administration, and became, of course, a proper subject of inquiry for
me. The inquiry was made with diligence. His declared object was the
reformation of his red brethren, and their return to their pristine manner of
living. He pretended to be in constant communication with the Great Spirit ;
that he was instructed by him to make known to the Indians that they were
created by him distinct from the whites, of different natures, for different
purposes, and placed under different circumstances, adapted to their nature and
destinies ; that they must return from all the ways of the whites to the habits
and opinions of their forefathers ; they must not eat the flesh of hogs, of
bullocks, of sheep, etc., the deer and buffalo having been created for their
food; they must not make bread of wheat, but of Indian corn ; they must not.
wear linen nor woolen, but dress like their fathers in the skins and furs of
animals; they must not drink 






            Correspondence         143



ardent spirits, and I do not remember whether he extended his inhibitions to
the gun and gunpowder, in favor of the bow and arrow. I concluded from all
this, that he was a visionary, enveloped in the clouds of their antiquities,
and vainly endeavoring to lead back his brethren to the fancied beatitudes of
their golden age. I thought there was little danger of his making many
proselytes from the habits and comfort they had learned from the whites, to the
hardships and privations of savagism, and no great harm if he did. We let him
go on, therefore, unmolested. But his followers increased till the. English
thought him worth corruption and found him corruptible. I suppose his views
were then changed; but his proceedings in consequence of them were after I left
the administration, and are, therefore, unknown to me; nor have I ever beer.
informed what were the particular acts on his part, which produced an actual
commencement of hostilities on ours. I have no doubt, however, that his
subsequent proceedings are but a chapter apart, like that of Henry and Lord
Liverpool, in the Book of the Kings of England.



  Of this mission of Henry, your son had got wind in the time of the embargo,
and communicated it to me. But he had learned nothing of the particular agent,
although, of his workings, the information he had obtained appears now to have
been correct. He stated a particular which Henry has not distinctly brought
forward, which was that the Eastern 






            Jefferson's Works



States were not to be required to make a formal act of separation from the
Union, and to take a part in the war against it ; a measure deemed much too
strong for their people; but to declare themselves in a state of neutrality, in
consideration of which they were to have peace and free commerce, the lure most
likely to insure popular acquiescence. Having no indications of Henry as the
intermediate in this negotiation of the Essex junto, suspicions fell on
Pickering, and his nephew Williams, in London. If he was wronged in this, the
ground of the suspicion is to be found in his known practices and avowed
opinions, as that of his accomplices in the sameness of sentiment and of
language with Henry, and subsequently by the fluttering of the wounded pigeons.



This letter, with what it encloses, has given you enough, I presume, of law and
the prophets. I will only add to it, therefore, the homage of my respects to
Mrs. Adams, and to yourself the assurances of affectionate esteem and respect.







              TO JAMES MAURY.



               MONTICELLO, April 25, 1812.



  MY DEAR AND ANCIENT FRIEND AND CLASSMATE,----Often has my heart smote me for
delaying acknowledgments to you, receiving, as I do, such frequent proofs of
your kind recollection in the transmission of papers to me. But instead of
acting on the good 






             Correspondence         145



old maxim of not putting off  to tomorrow what we can do today, we are too apt
to reverse it, and not to do today what we can put off  to tomorrow: But this
duty can be no longer put off. Today we are at peace; tomorrow, war. The
curtain of separation is drawing between us, and probably will not be withdrawn
till one, if not both of us, will be at rest with our fathers. Let me now,
then, while I may, renew to you the declarations of my warm attachment, which
in no period of life has ever been weakened, and seems to become stronger as
the remaining objects of our youthful affections are fewer.



  Our two countries are to be at war, but not you and I. And why should our two
countries be at war, when by peace we can be so much more useful to one
another? Surely the world will acquit our government from having sought it.
Never before has there been an instance of a nation's bearing so much as we
have borne. Two items alone in our catalogue of wrongs will forever acquit us
of being the aggressors : the impressment of our seamen, and the excluding us
from the ocean. The. first foundations of the social compact would be broken
up, were we definitively to refuse to its members the protection of their
persons and property, while in their lawful pursuits. I think the war will not
be short, because the object of England, long obvious, is to claim the ocean as
her domain, and to exact transit duties from every vessel traversing it. This



    VOL. XIII-10 






146         Jefferson's Works



is the sum of her orders of council, which were only a step in this bold
experiment, never meant to be retracted if it could be permanently maintained.
And this object must continue her in war with all the world. To this I see no
termination, until her exaggerated efforts, so much beyond her natural strength
and resources, shall have exhausted her to bankruptcy. The approach of this
crisis is, I think, visible in the departure of her precious metals, and
depreciation of her paper medium. We, who have gone through that operation,
know its symptoms, its course, and consequences. In England they will be more
serious than elsewhere, because half the wealth of her people is now in that
medium, the private revenue of her money-holders, or rather of her
paper-holders, being, I believe, greater than that of her land-holders. Such a
proportion of property, imaginary and baseless as it is, cannot be reduced to
vapor but with great explosion. She will rise out of its ruins, however,
because her lands, her houses, her arts will remain, and the greater part of
her men. And these will give her again that place among nations which is
proportioned to her natural means, and which we all wish her to hold. We
believe that the just standing of all nations is the health and security of
all. We consider the overwhelming power of England on the ocean, and of France
on the land, as destructive of the prosperity and happiness of the world, and
wish both to be reduced only to the necessity of observing 






            Correspondence       147



moral duties. We believe no more in Bonaparte's fighting merely for the liberty
of the seas, than in Great Britain's fighting for the liberties of mankind, The
object of both is the same, to draw to themselves the power, the wealth and the
resources of other nations. We resist the enterprises of England first, because
they first come vitally home to us. And our feelings repel the logic of bearing
the lash of George the III. for fear of that of Bonaparte at some future day.
When the wrongs of France shall reach us with equal effect, we shall resist
them also. But one at a time is enough; and having offered a choice to the
champions, England first takes up the gauntlet.



  The English newspapers suppose me the personal enemy of their nation. I am
not so. I am an enemy to its injuries, as I am to those of France. If I could
permit myself to have national partialities, and if the conduct of England
would have permitted them to be directed towards her, they would have been so.
I thought that in the administration of Mr. Addington, I discovered some
dispositions toward justice, and even friendship and respect for us, and began
to pave the way for cherishing these dispositions, and improving them into ties
of mutual good will. But we had then a federal minister there, whose
dispositions to believe himself, and to inspire others with a belief, in our
sincerity, his subsequent conduct has brought into doubt; and poor Merry, the
English minister here, had 






148        Jefferson's Works



learned nothing of diplomacy but its suspicions, without head enough to
distinguish when they were misplaced. Mr. Addington and Mr. Fox passed away too
soon to avail the two countries of their dispositions. Had I been personally
hostile to England, and biased in favor of either the character or views of her
great antagonist, the affair of the Chesapeake put war into my hand. I had only
to open it and let havoc loose. But if ever I was gratified with the possession
of power, and of the confidence of those who had entrusted me with it, it was
on that occasion when I was enabled to use both for the prevention of war,
towards which the torrent of passion here was directed almost irresistibly, and
when not another person in the United States, less supported by authority and
favor, could have resisted it. And now that a definitive adherence to her
impressments and orders of council renders war no longer avoidable, my earnest
prayer is that our government may enter into no compact of common cause with
the other belligerent, but keep us free to make a separate peace, whenever
England will separately give us peace and future security. But Lord Liverpool
is our witness that this can never be' but by her removal from our
neighborhood.



  I have thus, for a moment, taken a range into the field of politics, to
possess you with the view we take of things here. But in the scenes which are
to ensue, I am to be but a spectator. I have with-



             Correspondence               149



drawn myself from all political intermeddlings, to indulge the evening of my
life with what have been the passions of every portion of it, books, science,
my farms, my family and friends. To these every hour of the day is now devoted.
I retain a good activity of mind, not quite as much of body, but uninterrupted
health. Still the hand of age is upon me. All my old friends are nearly gone.
Of those in my neighborhood, Mr. Divers and Mr. Lindsay alone remain. If you
could make it a partie quarree, it would be a comfort indeed. We would beguile
our lingering hours with talking over our youthful exploits, our hunts on
Peter's mountain, with a long train of et cetera, in addition, and feel, by
recollection at least, a momentary flash of youth. Reviewing the course of a
long and sufficiently successful life, I find in no portion of it happier
moments than those were. I think the old hulk in which you are, is near her
wreck, and that like a prudent rat, you should escape in time. However, here,
there, and everywhere, in peace or in war, you will have my sincere affections
and prayers for your life, health and happiness.







             TO JOHN RODMAN.



                MONTICELLO, April 25, 1812.



  Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Mr. Rodman, and his thanks for
the translation of Montgalliard's work which he has been so kind as 






150             Jefferson's Works



to send him. It certainly presents some new and true views of the situation of
England. It is a subject of deep regret to see a great nation reduced from an
unexampled height of prosperity to an abyss of ruin, by the long-continued rule
of ' a single chief. All we ought to wish as to both belligerent parties is to
see them forced to disgorge what their ravenous appetites have taken from
others, and reduced to the necessity of observing moral duties in future.  If
we read with regret what concerns England, the fulsome adulation of the author
towards his own chief excites nausea and disgust at the state of degradation to
which the mind of man is reduced by subjection to the inordinate power of
another. He salutes Mr. Rodman with great respect.







           TO JOHN JACOB ASTOR.



                MONTICELLO, May 24, 1812.



  SIR,-Your letter of March 14th. lingered much on the road, and a long journey
before I could answer it, has delayed its acknowledgment till now. I am sorry
your enterprise for establishing a factory on the Columbia river, and a
commerce through the line of that river and the Missouri, should meet with the
difficulties stated in your letter. I remember well having invited your
proposition on that subject, and encouraged it with the assurance of every
facility and protection which the government could properly afford. I
considered as a great 






                 Correspondence            151



public acquisition the commencement of a settlement on that point of the
western coast of America, and looked forward with gratification to the time
when its descendants should have spread themselves through the whole length of
that coast, covering it with free and independent Americans, unconnected with
us but by the ties of blood and interest, and employing like us the rights of
self-government. I hope the obstacles you state are not insurmountable ; that
they will not endanger, or even delay the accomplishment of so great a public
purpose. In the present state of affairs between Great Britain and us, the
government is justly jealous of contraventions of those commercial restrictions
which have been deemed necessary to exclude the use of British manufactures in
these States, and to promote the establishment of similar ones among ourselves.
The interests too of the revenue require particular watchfulness. But in the
non-importation of British manufactures, and the revenue raised on foreign
goods, the legislature could only have in view the consumption of our own
citizens, and the revenue to be levied on that. We certainly did not mean to
interfere with the consumption of nations foreign to us, as the Indians of the
Columbia and Missouri are, or to assume a right of levying an impost on that
consurnption ; and if the words of the laws take in their supplies in either
view, it was probably unintentional, and because their case not being under the
contemplation of the legislature, has been 






152           Jefferson's Works



inadvertently embraced by it. The question with them would be not what
manufactures these nations should use, or what taxes they should pay us on
them, but whether we should give a transit for them through our country. We
have a right to say we will not let the British exercise that transit. But it
is our interest as well as a neighborly duty to allow it when exercised by our
own citizens only. To guard against any surreptitious introduction of British
influence among those nations, we may justifiably require that no Englishman be
permitted to go with the trading parties, and necessary precautions should also
be taken to prevent this covering the contravention of our own laws and views.
But these once securely guarded, our interest would permit the transit free of
duty. And I do presume that if the subject were fully presented to the
legislature, they would provide that the laws intended to guard our own
concerns only, should not assume the regulation of those of foreign and
independent nations; still less that they should stand in the way of so
interesting an object as that of planting the germ of an American population on
the shores of the Pacific. From meddling however with these subjects it is my
duty as well as my inclination to abstain. They are in hands perfectly
qualified to direct them, and who knowing better the present state of things,
are better able to decide what is right ; and whatever they decide on a full
view of the case, I shall implicitly confide has been rightly 






                Correspondence               153



decided. Accept my best wishes for your success, and the assurances of my great
esteem and respect.







   TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



               MONTICELLO, May 30, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-Another communication is enclosed, and the letter of the applicant
is the only information I have of his qualifications. I barely  remember such a
person as the secretary of Mr. Adams, and messenger to the Senate while I was
of that body. It enlarges the sphere of choice by adding to it a strong
federalist. The triangular war must be the idea of the Anglomen and
malcontents, in other words, the federalists and quids. Yet it would reconcile
neither. It would only change the topic of abuse with the former, and not cure
the mental disease of the latter. It would prevent our eastern capitalists and
seamen from employment in privateering, take away the only chance of
conciliating them, and keep them at home, idle, to swell the discontents ; it
would completely disarm us of the most powerful weapon we can employ against
Great Britain, by shutting every port to our prizes, and yet would not add a
single vessel to their number; it would shut every market to our agricultural
productions, and engender impatience and discontent with that class which, in
fact, composes the nation; it would insulate us in general negotiations for 






154            Jefferson's Works



peace, making all the parties our opposers, and very indifferent about peace
with us, if they have it with the rest of the world, and would exhibit a
solecism worthy of Don Quixote only, that of a choice to fight two enemies at a
time, rather than to take them by succession. And the only motive for all this
is a sublimated impartiality, at which the world will laugh, and our own people
will turn upon us in mass as soon as it is explained to them, as it will be by
the very persons who are now laying that snare. These are the hasty views of
one who rarely thinks on these subjects. Your own will be. better, and I pray
to them every success, and to yourself every felicity.







   TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



        (JAMES MADISON).



                MONTICELLO, June 6, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-I have taken the liberty of drawing the attention of the Secretary
of War to a small depot of military stores at New London, and leave the letter
open for your perusal. Be so good as to seal it before delivery. I really
thought that General Dearborn had removed them to Lynchburg, undoubtedly a
safer and more convenient deposit.



  Our country is the only one I have heard of which has required a draught ;
this proceeded from a mistake of the colonel, who thought he could not receive
individual offers, but that the whole quota, 






               Correspondence             155



241, must present themselves at once. Every one, however, manifests the utmost
alacrity; of the 241 there having been but ten absentees at the first muster
called. A further proof is that Captain Carr's company of volunteer cavalry
being specifically called for by the Governor, though consisting of but 28 when
called on, has got up to 50 by new engagements since their call was known. The
only inquiry they make is whether they are to go to Canada or Florida? Not a
man, as far as I have learned, entertains any of those doubts which puzzle the
lawyers of Congress and astonish common sense, whether it is lawful for them to
pursue a retreating enemy across the boundary line of the Union ?



  I hope Barlow's correspondence has satisfied all our Quixotes who thought we
should undertake nothing less than to fight all Europe at once. I enclose you a
letter from Dr. Bruff, a mighty good and very ingenious man. His method of
manufacturing bullets and shot, has the merit of increasing their specific
gravity greatly, (being made by composition,) and rendering them as much
heavier and better than the common leaden bullet, as that is than an iron one.
It is a pity he should not have the benefit of furnishing the public when it
would be equally to their benefit also. God bless you. 






156           Jefferson's Works







        TO JOHN ADAMS.



               MONTICELLO, June 11, 1812.



DEAR SIR,--By our post preceding that which brought your letter of May 21st, I
had received one from Mr. Malcolm on the same subject with yours, and by the
return of the post had stated to the President my recollections of him. But
both your letters were probably too late ; as the appointment had been already
made, if we may credit the newspapers.



You ask if there is any book that pretends to give any account of the
traditions of the Indians, or how one can acquire an idea of them ? Some scanty
accounts of their traditions, but fuller of their customs and characters, are
given us by most of the early travellers among them ; these you know were
mostly French. Lafitan, among them, . and Adair an Englishman, have written on
this subject; the former two volumes, the latter one, all in 4to. But unluckily
Lafitan had in his head a preconceived theory on the mythology, manners,
institutions and government of the ancient nations of Europe, Asia and Africa,
and seems to have entered on those of America only to fit them into the same
frame, and to draw from them a confirmation of his general theory. He keeps up
a perpetual parallel, in all those articles, between. the Indians of America
and the ancients of the other quarters of the globe. He selects, therefore, all
the facts and adopts all 






              Correspondence                 157



the falsehoods which favor this theory, and very gravely retails such
absurdities as zeal for a theory could alone swallow. He was a man of much
classical and scriptural reading, and has rendered his book not unentertaining.
He resided five years among the Northern Indians, as a Missionary, but collects
his matter much more from the writings of others, than from his own
observation.



  Adair too had his kink. He believed all the Indians of America to be
descended from the Jews; the same laws, usages, rites and ceremonies, the same
sacrifices, priests, prophets, fasts and festivals, almost the same religion,
and that they all spoke Hebrew. For, although he writes particularly of the
Southern Indians only, the Catawbas, Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws and
Choctaws, with whom alone he was personally acquainted, yet he generalizes
whatever he found among them, and brings himself to believe that the hundred
languages of America, differing fundamentally every one from every other, as
much as Greek from Gothic, yet have all one common prototype. He was a trader,
a man of learning, a self-taught Hebraist, a strong religionist, and of as
sound a mind as Don Quixote in ,whatever did not touch his religious chivalry.
His book contains a great deal of real instruction on its subject, only
requiring the reader to be constantly on his guard against the wonderful
obliquities of his theory.



The scope of your inquiry would scarcely, I sup






158            Jefferson's Works



pose, take in the three folio volumes of Latin of De Bry. In these, facts and
fable are mingled together, without regard to any favorite system. They are
less suspicious, therefore, in their complexion, more original and authentic,
than those of Lafitan and Adair. This is a work of great curiosity, extremely
rare, so as never to be bought in Europe, but on the breaking up and selling
some ancient library. On one of these occasions a bookseller procured me a
copy, which, unless you have one, is probably the only one in America.



  You ask further, if the Indians have any order of priesthood among them, like
the Druids, Bards or Minstrels of the Celtic nations?    Adair alone,
determined to see what he wished to see in every object, metamorphoses their
Conjurers into an order of priests, and describes their sorceries as if they
were the great religious ceremonies of the nation. Lafitan called them by their
proper names, Jongleurs, Devins, Sortileges ; De Bry praestigiatores ; Adair
himself sometimes Magi, Archimagi, cunning men, Seers, rain makers ; and the
modern Indian interpreters call them conjurers and witches. They are persons
pretending to have communications with the devil and other evil spirits, to
foretell future events, bring down rain, find stolen goods, raise the dead,
destroy some and heal others by enchantment, lay spells, etc. And Adair,
without departing from his parallel of the Jews and Indians, might have found
their counterpart much more aptly, among 






                Correspondence               159



the soothsayers, sorcerers and wizards of the Jews, their Gannes and Gambres,
their Simon Magus, Witch of Endor, ' and the young damsel whose sorceries
disturbed Paul so much ; instead of placing them in a line with their
high-priest, their chief priests, and their magnificent hierarchy generally. In
the solemn ceremonies of the Indians, the persons who direct or officiate, are
their chiefs, elders and warriors, in civil ceremonies or in those of war ; it
is the head of the cabin in their private or particular feasts or ceremonies;
and sometimes the matrons, as in their corn feasts. And even here, Adair might
have kept up his parallel, with ennobling his conjurers. For the ancient
patriarchs, the Noahs, the Abrahams, Isaacs and Jacobs, and even after the
consecration of Aaron, the Samuels and Elijahs, and we may say further, every
one for himself offered sacrifices on the altars. The true line of distinction
seems to be, that solemn ceremonies, whether public or private, addressed to
the Great Spirit, are conducted by the worthies of the nation, men or matrons,
while conjurers are resorted to only for the invocation of evil spirits. The
present state of the several Indian tribes, without any public order of
priests, is proof sufficient that they never had such an order. Their steady
habits permit no innovations, not even those which the progress of science
offers to increase the comforts, enlarge the understanding, and improve the
morality of mankind.. Indeed, so little idea have they of a regular order of 






160             Jefferson's Works



priests, that they mistake ours for their conjurers, and call them by that
name.



  So much in answer to your inquiries concerning Indians, a people with whom,
in the early part of my life, I was very familiar, and acquired impressions of
attachment and commiseration for them which have never been obliterated. Before
the Revolution, they were in the habit of coming often and in great numbers to
the seat of government, where I was very much with them. I knew much the great
Ontassete, the warrior and orator of the Cherokees; he was always the guest of
my father, on his journeys to and from Williamsburg. I was in his camp when he
made his great farewell oration to his people the evening before his departure
for England. The moon was in full splendor, and to her he seemed to address
himself in his prayers for his own safety on the voyage, and that of his people
during his absence ; his sounding voice, distinct articulation, animated
action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several fires, filled me
with awe and veneration, although I did not understand a word he uttered. That
nation, consisting now of about 2,000 warriors, and the Creeks of about 3,000
are far advanced in civilization. They have good cabins, enclosed fields, large
herds of cattle and hogs, spin and weave their own clothes of cotton, have
smiths and other of the most necessary tradesmen, write and read, are on the
increase in numbers, and a branch of Cherokees is now instituting a 






              Correspondence            161



regular representative government. Some other tribes are advancing in the same
line. On those who have made any progress, English seductions will have no
effect. But the backward will yield, and be thrown further back. Those will
relapse into barbarism and misery, lose numbers by war and want, and we shall
be obliged to drive them with the beasts of the forest into the stony
mountains. They will be conquered, however, in Canada. The possession of that
country secures our women and children forever from the tomahawk and scalping
knife, by removing those who excite them; and for this possession orders, I
presume, are issued by this time; taking for granted that the doors of Congress
will re-open with a declaration of war. That this may end in indemnity for the
past, security for the future, and complete emancipation from Anglomany,
Gallomany, and all the manias of demoralized Europe, and that you may live in
health and happiness to see all this, is the sincere prayer of yours
affectionately.







           TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.



               MONTICELLO, June 11, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-It has given me great pleasure to receive a letter from you. It
seems as if, our ancient friends dying off, the whole mass of the affections of
the heart survives undiminished to the few who remain. I think our acquaintance
commenced in



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162              Jefferson's Works



1764, both then just of age. We happened to take lodgings in the same house in
New York. Our next meeting was in the Congress of 1775, and at various times
afterwards in the exercise of that and other public functions, until your
mission to Europe. Since we have ceased to meet, we have still thought



and acted together," et idem velle, atque idem nolle, ea demum amicitia est. "
Of this harmony of principle, the papers you enclosed me are proof sufficient.
I do not condole with you on your release from your government. The vote of
your opponents is the most honorable mark by which the soundness of your
conduct could be stamped. I claim the same honorable testimonial. There was but
a single act of my whole administration of which that party approved. That was
the proclamation on the attack of the Chesapeake. And when I found they
approved of it, I confess I began strongly to apprehend I had done wrong, and
to exclaim with the Psalmist, " Lord, what have I done that the wicked should
praise me!"



What, then, does this English faction with you mean ? Their newspapers say
rebellion, and that they will not remain united with us unless we will permit
them to govern the majority. If this be their purpose, their anti-republican
spirit, it ought to be met at once. But a government like ours should be slow
in believing this, should put forth its whole might when necessary to suppress
it, and promptly return to the paths of reconciliation. The 






                 Correspondence              163



extent of our country secures it, I hope, from the vindictive passions of the
petty incorporations of Greece. I rather suspect that the principal office of
the other seventeen States will be to moderate and restrain the local
excitement of our friends with you, when they (with the aid of their brethren
of the other States, if they need it) shall have brought the rebellious to
their feet. They count on British aid. But what can that avail them by land?
They would separate from their friends, who alone furnish employment for their
navigation, to unite with their only rival for that employment. When
interdicted the harbors of their quondam brethren, they will go, I suppose, to
ask a share in the carrying trade of their rivals, and a dispensation with
their navigation act. They think they will be happier in an association under
the rulers of Ireland, the East and West Indies, than in an independent
government, where they are obliged to put up with. their proportional share
only in the direction of its affairs. But I trust that such perverseness will
not be that of the honest and well-meaning mass of the federalists of
Massachusetts; and that when the questions of separation and rebellion shall be
nakedly proposed to them, the Gores and the Pickerings will find their levees
crowded with silk stocking gentry, but no yeomanry ; an army of officers
without soldiers. I hope, then, all will still end well ; the Anglomen will
consent to make peace with their bread and butter, and you and I shall sink to
rest, without having been actors or spectators in another civil war. 






164            Jefferson's Works



 How many children have you? You beat me, I expect, in that count, but I you in
that of our grandchildren. We have not timed these things well together, or we
might have begun a re-alliance between Massachusetts and the Old Dominion,
faithful companions in the War of Independence, peculiarly tallied in
interests, by each wanting exactly what the other has to spare; and estranged
to each other in latter times, only by the practices of a third nation, the
common enemy of both. Let us live only to see this re-union, and I will say
with old Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. " In that peace may you long remain, my friend,
and depart only in the fulness of years, all passed in health and prosperity.
God bless you.



  P. S. June 13. I did not condole with you on the reprobation of your
opponents, because it proved your orthodoxy. Yesterday's post brought me the
resolution of the republicans of Congress, to propose you as Vice-President. On
this I sincerely congratulate you. It is a stamp of double proof. It is a
notification to the factionaries that their nay is the yea of truth, and its
best test. We shall be almost within striking distance of each other. Who knows
but you may fill up some short recess of Congress with a visit to Monticello,
where a numerous family will hail you with a hearty country welcome.



              Correspondence               165







           TO JUDGE JOHN TYLER.



                MONTICELLO, June 17, 1812.



  DEAR SIR - *    *    *    *    *    *   * On the other subject of your
letter, the application of the common law to our present situation, I deride
with you the ordinary doctrine, that we brought with us from England the common
law rights. This narrow notion was a favorite in the first moment of rallying
to our rights against Great Britain. But it was that of men who felt their
rights before they had thought of their explanation. The truth is, that we
brought with us the rights of men; of expatriated men On our arrival here, the
question would at once arise, by what law will we govern ourselves ? The
resolution seems to have been, by that system, with which we are familiar, to
be altered by ourselves occasionally, and adapted to our new situation. The
proofs of this resolution are to be found in the form of the oaths of the
judges, I. Hening's Stat. 169. 187; of the Governor, ib. 504; in the act for a
provisional government, ib. 372 ; in the preamble to the laws of 1661-2 ; the
uniform current of opinions and decisions, and in the general recognition of
all our statutes, framed on that basis. But the state of the English law at the
date of our emigration, constituted the system adopted here. We may doubt,
therefore, the propriety of quoting in our courts English authorities
subsequent to that adoption; still more, the admission of authorities posterior
to 






166           Jefferson's Works



the Declaration of Independence, or rather to the accession of that King, whose
reign, ab initio, was the very tissue of wrongs which rendered the Declaration
at length necessary. The reason or it had inception at least as far back as the
commencement of his reign. This relation to the beginning of his reign, would
add the advantage of getting us rid of all Mansfield's innovations, or
civilizations of the common law. For however I admit the superiority of the
civil over the common law code, as a system of perfect justice, yet an
incorporation of the two would be like Nebuchadnezzar's image of metals and
clay, a thing without cohesion of parts. The only natural improvement of the
common law, is through its homogeneous ally, the chancery, in which new
principles are to be examined, concocted and digested. But when, by repeated
decisions and modifications, they are rendered pure and certain, they should be
transferred by statute to the courts of common law, and placed within the pale
of juries. The exclusion from the courts of the malign influence of all
authorities after the Georgium sidus became ascendant, would uncanonize
Blackstone, whose book, although the most elegant and best digested of our law
catalogue, has been perverted more than all others, to the degeneracy of legal
science. A student finds there a smattering of everything, and his indolence
easily persuades him that if he understands that book, he is master of the
whole body of the law. The distinction between these, and those who have 






                Correspondence              167



drawn their stores from the deep and rich mines of Coke and Littleton, seems
well understood even by the unlettered common people, who apply the appellation
of Blackstone lawyers to these ephemeral insects of the law.



Whether we should undertake to reduce the common law, our own, and so much of
the English statutes as we have adopted, to a text, is a question of
transcendent difficulty. It was discussed at the first meeting of the committee
of the revised code, in 1776, and decided in the negative, by the opinions of
Wythe, Mason and myself, against Pendleton and Thomas Lee. Pendleton proposed
to take Blackstone for that text, only purging him of what was inapplicable or
unsuitable to us. In that case, the meaning of every word of Blackstone would
have become a source of litigation, until it had been settled by repeated legal
decisions. And to come at that meaning, we should have had produced, on all
occasions, that very pile of authorities from which it would be said he drew
his conclusion, and which, of course, would explain it, and the terms in which
it is couched. Thus we should have retained the same chaos of law-lore from
which we wished to be emancipated, added to the evils of the uncertainty which
a new text and new phrases would have generated. An example of this may be
found in the old statutes, and commentaries on them, in Coke's second
institute, but more remarkably in the institute of Justinian, and the vast
masses explanatory or supple






168             Jefferson's Works



mentary of that which fill the libraries of the civilians. We were deterred
from the attempt by these considerations, added to which, the bustle of the
times did not admit leisure for such an undertaking.



  Your request of my opinion on this subject has given you the trouble of these
observations. If your firmer mind in encountering difficulties would have added
your vote to the minority of the committee, you would have had on your side one
of the greatest men of our age, and like him, have detracted nothing from the
sentiments of esteem and respect which I bore to him, and tender with sincerity
the assurance of to yourself.







       TO GENERAL THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.



                MONTICELLO, June 28, 1812.



  " Nous voila donc, mon cher ami, en guerre avec 1'Angleterre." This was
declared on the 18th. instant thirty years after the signature of our peace in
1782. Within these thirty years what a vast course of growth and prosperity we
have had! It is not ten years since Great Britain began a series of insults and
injuries which would have been met with war in the threshold by any European
power. This course has been unremittingly followed up by increasing wrongs,
with glimmerings indeed of peaceable redress, just sufficient to keep us quiet,
till she has had the impudence at length to extinguish even these glimmerings
by open avowal. This would not have been borne 






               Correspondence               169



so long, but that France has kept pace with England in iniquity of principle,
although not in the power of inflicting wrongs on us. The difficulty of
selecting a foe between them has spared us many years of war, and enabled us to
enter into it with less debt, more strength and preparation. Our present enemy
will have the sea to herself, while we shall be equally predominant at land,
and shall strip her of all her possessions on this continent. She may burn New
York, indeed, by her ships and congreve rockets, in which case we must burn the
city of London by hired incendiaries, of which her starving manufacturers will
furnish abundance. A people in such desperation as to demand of their
government aut parcem, aut furcam, either bread or the gallows, will not reject
the same alternative when offered by a foreign hand. Hunger will make them
brave every risk for bread. The partisans of England here have endeavored much
to goad us into the folly of choosing the ocean instead of the land, for the
theatre of war. That would be to meet their strength with our own weakness,
instead of their weakness with our strength. I hope we shall confine ourselves
to the conquest of their possessions, and defence of our harbors, leaving the
war on the ocean to our privateers. These will immediately swarm in every sea,
and do more injury to British commerce than the regular fleets of all Europe
would do. The government of France may discontinue their license trade. Our
privateers will furnish them much more abundantly with colonial 






170              Jefferson's Works



produce, and whatever the license trade has given them. Some have apprehended
we should be overwhelmed by the new improvements of war, which have not yet
reached us. But the British possess them very imperfectly, and what are these
improvements ? Chiefly in the management of artillery, of which our country
admits little use. We have nothing to fear from their armies, and shall put
nothing in prize to their fleets. ' Upon the whole, I have known no war entered
into under more favorable



auspices.



Our manufacturers are now very nearly on a footing with those of England. She
has not a single improvement which we do not possess, and many of them better
adapted by ourselves to our ordinary use. We have reduced the large and
expensive machinery for most things to the compass of a private family, and
every family of any size is now getting machines on a small scale for their
household purposes. Quoting myself as an example, and I am much behind many
others in this business, my household manufactures are just getting into
operation on the scale of a carding machine costing $60 only, which may be
worked by a girl of twelve years old, a spinning machine, which may be made for
$10, carrying 6 spindles for wool, to be worked by a girl also, another which
can be made for $25, carrying 12 spindles for cotton, and a loom, with a flying
shuttle, weaving its twenty yards a day. I need 2,000 yards of linen, cotton
and woolen yearly, to clothe 






              Correspondence                 171



my family, which this machinery, costing $150 only, and worked by two women and
two girls, will more than furnish. For fine goods there are numerous
establishments at work in the large cities, and many more daily growing up ;
and of merinos we have some thousands, and these multiplying fast. We consider
a sheep for every person as sufficient for their woolen clothing, and this
State and all to the north have fully that, and those to the south and west
will soon be up to it. In other articles we are equally advanced, so that
nothing is more certain than that, come peace when it will, we shall never
again go to England f or a shilling where we have gone f or a dollar's worth.
Instead of applying to her manufacturers there, they must starve or come here
to be employed. I give you these details of peaceable operations, because they
are within my present sphere. Those of war are in better hands, who know how to
keep their own secrets. Because, too, although a soldier yourself, I am sure
you contemplate the peaceable employment of man in the improvement of his
condition, with more pleasure than his murders, rapine and devastations.



  Mr. Barnes, some time ago, forwarded you a bill of exchange for 5,500 francs,
of which the enclosed is a duplicate. Apprehending that a war with England
would subject the remittances to you to more casualties, I proposed to Mr.
Morson, of Bordeaux, to become the intermediate for making remittances to you,
which he readily acceded to on liberal ideas 






            Jefferson's Works



arising from his personal esteem for you, and his desire to be useful to you.
If you approve of this medium I am in hopes it will shield you from the effect
of the accidents to which the increased dangers of the seas may give birth. It
would give me great pleasure to hear from you oftener. I feel great interest in
your health and happiness. I know your feelings on the present state of the
world, and hope they will be cheered by the successful course of our war, and
the addition of Canada to our confederacy. The infamous intrigues of Great
Britain to destroy our government (of which Henry's is but one sample), and
with the Indians to tomahawk our women and children, prove that the cession of
Canada, their fulcrum for these Machiavelian levers, must be a sine qua non at
a treaty of peace. God bless you, and give you to see all these things, and
many and long years of health and happiness.







    TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



        (JAMES MADISON).



               MONTICELLO, June 29, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-I duly received your favor of the 22d covering the declaration of
war. It is entirely popular here, the only opinion being that it should have
been issued the moment the season admitted the militia to enter Canada. * * * *
* To continue the war popular, two things are necessary mainly; 1, To stop
Indian barbarities, The con






                Correspondence               173



quest of Canada will do this. 2. To furnish markets for our produce, say indeed
for our flour, for tobacco is already given up, and seemingly without
reluctance. The great profits of the wheat crop have allured every one to it ;
and never was such a crop on the ground as that which we generally begin to cut
this day. It would be mortifying to the farmer to see such an one rot in his
barn. It would soon sicken him to war. Nor can this be a matter of wonder or of
blame on him. Ours is the only country on earth where war is an instantaneous
and total suspension of all the objects of his industry and support. For
carrying our produce to foreign markets our own ships, neutral ships, and even
enemy ships under neutral flag, which I would wink at, will probably suffice.
But the coasting trade is of double importance, because both seller and buyer
are disappointed, and both are our own citizens. You will remember that in this
trade our greatest distress in the last war was produced by our own pilot boats
taken by the British and kept as tenders to their larger vessels. These being
the swiftest vessels on the ocean, they took them and selected the swiftest
from the whole mass. Filled with men they scoured everything along shore, and
completely cut' up that coasting business which might otherwise have been
carried on within the range of vessels of force and draught. Why should not we
then line our coast with vessels of pilot-boat construction, filled with men,
armed with carronades, and only so much 






174             Jefferson's Works



larger as to assure the mastery of the pilot boat? The British cannot
counter-work us by building similar ones, because, the fact is, however
unaccountable, that our builders alone understand that construction. It is on
our own pilot boats the British will depend, which our larger vessels may thus
retake. These, however, are the ideas of a landsman only, Mr. Hamilton's
judgment will test their soundness.



  Our militia are much afraid of being called to Norfolk at this season. They
all declare a preference of a March to Canada. I trust however that Governor
Barbour will attend to circumstances, and so apportion the service among the
counties, that those acclimated by birth or residence may perform the summer
tour, and the winter service be allotted to the upper counties.



  I trouble you with a letter for General Kosciusko. It covers a bill of
exchange from Mr. Barnes for him, and is therefore of great importance to him.
Hoping you will have the goodness so far to befriend the General as to give it
your safest conveyance, I commit it to you, with the assurance of my sincere
affections.







          TO NATHANIEL GREENE.



                MONTICELLO, July 5, 1812.



  SIR,-Your favor of May 19th, from New Orleans is just now received. I have no
doubt that the information you will present to your countrymen on 






                 Correspondence             175



the subject o- the Asiatic countries into which you have travelled, will be
acceptable as sources both of amusement and instruction ; and the more so, as
the observations of an American will be more likely to present what are
peculiarities to us, than those of any foreigner on the same countries. In
reading the travels of a Frenchman through the United States what he remarks as
peculiarities in us, prove to us the contrary peculiarities of the French. We
have the accounts of Barbary from European and American travellers. It would be
more amusing if Melli Melli would give us his observations on the United
States. If, with the foibles and follies of the Hindoos, so justly pointed out
to us by yourselves and other travellers, we could compare the contrast of
those which an Hindoo traveller would imagine he found among us, it might
enlarge our instruction. It would be curious to see what parallel among us he
would select for his Veeshni. What you will have seen in your western tour will
also instruct many who often know least of things nearest home.



  The charitable institution you have proposed to the city of New Orleans would
undoubtedly be valuable, and all such are better managed by those locally
connected with them. The great wealth of that city will insure its support, and
the names subscribed to it will give it success. For a private individual, a
thousand miles distant, to imagine that his name could add anything to what
exhibits already the  patronage of the highest authorities of the State, 






176           Jefferson's Works



would be great presumption. It will certainly engage my best wishes, to which
permit me to add for yourself the assurances of my respect.







            TO THOMAS COOPER.



                MONTICELLO, July 10, 1812.



DEAR SIR,-I received by your last post through Mr. Hall, of Baltimore, a copy
of your introductory lecture to a course of chemistry, for which accept my
thanks. I have just entered on the reading of it, and perceive that I have a
feast before me. I discover from an error of the binder, that my copy has
duplicates of pages 122, 123, 126, 127, and wants altogether, pages 121, 124,
125, 128, and foreseeing that every page will be a real loss, and that the book
has been printed at Carlisle, I will request your directions to the printer to
enclose those four pages under cover to me at this place, near Milton. You know
the just esteem which attached itself to Dr. Franklin's science, because he
always endeavored to direct it to something useful in private life. The
chemists have not been attentive enough to this. I have wished to see their
science applied to domestic objects, to malting, for instance, brewing, making
cider, to fermentation and distillation generally, to the making of bread,
butter, cheese, soap, to' the incubation of eggs, etc. And I am happy to
observe some of these titles in the syllabus of your lecture. I hope you will
make the chemistry of these subjects 






                Correspondence                177



intelligible to our good house-wives. Glancing over the pages of your book, the
last one caught my attention, where you recommend to students the books on
metaphysics. Not seeing De Tutt Tracy's name there, I suspected you might not
have seen his work. His first volume on Ideology appeared in 1800. I happen to
have a duplicate of this, and will send it to you. Since that, has appeared his
second volume on grammar and his third on logic. They are considered as holding
the most eminent station in that line ; and considering with you that a course
of anatomy lays the best foundation for understanding these subjects, Tracy
should be preceded by a mature study of the most profound of all human
compositions, Cabanis's " Rapports du Physique et du moral de l'homme."



In return for the many richer favors received from you, I send you my little
tract on the batture of New Orleans, and Livingston's claim to it. I was at a
loss where to get it printed, and confided it to the editor of the Edinburgh
Review, re-printed at New York. But he has not done it immaculately. Although
there are typographical errors in your lecture, I wonder to see so difficult a
work so well done at Carlisle. I am making a fair copy of the catalogue of my
library, which I mean to have printed merely for the use of the library. It
will require correct orthography in so many languages, that I hardly know where
I can get it done. Have you read the Review of Montesquieu, printed by Duane ?
I hope it will



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178           Jefferson's Works



become the elementary book of the youth at all our colleges. Such a reduction
of Montesquieu to his true value had been long wanting in political study.
Accept the assurance of my great and constant esteem and respect.







            TO B. H. LATROBE.



                MONTICELLO, July 12, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-Of all the faculties of the human mind that of memory is the first
which suffers decay from age. Of the commencement of this decay, I was fully
sensible while I lived in Washington, and it was my earliest monitor to retire
from public business. It has often since been the source of great regret when
applied to by others to attest transactions in which I had been agent, to find
that they had entirely vanished from my memory. In no case has it given me more
concern than in that which is the subject of your letter of the 2d instant: the
supper given in 1807 to the workmen on the Capitol. Of this supper I have not
the smallest recollection. If it ever was mentioned to me, not a vestige of it
now remains in my mind. This failure of my memory is no proof the thing did not
happen, but only takes from it the support of my testimony, which cannot be
given for what is obliterated from it. I have looked among my papers to see if
they furnish any trace of the matter, but I find none; and must therefore
acquiesce in my incompetence to 






              Correspondence               179



administer to truth on this occasion. I am sorry to learn that Congress has
relinquished the benefit of the engagements of Andrei & Franzoni, on the
sculpture of the Capitol. They are artists of a grade far above what we can
expect to get again. I still hope they will continue to work on the basis of
the appropriation made, and as far as that will go; so that what is done will
be well done ; and perhaps a more favorable moment may still preserve them to
us. With respect to yourself, the little disquietudes from individuals not
chosen for their taste in works of art, will be sunk into oblivion, while the
Representatives' chamber will remain a durable monument of your talents as an
architect. I say nothing of the Senate room, because I have never seen it. I
shall live in the hope that the day will come when an opportunity will be given
you of finishing the middle building in a style worthy of the two wings, and
worthy of the first temple dedicated to the sovereignty of the people,
embellishing with Athenian taste the course of a nation looking far beyond the
range of Athenian destinies. In every situation, public or private, be assured
of my sincere wishes for your prosperity and happiness, and of the continuance
of my esteem and respect.











180              Jefferson's Works







    TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



               MONTICELLO, August 4, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 17th ultimo came duly to hand, and I have to
thank you for the military manuals you were so kind as to send me. This is the
sort of book most needed in our country, Where even the elements of 'tactics
are unknown. The young have never seen service, and the old are past it, and of
those among them who are not superannuated themselves, their science is become
so. I see, as you do, the difficulties and defects we have to encounter in war,
and should expect disasters if we had an enemy on land capable of inflicting
them. But the weakness of our enemy there will make our first errors innocent,
and the seeds of genius which nature sows with even hand through every age and
country, and which need only soil and  season to germinate, will develop
themselves among our military men. Some of them will become prominent, and
seconded by the native energy of our citizens, will soon, I hope, to our force
add the benefits of skill. The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the
neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us
experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of
England from the American continent. Halifax once taken, every cock-boat of
hers must return to England for repairs. Their fleet will annihilate our public
force on the water, but our privateers will eat out









                Correspondence            181



the vitals of their commerce. Perhaps they will burn New York or Boston. If
they do, we must burn the city of London, not by expensive fleets or congreve
rockets, but by employing an hundred or two Jack-the-painters, whom nakedness
famine, desperation and hardened vice, will abundantly furnish from among
themselves. We  have a rumor now afloat that the orders of council are
repeated. The thing is impossible after Castlereagh's late declaration in
Parliament, and the reconstruction of a Percival ministry.



  I consider this last circumstance fortunate for us. The repeal of the orders
of council would only add recruits to our minority, and enable them the more to
embarrass our March to thorough redress of our past wrongs, and permanent
security for the future. This we shall attain if no internal obstacles are
raised up. The exclusion of their commerce from the United States, and the
closing of the Baltic against it, which the present campaign in Europe will
effect, will accomplish the, catastrophe already so far advanced on them. I
think your anticipations of the effects of this are entirely probable, their
arts, their science, and what they have left of virtue, will come over to us,
and although their vices will come also, these, I think, will soon be diluted
and evaporated in a country of plain honesty. Experience will soon teach the
new-comers how much more plentiful and pleasant is the subsistence gained by
wholesome labor and fair dealing, than a precarious and hazardous depend






182              Jefferson's Works



ence on the enterprises of vice and violence. Still I agree with you that these
immigrations will give strength to English partialities, to eradicate which is
one of the most consoling expectations from the war. But probably the old hive
will be broken up by a revolution, and a regeneration of its principles render
intercourse with it no longer contaminating. A republic there like ours, and a
reduction of their naval power within the limits of their annual facilities of
payment, might render their existence even interesting to us. It is the
construction of their government, and its principles and means of corruption,
which make its continuance inconsistent. with the safety of other nations. A
change in its form might make it an honest one, and justify a confidence in its
faith and friendship. That regeneration however will take a longer time than I
have to live. I shall leave it to be enjoyed among you, and make my exit with a
bow to it, as the most flagitious of governments I leave among men. I sincerely
wish you may live to see the prodigy of' its renovation, enjoying in the
meantime health and prosperity.







      TO GENERAL THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO.



              MONTICELLO, August 5, 1812.



  DEAR GENERAL, -  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * I have little to add to my letter of
June We have entered Upper Canada, and I think there can be no doubt of our
soon having in our possession the whole



                 Correspondence          183



of the St. Lawrence except Quebec. We have at this moment about two hundred
privateers on the ocean, and numbers more going out daily. It is believed we
shall fit out about a thousand in the whole. Their success has been already
great, and I have no doubt they will cut up more of the commerce of England
than all the navies of Europe could do, could those navies venture to sea at
all. You will find that every sea on the globe where England has any commerce,
and where any port can be found to sell prizes, will be filled with our
privateers. God bless you and give you a long and happy life.







TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



               MONTICELLO, August 5, 1812.



   DEAR SIR, - *   *   *   *  *   *   *   *  * I am glad of the
re-establishment of a Percival ministry. The opposition would have recruited
our minority by half way offers. With Canada in hand we can go to treaty with
an off-set for spoliation before the war. Our farmers are cheerful in the
expectation of a good price for wheat in Autumn. Their pulse will be regulated
by this, and not by the successes or disasters of the war. To keep open
sufficient markets is the very first object towards maintaining the popularity
of the war, which is as great at present as could be desired. We have just had
a fine rain of 1 ˝ inches in the most critical time for 






184                Jefferson's Works



    our corn. The weather during the harvest was as



advantageous as could be. I am sorry to find you



remaining so long at Washington. The effect on



your health may lose us a great deal of your time; a



couple of months at Montpelier at this season would



not lose us an hour. Affectionate salutations to



Mrs. Madison and yourself.







         TO THE HONORABLE ROBERT WRIGHT.



                  MONTICELLO, August 8, 1812.



     DEAR SIR,-I receive and return the congratula-



tions of your letter of July 6 with pleasure, and join



the great mass of my fellow citizens in saying, "Well



done, good and faithful servants, receive the benedic-



tions which your constituents are ready to give you."



The British government seem to be doing late, what



done earlier might have prevented war; to wit:



repealing the orders in Council. But it should take



more to make peace than to prevent war. The sword



once drawn, full justice must be done. " Iridemnifi-



cation for the past and security for the future "



should be painted on our banners. For 1,000 ships



taken, and 6,000 seamen impressed, give us Canada



for indemnification, and the only security they can



give us against their Henrys, and the savages, and



agree that the American flag shall protect the persons



of those sailing under it, both parties exchanging



engagements that neither will receive the seamen of

the other on board their vessels. This done, I should 






                  Correspondence           185



be for peace with England and then war with France. One at a time is enough,
and in fighting the one we need the harbors of the other for our prizes. Go on
as you have begun, only quickening your pace, and receive the benedictions and
prayers of those who are too old to offer anything else.







            TO THOMAS LETRE.



              MONTICELLO August 8, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-I duly received your favor of the 14th. ultimo, covering a paper
containing proceedings of the patriots of South Carolina. It adds another to
the many proofs of their steady devotion to their own country. I can assure you
the hearts of their fellow citizens in this State beat in perfect unison with
them, and with their government. Of this their concurrence in the election of
Mr. Madison and Mr. Gerry, at the ensuing election, will give sufficient proof.
The schism in Massachusetts, when brought to the crisis of principle, will be
found to be exactly the same as in the Revolutionary war. The monarchists will
be left alone, and will appear to be exactly the tories of the last war. Had
the repeal of the orders of council, which now seems probable, taken place
earlier, it might have prevented war ; but much more is requisite to make
peace-" indemnification for the past, and security for the future," should be
the motto of the war. 1,000 ships taken, 6,000 seamen impressed, savage
butcheries of our citizens, and 






186             Jefferson's Works



 that they and their allies, the Spaniards, must retire from the Atlantic side
of our continent as the only security or indemnification which will be
effectual. Accept the assurances of my great esteem and respect.







         TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



              MONTICELLO, October 1, 1812.



DEAR SIR,-Your favor of September the 20th has been duly received, and I cannot
but be gratified by the assurance it expresses, that my aid in the councils of
our government would increase the- public confidence in them; because it admits
an inference that they have approved of the course pursued, when I heretofore
bore a part in those councils. I profess, too, so much of the Roman principle,
as to deem it honorable for the general of yesterday to act as a corporal
to-day, if his services can be useful to his country; holding that to be false
pride, which postpones the public good to any private or personal
considerations. But I am past service. The hand of age is upon me. The decay of
bodily faculties apprises me that those of the mind cannot be unimpaired, had I
not still better proofs. Every year counts by increased debility, and departing
faculties keep the score. The last year it was the sight, this it is the
hearing, the next something else will be going, until all is gone. Of all this
I was sensible before I left Washington, and probably my fellow 






                   Correspondence               187



     laborers saw it before I did. The decay of memory



was obvious; it is now become distressing. But the



mind too, is weakened. When I was young, mathe-



matics was the passion of my life. The same passion



has returned upon me, but with unequal powers.



     Processes which I then read off with the facility of



common discourse, now cost me labor, and time, and



slow investigation. When I offered this, therefore,



as one of the reasons deciding my retirement from



office, it was offered in sincerity and a consciousness



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



retain understanding enough to be sensible how



much of it I have lost, and to avoid exposing myself



as a spectacle for the pity of my friends; that I have



surmounted the difficult point of knowing when to



retire. As a compensation for faculties departed,



nature gives me good health, and a perfect resigna-



tion to the laws of decay which she has prescribed



to all the forms and combinations of matter.



       The detestable treason of Hull has, indeed, excited



a deep anxiety in all breasts. The depression was in



the first moment gloomy and portentous. But it has



been succeeded by a revived animation, and a deter-



mination to meet the occurrence with increased



efforts; and I have so much confidence in the vigor-



ous minds and bodies of our countrymen, as to be



fearless as to the final issue. The treachery of Hull,



like that of Arnold, cannot be matter of blame on our

government. His character, as an officer of skill and



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











188              Jefferson's, Works



and no previous act of his life had led to doubt his fidelity. Whether the Head
of the war department is equal to his charge, I am not qualified to decide. I
knew him only as a pleasant, gentlemanly man in society; and the indecision of
his character rather added to the amenity of his conversation. But when
translated from the colloquial circle to the great stage of national concerns,
and the direction of the extensive operations of war, whether he has been able
to seize at one glance the long line of defenceless border presented by our
enemy, the masses of strength which we hold on different points of it, the 
facility this gave us of attacking him, on the same day, on all his points,
from the extremity of the lakes to the neighborhood of Quebec, and the perfect
indifference with which this last place, impregnable as it is, might be left in
the hands of the enemy to fall of itself ; whether, I say, he could see and
prepare vigorously for all this, or merely wrapped himself in the cloak of cold
defence, I am uninformed. I clearly think with you on the competence of Monroe
to embrace great views of action. The decision of his character, his
enterprise, firmness, industry, and unceasing vigilance, would, I believe,
secure, as I am sure they would merit, the public confidence, and give us all
the success which our means can accomplish. If our operations have suffered or
languished from any want of energy in the present head which directs them, I
have so much confidence in the wisdom and conscientious integrity of Mr.
Madison, as 






                 Correspondence               189



to be satisfied, that however torturing to his feelings, he will fulfil his
duty to the public and to his own reputation, by making the necessary change.
Perhaps he may be preparing it while we are talking about it; for of all these
things I am uninformed. I fear that Hull's surrender has been more than the
mere loss of a year to us. Besides bringing on us the whole mass of savage
nations, whom fear .and not affection has kept in quiet, there is danger that
in giving time to an enemy who can send reinforcements of regulars f aster than
we can raise them, they may strengthen Canada and Halifax beyond the assailment
of our lax and divided powers. Perhaps, however, the patriotic efforts from
Kentucky and Ohio, by recalling the British force to its upper posts, may yet
give time to Dearborn to strike a blow below. Effectual possession of the river
from Montreal to the Chaudiere, which is practicable, would give us the upper
country at our leisure, and close forever the scenes of the tomahawk and
scalping knife.



  But these things are for others to plan and achieve. The only succor from the
old must lie in their prayers. These I offer up with sincere devotion ; and in
my concern for the great public, I do not overlook my friends, but supplicate
for them, as I do for yourself, a long course of freedom, happiness and
prosperity. 






190              Jefferson's Works











     TO THOMAS C. FLOURNEY.



              MONTICELLO, October 1, 1812.



  SIR,-Your letter of August 29th is just now received, having lingered long on
the road. I owe you much thankfulness for the favorable opinion you entertain
of my services, and the assurance expressed that they would again be acceptable
in the executive chair. But, SIR, I was sincere in stating age as one of the
reasons of my retirement from office, beginning then to be conscious of its
effects, and now much more sensible of them. Servile inertness is not what is
to save our country ; the conduct of a war requires the vigor and enterprise of
younger heads. All such undertakings, therefore, are out of the question with
me, and I say so with the greater satisfaction, when I contemplate the person
to whom the executive powers were handed over. You probably do not know Mr.
Madison personally, or at least intimately, as I do. I have known him from
1779, when he first came into the public councils, and from three and thirty
years, trial, I can say conscientiously that I do not know in the world a man
of purer integrity, more dispassionate, disinterested and devoted to genuine
republicanism ; nor could I, in the whole scope of America and Europe, point
out an abler head. He may be illy seconded by others, betrayed by the Hulls and
Arnolds of our country, for such there are in every country, and with sorrow
and suffering we know it. 






                 Correspondence            191



But what man can do will be done by Mr. Madison. I hope, therefore, there will
be no difference among republicans as to his re-election, and we shall know his
value when we have to give him up, and to look at large for his successor. With
respect to the unfortunate loss of Detroit and our army, I with pleasure see
the animation it has inspired through our whole country, but especially through
the Western States, and the determination to retrieve our loss and our honor by
increased exertions. I am not without hope that the western efforts under
General Harrison, may oblige the enemy to remain at their upper posts, and give
Dearborn a fair opportunity to strike a blow below. A possession of the river
from Montreal to the Chaudiere, gives us the upper country of course, and
closes forever the scenes of the tomahawk and scalping knife. Quebec is
impregnable, but it is also worthless, and may be safely left in their hands to
fall of itself. The vigorous minds and bodies of our countrymen leave me no
fear as to ultimate results. In this confidence I resign myself to the care of
those whom in their younger days I assisted in taking care of, and salute you
with assurances of. esteem and respect.







         TO DR. ROBERT PATTERSON.



            MONTICELLO, December 27, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-After an absence of five weeks at a distant possession of mine, to
which I pay such visits 






192              Jefferson's Works



three or four times a year, I find here your favor of November 30th. I am very
thankful to you for the description of Redhefer's machine. I had never before
been able to form an idea of what his principle of deception was. He is the
first of the inventors of perpetual motion within my knowledge, who has had the
cunning to put his visitors on a false pursuit, by amusing them with a sham
machinery whose loose and vibratory motion might impose on them the belief that
it is the real source of the motion they see. To this device he is indebted for
a more extensive delusion than I have before witnessed on this point. We are
full of it as far as this State, and I know not how much farther. In Richmond
they have done me the honor to quote me as having said that it was a possible
thing. A poor Frenchman who called on me the other day, with another invention
of perpetual motion, assured me that Dr. Franklin, many years ago, expressed
his opinion to him that it was not impossible. Without entering into contest on
this abuse of the Doctor's name, I gave him the answer I had given to others
before, that the Almighty himself could not construct a machine of perpetual
motion while the laws exist which He has prescribed for the government of
matter in our system ; that the equilibrium established by Him between cause
and effect must be suspended to effect that purpose. But Redhefer seems to be
reaping a rich harvest from the public deception. The office of science is to
instruct the ignorant. Would it be 






               Correspondence              193



unworthy of some one of its votaries who witness this deception, to give a
popular demonstration of the insufficiency of the ostensible machinery, and of
course of the necessary existence of some hidden mover? And who could do it
with more effect on the public mind than yourself ?



  I received, at the same time, the Abbe Rochon's pamphlets and book on his
application of the double refraction of the Iceland Spath to the measure of
small angles. I was intimate with him in France, and had received there, in
many conversations, explanations of what is contained in these sheets. I
possess, too, one of his lunettes which he had given to Dr. Franklin, and which
came to me through Mr. Hopkinson.' You are therefore probably acquainted with
it. The graduated bar on each side is 12 inches long. The one extending to 37'
of angle, the other to 3,438 diameter in distance of the object viewed. On so
large a scale of graduation, a nonias might distinctly enough subdivide the
divisions of 10" to 10" each ; which is certainly a great degree of precision.
But not possessing the common micrometer of two semi-lenses, I am not able to
judge of their comparative merit. *     *     *    *     *     *







              TO JOHN ADAMS.



            MONTICELLO, December 28, 1812.



  DEAR SIR,-An absence of five or six weeks, on a journey I take three or four
times a year, must apolo-



    VOL. XIII-I3 






    194             Jefferson's Works



    gize for my late acknowledgment of your favor of



October 12th. After getting through the mass of



business which generally accumulates during my



absence, my first attention has been bestowed on the



subject of your letter. I turned to the passages you



refer to in Hutchinson and Winthrop, and with the



aid of their dates, I examined our historians to see



if Wollaston's migration to this State was noticed



by them. It happens, unluckily, that Smith and



Stith, who alone of them go into minute facts, bring



their histories, the former only to 1623, and the latter



to 1624.. Wollaston's arrival in Massachusetts was



in 1625, and his removal to this State was " some



time" after. Beverly & Keith, who came lower



down, are nearly superficial, giving nothing but those



general facts which every one knew as well as them-



selves. If our public records of that date were not



among those destroyed by the British on their inva-



sion of this State, they may possibly have noticed



Wollaston. What I possessed in this way have been



given out to two gentlemen, the one engaged in



writing our history, the other in collecting our



ancient laws ; so that none of these resources are



at present accessible to me. Recollecting that



Nathaniel Morton, in his New England memorial,



gives with minuteness the early annals of the colony



of New Plymouth, and occasionally interweaves the



occurrences of that on Massachusetts Bay, I recurred

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



both Wollaston and Thomas Morton, and gives with











 respect to both, some details which are not in Hutchinson or Winthrop. As you
do not refer to him, and so possibly may not have his book, I will transcribe
from it the entire passage, which will prove at least my desire to gratify your
curiosity as far as the materials within my power will enable me.



  Extract from Nathaniel Morton's New England's Memorial, pp. 93 to 99, Anno
1628. " Whereas about three years before this time, there came over one Captain
Wollaston,1 a man of considerable parts, and with him three or four more of
some eminency who brought with them a great many servants, with provisions and
other requisites for to begin a plantation, and pitched themselves in a place
within the Massachusetts Bay, which they called afterwards by their captain's
name, Mount Wollaston; which place is since called by the name of Braintry. And
amongst others that came with him, there was one Mr. Thomas Morton, who, it
should seem, had some small adventure of his own or other men's amongst them,
but had little respect, and was slighted by the meanest servants they kept.
They having continued some time in New England, and not finding things to
answer their expectation, nor profit to arise as they looked for, the said
Captain Wollaston takes a great part of the servants and transports them to
Virginia, and disposed of them there, and writes back



  1 This gentleman's name is here occasionally used and although he came over
in the year 1625, yet these passages in reference to Morton fell out about this
year, and therefore referred to this place. 






196            Jefferson's Works



to one Mr. Rasdale, one of his chief partners, (and accounted then merchant, )
to bring another part of them to Virginia, likewise intending to put them off
there as he had done the rest; and he, with the consent of the said Rasdale,
appointed one whose name was Filcher, to be his Lieutenant, and to govern the
remainder of the plantation until he or Rasdale should take further order
thereabout. But the aforesaid Morton, (having more craft than honesty,) having
been a petty-fogger at Furnival's-inn, he, in the other's absence, watches an
opportunity, (commons being put hard among them,) and got some strong drink and
other junkets, and made them a feast, and after they were merry, he began to
tell them he would give them good counsel. You see, (saith he,) that many of
your fellows are carried to Virginia, and if you stay still until Rasdale's
return, you will also be carried away and sold for slaves with the rest;
therefore I would advise you to thrust out Lieutenant Filcher, and I having a
part in the plantation, will receive you as my partners, and consociates, so
you may be free from service, and we will converse, plant, trade and live
together as equals (or to the like effect). This counsel was easily followed;
so they took opportunity, and thrust Lieutenant Filcher out of doors, and would
not suffer him to come any more amongst them, but forced him to seek bread to
eat and other necessaries amongst his neighbors, till he would get passage for
England, (See the sad effect of want of good government,) 






                 Correspondence                  197



  "After this they fell to great licentiousness of life, in all prophaneness,
and the said Morton became lord of misrule, and maintained (as it were) a
school of Atheism, and after they had got some goods into their hands, and got
much by trading with the Indians, they spent it as vainly, in quaffing and
drinking both wine and strong liquors in great excess, (as some have reported,)
ten pounds worth in a morning, setting up a May pole, drinking and dancing
about like so many fairies, or furies rather, yea and worse practices, as if
they had anew revived and celebrated the feast of the Roman goddess Flora, or
the beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians. The said Morton likewise to
show his poetry, composed sundry rythmes and verses, some tending to
licentiousness, and others to the detraction and scandal of some persons'
names, which he affixed to his idle or idol May-pole ; they changed also the
name of their place, and instead of calling it Mount Wollaston, they called it
the Merry Mount, as if this jollity would have lasted always. But this
continued not long, for shortly after that worthy gentleman Mr. John Antacid,
who brought over a patent under the broad seal of England for the government of
the Massachusetts, visiting those parts, caused that Maypole to be cut down,
and rebuked them for their prophaneness, and admonished them to look to it that
they walked better ; so the name was again changed and called Mount Dagon.



  " Now to maintain this riotous prodigality and pro-











198              Jefferson's Works



fuse expense, the said Morton thinking himself lawless, and hearing what gain
the fishermen made of trading of pieces, powder, and shot, he as head of this
consortship, began the practice of the same in these parts ; and first he
taught the Indians how to use them, to charge and discharge 'em, and what
proportion of powder to give the piece, according to the size of bigness of the
same, and what shot to use for fowl, and what for deer; and having instructed
them, he employed some of them to hunt and fowl for him; so as they became
somewhat more active in that imployment than any of the English, by reason of
their swiftness of foot, and nimbleness of body, being also quick-sighted, and
by continual exercise, well knowing the haunt of all sorts of game ; so as when
they saw the execution that a piece would do, and the benefit that might come
by the same, they became very eager after them, and would not stick to give any
price they could attain to for them; accounting their bows and arrows but
baubles in comparison of them.



  " And here we may take occasion to bewail the mischief which came by this
wicked man, and others like unto him; in that notwithstanding laws for the
restraint of selling ammunition to the natives, that so far base covetousness
prevailed, and doth still prevail, as that the Salvages became amply furnished
with guns, powder, shot, rapiers, pistols, and also well skilled in repairing
of defective arms: yea some have not spared to tell them how gunpowder is made,







                  Correspondence                199



and all the materials in it, and they are to be had in their own land; and
would (no doubt, in case they could attain to the making of Saltpeter) teach
them to make powder, and what mischief may fall out unto the English in these
parts thereby, let this pestilent fellow Morton (aforenamed) bear a great part
of the blame and guilt of it to future generations. But lest I should hold the
reader too long in relation to the particulars of his vile actings ; when as
the English that then lived up and down about the Massachusetts, and in other
places, perceiving the sad consequences of his trading, so as the Indians
became furnished with the English arms and ammunition, and expert in the
improving of them, and fearing that they should at one time or another get a
blow thereby; and also taking notice, that if he were let alone in his way,
they should keep no servants for him, because he would entertain any, how vile
soever, sundry of the chief of the straggling plantations met together, and
agreed by mutual consent to send to Plimouth, who were then of more strength to
join with them, to suppress this mischief ; who considering the particulars
proposed to them to join together to take some speedy course to prevent (if it
might be) the evil that was accruing towards them; and resolved first to
admonish him of his wickedness respecting the premises, laying before him the
injury he did to their common safety, and that his acting considering the same
was against the King's proclamation; but he insolently persisted on in his way,
and said the 






200            Jefferson's Works



King was dead, and his displeasure with him, and threatened them that if they
come to molest him, they should look to themselves; so that they saw that there
was no way but to take him by force; so they resolved to proceed in such a way,
and obtained of the Governor of Plimouth to send Capt. Standish and some other
aid with him, to take the said Morton by force, the which accordingly was done;
but they found him to stand stiffly on his defence, having made fast his doors,
armed his consorts, set powder and shot ready upon the table; scoffed and
scorned at them, he and his complices being filled with strong drink, were
desperate in their way; but he himself coming out of doors to make a shot at
Capt. Standish, he stepping to him put by his piece and took him, and so little
hurt was done ; and so he was brought prisoner to Plimouth, and continued in
durance till an opportunity of sending him for England, which was done at their
common charge, and letters also with him, to the honorable council for New
England, and returned again into the country in some short time, with less
punishment than his demerits deserved (as was apprehended). The year following
he was again apprehended, and sent for England, where he lay a considerable
time in Exeter gaol; for besides his miscarriage here in New England, he was
suspected to have murdered a man that had ventured monies with him when he came
first into New England; and a warrant was sent over from the Lord Chief Justice
to apprehend him, by virtue whereof, he was by the



             Correspondence         201



Governor of Massachusetts sent into England, and for other of his misdemeanors
amongst them in that government, they demolished his house, that it might no
longer be a roost for such unclean birds. Notwithstanding he got free in
England again, and wrote an infamous and scurrilous book against many godly and
chief men of the country, full of lies and slanders, and full fraught with.
prophane calumnies against their names and persons, and the way of God. But to
the intent I may not trouble the reader any more with mentioning of him in this
history ; in fine, sundry years after he came again into the country, and was
imprisoned at Boston for the aforesaid book and  other things, but denied
sundry things therein, affirming his book was adulterated. And soon after being
grown old in wickedness, at last ended his life at Piscataqua. But I fear I
have held the reader too long about so unworthy a person, but hope it may be
useful to take notice how wickedness was beginning, and would have further
proceeded, had it not been prevented timely. "



So far Nathaniel Morton. The copy you have of Thomas Morton's New English
Canaan, printed in 1637 by Stam of Amsterdam, was a second edition of that
"infamous and scurrilous book against the godly." The first had been printed in
1632, by Charles Green, in a quarto of 188 pages, and is the one alluded to by
N. Morton. Both of them made a part of the American library given by White
Kennett in 1713 to the Society for the propagation of the 






202            Jefferson's Works



Gospel in foreign parts. This society being a chartered one, still, as I
believe, existing, and probably their library also, I suppose that these and
the other books of that immense collection, the catalogue of which occupies 275
pages quarto, are still to be found with them. If any research I can hereafter
make should ever bring to my knowledge anything more of Wollaston, I shall not
fail to communicate it to you. Ever and affectionately yours.







         TO HENRY MIDDLETON, ESQ.



              MONTICELLO, January 8, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of November 25th was a month on its passage to me. I
received with great pleasure this mark of your recollection, heightened by the
assurance that the part I have acted in public life has met your approbation.
Having seen the people of all other nations bowed down to the earth under the
wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites,
peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high
road to public as well as to private prosperity and happiness. And, certainly,
there never before has been a state of the world in which such forbearances as
we have exercised would not have preserved our peace. Nothing but the total
prostration of all moral principle could have produced the enormities which
have forced us at length into the war. On one hand, a ruthless tyrant,
drenching 






            Correspondence



Europe in blood to obtain through future time the character of the destroyer of
mankind; on the other, a nation of buccaneers, urged by sordid avarice, and
embarked in the flagitious enterprise of seizing to itself the maritime
resources and rights of all other nations, have left no means of peace to
reason and moderation. And yet there are beings among us who think we ought
still to have acquiesced. As if while full war was waging on one side, we could
lose by making some reprisal on the other. The paper you were so kind as to
enclose me is a proof you are not of this sentiment ; it expresses our
grievances with energy and brevity, as well as the feelings they ought to
excite. And I see with pleasure another proof that South Carolina is ever true
to the principles of free government. Indeed, it seems to me that in proportion
as commercial avarice and corruption advance on us from the north and east, the
principles of free government are to retire to the agricultural States of the
south and west, as their last asylum and bulwark. With honesty and
self-government for her portion, agriculture may abandon contentedly to others
the fruits of commerce and corruption. Accept, I pray you, the assurances of my
great esteem and respect. 






204         Jefferson's Works







      TO JAMES RONALDSON.



             MONTICELLO, January 12, 1813.



DEAR SIR,-Your favor of November 2d arrived a little before I set out on a
journey on which I was absent between five and six weeks. I have still
therefore to return you my thanks for the seeds accompanying it, which shall be
duly taken care of, and a communication made to others of such as shall prove
valuable. I have been long endeavoring to procure the Cork tree from Europe,
but without success. A plant which I brought with me from Paris died after
languishing some time, and of several parcels of acorns received from a
correspondent at Marseilles, not one has ever vegetated. I shall continue my
endeavors, although disheartened by the nonchalance of our Southern fellow
citizens, with whom alone they can thrive. It is now twenty-five years since I
sent them two shipments (about 500 plants) of the Olive tree of Aix, the finest
Olives in the world. If any of them still exist, it is merely as a curiosity in
their gardens; not a single orchard of them has been planted. I sent them also
the celebrated species of Sainfoin,1 from Malta, which yields good crops
without a drop of rain through the season. It was lost. The upland rice which I
procured fresh from Africa and sent them, has been preserved and spread in the
upper parts of Georgia, and I believe in Kentucky. But we must acknowl-



1 Called Sulla. 






            Correspondence      205



edge their services in furnishing us an abundance of cotton, a substitute for
silk, flax and hemp. The ease with which it is spun will occasion it to
supplant the two last, and its cleanliness the first. Household manufacture is
taking deep root with us. I have a carding machine, two spinning machines, and
looms with the flying shuttle in full operation f or clothing my own family ;
and I verily believe that by the next winter this State will not need a yard of
imported coarse or middling clothing. I think we have already a sheep for every
inhabitant, which will suffice for clothing, and one-third more; which a single
year will add, will furnish blanketing. With respect to marine hospitals, which
are one of the subjects of your letter, I presume you know that such
establishments have been made by the general government in the several States,
that a portion of seaman's wages is drawn for their support, and the government
furnishes what is deficient. Mr. Gallatin is attentive to them, and they will
grow with our growth. You doubt whether we ought to permit the exportation of
grain to our enemies ; but Great Britain, with her own agricultural support,
and those she can command by her access into every sea., cannot be starved by
withholding our supplies. And if she is to be fed at all events, why may we not
have the benefit of it as well as others ? I would not, indeed, feed her armies
landed on our territory, because the difficulty of inland subsistence is what
will prevent their ever penetrating far into the country, and will 






206           Jefferson's Works



confine them to the sea coast. But this would be my only exception. And as to
feeding her armies in the peninsula, she is fighting our battles there, as
Bonaparte is on the Baltic. He is shutting out her manufactures from that sea,
and so far assisting us in her reduction to extremity But if she does not keep
him out of the peninsular, if he gets full command of that, instead of the
greatest and surest of all our markets, as that has uniformly been, we shall be
excluded from it, or so much shackled by his tyranny and ignorant caprices,
that it will become for us what France now is. Besides, if we could by starving
the English armies, oblige hem to withdraw from the peninsular, it would be to
send them here ; and I think we had better feed them there for pay, than feed
and fight them here for nothing. A truth, too, not to be lost sight of is, that
no country can pay war taxes if you suppress all their resources. To keep the
war popular, we must keep open the markets. As long as good prices can be had,
the people will support the war cheerfully. If you should have an opportunity
of conveying to Mr. Heriot my thanks for his book, you will oblige me by doing
it. Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect.







             TO JOHN MELISH.



             MONTICELLO, January 13, 1813



DEAR SIR,-I received duly your favor of December the 15th, and with it the
copies of your map and 






           Correspondence           207



travels, for which be pleased to accept my thanks. The book I have read with
extreme satisfaction and information. As to the Western States, particularly,
it has greatly edified me; for of the actual condition of that interesting
portion of our country, I had not an adequate idea. I feel myself now as
familiar with it as with the condition of the maritime States. I had no
conception that manufactures had made such progress there, and particularly of
the number of carding and spinning machine dispersed through the whole country.
We are but beginning here to have them in our private families. Small spinning
jennies of from half a dozen to twenty pindles, will soon, however, make their
way into the humblest cottages, as well as the richest houses ; and nothing is
more certain, than that the coarse and middling clothing for our families, will
forever hereafter continue to be made within ourselves. I have hitherto myself
depended entirely on foreign manufactures; but I have now thirty-five spindles
agoing, a hand carding machine, and looms with the flying shuttle, for the
supply of my own farms, which will never be relinquished in my time. The
continuance of the war will fix the habit generally, and out of the evils of
impressment and of the orders of council a great blessing f or us will grow.  I
have not formerly been an advocate for great manufactories. I doubted whether
our labor, employed in agriculture, and aided by the spontaneous energies of
the earth, would not procure us more than we could make ourselves of 






 208            Jefferson's Works



other necessaries. But other considerations entering into the question, have
settled my doubts.



  The candor with which you have viewed the manners and condition of our
citizens, is so unlike the narrow prejudices of the French and English
travellers preceding you, who, considering each the manners and habits of their
own people as the only orthodox, have viewed everything differing from that
test as boorish and barbarous, that your work will be read here extensively,
and operate great good.



Amidst this mass of approbation which is given to every other part of the work,
there is a single sentiment which I cannot help wishing to bring to what I
think the correct one ; and, on a point so interesting, I value your opinion
too highly not to ambition its concurrence with my own. Stating in volume one,
page sixty-three, he principle of difference between the two great political
parties here, you conclude it to be, " whether the controlling power shall be
vested in this or that set of men. " That each party endeavors to get into the
administration of the government, and exclude the other from power, is true,
and may be stated as a motive of action : but this is only secondary ; the
primary motive being a real and radical difference of political principle. I
sincerely wish our differences were but personally who should govern, and that
the principles of our constitution were those of both parties. Unfortunately,
it is otherwise; and the 






             Correspondence         209



question of preference between monarchy and republicanism, which has so long
divided mankind elsewhere, threatens a permanent division here.



  Among that section of. our citizens called federalists, there are three
shades of opinion. Distinguishing between the leaders and people who compose
it, the leaders consider the English constitution as a model of perfection,
some, with a correction of its vices, others, with all its corruptions and
abuses. This last was Alexander Hamilton's opinion, which others, as well as
myself, have often heard him declare, and that a correction of what are called
its vices, would render the English an impracticable government. This
government they wished to have established here, and only accepted and held
fast, at first, to the present constitution, as a steppingstone to the final
establishment of their favorite model. This party has therefore always clung to
England as their prototype, and great auxiliary in promoting and effecting this
change A weighty MINORITY, however, of these leaders, considering the voluntary
conversion of our government into a monarchy as too distant, if not desperate,
wish to break off from our Union its eastern fragment, as being, in truth, the
hot-bed of American monarchism, with a view to a commencement of their favorite
government, from whence the other States may gangrene by degrees, and the whole
be thus brought finally to the desired point. For Massachusetts, the prime
mover in this enterprise, is the last State in the







VOL. XIII-14 






            Jefferson's Works



Union to mean a final separation, as being of all the most dependent on the
others. Not raising bread for the sustenance of her own inhabitants, not having
a stick of timber for the construction of vessels, her principal occupation,
nor an article to export in them, where would she be, excluded from the ports
of the other States, and thrown into dependence on England, her direct, and
natural, but now insidious rival? At the head of this MINORITY is what is
called the Essex Junto of Massachusetts. But the MAJORlTY of these leaders do
not aim at separation. In this, they adhere to the known principle of General
Hamilton, never, under any views, to break the Union. Anglomany, ' monarchy,
and separation, then, are the principles of the Essex federalists. Anglomany
and monarchy, those of the Hamiltonians, and Anglomany alone, that of the
portion among the people who call themselves federalists. These last are as
good republicans as the brethren whom they oppose, and differ from them only in
their devotion to England and hatred of France which they have imbibed from
their leaders. The moment that these leaders should avowedly propose a
separation of the Union, or the establishment of regal government, their
popular adherents would quit them to a man, and join the republican standard;
and the partisans of this change, even in Massachusetts, would thus find
themselves an army of officers without a soldier.



The party called republican is steadily for the 






            Correspondence             211



support of the present constitution. They obtained at its commencement, all the
amendments to it they desired. These reconciled them to it perfectly, and if
they have any ulterior view, it is only, perhaps, to popularize it further, by
shortening the Senatorial term, and devising a process for the responsibility
of judges, more practicable than that of impeachment. They esteem the people of
England and France equally, and equally detest the governing powers of both.



  This I verily believe, after an intimacy of forty years with the public
councils and characters, is a true statement of the grounds on which they are
at present divided, . and that it is not merely an ambition for power. An
honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow
citizens. And considering as the only offices of power those conferred by the
people directly, that is to say, the executive and legislative functions of the
General and State governments, the common refusal of these, and multiplied
resignations, are proofs sufficient that power is not alluring to pure minds,
and is not, with them, the primary principle of contest. This is my belief of
it ; it is that on which I have acted ; and had it been a mere contest who
should be permitted to administer the government according to its genuine
republican principles, there has never been a moment of my life in which I
should have relinquished for it the enjoyments of my family, my farm, my
friends and books. 






212         Jefferson's Works



 You expected to discover the difference of our party principles in General
Washington's valedictory; and my inaugural address. Not at all. General
Washington did not harbor one principle of federalism. He was neither an
Angloman, a monarchist, nor a separatist. He sincerely wished the people to
have as much self-government as they were competent to exercise themselves. The
only point on which he and I ever differed in opinion, was, that I had more
confidence than he had in the natural integrity and discretion of the people,
and in the safety and extent to which they might trust themselves with a
control over their government. He has asseverated to me a thousand times his
determination that the existing government should have a fair trial, and that
in support of it he would spend the last drop of his blood. He did this the
more repeatedly, because he knew General Hamilton's political bias, and my
apprehensions from it. It is a mere calumny, therefore, in the monarchists, to
associate General Washington with their principles. But that may have happened
in this case which has been often seen in ordinary cases, that, by oft
repeating an untruth, men come to believe it themselves. It is a mere artifice
in this party to bolster themselves up on the revered name of that first of our
worthies. If I have dwelt' longer on this subject than was necessary, it proves
the estimation in which I hold your ultimate opinions, and my desire of placing
the subject truly before them. In so 






           Correspondence           213



doing, I am certain I risk no use of the communication which may draw me into
contention before the public. Tranquillity is the summum bonum of a
Septagenaire.



To return to the merits of your work : I consider it as so lively a picture of
the real state of our country, that if I can possibly obtain opportunities of
conveyance, I propose to send a copy to a friend in France, and another to one
in Italy, who, I know, will translate and circulate it as an antidote to the
misrepresentations of former travellers. But whatever effect my profession of
political faith may have on your general opinion, a part of my object will be
obtained, if it satisfies you as to the principles of my own action, and of the
high respect and consideration with which I tender you my salutations.







         TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



             MONTICELLO, January 22, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,-I do not know how the publication of the Review turned out in point
of profit, whether gainfully or not. I know it ought to have been a book of
great sale. I gave a copy to a student of William and Mary college, and
recommended it to Bishop Madison, then President of the college, who was so
pleased with it that he established it as a school-book, and as the young
gentleman informed me, every copy Which could be had was immediate y bought up,
and there was a considerable demand 






214         Jefferson's Works



for more. You probably know best whether new calls for it have been made.
President Madison was a good whig. * * * * * Your experiment on that work will
enable you to decide whether you ought to undertake another, not of greater but
of equal merit. I have received from France a MS. work on Political Economy,
written by De Tutt Tracy, the most conspicuous writer of the present day in the
metaphysical line. He has written a work entitled Ideology, which has given him
a high reputation in France. He considers that as having laid a solid
foundation for the present volume on Political Economy, and will follow it by
one on Moral Duties. The present volume is a work of great ability. It may be
considered as a review of the principles of the Economists, of Smith and of
Say, or rather an elementary book on the same subject. As Smith had corrected
some principles of the Economists, and Say some of Smith's, so Tracy has done
as to the whole. He has, in my opinion, corrected fundamental errors in all of
them, and by simplifying principles, has brought the subject within a narrow
compass. I think the volume would be of about the size of the Review of
Montesquieu. Although he puts his name to the work, he is afraid to publish it
in France, lest its freedom should bring him into trouble. If translated and
published here, he could disavow it, if necessary. In order to enable you to
form a better judgment of the work, I will subjoin a list of the chapters or
heads, and if 






            Correspondence          215



you think proper to undertake the translation and publication, I will send the
work itself. You will certainly find it one of the very first order. * It
begins with * * * * * * * *



Our war on the land has commenced most inauspiciously. I fear we are to expect
reverses until we can find out who are qualified for command, and until these
can learn their profession. The proof of a general, to know whether he will
stand fire, costs a more serious price than that of a cannon ; these proofs
have already cost us thousands of good men, and deplorable degradation of
reputation, and as yet have elicited but a few negative and a few positive
characters. But we must persevere till we recover the rank we are entitled to.



  Accept the assurances of my continued esteem and respect.







      TO DR. ROBERT MORRELL.



              MONTICELLO, February 5, 1813.



  SIR,-The book which you were so kind as to take charge of at Paris for me, is
safely received, and I thank you for your care of it, and more particularly for
the indulgent sentiments you are so kind as to express towards..' myself. I am
happy at all times to hear of the welfare of my literary friends in that
country ; they have. had a hard time of it since I left them. I know nothing
which can so severely try



the heart and ..spirit of man, and especially of the 






216          Jefferson's Works



man of science, as the necessity of a passive acquiescence under the
abominations of an unprincipled tyrant who is deluging the earth with blood to
acquire for himself the reputation of a Cartouche or a Robin Hood. The petty
larcenies of the Blackbeards and Buccaneers of the ocean, the more immediately
exercised on us, are dirty and grovelling things addressed to our contempt,
while the horrors excited by the Scelerat of France are beyond all human
execrations. With my thanks for your kind attentions, be pleased to accept the
assurance of my respect.







       TO GENERAL THEODORUS BAILEY.



             MONTICELLO, February 6, 1813,



DEAR SIR,-Your favor of January 25th is received, and I have to renew my thanks
to you for the map accompanying it. These proofs of friendly remembrance give
additional interest to the subjects which convey them. The scenes, too, which
compose the map, are become highly interesting. Our first entrance on them has
been peculiarly inauspicious. Our men are good, but force without conduct is
easily baffled. The Creator has not thought proper to mark those in the
forehead who are of stuff to make. good generals. We are first, therefore, to
seek them blindfold, and then let them learn the trade at the expense of great
losses. But our turn of success will come by-and-bye, and we 






           Correspondence           217



must submit to the previous misfortunes which are to be the price of it. I
think with you on the subject of privateers. Our ships of force will
undoubtedly be blockaded by the enemy, and we shall have no means of annoying
them at sea but by small, swift-sailing vessels ; these will be better managed
and more multiplied in the hands of individuals than of the government. In
short, they are our true and only weapon in a war against Great Britain, when
once Canada and Nova Scotia shall have been rescued from them. The opposition
to them in Congress is merely partial. It is a part of the navy fever, and
proceeds from the desire of securing men for the public ships by suppressing
all other employments from them. But I do not apprehend that this ill-judged
principle is that of a majority of Congress. I hope, on the contrary, they will
spare no encouragement to that kind of enterprise. Our public ships, to be
sure, have done wonders. They have saved our military reputation sacrificed on
the shores of Canada; but in point of real injury and depredation on the enemy,
our privateers without question have been most effectual. Both species of force
have their peculiar value. I salute you with assurances of friendship and
respect. 






 218        Jefferson's Works







TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



            MONTICELLO, February 8, 1813.



DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 27th ultimo has been duly received. You have had a
long holiday from my intrusions. In truth I have had nothing to write about,
and your time should not be consumed by letters about nothing. The enclosed
paper, however, makes it a duty to give you the trouble of reading it. You know
the handwriting and the faith due to it. Our intimacy with the writer leaves no
doubt about his facts, and in his letter to me he pledges himself for their
fidelity. He says the narrative was written at the request of a young friend in
Virginia, and a copy made for my perusal, on the presumption it would be
interesting to me. Whether the word " Confidential" at the head of the paper
was meant only for his young friend or for myself also, nothing in his letter
indicates. I must, therefore, govern myself by considerations of discretion and
of duty combined. Discretion dictates that I ought not so to use the paper as
to compromit my friend; an effect which would be as fatal to my peace as it
might be to his person. But duty tells me that the public interest is so deeply
concerned in your perfect knowledge of the characters employed in its high
stations, that nothing should be withheld which can give you useful
information. On these grounds I commit it to yourself and the 






             Correspondence          219



Secretary of War, to whose functions it relates more immediately. It may have
effect on your future designation of those to whom particular enterprises are
to be committed, and this is the object of the communication. If you should
think it necessary that the minds of the other members of the Cabinet should be
equally apprised of its contents, although not immediately respecting their
departments, the same considerations, and an entire confidence in them
personally, would dictate its communication to them also. But beyond this no
sense of duty calls on me for its disclosure, and fidelity to my friend
strongly forbids it. The paper presents such a picture of indecision in
purpose, inattention to preparation, and imprudence of demeanor, as to fix a
total incompetence for military direction. How greatly we were deceived in this
character, as is generally the case in appointments not on our own knowledge. I
remember when we appointed him we rejoiced in the acquisition of an officer of
so much understanding and integrity, as we imputed to him ; and placed him as
near the head of the army as the commands then at our disposal admitted.
Perhaps, still, you may possess information giving a different aspect to this
case, of which I sincerely wish it may be susceptible. I will ask the return of
the paper when no longer useful to you.



  The accession to your Cabinet meets general approbation. This is chiefly at
present given to the character most known, but will be equally so to the 






220        Jefferson's Works



other when better known. I think you could not have made better appointments.



  The autumn and winter have been most unfriendly to the wheat in red lands, by
continued cold and alternate frosts and thaws. The late snow of about ten
inches now disappearing, has relieved it. That grain is got to $2 at Richmond.
This is the true barometer of the popularity of the war. Ever affectionately
yours.







        TO GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG.



             MONTICELLO, February 8, 1813.



  DEAR GENERAL,-I have long ago in my heart congratulated our country on your
call to the place you now occupy. But with yourself personally it is no subject
of congratulation. The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of
heaven ; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass
of mankind. The duties of office are a corvee which must be undertaken on far
other considerations than those of personal happiness. But whether this be a
subject of congratulation or of condolence, it furnishes the occasion of
recalling myself to your recollection, and of renewing the assurances of my
friendship and respect. Whatever you do in office, I know will be honestly and
ably done, and although we who do not see the whole ground may sometimes impute
error, it will be because we, not you, are in the wrong ; or because your views







            Correspondence          221



are defeated by the wickedness or incompetence of those you are obliged to
trust with their execution. An instance of this is the immediate cause of the
present letter. I have enclosed a paper to the President, with a request to
communicate it to you, and if he thinks it should be known to your associates
of the Cabinet, although not immediately respecting their departments, he will
communicate it to them also. That it should go no further is rendered an
obligation on me by considerations personal to a young friend whom I love and
value, and by the confidence which has induced him to commit himself to me. I
hope, therefore, it will never be known that such a narrative has been written,
and much less by whom written, and to whom addressed. It is unfortunate that
heaven has not set its stamp on the forehead of those whom it has qualified for
military achievement. That it has left us to draw for them in a lottery of so
many blanks to a prize, and where the blank is to be manifested only by the
public misfortunes. If nature had planted the faenum in cornu on the front of
treachery, of cowardice, of imbecility, the unfortunate debut we have made on
the theatre of war would not have sunk our spirits at home, and our character
abroad. I hope you will be ready to act on the first breaking of the ice, as
otherwise we may despair of wresting Canada from our enemies. Their starving
manufactories can furnish men for its defence much faster than we can enlist
them for its assault, 






222        Jefferson's Works



 Accept my prayers for success in all your undertakings, and the assurance of
my affectionate esteem and respect.







          TO DR. BENJAMIN RUSH.



               MONTICELLO, March 6, 1813.



DEAR SIR,-I received some time ago a letter signed " James Carver," proposing
that myself, and my friends in this quarter, should subscribe and forward a sum
of money towards the expenses of his voyage to London, and maintenance there
while going through a course of education in their Veterinary school, with a
view to his returning to America, and practising the art in Philadelphia. The
name, person and character of the writer, were equally unknown to me, and
unauthenticated, but as self-declared in the letter. I supposed him an
Englishman, from the style in which he spoke of " His Majesty," and because an
American, without offence to the laws, could not now be going, nor be sent by
private individuals to England. The scheme did not appear to me either the
shortest or surest way of going to work to accomplish the object. Because, if
the Veterinary institution there be of the celebrity he described, it must
already have produced subjects prepared for entering into practice, and
disposed to come to a good position, claiming nothing till they should enter
into function, or not more than their passage. I did not receive the letter
until 






             Correspondence        223



the day had elapsed on which the vessel was to depart wherein he had taken his
passage, and his desire that the answer should go through you, is my only
authority for troubling you with this, addressed to you, whom I know, love, and
revere, and not to him, who, for any evidence I have but from himself, may be a
zealous son of science, or an adventurer wanting money to carry him to London.
I know nothing of the Veterinary institution of London, yet have no doubt it
merits the high character he ascribes to it. It is a nation which possesses
many learned men. I know well the Veterinary school of Paris, of long standing,
and saw many of its publications during my residence there. They were
classically written, announced a want of nothing but certainty as to their
facts, which granted, the hypotheses were learned and plausible. The
coach-horses of the rich of Paris were availed of the institution; but the
farmers even of the neighborhood could not afford to call a Veterinary doctor
to their plough-horses in the country, or to send them to a livery stable to be
attended in the city. On the whole, I was not a convert to the utility of the
Institution. You know I am so to that of medicine, even in human complaints,
but in a limited .degree. That there are certain diseases of the human body, so
distinctly pronounced by well-articulated symptoms; and recurring so often, as
not to be mistaken, wherein experience has proved that certain substances
applied, will restore order, I cannot doubt. 






224        Jefferson's Works



Such are Kinkina in Intermittents, Mercury in Syphilis, Castor Oil in
Dysentery, etc. And so far I go with the physicians. But there are also a great
mass of indistinct diseases, presenting themselves under no form clearly
characterized, nor exactly recognized as having occurred before, and to which
of course the application of no particular substance can be known to have been
made, nor its effect on the case experienced. These may be called unknown
cases, and they may in time be lessened by the progress of observation and
experiment. Observing that there are in the construction of the animal system
some means provided unknown to us, which have a tendency to restore order, when
disturbed by accident, called by physicians the vis medicatrix naturae, I think
it safer to trust to this power in the unknown cases, than to uncertain
conjectures built on the ever-changing hypothetical systems of medicine. Now,
in the Veterinary department all are unknown cases. Man can tell his physician
the seat of his pain, its nature, history, and sometimes its cause, and can
follow his directions for the curative process-but the poor dumb horse cannot
signify where his pain is, what it is, or when or whence it came, and resists
all process for its cure. If in the case of man, then, the benefit of medical
interference in such cases admits of question, what must it be in that of the
horse ? And to what narrow limits is the real importance of the Veterinary art
reduced? When a boy, I knew a Doctor Seymour, neighbor 






           Correspondence           225



to our famous botanist Clayton, who imagined he could cure the diseases of his
tobacco plants ; he bled some, administered lotions to others, sprinkled
powders on a third class, and so on-they only withered and perished the faster.
I am sensible of the presumption of hazarding an opinion to you on a subject
whereon you are so much better qualified for decision, both by reading and
experience. But our opinions are not voluntary. Every man's own reason must be
his oracle. And I only express mine to explain why I did not comply with Mr.
Carver's request; and to give you a further proof that there are no bounds to
my confidence in your indulgence in matters of opinion.



  Mr. Adams and myself are in habitual correspondence. I owe him a letter at
this time, and shall pay the debt as soon as I have something to write about :
for with the commonplace topic of politics we do not meddle. Where there are so
many others on which we agree, why should we introduce the only one on which we
differ. Besides the pleasure which our naval successes have given to every
honest patriot, his must be peculiar, because a navy has always been his
hobby-horse. A little further time will show whether his ideas have been
premature, and whether the little we can oppose on that element to the
omnipotence of our enemy there, would lessen the losses of the war, or
contribute to shorten its duration, the legitimate object of every measure. On
the land, indeed, we have been most unfortunate;



  VOL. XIII-15 






226           Jefferson's Works



so wretched a succession of generals never before destroyed the fairest
expectations of a nation, counting on the bravery of its citizens, which has
proved itself on all these trials. Our first object must now be the vindication
of our character in the field; after that, peace with the liberum mare,
personal inviolability there, and ouster from this continent of the
incendiaries of savages. God send us these good things, and to you health and
life here, till you wish to awake to it in another state of being.







         TO MONSIEUR DE LOMERIE.



                MONTICELLO, April 3, 1813.



SIR,-Your letter of the 26th has been received, as had been that of the 5th.
The preceding ones had been complied with by applications verbal and written to
the members of the government, to which I could expect no specific answers,
their whole time being due to the public, and employed on their concerns. Had
it been my good fortune to preserve at the age of seventy, all the activity of
body and mind which I enjoyed in earlier life, I should have employed it now,
as then, in incessant labors to serve those to whom I could be useful. But the
torpor of age is weighing heavily on. me. The writing table is become my
aversion, and its drudgeries beyond my remaining powers. I have retired, then,
of necessity, from all correspondence not indispensably called for by some
special duty, and I











             Correspondence          227



hope that this necessity will excuse me with you from further interference in
obtaining your passage to France, which requires solicitations and exertions
beyond what I am able to encounter. I request this the more freely, because I
am sure of finding, in your candor and consideration, an acquiescence in the
reasonableness of my desire to indulge the feeble remains of life in that state
of ease and tranquillity which my condition, physical and moral, require.
Accept, then, with my adieux, my best wishes for a safe and happy return to
your native country and the assurances of my respect.







         TO THOMAS PAINE McMATRON.



                 MONTICELLO, April 3, 1813.



  SIR,-Your favor of March 24th is received, and nothing could have been so
pleasing to me as to have been able to comply with the request therein made,
feeling especial motives to become useful to any person connected with Mr.
M'Matron. But I shall state to you the circumstances which control my will, and
rest on your candor their just estimate. When I retired from the government
four years ago, it was extremely my wish to withdraw myself from all concern
with public affairs, and to enjoy with my fellow citizens the protection of
government, under the auspices and direction of those to whom it was so
worthily committed. Solicitations from my friends, however, to aid them in
their applications 






228         Jefferson's Works for office, drew from me an unwary compliance,
till at length these became so numerous as to occupy a great portion of my time
in writing letters to the President and heads of departments, and although
these were attended to by them with great indulgence, yet I was sensible they
could not fail of being very embarrassing. They kept me, at the same time,
standing forever in the attitude of a suppliant before them, daily asking
favors as humiliating and afflicting to my own mind, as they were unreasonable
from their multitude. I was long sensible of the necessity of putting an end to
these unceasing importunities, when a change in the heads of the two
departments to which they were chiefly addressed, presented me an opportunity.
I came to a resolution, therefore, on that change, never to make another
application. I have adhered to it strictly, and find that on its rigid
observance, my own happiness and the friendship of the government too much
depend, for me to swerve from it in future. On consideration of these
circumstances, I hope you will be sensible how much they import, both to the
government and myself ; and that you do me the justice to be assured of the
reluctance with which I decline an opportunity of being useful to one so nearly
connected with Mr.. M'Matron, and that with the assurance of my regrets, you
will accept that of my best wishes for your success, and of my great respect. 






             Correspondence          229







        TO COLONEL WILLIAM DUANE.



                MONTICELLO, April 4, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,--Your favor of February 14th. has been duly received, and the MS.
of the commentary on Montesquieu is also safe at hand. I now forward to you the
work of Tracy, which you will find a valuable supplement and corrective to
those we already possess on political economy. It is a little unlucky that its
outset is of a metaphysical character, which may damp the ardor of perusal in
some readers. He has been led to this by a desire to embody this Work, as well
as a future one he is preparing on morals, With his former treatise on
Ideology. By-the-bye, it is merely to this work that Bonaparte alludes in his
answer to his Council of State, published not long since, in which he scouts "
the dark and metaphysical doctrine of Ideology, which, diving into first
causes, founds on this basis a legislation of the people, etc." If, indeed,
this answer be not a forgery, for everything is now forged, even to the fat of
our beef and mutton: yet the speech is not unlike him, .and affords scope for
an excellent parody. I wish you may succeed in getting the commentary on
Montesquieu reviewed by the Edinburgh Reviewers. I should expect from them an
able and favorable analysis of it. I sent a copy of it to a friend in England,
in the hope he would communicate it to them ; not, however, expressing that
hope, lest the source of it should have been 






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made known. But the book will make its way, and will become a standard work. A
copy which I sent to France was under translation by one of the ablest men of
that country. '



It is true that I am tired of practical politics, and happier while reading the
history of ancient than of modern times. The total banishment of all moral
principle from the code which governs the intercourse of nations, the
melancholy reflection that after the mean, wicked and cowardly cunning of the
cabinets of the age of Machiavelli had given place to the integrity and good
faith which dignified the succeeding one of a Chatham and Turgot, that this is
to be swept away again by the daring profligacy and avowed destitution of all
moral principle of a Cartouche and a Blackbeard, sickens my soul unto death. I
turn from the contemplation with loathing, and take refuge in the histories of
other times, where, if they also furnish their Tarquins, their Catilines and
Caligulas, their stories are handed to us under the brand of a Livy, a Sallust
and a Tacitus, and we are comforted with the reflection that the condemnation
of all succeeding generations has confirmed the censures of the historian, and
consigned their memories to everlasting infamy, a solace we cannot have with
the Georges and Napoleons but by anticipation.



  In surveying the scenes of which we make a part, I confess that three
frigates taken by our gallant little navy, do not balance in my mind three
armies 






             Correspondence



lost by the treachery cowardice, or incapacity of those to whom they were
intrusted. I see that our men are good, and only want generals. We may yet
hope, however, that the talents which always exist among men will show
themselves with opportunity, and that it will be found that this age also can
produce able and honest defenders of their country, at what further expense,
however, of blood and treasure, is yet to be seen. Perhaps this Russian
mediation may cut short the history of the present war, and leave to us the
laurels of the sea, while our enemies are bedecked with those of the land. This
would be the reverse of what has been expected, and perhaps of what was to be
wished.



  I have never seen the work on Political Economy, of which you speak. Say and
Tracy contain the sum of that science as far as it has been soundly traced, in
my judgment. And it is a pity that Say's work should not, as well as Tracy's,
be made known to our countrymen by a good translation. It would supplant
Smith's book altogether, because shorter, clearer and sounder.



  Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of continued esteem and
respect.











232         Jefferson's Works







TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



                MONTICELLO, May 21, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,-The enclosed letter from Whit was unquestionably intended for you.
The subject, the address, both of title and place, prove it, and the mistake of
the name only shows the writer to be a very uninquisitive statesman. Dr.
Waterhouse's letter, too, was intended for your eye, and although the immediate
object fails by previous appointment, yet he seems to entertain further wishes.
I enclose, too, the newspapers he refers to, as some of their matter may have
escaped your notice, and the traitorous designs fostered in Massachusetts, and
explained in them, call for attention.



  We have never seen so unpromising a crop of wheat as that now growing. The
winter killed an unusual proportion of it, and the fly is destroying the
remainder. We may estimate the latter loss at one-third at present, and fast
increasing from the effect of the extraordinary drought. With such a prospect
before us, the blockade is acting severely on our past labors. It caught nearly
the whole wheat of the middle and upper country in the hands of the farmers and
millers, whose interior situation had prevented their getting it to an earlier
market. From this neighborhood very little had been sold. When we cast our eyes
on the map, and see the extent of country from New York to North Carolina 






             Correspondence         233



inclusive, whose produce is raised on the waters of the Chesapeake, (for
Albemarle sound is, by the canal of Norfolk, become a water of the Chesapeake,)
and consider its productiveness, in comparison with the rest of the Atlantic
States, probably a full half, and that all this can be shut up by two or three
ships of the line lying at the mouth of the bay, we see that an injury so vast
to ourselves and so cheap to our enemy, must forever be resorted to by them,
and constantly maintained. To defend all the shores of those waters in detail
is impossible. But is there not a single point where they may be all defended
by means to which the magnitude of the object gives a title? I mean at the
mouth of the Chesapeake. Not by ships of the line, or frigates; for I know that
with our present enemy we cannot contend in that way. But would not a
sufficient number of gunboats of small draught, stationed in Lynhaven river,
render it unsafe for ships of war either to ascend the Chesapeake or to lie at
its mouth? I am not unaware of the effect of the ridicule cast on this
instrument of defence by those who wished for engines of offence. But resort is
had to ridicule only when reason is against us. I know; too, the prejudices of
the gentlemen of the navy, and that these are very natural. No one has been
more gratified than myself by the brilliant achievements of our little navy.
They have deeply wounded the pride of our enemy, and been balm to ours,
humiliated on the land, where our real strength was felt to lie. 






234         Jefferson's Works



But divesting ourselves of the enthusiasm these brave actions have justly
excited, it is impossible not to see that all these vessels must be taken and
added to the already overwhelming force of our enemy; that even while we keep
them, they contribute nothing to our defence, and that so far as we are to be
defended by anything on the water, it must be by such vessels as can assail
under advantageous circumstances, and under adverse ones withdraw from the
reach of the enemy. These, in shoaly waters, are the humble, the ridiculed, but
the formidable gunboats. I acknowledge that in the case which produces these
reflections, the station of Lynhaven river would not be safe against land
attacks on the boats, and that a retreat for them is necessary in this event.
With a view to this there was a survey made by Colonel Tatham, which was lodged
either in the War or Navy Office, showing the depth and length of a canal which
would give them a retreat from Lynhaven river into the eastern branch of
Elizabeth river. I think the distance is not over six or eight miles, perhaps
not so much, through a country entirely flat, and little above the level of the
sea. A cut of ten yards wide and four yards deep, requiring the removal of
forty cubic yards .of earth for every yard in length of the canal, at twenty
cents the cubic yard, would cost about $15,000 a mile. But even doubling this
to cover all errors of estimate, although in a country offering the cheapest
kind of labor, it would be nothing compared 






            Correspondence            235



with the extent and productions of the country it is to protect. It would, for
so great a country, bear no proportion to what has been expended, and justly
expended by the Union, to defend the single spot of New York.



While such a channel of retreat secures effectually the safety of the gunboats,
it insures also their aid for the defence of Norfolk, if attacked from the sea.
And the Norfolk canal gives them a further passage into Albemarle sound, if
necessary for their safety, or in aid of the flotilla of that sound, or to
receive the aid of that flotilla either at Norfolk or in Lynhaven river. For
such a flotilla there also will doubtless be thought necessary, that being the
only outlet now, as during the last war, for the waters of the Chesapeake.
Colonel Monroe, I think, is personally intimate with the face of all that
country, and no one, I am certain, is more able or more disposed than the
present Secretary of the Navy, to place himself above the navy prejudices, and
do justice to the aptitude of these humble and economical vessels to the
shallow waters of the South. On the bold Northern shores they would be of less
account, and the larger vessels will of course be more employed there. Were
they stationed with us, they would rather attract danger than ward it off. The
only service they can render us would be to come in a body when the occasion
offers, of overwhelming a weaker force of the enemy occupying our bay, to
oblige them to keep their force in a body, leaving the mass of our coast open. 






236        Jefferson's Works



 Although it is probable there may not be an idea here which has not been
maturely weighed by your self, and with a much broader view of the whole field,
yet I have frankly hazarded them, because possibly some of the facts or ideas
may have escaped in the multiplicity of the objects engaging your notice, and
because in every event they will cost you but the trouble of reading. The
importance of keeping open a water which covers wholly or considerably five of
the most productive States, containing three-fifths of the population of the
Atlantic portion of our Union, and of preserving their resources for the
support of the war, as far as the state of war and the means of the confederacy
will admit; and especially if it can be done for less than is contributed by
the Union for more than one single city, will justify our anxieties to have it
effected. And should my views of the subject be even wrong, I am sure they will
find their apology with you in the purity of the motives of personal and public
regard which induce a suggestion of them. In all cases I am satisfied you are
doing what is for the best, as far as the means put into your hands will enable
you, and this thought quiets me under every occurrence, and under every
occurrence I am sincerely, affectionately and respectfully yours. 






             Correspondence        237







  TO MADAME LA BARONNE DE STAEL-HOLSTEIN.



  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, May 24, 1813



I received with great pleasure, my dear Madam and friend, your letter of
November the 10th, from Stockholm, and am sincerely gratified by the occasion
it gives me of expressing to you the sentiments of high respect and esteem
which I entertain for you. It recalls to my remembrance a happy portion of my
life, passed in your native city; .then the seat of the most amiable and
polished society of the world, and of which yourself and your venerable father
were such distinguished members. But of what scenes has it since been the
theatre, and with what havoc has it overspread the earth! Robespierre met the
fate, and his memory the execration, he so justly merited. The rich were his
victims, and perished by thousands. It is by millions that Bonaparte destroys
the poor, and he is eulogized and deified by the sycophants even of science.
These merit more than the mere oblivion to which they will be consigned; and
the day will come when a just posterity will give to their hero the only
preeminence he has earned, that of having been the greatest of the destroyers
of the human race. What year of his military life has not consigned a million
of human beings to death, to poverty and wretchedness! What field in Europe may
not raise a monument of the murders, the burnings, the desolations, the famines
and miseries it has witnessed from him! And all this to 






238         Jefferson's Works



acquire a reputation, which Cartouche attained with less injury to mankind, of
being fearless of God or man.



  To complete and universalize the desolation of the globe, it has been the
will of Providence to raise up, at the same time, a tyrant as unprincipled and
as overwhelming, for the ocean. Not, in the poor maniac George, but in his
government and nation. Bonaparte will die, and his tyrannies with him. But a
nation never dies. The English government, and its piratical principles and
practices, have no fixed term of duration. Europe feels, and is writhing under
the scorpion whips of Bonaparte. We are assailed by those of England. The one
continent thus placed under the grip of England, and the other of Bonaparte,
each has to grapple with the enemy immediately pressing on itself. We must
extinguish the fire kindled in our own house, and leave to our friends beyond
the water that which is consuming theirs. It was not till England had taken one
thousand of our ships, and impressed into her service more than six thousand of
our citizens; till she had declared, by the proclamation of her Prince Regent,
that she would not repeal her aggressive orders as to us, until Bonaparte
should have repealed his as to all nations; till her minister, in formal
conference with ours, declared, that no proposition for protecting our seamen
from being impressed, under color of taking their own, was practicable or
admissible; that, the door to justice



           Correspondence           239



and to all amicable arrangement being closed, and negotiation become both
desperate and dishonorable, we concluded that the war she had for years been
waging against us, might as well become a war on both sides. She takes fewer
vessels from us since the declaration of war than before, because they venture
more cautiously ; and we now make full  reprisals where before we made none.
England is, in principle, the enemy of all maritime nations, as Bonaparte is of
the continental; and I place in the same line of insult to the human
understanding, the pretension of conquering the ocean, to establish continental
rights, as that of conquering the continent, to restore maritime rights. No, my
dear Madam; the object of England is the permanent dominion o f the ocean, and
the monopoly of the trade of the world. To secure this, she must keep a larger
fleet than her own resources will maintain. The resources of other nations,
then, must be impressed to supply the deficiency of her own. This is
sufficiently developed and evidenced by her successive strides towards the
usurpation of the sea. Mark them, from her first war after William Pitt, the
little, came into her administration. She first forbade to neutrals all trade
with her enemies in time of war, which they had not in time of peace. This
deprived them of their trade from port to port of the same nation. Then she
forbade them to trade from the port of one nation to that of any other at war
with her, although a right fully exer-






            Jefferson's Works



cised in time 'of peace. Next, instead of taking vessels only entering a
blockaded port, she took them over the whole ocean, if destined to that port,
although ignorant of the blockade, and without intention tn violate it. Then
she took them returning from that port, as if infected by previous infraction
of blockade. Then came her paper blockades, by which she might shut up the
whole world without sending a ship to sea, except to take all those sailing on
it, as they must, of course, be bound to some port. And these were followed by
her orders of council, forbidding every nation to go to the port of any other,
without coming first to some port of Great Britain, there paying a tribute to
her, regulated by the cargo, and taking from her a license to proceed to the
port of destination ; which operation the vessel was to repeat with the return
cargo on its way home. According to these orders, we could not send a vessel
from St. Mary's to St. Augustine distant six hours' sail on our own coast,
without crossing the Atlantic four times, twice with the outward cargo, and
twice with the inward. She found this too daring and outrageous for a single
step, retracted as to certain articles of commerce, but left it in force as to
others which constitute important branches of our exports. And finally, that
her views may no longer rest on inference, in a recent debate her minister
declared in open parliament, that the object of the present war is a monopoly.
of commerce. 






             Correspondence         241



  In some of these atrocities, France kept pace with her fully in speculative
wrong, which her impotence only shortened in practical execution. This was
called retaliation by both ; each charging the other with the initiation of the
outrage. As if two combatants might retaliate on an innocent bystander, the
blows they received from each other. To make war on both would have been
ridiculous. In order, therefore, to single out an enemy, we offered to both,
that if either would revoke its hostile decrees, and the other should refuse,
we would interdict all intercourse whatever with that other ; which would be
war of course, as being an avowed departure from neutrality. France accepted
the offer, and revoked her decrees as to us. England not only refused, but
declared by a solemn proclamation of her Prince Regent, that she would not
revoke her orders even as to us, until those of France should be annulled as to
the whole world. We thereon declared war, and with abundant additional cause.



  In the meantime, an examination before parliament of the ruinous effects of
these orders on her own manufacturers, exposing them to the nation and to the
world, their Prince issued a palinodial proclamation, suspending, the orders on
certain conditions, but claiming to renew them at pleasure, as a matter of
right. Even this might have prevented the war, if done and known here before
its declaration. But the sword being once drawn, the expense of arming
incurred, and hostilities in full







VOL. XIII-I6 






            Jefferson's Works



course, it would have been unwise to discontinue them, until effectual
provision should be agreed to by England, for protecting our citizens on the
high seas from impressment by her naval commanders, through error, voluntary or
involuntary; the fact being notorious, that these officers, entering our ships
at sea under pretext of searching for their seamen, (which they have no right
to do by the law or usage of nations, which they neither do, nor ever did, as
to any other nation but ours, and which no nation ever before pretended to do
in any case,) entering our ships, I say, under pretext of searching for and
taking out their seamen, they took ours, native as well as naturalized, knowing
them to be ours, merely because they wanted them ; insomuch, that no American
could safely cross the ocean, or venture to pass by sea from one to another of
our own ports. It is not long since they impressed at sea two nephews of
General Washington, returning from Europe, and put them, as common seamen,
under the ordinary discipline of their ships of war. There are certainly other
wrongs to be settled between England and us ; but of a minor character, and
such as a proper spirit of conciliation on both sides would not permit to
continue them at war. The sword, however, can never again be sheathed, until
the personal safety of an American on the ocean, among the most important and
most vital of the rights we possess, is completely provided for.



As soon as we heard of her partial repeal of her 






            Correspondence         243



orders of council, we offered instantly to suspend hostilities by an armistice,
if she would suspend her impressments, and meet us in arrangements for securing
our citizens against them. She refused to do it, because impracticable by any
arrangement, as she pretends ; but, in truth, because a body of sixty  to
eighty thousand of the finest seamen in the world, € which we possess, is too
great a resource for manning her exaggerated navy, to be relinquished, as long
as she can keep it open. Peace is in her hand, whenever she will renounce the
practice of aggression on the persons of our citizens. If she thinks it worth
eternal war, eternal war we must have. She alleges that the sameness of
language, of manners, of appearance, renders it impossible to distinguish us
from her subjects. But because we speak English, and look like them, are we to
be punished? Are free and independent men to be submitted to their bondage ?



  England has misrepresented to all Europe this ground of the war. She has
called it a new pretension, set up since the repeal of her orders of council.
She knows there has never been a moment of suspension of our reclamation
against it, from General Washington's time inclusive, to the present day ; and
that it is distinctly stated in our declaration of war, as one of its principal
causes. She has pretended we have entered into the war to establish the
principle of "free bottoms, free goods," or to protect her seamen against her
own rights over them. We contend for neither of these. She 






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    pretends we are partial to France ; that we have



observed a fraudulent and unfaithful neutrality



between her and her enemy. She knows this to be



false, and that if there has been any inequality in



our. proceedings towards the belligerents, it has been



in her favor. Her ministers are in possession of



full proofs of this. Our accepting at once, and



sincerely, the mediation of the virtuous Alexander,



their greatest friend, and the most aggravated



enemy of Bonaparte, sufficiently proves whether



we have partialities on the side of her enemy. I



sincerely pray that this mediation may produce a



just peace. It will prove that the immortal char-



acter, which has first stopped by war the career of



the destroyer of mankind, is the friend of peace,



of justice, of human happiness, and the patron of



unoffending and injured nations. He is too honest







 .



    and impartial to countenance propositions of peace



derogatory to the freedom of the seas.



      Shall I apologize to you, my dear Madam, for this



long political letter? But yours justifies the sub-



ject, and my feelings must plead for the unreserved



expression of them ; and they have been the less



reserved, as being from a private citizen, retired



from all connection with the government of his



country, and whose ideas, expressed without com-

munication with any one, are neither known, nor



imputable to them.



     The dangers of the sea are now so great, and the



possibilities of interception by sea and land such, 






            Correspondence          245



that I shall subscribe no name to this letter. You will know from whom it
comes, by its reference to the date of time and place of yours, as well as by
its subject in answer to that. This omission must not lessen in your view the
assurances of my great esteem, of my sincere sympathies for the share which you
bear in the afflictions of your country, and the deprivation to which a lawless
will has subjected you. In return, you enjoy the dignified satisfaction of
having met them, rather than be y oked with the abject, to his car; and that,
in withdrawing from oppression, you have followed the virtuous example of a
father whose name will ever be dear to your country and to mankind. With my
prayers that you may be restored to it, that you may see it re-established in
that temperate portion of liberty which does not infer either anarchy or
licentiousness, in that high degree of prosperity which would be the
consequence of such a government, in that, in short, which the constitution of
1789 would have insured it, if wisdom could have stayed at that point the
fervid but imprudent zeal of men, who did not know the character of their own
country men, and that you may long live in health and happiness under it, and
leave to the world a well-educated and virtuous representative and descendant
of your honored father, is the ardent prayer of the sincere and respectful
friend who writes this letter. 






Correspondence







              TO JOHN ADAMS.



                MONTICELLO, May 27, 1813.



  Another of our friends of seventy-six is gone, my dear SIR, another of the
co-signers of the Independence of our country. And a better man than Rush could
not have left us, more benevolent, more learned, of finer genius, or more
honest. We too must go ; and that ere long. I believe we are under half a dozen
at present ; I mean the signers of the Declaration. Yourself, Gerry, Carroll,
and myself, are all I know to be living. I am the only one south of the
Potomac. Is Robert Treat Payne, or Floyd living? It is long since I heard of
them, and yet I do not recollect to have heard of their deaths.



Moreton's deduction of the origin of our Indians from the fugitive Trojans,
stated in your letter of January the 26th, and his manner of accounting for the
sprinkling of their Latin with Greek, is really amusing. Adair makes them talk
Hebrew. Reinold Foster derives them from the soldiers sent by Kouli Khan to
conquer Japan. Brerewood, from the Tartars, as well as our bears, wolves,
foxes, etc., which, he says, " must of necessity fetch their beginning from
Noah's ark, which rested, after the deluge in Asia, seeing they could not
proceed by the course cf nature, as the imperfect sort of living creatures do,
from putrefaction." Bernard Romans is of opinion that God created an original
man and woman in this part of the globe. Doctor Barton 






           Jefferson's Works        247



thinks they are not specifically different from the Persians; but taking
afterwards a broader range, he thinks, " that in all the vast countries of
America, there is but one language, nay, that it may be proven, or rendered
highly probable, that all the languages of the earth bear some affinity
together." This reduces it to a question of definition, in which every one is
free to use his own : to wit, what constitutes identity, or difference in two
things, in the common acceptation of sameness? All languages may be called the
same, as being all made up of the same primitive sounds, expressed by the
letters of the different alphabets. But, in this sense, all things on earth are
the same as consisting of matter. This gives up the useful distribution into
genera and species, which we form, arbitrarily indeed, for the relief of our
imperfect memories. To aid the question, from whence our Indian tribes
descended, some have gone into their religion, their morals, their manners,
customs, habits, and physical forms. By such helps it may be learnedly proved,
that our trees and plants of every kind are descended from those of Europe ;
because, like them, they have no locomotion, they draw nourishment from the
earth, they clothe themselves with leaves in spring, of which they divest
themselves in autumn for the sleep of winter, etc. Our animals too must be
descended from those of Europe, because our wolves eat lambs, our deer are
gregarious, our ants hoard, etc. But, when for convenience we distribute lan-






248        Correspondence



guages, according to common understanding, into classes originally different,
as we choose to consider them, as the Hebrew, the Greek, the Celtic, the Gothic
; and these again into genera, or  families, as the Icelandic, German, Swedish,
Danish, English, and these last into species, or dialects, as English, Scotch,
Irish, we then ascribe other meanings to the terms " same " and " different. "
In some one of these senses, Barton, and Adair, and Foster, and Brerewood, and
Moreton, may be right, every one according to his own definition of what
constitutes "identity." Romans; indeed, takes a higher stand and supposes a
separate creation. On the same unscriptural ground, he had but to mount one
step higher, to suppose no creation at all, but that all things have existed
without beginning in time, as they now exist, and may forever exist, producing
and reproducing in a circle, without end. This would very summarily dispose of
Mr. Moreton's learning, and show that the question of Indian origin, like many
others, pushed to a certain height must receive the same answer, " Ignoro."



You ask if the usage of hunting in circles has ever been known among any of our
tribes of Indians ? It has been practised by them all; and is to this day, by
those still remote from the settlements of the whites. But their numbers not
enabling them, like Genghis Khan's seven hundred thousand, to form themselves
into circles of one hundred miles diameter, they make their circle by firing
the leaves 






             Correspondence



fallen on the ground, which gradually forcing the animals to a centre, they
there slaughter them with arrows, darts, and other missiles. This is called
fire hunting, and has been practised in this State within my time, by the white
inhabitants. This is the most probable cause of the origin and extension of the
vast prairies in the western country, where the grass having been of
extraordinary luxuriance, has made a conflagration sufficient to kill even the
old as well as the young timber.



  I sincerely congratulate you on the successes of our little navy; which must
be more gratifying to you than to most men, as having been the early and
constant advocate of wooden walls. If I have differed with you on this ground,
it was not on the principle, but the time ; supposing that we cannot build or
maintain a navy, which will not immediately fall into the same gulf which has
swallowed not only the minor navies, but even those of the great secondrate
powers of the sea. Whenever these can be resuscitated, and brought so near to a
balance with England that we can turn the scale, then is my epoch for aiming at
a navy. In the meantime, one competent to keep the Barbary States in order, is
necessary ; these being the only smaller powers disposed to quarrel with us.
But I respect too much the weighty opinions of others, to be unyielding on this
point, and acquiesce with the prayer "quod felix faustumque sit; " adding ever
a sincere one for your health and happiness. 






250       Jefferson's  Works







         TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.



                MONTICELLO, May 30, 1813.



DEAR SIR,-I thank you for the communication of the President's Message, which
has not yet reached us through the public papers. It is an interesting
document, always looked for with anxiety, and the late one is equally able as
interesting. I hope Congress will act in conformity with it, in all its parts.
The unwarrantable ideas often expressed in the newspapers, and by persons who
ought to know better, that I intermeddle in the Executive councils, and the
indecent expressions, sometimes, of a hope that Mr. Madison will pursue the
principles of my administration, expressions so disrespectful to his known
abilities and dispositions, have rendered it improper in me to hazard
suggestions to him, on occasions even where ideas might occur to me, that might
accidentally escape him. This reserve has been strengthened, too, by a
consciousness that my views must be very imperfect; from the want of a correct
knowledge of the whole ground.



  I lately, however, hazarded to him a suggestion on the defence of the
Chesapeake, because, although decided on provisionally with the Secretaries of
War and the Navy formerly, yet as it was proposed only in the case of war,
which did not actually arise, and not relating to his department, might not
then have been communicated to him. Of this fact my memory did not ascertain
me. I will now hazard another 






           Correspondence



suggestion to yourself, which indeed grows out of that one : it is, the policy
of keeping our frigates together in a body, in some place where they can be
defended against a superior naval force, and from whence, nevertheless, they
can easily sally forth on the shortest warning. This would oblige the enemy to
take stations, or to cruise only in masses equal at least, each of them, to our
whole force; and of course they could be acting only in two or three spots at a
time, and the whole of our coast, except the two or three portions where they
might be present, would be open to exportation and importation. I think all
that part of the United States over which the waters of the Chesapeake spread
themselves, was blockaded in the early season by a single ship. This would keep
our frigates in entire safety, as they would go out only occasionally to
oppress a blockading force known to be weaker than themselves, and thus make
them a real protection to our whole commerce. And it seems to me that this
would be a more essential service, than that of going out by ones, or twos, in
search of adventures, which contribute little to the protection of our
commerce, and not at all to the defence of our coast, or the shores of our
inland waters. A defence of these by militia is most harassing to them. The
applications from Maryland, which I have seen in the papers, and those from
Virginia, which I suspect, merely because I see such masses of the militia
called off from their farms, must be embarrassing to the Executive, not only 






252        Jefferson's Works



from a knowledge of the incompetency of such a mode of defence, but from the
exhausture of funds which ought. to be husbanded for the effectual operations
of a long war. I fear, too, it will render the militia discontented, perhaps
clamorous for an end of the war on any terms. I am happy to see that it is
entirely popular as yet, and that no symptom of flinching from it appears among
the people, as far as I can judge from the public papers, or from my own
observation, limited to the few counties adjacent to the two branches of James
river. I have such confidence that what I suggest has been already maturely
discussed in the Cabinet, and that for wise and sufficient reasons the present
mode of employing the frigates is the best, that I hesitate about sending this
even after having written. Yet in that case it will only have given you the
trouble of reading it. You will bury it in your own breast, as non-avenue, and
see in it only an unnecessary zeal on my part, and a proof of the unlimited
confidence of yours ever and affectionately.







             TO JOHN ADAMS.



               MONTICELLO, June 15, 1813



DEAR SIR,--I wrote you a letter on the 27th of May, which probably would reach
you about the 3d instant, and on the 9th I received yours of the 29th of May.
Of Lindsay's Memoirs I had never before heard, and scarcely indeed of himself.
It 






            Correspondence           253



could not, therefore, but be unexpected, that two letters of mine should have
anything to do with his life. The name of his editor was new to me, and
certainly presents itself for the first time under unfavorable circumstances.
Religion, I suppose, is the scope of his book; and that a writer on that
subject should usher himself to the world in the very act of the grossest abuse
of confidence, by publishing private letters which passed between two friends,
with no views to their ever being made public, is an instance of inconsistency
as well as of infidelity, of which I would rather be the victim than the
author.



  By your kind quotation of the dates of my two letters, I have been enabled to
turn to them. They had completely vanished from my memory. The last is on the
subject of religion, and by its publication will gratify the priesthood with
new occasion of repeating their comminations against me. They wish it to be
believed that he can have no religion who advocates its freedom. This was not
the doctrine of Priestley; and I honored him for the example of liberality he
set to his order. The first letter is political. It recalls to our recollection
the gloomy transactions of the times, the doctrines they witnessed, and the
sensibilities they excited. It was a confidential communication of reflections
on these from one friend to another, deposited in his bosom, and never meant to
trouble the public mind. Whether the character of the times is justly portrayed
or not, posterity will decide.  But on one 






254         Jefferson's Works



feature of them they can never decide, the sensations excited in free yet firm
minds by the terrorism of the day. None can conceive who did not witness them,
and they were felt by one party only. This letter exhibits their side of the
medal. The federalists, no doubt, have presented the other in their private
correspondences as well as open action. If these correspondences should ever be
laid open to the public eye, they will probably be found not models of comity
towards their adversaries. The readers of my letter should be cautioned not to
confine its view to this country alone. England and its ala mists were equally
under consideration. Still less must they consider it as looking personally
towards you. You happen, indeed, to be quoted, because you happen d to express
more pithily than had been done by themselves, one of the mottoes of the party.
This was in your answer to the address of the young men of Philadelphia. [See
Selection of Patriotic Addresses, page 198.] One of the questions, you know, on
which our parties took different sides, was on the improvability of the human
mind in science, in ethics, in government, etc. Those who advocated reformation
of institutions, pari passu with the progress of science, maintained that no
definite limits could be assigned to that progress. The enemies of reform, on
the other hand, denied improvement, and advocated steady adherence to the
principles, practices and institutions of our fathers, which they represented
as the consummation 






            Correspondence          255



of wisdom, and acme of excellence, beyond which the human mind could never
advance. Although in the passage of your answer alluded to, you expressly
disclaim the wish to influence the freedom of inquiry, you predict that that
will produce nothing more worthy of. transmission to posterity than the
principles, institutions and systems of education received from their
ancestors. I do not consider this as your deliberate opinion. You possess,
yourself, too much science, not to see how much is still ahead of you,
unexplained and unexplored. Your own consciousness must place you as far before
our ancestors as in the rear of our posterity. I consider it as an expression
lent to the prejudices of your friends; and although I happened to cite it from
you, the whole letter shows I had them only in view. In truth, my dear SIR, we
were far from considering you as the author of all the measures we blamed. They
were placed under the protection of your name, but we were satisfied they
wanted much of your approbation. We ascribed them to their real authors, the
Pickerings, the Wolcotts, the Tracys, the Sedgwicks, et id genus omne, with
whom we supposed you in a state of duresse. I well remember a conversation with
you in the morning of the day on which you nominated to the Senate a substitute
for Pickering, in which you expressed a just impatience under " the legacy of
secretaries which General Washington had left you," and whom you seemed,
therefore, to consider as under public protection.











       , 






256       Jefferson's Works



Many other incidents showed how differently you would have acted with less
impassioned advisers ; and subsequent events have proved that your minds were
not together. You would do me great injustice, therefore, by taking to yourself
what was intended for men who were then your secret, as they are now your open
enemies. Should you write on the subject, as you propose, I am sure we shall
see you place yourself farther from them than from us.



As to myself, I shall take no part in any discussions. I leave others to judge
of what I have done, and to give me exactly that place which they shall think I
have occupied. Marshall has written libels on one side ; others, I suppose,
will be written on the other side; and the world will sift both and separate
the truth as well as they can. I should see with reluctance the passions of
that day rekindled in this, while so many of the actors are living, and all are
too near the scene not to participate in sympathies with them. About facts you
and I cannot differ; because truth is our mutual guide. And if any opinions you
may express should be different from mine, I shall receive them with the
liberality and indulgence which I ask for my own, and still cherish with warmth
the sentiments of affectionate respect, of which I can with so much truth
tender you the assurance. 






           Correspondence           257







      TO WILLIAM SHORT.



               MONTICELLO, June I g, I g I 3.



  DEAR SIR,-Yours of the 2d is received, and a copy of Higgenbotham's mortgage
is now enclosed. The journey to Bedford which I proposed in my last, my
engagements here have obliged me to postpone till after harvest, which is now
approaching; it is the most unpromising one I have seen. We have been some days
in expectation of seeing M. Correa. If he is on the road, he has had some days
of our very hottest weather. My thermometer has been for two days at 92 and 92
1/2 degrees, the last being the maximum ever seen here: Although we usually
have the hottest day of the year in June, yet it is soon interrupted by cooler
weather. In July the heat, though not so great, is more continuous and steady.



  On the duration of the war I think there is uncertainty. Ever since the
rupture of the treaty of Amiens, the object of Great Britain has visibly been
the permanent conquest of the ocean, and levying a tribute on every vessel she
permits to sail on it, as the Barbary powers do on the Mediterranean, which
they call their sea. She must be conscious she cannot from her own resources
maintain the exaggerated fleet she now has, and which is necessary to maintain
her conquest; she must, therefore, levy the deficiency of duties of transit on
other nations. If she should get another ministry with sense enough to abandon
this senseless scheme, the War With us ought to be short, because there



   vol.. xiii-17 






258        Jefferson's Works



is no material cause now existing but impressment ; and there our only
difference is how to establish a mode of discrimination between our citizens
which she does not claim, and hers which it is neither our wish nor interest
ever to employ. The seamen which our navigation raises had better be of our
own. If this be all she aims at, it may be settled at Saint Petersburg. My
principle has ever been that war should not suspend either exports or imports.
If the piracies of France and England, however, are to be adopted as the law of
nations, or should become their practice, it will oblige us to manufacture at
home all the material comforts.



This may furnish a reason to check imports until necessary manufactures are
established among us. This offers the advantage, too, of placing the consumer
of our produce near the producer, but I should disapprove of the prohibition of
exports even to the enemy themselves, except indeed refreshments and water to
their cruisers on our coast, in order to oblige them to intermit their cruises
to go elsewhere for these supplies. The idea of starving them as to bread, is a
very idle one. It is dictated by passion, not by reason. If the war is
lengthened we shall take Canada, which will relieve us from Indians, and
Halifax, which will put an end to their occupation of the American seas,
because every vessel must then go to England to repair every accident. To
retain these would become objects of first importance to us, and of great im






             Correspondence         259



portance to Europe, as the means of curtailing the British marine. But at
present, being merely in posse, they should not be an impediment to peace. We
have a great and a just claim of indemnifications against them for the thousand
ships they have taken piratically, and six thousand seamen impressed. Whether
we can, on this score, successfully insist on curtailing their American
possessions, by the meridian of Lake Huron, so as to cut them off from the
Indians bordering on us, would be matter for conversation and experiment at the
treaty of pacification. I sometimes allow my mind to wander thus into the
political field, but rarely, and with reluctance. It is my desire as well as my
duty to leave to the vigor of younger minds to settle concerns which are no
longer mine, but must long be theirs. Affectionately adieu.







    TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



        (JAMES MADISON).



                 MONTICELLO, June 15, 1813.



  Your kind answer of the 16th entirely satisfies my doubts as to the
employment of the navy, if kept within striking distance of our coast; and :
shows how erroneous views are apt to be with those who have not all in view.
Yet as I know from experience that profitable suggestions sometimes come from
lookers on, they may be usefully tolerated, provided they do not pretend to the
right of' 






260        Jefferson's Works



an answer. They would cost very dear indeed were they to occupy the time of a
high officer in writing when he should be acting. I intended no such trouble to
you, my dear SIR, and were you to suppose I expected it, I must cease to offer
a thought on our public affairs. Although my entire confidence in their
direction prevents my reflecting on them but accidentally, yet sometimes facts,
and sometimes ideas occur, which I hazard as worth the trouble of reading but
not of answering. Of this kind was my suggestion of the f acts which I
recollected as to the defence of the Chesapeake, and of what had been
contemplated at the time between the Secretaries of War and the Navy and
myself. If our views were sound, the object might be effected in one year, even
of war, and at an expense which is nothing compared to the population and
productions it would cover. We are here laboring under the most extreme drought
ever remembered at this season. We have had but one rain to lay the dust in two
months. That was a good one, but was three weeks ago: Corn is but a few inches
high and dying. Oats will not. yield their seed. Of wheat, the hard winter and
fly leave us about two-thirds of an ordinary crop. So that in the lotteries of
human life you see that even farming is but gambling. We have had three days of
excessive heat. The thermometer on the 16th was at 92 degrees, on the 17th 92
1/2 degrees, and yesterday at 93 degrees. It had never before exceeded 92 1/2
at this place; at 






             Correspondence          261



least within the periods of my observations. Ever and affectionately yours.







         TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE.



                MONTICELLO, June 18,1813.



  DEAR SIR -Your favors of the 7th and 16th. are received, and I now return you
the memoir enclosed in the former I am much gratified by its communication,
because, as the plan appeared in the newspapers soon after the new Secretary of
War came into office, we had given him the credit of it. Every line of it is
replete with wisdom; and we might lament that our tardy enlistments prevented
its execution, were we not to reflect that these proceeded from the happiness
of our people at home. It is more a subject of joy that we have so few of the
desperate characters which compose modern regular armies. But it proves more
forcibly the necessity of obliging every citizen to be a soldier; this was the
case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free State. Where
there is no oppression there will be no pauper hirelings. We must train and
classify the whole of our male citizens, and make military instruction. a
regular part of collegiate education. We can never be safe till this is done.



  I have been persuaded, ab initio, that what we are to do in Canada must be
done quickly; because our enemy, with a little time, can empty pickpockets 






 262        Jefferson's Works



 upon us faster than we can enlist honest men



to oppose them. If we fail in this acquisition,



Hull is the cause of it. Pike, in his situation,



would have swept their posts to Montreal, because



his army would have grown as it went along. I



fear the reinforcements arrived at Quebec will be



at Montreal before General Dearborn, and if so,



the game is up. If the marching of the militia



into an enemy's country be once ceded as uncon-



stitutional (which I hope it never will be), then



will their force, as now strengthened, bid us per-



manent defiance. Could we acquire that country,



we might perhaps insist successfully at St. Peters-



burg on retaining all westward of the meridian of



Lake Huron, or of Ontario, or of Montreal, accord-



ing to the pulse of the place, as an indemnification



for the past and security for the future. To cut



them off from the Indians even west of the Huron



would be a great future security.



  Your kind answer of the 16th., entirely satisfies



my doubts as to the employment of a navy, if kept



within striking distance of our coast, and shows



how erroneous views are apt to be with those who have not all in view. Yet, as
I know by experi-



ence that profitable suggestions sometimes come



from lookers on, they may be usefully tolerated,



provided they do not pretend to the right of an



answer. They would cost very dear, indeed, were



they to occupy the time of a high officer in writing



when he should be acting. 






            Correspondence          263







       TO MATTHEW CARR.



              MONTICELLO, June 19, 1813.



 SIR,-I thank you for the copy of Mr. Clarke's



sketches of the naval history of the United States, which you have been so kind
as to send me. It is a convenient repository of cases of that class, and has
brought to my recollection a number of individual cases of the Revolutionary
war which had escaped me. I received, also, one of Mr. Clarke's circulars,
asking supplementary communications for a second edition. But these things are
so much out of the reach of my inland situation, that I am the least able of
all men to contribute anything to his desire. I will indulge myself, therefore,
in two or three observations, of which you will make what use you may think
they merit. 1. Bushnel's Turtle is mentioned slightly. Would the description of
the machine be too much for the sale of the work? It may be found very minutely
given in the American Philosophical transactions. It was excellently contrived,
and might perhaps, by improvement be brought into real use. I do not know the
difference between this and Mr. Fulton's submarine boat. But an effectual
machine of that kind is not beyond the laws of nature ; and whatever is within
these, is not to be despaired of. It would be to the United States the
consummation of their safety. a. The account of the loss of the Philadelphia,
does not give a f air impression of the 






             Jefferson's Works



transaction. The proofs may be seen among the records of the Navy Office. After
this loss, Captain Bainbridge had a character to redeem. He has done it most
honorably, and no one is more gratified by it than myself. But still the
transaction ought to be correctly stated. 3. But why omit all mention of the
scandalous campaigns of Commodore Morris? A two years' command of an effective
squadron, with discretionary instructions, wasted in sailing from port to port
of the Mediterranean, and a single half day before the port of the enemy
against which he was sent. All this can be seen in the proceedings of the court
on which he was dismissed; and it is due to the honorable truths with which the
book abounds, to publish those which are not so. A fair and honest narrative of
the bad, is a voucher for the truth of the good. In this way the old Congress
set an example to the world, for which the world amply repaid them, by giving
unlimited credit to whatever was stamped with the name of Charles Thompson. It
is known that this was never put to an untruth but once, and that where
Congress was misled by the credulity of their General (Sullivan). The first
misfortune of the Revolutionary war, induced a motion to suppress or garble the
account of it. It was rejected with indignation. The whole truth was given in
all its details, and there never was another attempt in that body to disguise
it. These observations are meant for the good of the work, and for 






             Correspondence          265



the honor of those whom it means to honor. Accept the assurance of my esteem
and respect.







    TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES



             (JAMES MADISON).



                MONTICELLO, June 21, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 6th has been received, and I will beg leave to
add a few supplementary observations on the subject of my former letter. I am
not a judge of the best forms which may be given to the gunboat; and indeed I
suppose they should be of various forms, suited to the various circumstances to
which they would be applied. Among these, no doubt, Commodore Barney's would
find their place. While the largest and more expensive are fitted for moving
from one seaport to another, coast-wise, to aid in a particular emergency,
those of smaller draught and expense suit shallower waters ; and of these
shallow and cheap forms must be those for Lynhaven river. Commodore Preble, in
his lifetime, undertook to build such in the best manner for two or three
thousand dollars. Colonel Monroe, to whose knowledge of the face of the country
I had referred, approves, in a letter to me, of such a plan of defence as was
suggested, adding to it a fort on the middle grounds ; but thinks the work too
great to be executed during a war. Such a fort, certainly, could not be built
during a war, in the face of an enemy 






266            Jefferson's Works



Its practicability at anytime has been doubted, and although a good .auxiliary,
is not a necessary member of this scheme of defence. But the canal of retreat
is really a small work, of a few months' execution; the laborers would be
protected by the military guard on the spot, and many of these would assist in
the execution, for fatigue, rations, and pay. The exact magnitude of the work I
would not affirm; nor do I think we should trust for it to Tatham's survey;
still less would I call in Latrobe, who would immediately contemplate a canal
of Languedoc. I would sooner trust such a man as Thomas Monroe to take the
level, measure the distances, and estimate the expense. And if the plan were
all matured the ensuing winter, and laborers engaged at the proper season, it
might be executed in time to mitigate the blockade of the next summer. On
recurring to an actual survey of that part of the country, made in the
beginning of the Revolutionary war, under the orders of the Governor and
Council, by Mr. Andrews I think, a copy of which I took with great care,
instead of the half a dozen miles I had conjectured in my former letter, the
canal would seem to be of not half that length. I send you a copy of that part
of the map, which may be useful to you on other occasions, and is more to be
depended on for minutia, probably, than any other existing. I have marked on.
that the conjectured route of the canal, to wit, from the bridge on Lynhaven
river to 






                                                  ,







        Correspondence          267



King's landing, on the eastern branch. The exact draught of water into Lynhaven
river you have in the Navy Office. I think it is over four feet.



  When we consider the population and productions of the Chesapeake country;
extending from the Genissee to the Saura towns and Albemarle Sound, its safety
and commerce seem entitled even to greater efforts, if greater could. secure
them. That a defence at the entrance of the bay can be made mainly effective,
that it will cost less in money, harass the militia less, place the inhabitants
on its interior waters freer from alarm and depredation, and render provisions
and water more difficult to the enemy, is so possible as to render thorough
inquiry certainly expedient. Some of the larger gunboats; or vessels better
uniting swiftness with force; would also be necessary to scour the interior,
and cut off any pickaroons which might venture' up the bay or rivers. The loss
on James 'river alone, 'this year;...is..estimated at two hundred thousand
barrels of ' flour, now ' on hand, for which the half price is not' to be
expected. This then is a million of dollars levied on a single water of the
Chesapeake, and to be. levied every year during the war. If a concentration of
its defence at the entrance of the Chesapeake should be found inadequate, then
we must of necessity submit to the expenses of detailed defence, to the
harassment of the militia, the burnings of towns and houses, depredations of
farms, and the hard trial 






268        Jefferson's Works



of the spirit of the Middle States, the most zealous supporters of the war,
and, therefore, the peculiar objects of the vindictive efforts of the enemy.
Those north of the Hudson need nothing, because treated by the enemy as
neutrals. All their war is concentrated on the Delaware and Chesapeake ; and
these, therefore, stand in principal need of the shield of the Union. The
Delaware can be defended more easily. But I should not think one hundred
gunboats (costing less than one frigate) an over-proportioned allotment to the
Chesapeake country against the over-proportioned hostilities pointed at it.



I am too sensible of the partial and defective state of my information, to be
over-confident, or pertinacious, in the opinion I have formed. A thorough
examination of the ground will settle it. We may suggest, perhaps it is a duty
to do it. But you alone are qualified for decision, by the whole view which you
can command; and so confident am I in the intentions, as well as wisdom, of the
government, that I shall always be satisfied that what is not done, either
cannot, or ought not to be done. While I trust that no difficulties will
dishearten us, I am anxious to lessen the trial as much as possible. Heaven
preserve you under yours, and help you through all its perplexities and
perversities. 






            Correspondence€







       TO JOHN W. EPPES.



               MONTICELLO, June 24, 1813.



  DEAR SIR,-This letter will be on politics only. For although I do not often
permit myself to think on that subject, it sometimes obtrudes itself, and
suggests ideas which I am tempted to pursue. Some of these relating to the
business of finance, I will hazard to you, as being at the head of that
committee, but intended for yourself individually, or such as you trust, but
certainly not for a mixed committee.



  It is a wise rule, and should be fundamental in a government disposed to
cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the
limits of its faculties, " never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the
same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given
term; and to consider that tax as pledged to the creditors on the public
faith." On such a pledge as this, sacredly observed, a government may always
command, on a reasonable interest, all the lendable money of their citizens,
while the necessity of an equivalent tax is a salutary warning to them and
their constituents against oppressions, bankruptcy, and its inevitable
consequence, revolution. But the term of redemption must be moderate, and at
any rate within the limits of their rightful powers. But what limits, it will
be asked, does this prescribe to their powers? What is to 






         o         Jefferson's Works



       hinder them from creating a perpetual debt? The



  laws of nature, I answer. The earth belongs to the



  living, not to the dead. The will and the power



  of man expire with his life, by nature's law. Some



  societies give it an artificial continuance, for the



  encouragement of industry; some refuse it, as our



  aboriginal neighbors, whom we call barbarians.



       The generations of men may be considered as



  bodies or corporations. Each generation has the



  usufruct of the earth during the period of its con-



  tinuance. When it ceases to exist, the usufruct



  passes on to the succeeding generation, free and



  unincumbered, and so on, successively, from one



  generation to another forever. We may consider



  each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, , by the will of its
majority, to bind themselves,



  but none to bind the succeeding generation, more



  than the inhabitants of another country. Or the



  case may be likened to the ordinary one of a tenant



  for life, who may hypothecate the land for his debts,



  during the continuance of his usufruct; but at his



  death, the reversioner (who is also for life only)



  receives it exonerated from all burthen. The period



  of a generation, or the term of its life, is determined



  by the laws of mortality, which, varying a little



  only in different climates, offer a general average,



  to be found by observation. I turn, for instance,



  to Buffon's tables, of twenty-three thousand nine



  hundred and ninety-four deaths, and the ages at



  which they happened, and I find that of the num-






             Correspondence          271



bers of all ages living at one moment, half will be dead in twenty-four years
and eight months. But (leaving out minors, who have not the power of
self-government) of the adults (of twenty-one years of age) living at one
moment, a majority of whom act for the society, one-half will be dead in
eighteen years and eight months. At nineteen years' then from the date of a
contract, the majority of the contractors are dead, and their contract with
them. Let this general theory be applied to a particular case. Suppose the
annual births of the State of New York to be twenty-three thousand nine hundred
and ninety-four, the whole number of its inhabitants, according to Buffon, will
be six hundred and seventeen thousand seven hundred and three, of all ages. Of
these there would constantly be two hundred and sixty-nine thousand two hundred
and eighty-six minors, and three hundred and forty-eight thousand four hundred
and seventeen adults, of which last, one hundred and seventy-four thousand two
hundred and nine will be a majority. Suppose that majority, on the first day of
the year 1794, had borrowed a sum of money equal to the fee-simple value of the
State, and to have consumed it in eating, drinking and making merry in their
day ; or, if you please, in quarrelling and fighting with their unoffending
neighbors. Within eighteen years and eight months, one-half of the adult
citizens were dead. Till then, being the majority, they might rightfully levy
the interest of their 






272         Jefferson's Works



debt annually on themselves and their fellow revellers, or fellow champions.
But at that period, say at this moment, a new majority have come into place, in
their own right, and not under the rights, the conditions, or laws of their
predecessors. Are they bound to acknowledge the debt, to consider the preceding
generation as having had a right to eat up the whole soil of their country, in
the course of a life, to alienate it from them, (for it would be an alienation
to the creditors,) and would they think themselves either legally or morally
bound to give up their country and emigrate to another for subsistence ? Every
one will say no;



                                  , that the soil is the gift of God to the
living, as much as it had been to the deceased generation ; and that the laws
of nature impose no obligation on them to pay this debt. And although, like
some other natural rights, this has not yet entered into any declaration of
rights, it is no less a law, and ought to be acted on by honest governments. It
is, at the same time, a salutary curb on the spirit of war and indebtment,
which, since the modern theory of the perpetuation of debt, has drenched the
earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.
Had this principle been declared in the British bill of rights, England would
have been placed under the happy disability of waging eternal war, and of
contracting her thousand millions of public debt. In seeking, then, for an
ultimate term for the redemption of



             Correspondence         273



our debts, let us rally to this principle, and provide for their payment within
the term of nineteen years at the farthest. Our government has not, as yet,
begun to act on the rule of loans and taxation going hand in hand. Had any loan
taken place in my time, I should have strongly urged a redeeming tax. . For the
loan which has been made since the last session of Congress, we should now set
the example of appropriating some particular tax, sufficient to .pay the
interest annually, and the principal within a fixed term, less than nineteen
years. And I hope yourself and your committee will render the immortal service
of introducing this practice. Not that it is expected that Congress should
formally declare such a principle. They wisely enough avoid deciding on
abstract questions. But they may be induced to keep themselves within its
limits.



  I am sorry to see our loans begin at so exorbitant an interest. And yet, even
at that you will soon be at the bottom of the loan-bag. We are an agricultural
nation. Such an one employs its sparings in the purchase or improvement of land
or stocks. The lendable money among them is chiefly that of orphans and wards
in the hands of executors and guardians, and that which the farmer lays by till
he has enough for the purchase in view. In such a nation there is one and one
only resource for loans, sufficient to carry them through the expense of a war
; and that will always be sufficient, and in the power of an honest government,
punctual in the



   VOL.. XIII-18 






274            Jefferson's Works



preservation of its faith. The fund I mean, is the mass of circulating coin.
Every one knows, that although not literally, it is nearly true, that every
paper dollar emitted banishes a silver one from the circulation. A nation,
therefore, making its purchases and payments with bills fitted for circulation,
thrusts an equal sum of coin out of circulation. This is equivalent to
borrowing that sum, and yet the vendor receiving payment in a medium as
effectual as coin for his purchases or payments, has no claim to interest. And
so the nation may continue to issue its bills as far as its wants require, and
the limits of the circulation will admit. Those limits are understood to extend
with us at present, to two hundred millions of dollars, a greater sum than
would be necessary for any war. But this, the only resource which the
government could command with certainty, the States have unfortunately fooled
away, nay corruptly alienated to swindlers and shavers, under the cover of
private banks. Say, too, as an additional evil, that the disposal funds of
individuals, to this great amount, have thus been withdrawn from improvement
and useful enterprise, and employed in the useless, usurious and demoralizing
practices of bank directors and their accomplices. In the war of 1755, our
State availed itself of this. fund by issuing a paper money, bottomed on a
specific tax for its redemption, and, to insure its credit, bearing an interest
of five per cent. Within a very short time, not a bill of this emission was to
be found 






            Correspondence         275



in circulation. It was locked up in the chests of executors, guardians, widows,
farmers, etc. We then issued bills bottomed on a redeeming tax, but bearing no
interest. These were readily received, and never depreciated a single farthing.
In the Revolutionary war, the old Congress and the States issued bills without
interest, and without tax. They occupied the channels of circulation very
freely, till those channels were overflowed by an excess beyond all the calls
of circulation. But although we have so improvidently suffered the field of
circulating medium to be filched from us by private individuals, yet I think we
may recover it in part, and even in the whole, if the States will co-operate
with us. If treasury bills are emitted on a tax appropriated for their
redemption in fifteen years, and (to insure preference in the first moments of
competition) bearing an interest of six per cent, there is no one who would not
take them in preference to the bank paper now afloat, on a principle of
patriotism as well as interest; and they would be withdrawn from circulation
into private hoards to a considerable amount. Their credit once established,
others might be emitted, bottomed also on a tax, but not bearing interest; and
if ever their credit faltered, open public loans, on which these bills alone
should be received as specie. These, operating as a sinking fund, would reduce
the quantity in circulation, so as to maintain that in an equilibrium with
specie. It is not easy to estimate the obstacles which, in the beginning, 






276         Jefferson 's  Works



we should encounter in ousting the banks from their possession of the
circulation; but a steady and judicious alternation of emissions and loans,
would reduce them in time. But while this is going on, another measure should
be pressed, to recover ultimately our right to the circulation. The States
should be applied to, to transfer the right of issuing circulating paper to
Congress exclusively, in perpetuum, if possible, but during the war at least,
with a saving of charter rights. I believe that every State west and south of
Connecticut river, except Delaware, would imme- diately do it; and the others
would follow in time. Congress would, of course, begin by obliging unchartered
banks to wind up their affairs within a short time, and the others as their
charters expired; forbidding the subsequent circulation of their paper. This
they would supply with their own, bottomed, every emission, on an adequate tax,
and bearing or not bearing interest, as the state of the public pulse should
indicate. Even in the non-complying States, these bills would make their way,
and supplant the unfunded paper of their banks, by their solidity, by the
universality of their currency, , and by their receivability for customs and
taxes. It would be in their power, too, to curtail those banks to the amount of
their actual specie, by gathering up their paper, and running it constantly on
them. The national paper might thus take place even in the non-complying
States. In this way, I am not without a hope, that this great, this sole
resource for loans in an agri-






            Correspondence          277



cultural country, might yet be recovered for the use of the nation during war;
and, if obtained in perpetuum, it would always be sufficient to carry us
through any war; provided, that in the interval between war and war, all the
outstanding paper should be called in, coin be permitted to flow in again, and
to hold the field of circulation until another war should require its yielding
place again to the national medium.



  But it will be asked, are we to have no banks? Are merchants and others to be
deprived of the resource of short accommodations, found so convenient? I
answer, let us have banks; but let them be such as are alone to be found in any
country on earth, except Great Britain. There is not a bank of discount on the
continent of Europe, (at least there was not one when I was there,) which
offers anything but cash in exchange for discounted bills. No one has a natural
right to the trade of a money lender, but he who has the money to lend. Let
those then among us, who have a moneyed capital, and who prefer employing it in
loans rather than otherwise, set up banks, and give cash or national bills for
the notes they discount. Perhaps, to encourage them, a larger interest than is
legal in the other cases might be allowed them, on the condition of their
lending for short periods only. It is from Great Britain we copy the idea of
giving paper in exchange for discounted bills; and while we have derived from
that country some good principles of government and 






278        Jefferson's Works



legislation, we unfortunately run into the most servile imitation of all her
practices, ruinous as they prove to her, and with the gulf yawning before us
into which these very practices are precipitating her. The unlimited emission
of bank paper has banished all her specie, and is now, by a depreciation
acknowledged by her own statesmen, carrying her rapidly to bankruptcy, as it
did France, as it did us, and will do us again, and every country permitting
paper to be circulated, other than that by public authority, rigorously limited
to the just measure for circulation. Private fortunes, in the present state of
our circulation, are at the mercy of those self-created money lenders, and are
prostrated by the floods of nominal money with which their avarice deluges us.
He who lent his money to the public or to an individual, before the institution
of the United States Bank, twenty years ago, when wheat was well sold at a
dollar the bushel, and receives now his nominal sum when it sells at two
dollars, is cheated of half his fortune; and by whom? By the banks, which,
since that, have thrown into circulation ten dollars of their nominal money
where was one at that time.



  Reflect, if you please, on these ideas, and use them or not as they appear to
merit. They comfort me in the belief, that they point out a resource ample
enough, without overwhelming war taxes, for the expense of the war, and
possibly still recoverable; and that they hold up to all future time a resource
within ourselves, ever at the command of govern






            Correspondence         279



ment, and competent to any wars into which we may be forced. Nor is it a slight
object to equalize taxes through peace and war.



  *   *   *   *   *   *   * *



Ever affectionately yours.







             TO JOHN ADAMS.



                MONTICELLO, June 27, 1813.







And I too, my dear SIR, like the wood-cutter of Ida, should doubt where to
begin, were I to enter the forest of opinions, discussions, and contentions
which have occurred in our day. I should say with



Theocritus,----(Greek inserted here)------------------. But I shall not do it.
The summum bonum with me is now truly epicurian, ease of body and tranquillity
of mind ; and to these I wish to consign my remaining days. Men have differed
in opinion, and been divided into parties by these opinions, from the first
origin of societies, and in all governments where they have been permitted
freely to think and to speak. The same political parties which now agitate the
United States, have existed through all time. Whether the power of the people
or that of the (Greek inserted here)----should prevail, were questions which
kept the States of Greece and Rome in eternal convulsions, as the