Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson Volume I Part 58

Dear Sir,

I am honored with yours of January the 19th. Mine of January the 12th, had not, I suppose, at that time got to your hands, as the receipt of it is unacknowledged. I shall be anxious till I receive your answer to it.

I was perfectly satisfied before I received your letter, that your opinion had been misunderstood or misrepresented in the case of the Chevalier de Mezieres. Your letter, however, will enable me to say so with authority. It is proper it should be known, that you had not given the opinion imputed to you, though, as to the main question, it is become useless; Monsieur de Reyneval having a.s.sured me, that what I had written on that subject had perfectly satisfied the Count de Vergennes and himself, that this case could never come under the treaty. To evince, still further, the impropriety of taking up subjects gravely, on such imperfect information as this court had, I have this moment received a copy of an act of the Georgia a.s.sembly, placing the subjects of France, as to real estates, on the footing of natural citizens, and expressly recognising the treaty. Would you think any thing could be added, after this, to put this question still further out of doors? A gentleman of Georgia a.s.sured me, General Oglethorpe did not own a foot of land in the State. I do not know whether there has been any American determination on the question, whether American citizens and British subjects, born before the Revolution, can be aliens to one another.

I know there is an opinion of Lord c.o.ke's, in Colvin's case, that if England and Scotland should, in a course of descent, pa.s.s to separate Kings, those born under the same sovereign during the union, would remain natural subjects and not aliens. Common sense urges some considerations against this. Natural subjects owe allegiance; but we owe none. Aliens are the subjects of a foreign power; we are subjects of a foreign power. The King, by the treaty, acknowledges our independence; how then can we remain natural subjects? The King's power is, by the const.i.tution, competent to the making peace, war, and treaties. He had, therefore, authority to relinquish our allegiance by treaty. But if an act of parliament had been necessary, the parliament pa.s.sed an act to confirm the treaty. So that it appears to me, that in this question, fictions of law alone are opposed to sound sense.

I am in hopes Congress will send a minister to Lisbon. I know no country, with which we are likely to cultivate a more useful commerce. I have pressed this in my private letters.

It is difficult to learn any thing certain here, about the French and English treaty. Yet, in general, little is expected to be done between them. I am glad to hear that the Delegates of Virginia had made the vote relative to English commerce, though they afterwards repealed it. I hope they will come to again. When my last letters came away, they were engaged in pa.s.sing the revisal of their laws, with some small alterations. The bearer of this, Mr. Lyons, is a sensible, worthy young physician, son of one of our judges, and on his return to Virginia.

Remember me with affection to Mrs. and Miss Adams, Colonels Smith and Humphreys, and be a.s.sured of the esteem with which I am, Dear Sir,

your friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLVII.--TO JAMES MADISON, February 8, 1786

TO JAMES MADISON.

Paris, February 8, 1786.

Dear Sir,

My last letters were of the 1st and 20th of September, and the 28th of October. Yours, unacknowledged, are of August the 20th, October the 3rd, and November the 15th. I take this, the first safe opportunity, of enclosing to you the bills of lading for your books, and two others for your namesake of Williamsburg, and for the attorney, which I will pray you to forward. I thank you for the communication of the remonstrance against the a.s.sessment. Mazzei, who is now in Holland, promised me to have it published in the Leyden gazette. It will do us great honor. I wish it may be as much approved by our a.s.sembly, as by the wisest part of Europe. I have heard, with great pleasure, that our a.s.sembly have come to the resolution, of giving the regulation of their commerce to the federal head. I will venture to a.s.sert, that there is not one of its opposers, who, placed on this ground, would not see the wisdom of this measure. The politics of Europe render it indispensably necessary, that, with respect to every thing external, we be one nation only, firmly hooped together. Interior government is what each State should keep to itself. If it were seen in Europe, that all our States could be brought to concur in what the Virginia a.s.sembly has done, it would produce a total revolution in their opinion of us, and respect for us. And it should ever be held in mind, that insult and war are the consequences of a want of respectability in the national character. As long as the States exercise, separately, those acts of power which respect foreign nations, so long will there continue to be irregularities committed by some one or other of them, which will constantly keep us on an ill footing with foreign nations.

I thank you for your information as to my Notes. The copies I have remaining shall be sent over, to be given to some of my friends and to select subjects in the College. I have been unfortunate here with this trifle. I gave out a few copies only, and to confidential persons, writing in every copy a restraint against its publication. Among others, I gave a copy to a Mr. Williams: he died. I immediately took every precaution I could to recover this copy. But, by some means or other, a bookseller had got hold of it. He employed a hireling translator, and is about publis.h.i.+ng it in the most injurious form possible. I am now at a loss what to do as to England. Every thing, good or bad, is thought worth publis.h.i.+ng there; and I apprehend a translation back from the French, and a publication there. I rather believe it will be most eligible to let the original come out in that country: but am not yet decided.

I have purchased little for you in the book way since I sent the catalogue of my former purchases. I wish, first, to have your answer to that, and your information, what parts of these purchases went out of your plan. You can easily say, Buy more of this kind, less of that, &c.

My wish is to conform myself to yours. I can get for you the original Paris edition of the Encyclopedie, in thirty-five volumes, folio, for six hundred and twenty livres; a good edition, in thirty-nine volumes, 4to, for three hundred and eighty livres; and a good one, in thirty-nine volumes, 8vo, for two hundred and eighty livres. The new one will be superior in far the greater number of articles; but not in all. And the possession of the ancient one has, moreover, the advantage of supplying present use. I have bought one for myself, but wait your orders as to you. I remember your purchase of a watch in Philadelphia. If it should not have proved good, you can probably sell it. In that case, I can get for you here, one made as perfect as human art can make it, for about twenty-four louis. I have had such a one made, by the best and most faithful hand in Paris. It has a second hand, but no repeating, no day of the month, nor other useless thing to impede and injure the movements which are necessary. For twelve louis more, you can have in the same cover, but on the back, and absolutely unconnected with the movements of the watch, a pedometer, which shall render you an exact account of the distances you walk. Your pleasure hereon shall be awaited.

Houdon has returned. He called on me, the other day, to remonstrate against the inscription proposed for General Was.h.i.+ngton's statue. He says it is too long to be put on the pedestal. I told him, I was not at liberty to permit any alteration, but I would represent his objection to a friend, who could judge of its validity, and whether a change could be authorized. This has been the subject of conversations here, and various devices and inscriptions have been suggested. The one which has appeared best to me, may be translated as follows: 'Behold, Reader, the form of George Was.h.i.+ngton. For his worth, ask History; that will tell it, when this stone shall have yielded to the decays of time. His country erects this monument.' Houdon makes it.'This for one side. On the second, represent the evacuation of Boston, with the motto, 'Hostibus primum fugatis.' On the third, the capture of the Hessians, with 'Hostibus iterum devictis.' On the fourth, the surrender of York, with 'Hostibus ultimum debellatis.' This is seizing the three most brilliant actions of his military life. By giving out, here, a wish of receiving mottos for this statue, we might have thousands offered, from which still better might be chosen. The artist made the same objection, of length, to the inscription for the bust of the Marquis de la Fayette. An alteration of that might come in time still, if an alteration was wished. However, I am not certain that it is desirable in either case. The State of Georgia has given twenty thousand acres of land, to the Count d'Estaing. This gift is considered here as very honorable to him, and it has gratified him much. I am persuaded, that a gift of lands by the State of Virginia to the Marquis de la Fayette, would give a good opinion here of our character, and would reflect honor on the Marquis. Nor am I sure that the day will not come, when it might be an useful asylum to him. The time of life at which he visited America was too well adapted to receive good and lasting impressions, to permit him ever to accommodate himself to the principles of monarchical government; and it will need all his own prudence, and that of his friends, to make this country a safe residence for him. How glorious, how comfortable in reflection, will it be, to have prepared a refuge for him in case of a reverse. In the mean time, he could settle it with tenants from the freest part of this country, Bretaigne. I have never suggested the smallest idea of this kind to him: because the execution of it should convey the first notice.

If the State has not a right to give him lands with their own officers, they could buy up, at cheap prices, the shares of others. I am not certain, however, whether, in the public or private opinion, a similar gift to Count Rochambeau could be dispensed with. If the State could give to both, it would be better: but, in any event, I think they should to the Marquis. Count Rochambeau, too, has really deserved more attention than he has received. Why not set up his bust, that of Gates, Greene, Franklin, in your new capitol? _A propos_ of the capital. Do, my dear friend, exert yourself to get the plan begun on set aside, and that adopted, which was drawn here. It was taken from a model which has been the admiration of sixteen centuries; which has been the object of as many pilgrimages as the tomb of Mahomet; which will give unrivalled honor to our State, and furnish a model whereon to form the taste of our young men. It will cost much less too, than the one begun; because it does not cover one half of the area. Ask, if you please, a sight of my letter of January the 26th, to Messrs. Buchanan and Hay, which will spare me the repeating its substance here.

Every thing is quiet in Europe. I recollect but one new invention in the arts which is worth mentioning. It is a mixture of the arts of engraving and printing, rendering both cheaper. Write or draw any thing on a plate of bra.s.s, with the ink of the inventor, and, in half an hour, he gives you engraved copies of it, so perfectly like the original, that they could not be suspected to be copies. His types for printing a whole page, are all in one solid piece. An author, therefore, only prints a few copies of his work, from time to time, as they are called for. This saves the loss of printing more copies than may possibly be sold, and prevents an edition from being ever exhausted.

I am, with a lively esteem, Dear Sir,

your sincere friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLVIII.--TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, February 9, 1786

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

Paris, February 9, 1786.

Dear Sir,

The Mr. John Ledyard, who proposes to undertake the journey through the northern parts of Asia and America, is a citizen of Connecticut, one of the United States of America. He accompanied Captain Cook in his last voyage to the northwestern parts of America, and rendered himself useful to that officer, on some occasions, by a spirit of enterprise which has distinguished his whole life. He has genius, and education better than the common, and a talent for useful and interesting observation. I believe him to be an honest man, and a man of truth. To all this, he adds just as much singularity of character, and of that particular kind too, as was necessary to make him undertake the journey he proposes.

Should he get safe through it, I think he will give an interesting account of what he shall have seen.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of sincere esteem and respect, Dear Sir,

your most obedient

and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLIX.--TO MONSIEUR HILLIARD d'AUBERTEUIL, Feb. 20, 1786

TO MONSIEUR HILLIARD d'AUBERTEUIL.

Paris, February 20, 1786.

Sir,

I have been honored with your letter, and the books which accompanied it, for which I return you my hearty thanks. America cannot but be flattered with the choice of the subject, on which you are at present employing your pen. The memory of the American Revolution will be immortal, and will immortalize those who record it. The reward is encouraging, and will justify all those pains, which a rigorous investigation of facts will render necessary. Many important facts, which preceded the commencement of hostilities, took place in England.

These may mostly be obtained from good publications in that country.

Some took place in this country. They will be probably hidden from the present age. But America is the field where the greatest ma.s.s of important events were transacted, and where, alone, they can now be collected. I therefore much applaud your idea of going to that country, for the verification of the facts you mean to record. Every man there can tell you more than any man here, who has not been there: and the very ground itself will give you new insight into some of the most interesting transactions. If I can be of service to you, in promoting your object there, I offer myself freely to your use. I shall be flattered by the honor of your visit here, at any time. I am seldom from home before noon; but if any later hour should suit you better, I will take care to be at home, at any hour and day, you will be pleased to indicate.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir,

your most obedient, humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CLX.--TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES, February 28,1786

TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, February 28,1786.