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Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2 (of 9)

TO MR. WYTHE

Paris, Sept. 16, 1787.

Dear Sir,—I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of Dec. the 13th and 22d, 1786, and of Jan., 1787. These should not have been so long unanswered, but that they arrived during my absence on a journey of between three and four months through the southern parts of France, and northern of Italy. In the latter country, my time allowed me to go no farther than Turin, Milan, and Genoa: consequently, I scarcely got into classical ground. I took with me some of the writings, in which endeavors have been made to investigate the passage of Annibal over the Alps, and was just able to satisfy myself, from a view of the country, that the descriptions given of his march are not sufficiently particular to enable us, at this day, even to guess at his track across the Alps. In architecture, painting, sculpture, I found much amusement; but more than all, in their agriculture, many objects of which might be adopted with us to great advantage. I am persuaded, there are many parts of our lower country where the olive tree might be raised, which is assuredly the richest gift of heaven. I can scarcely except bread. I see this tree supporting thousands among the Alps, where there is not soil enough to make bread for a single family. The caper too, might be cultivated with us. The fig we do raise. I do not speak of the vine, because it is the parent of misery. Those who cultivate it are always poor, and he who would employ himself with us in the culture of corn, cotton, &c., can procure, in exchange for them, much more wine, and better, than he could raise by its direct culture.

I sent you formerly copies of the documents on the Tagliaferro family, which I had received from Mr. Febroni. I now send the originals. I have procured for you a copy of Polybius, the best edition; but the best edition of Vitruvius, which is with the commentaries of Ticinus, is not to be got here. I have sent to Holland for it. In the meantime, the Polybius comes in a box containing books for Peter Carr, and for some of my friends in Williamsburg and its vicinities. I have taken the liberty of addressing the box to you. It goes to New York in the packet boat which carries this letter, and will be forwarded to you by water, by Mr. Madison. Its freight to New York is paid here. The transportation from thence to Williamsburg will be demanded of you, and shall stand as the equivalent to the cost of Polybius and Vitruvius, if you please. The difference either way will not be worth the trouble of raising and transmitting accounts. I send you herewith, a state of the contents of the box, and for whom each article is. Among these are some, as you will perceive, of which I ask your acceptance. It is a great comfort to me, that while here, I am able to furnish some amusement to my friends, by sending them such productions of genius, ancient and modern, as might otherwise escape them; and I hope they will permit me to avail myself of the occasion while it lasts.

This world is going all to war. I hope ours will remain clear of it. It is already declared between the Turks and Russians, and considering the present situation of Holland, it cannot fail to spread itself all over Europe. Perhaps it may not be till next spring, that the other powers will be engaged in it: nor is it as yet clear how they will arrange themselves. I think it not impossible that France and the two empires may join against all the rest. The Patriotic party in Holland will be saved by this, and the Turks sacrificed. The only thing which can prevent the union of France and the two empires, is the difficulty of agreeing about the partition of the spoils. Constantinople is the key of Asia. Who shall have it? is the question. I cannot help looking forward to the re-establishment of the Greeks as a people, and the language of Homer becoming again a living language, as among possible events. You have now with you Mr. Paradise, who can tell you how easily the modern may be improved into the ancient Greek.

You ask me in your letter, what ameliorations I think necessary in our federal constitution. It is now too late to answer the question, and it would always have been presumption in me to have done it. Your own ideas, and those of the great characters who were to be concerned with you in these discussions, will give the law, as they ought to do, to us all. My own general idea was, that the States should severally preserve their sovereignty in whatever concerns themselves alone, and that whatever may concern another State, or any foreign nation, should be made a part of the federal sovereignty; that the exercise of the federal sovereignty should be divided among three several bodies, legislative, executive, and judiciary, as the State sovereignities are; and that some peaceable means should be contrived, for the federal head to force compliance on the part of the States. I have reflected on your idea of wooden, or ivory diagrams, for the geometrical demonstrations. I should think wood as good as ivory; and that in this case, it might add to the improvement of the young gentlemen, that they should make the figures themselves. Being furnished by a workman with a piece of veneer, no other tool than a penknife and a wooden rule, would be necessary. Perhaps pasteboards, or common cards, might be still more convenient. The difficulty is, how to reconcile figures which must have a very sensible breadth to our ideas of a mathematical line, which, as it has neither breadth nor thickness, will revolt more at these than at simple lines drawn on paper or slate. If, after reflecting on this proposition, you would prefer having them made here, lay your commands on me, and they shall be executed.

I return you a thousand thanks for your goodness to my nephew. After my debt to you for whatever I am myself, it is increasing it too much to interest yourself for his future fortune. But I know, that to you, a consciousness of doing good is a luxury ineffable. You have enjoyed it already, beyond all human measure, and that you may long live to enjoy it, and to bless your country and friends, is the sincere prayer of him who is, with every possible sentiment of esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. RITTENHOUSE

Paris, September 18, 1787.

Dear Sir,—I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favors of April the 14th, and June the 26th, as also of the second volume of the transactions you were so kind as to send me. It would have been a grateful present indeed, could you have accompanied them with a copy of your observations on our western country. Besides the interest I feel in that country in common with others, I have a particular one, as having ventured so many crudities on that subject. A copy of these, with some late corrections, I have put into a box of books sent to Mr. Madison, and another for Mr. Hopkinson. I hope he will forward them to you from New York. I have also put into the same box for you a dissertation, by De la Sauvagere, on the spontaneous growth of shells. When I was at Tours this summer, I inquired into the character of De la Sauvagere, from a gentleman who had known him well. He told me he was a person of talents, but of a heated imagination; however, that he might be depended on for any facts advanced on his own knowledge. This gentleman added, that he had seen such proofs of this growth of shells in many parts of the country round Tours, as to convince him of the truth of the fact; and that he has never seen any person, even the most incredulous, quit those Falunieres but under the same conviction. After all, I cannot say I give faith to it. It is so unlike the processes of nature, to produce the same effect in two different ways, that I can only bring myself to agree it is not impossible. I have added for you the Connoissance des Temps for '88 and '89, and a copy of Fourcroi's Chemistry, which is the best and most complete publication in that line, which we have had for some time past. I shall be happy to receive an account of your improvement in time-pieces, as well as the third volume of the transactions, when published. There are abundance of good things in the second volume. But I must say there are several which have not merit enough to be placed in such company. I think we should be a little rigid in our admission of papers. It is the peculiar privilege derived from our not being obliged to publish a volume in any fixed period of time. A person here pretends to have discovered the method of rendering sea-water potable, and has some respectable certificates of its success. He has contrived a varnish, also, for lining biscuit barrels, which preserves the biscuit good, and keeps it free from insects. He asks money for his secrets, so we are not to know them soon.

The affairs of Holland had got so far entangled as to leave little hope that war could be avoided. In this situation, the Turks have declared war against the Russians. This, I think, renders a general war inevitable. Perhaps the European powers may take this winter to determine which side each shall take. There is a possibility that an alliance between France and the two empires may induce England and Prussia to tread back their steps. In that case, the Patriotic party in Holland will be peaceably placed at the head of their government. The Turks will be driven out of Europe, their continental possessions divided between Russia and the Emperor, and perhaps their islands and Egypt allotted to France. These events seem possible at present. * * * * * * *

TO THE HONORABLE THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY

Paris, September 18, 1787.

Gentlemen,—Congress having thought proper, by their vote of July the 18th, to entrust me to take measures for the redemption of our captives at Algiers, and to desire you to furnish the money necessary, it is proper to state to you some data whereby you may judge what sum is necessary. The French prisoners, last redeemed by the order of Mathurins, cost somewhat less than four hundred dollars: but the General of the order told me, that they had always been made to pay more for foreign prisoners than their own. The smallest sum then, at which we can expect ours, including redemption, clothing, feeding, and transportation, will be five hundred dollars each. There are twenty of them. Of course, ten thousand dollars is the smallest sum which can be requisite. I think a larger sum should be set apart, as so much of it as shall not be wanting for the prisoners, will remain for other uses. As soon as you shall have notified me that the money is ready, I will proceed to execute the order of Congress. I must add the injunctions of the General of the Mathurins, that it be not made known that the public interest themselves in the redemption of these prisoners, as that would induce the Algerians to demand the most extravagant price. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most profound respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. JAY

Paris, September 19, 1787.

Sir,—My last letters to you were of the 6th and 15th of August; since which, I have been honored with yours of July the 24th, acknowledging the receipt of mine of the 14th and 23d of February. I am anxious to hear you have received that also of May the 4th, written from Marseilles. According to the desires of Congress, expressed in their vote confirming the appointments of Francisco, Giuseppa and Girolamo Chiappi, their agents in Morocco, I have written letters to these gentlemen, to begin a correspondence with them. To the first, I have inclosed the ratification of the treaty with the Emperor of Morocco, and shall send it either by our agent at Marseilles, who is now here, or by the Count Daranda, who sets out for Madrid in a few days, having relinquished his embassy here. I shall proceed on the redemption of our captives at Algiers, as soon as the commissioners of the treasury shall enable me, by placing the money necessary, under my orders. The prisoners redeemed by the religious order of Mathurins, cost about four hundred dollars each, and the General of the order told me, that they had never been able to redeem foreigners on so good terms as their own countrymen. Supposing that their redemption, clothing, feeding and transportation, should amount to five hundred dollars each, there must be, at least, a sum of ten thousand dollars set apart for this purpose. Till this is done, I shall take no other step than the preparatory one, of destroying at Algiers all idea of our intending to redeem the prisoners. This, the General of the Mathurins told me, was indispensably necessary, and that it must not, on any account, transpire, that the public would interest themselves for their redemption. This was rendered the more necessary, by the declaration of the Dey to the Spanish consul, that he should hold him responsible, at the Spanish price, for our prisoners, even for such as should die. Three of them have died of the plague. By authorizing me to redeem at the prices usually paid by the European nations, Congress, I suppose, could not mean the Spanish price, which is not only unusual, but unprecedented, and would make our vessels the first object with those pirates. I shall pay no attention, therefore, to the Spanish price, unless further instructed. Hard as it may seem, I should think it necessary not to let it be known even to the relations of the captives, that we mean to redeem them.

I have the honor to enclose you a paper from the admiralty of Guadaloupe, sent to me as a matter of form, and to be lodged, I suppose, with our marine records. I enclose, also, a copy of a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to Mr. Carmichael, by which you will perceive, they have referred the settlement of the claim of South Carolina for the use of their frigate, to Mr. Gardoqui, and to the Delegates of South Carolina in Congress.

I had the honor to inform you, in my last letter, of the parliament's being transferred to Troyes. To put an end to the tumults in Paris, some regiments were brought nearer, the patroles were strengthened and multiplied, some mutineers punished by imprisonment: it produced the desired effect. It is confidently believed, however, that the parliament will be immediately recalled, the stamp tax and land tax repealed, and other means devised of accommodating their receipts and expenditures. Those supposed to be in contemplation, are a rigorous levy of the old tax of the deux vingtièmes, on the rich, who had, in a great measure, withdrawn their property from it, as well as on the poor, on whom it had principally fallen. This will greatly increase the receipts; while they are proceeding on the other hand, to reform their expenses far beyond what they had promised. It is said these reformations will amount to eighty millions. Circumstances render these measures more and more pressing. I mentioned to you in my last letter, that the officer charged by the ministry to watch the motion of the British squadron, had returned with information that it had sailed westwardly. The fact was not true. He had formed his conclusion too hastily, and thus led the ministry into error. The King of Prussia, urged on by England, has pressed more and more the affairs of Holland, and lately has given to the States General of Holland, four days only to comply with his demand. This measure would, of itself, have rendered it impossible for France to proceed longer in the line of accommodation with Prussia. In the same moment, an event takes place, which seems to render all attempt at accommodation idle. The Turks have declared war against the Russians, and that under circumstances which exclude all prospect of preventing its taking place. The King of Prussia having deserted his ancient friends, there remains only France and Turkey, perhaps Spain also, to oppose the two empires, Russia and England. By such a piece of Quixotism, France might plunge herself into ruin with the Turks and Dutch, but would save neither. But there is certainly a confederacy secretly in contemplation, of which the public have not yet the smallest suspicion; that is, between France and the two empires. I think it sure that Russia has desired this, and that the Emperor, after some hesitation, has acceded. It rests on this country to close. Her indignation against the King of Prussia will be some spur. She will thereby save her party in Holland, and only abandon the Turks to that fate she cannot ward off, and which their precipitation has brought on themselves, by the instigations of the English ambassador at the Porte, and against the remonstrances of the French ambassador. Perhaps this formidable combination, should it take place, may prevent the war of the western powers, as it would seem that neither England nor Prussia would carry their false calculations so far, as, with the aid of the Turks only, to oppose themselves to such a force. In that case, the Patriots of Holland would be peaceably established in the powers of their government, and the war go on against the Turks only, who would probably be driven from Europe. This new arrangement would be a total change of the European system, and a favorable one for our friends. The probability of a general war, in which this country will be engaged on one side, and England on the other, has appeared to me sufficient to justify my writing to our agents in the different ports of France, to put our merchants on their guard, against risking their property in French or English bottoms. The Emperor, instead of tracing back his steps in Brabant, as was expected, has pursued the less honorable plan of decoying his subjects thence by false pretences, to let themselves be invested by his troops, and this done, he dictates to them his own terms. Yet it is not certain the matter will end with that.

The Count de Moustier is nominated Minister Plenipotentiary to America; and a frigate is ordered to Cherbourg, to carry him over. He will endeavor to sail by the middle of the next month, but if any delay should make him pass over the whole of October, he will defer his voyage to the spring, being unwilling to take a winter passage. Monsieur de St. Priest is sent ambassador to Holland, in the room of Monsieur de Verac, appointed to Switzerland. The Chevalier de Luzerne might, I believe, have gone to Holland, but he preferred a general promise of promotion, and the possibility that it might be to the court of London. His prospects are very fair. His brother, the Count de la Luzerne, (now Governor in the West Indies,) is appointed minister of the marine, in the place of Monsieur de Castries, who has resigned. The Archbishop of Thoulouse is appointed ministre principale, and his brother, Monsieur de Brienne, minister of war, in the place of Monsieur de Segur. The department of the Comptroller has had a very rapid succession of tenants. From Monsieur de Calonnes it passed to Monsieur de Forqueux, from him to Villedeuil, and from him to Lambert, who holds it at present, but divided with a Monsieur Cabarrus, (whom I believe you knew in Spain,) who is named Directeur du tresor royal, the office into which M. Neckar came at first. I had the honor to inform you, that before the departure of the Count de Luzerne to his government in the West Indies, I had pressed on him the patronage of our trade with the French islands; that he appeared well disposed, and assured me he would favor us as much as his instructions, and the laws of the colonies, would permit. I am in hopes these dispositions will be strengthened by his residence in the islands, and that his acquaintance among the people there, will be an additional motive to favor them. Probably they will take advantage of his appointment, to press indulgences in commerce with us. The ministry is of a liberal complexion, and well disposed to us. The war may add to the motives for opening their islands to other resources for their subsistence, and for doing what may be agreeable to us. It seems to me, at present, then, that the moment of the arrival of the Count de La Luzerne, will be the moment for trying to obtain a freer access to their islands. It would be very material to do this, if possible, in a permanent way, that is to say, by treaty. But I know of nothing we have to offer in equivalent. Perhaps the payment of our debt to them might be made use of as some inducement, while they are so distressed for money. Yet the borrowing the money in Holland will be rendered more difficult by the same event, in proportion as it will increase the demand for money by other powers.

The gazettes of Leyden and France to this date are enclosed, together with some pamphlets on the internal affairs of this country.

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