Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2 (of 9)
TO JAMES MADISON. 6
Paris, May 28, 1788.
Dear Sir,—The enclosed letter for Mr. Jay, being of a private nature, I have thought it better to put it under your cover, lest it might be opened by some of his clerks, in the case of his absence. But I enclose a press copy of it for yourself, as you will perceive the subject of it referred to you, as well as to him. I ask your aid in it so far as you think right, and to have done what you think right. If you will now be so good as to cast your eye over the copy enclosed, what follows the present sentence, will be some details, supplementary to that only, necessary for your information, but not proper for me to state to Mr. Jay.
378,227,1247. though appointed a minister resident at the court of 514. he never was 663. in that character. He was continually passing from 1042. to 514. and 514. to 1042. so that he had no occasion to establish a household at either. Accordingly, he stayed principally in furnished lodgings. Of all our ministers, he had the least occasion for an outfit, and I suppose, spent almost nothing on that article. He was of a disposition, too, to restrain himself within any limits of expense whatever, and it suited his recluse turn, which is, to avoid society. Should he judge of what others should do, by what he did, it would be an improper criterion. He was in Europe as a voyageur only, and it was while the salary was five hundred guineas more than at present.
145.1267.1046.7. he came over when, instead of outfit and salary, all expenses were paid. Of rigorous honesty, and careless of appearances, he lived for a considerable time, as an economical private individual. After he was fixed at 812.141. and the salary at a sum certain, he continued his economical style, till out of the difference between his expenses and his salary, he could purchase furniture for his house. This was the easier, as the salary was at two thousand five hundred guineas then. He was obliged too, to be passing between 1042. and 812.141. so as to avoid any regular current of expenses. When he established himself, his pecuniary affairs were under the direction of 964. 814.7.101.994. one of the most estimable characters on earth, and the most attentive and honorable economists. Neither had a wish to lay up a copper, but both wished to make both ends meet. I suspected, however, from an expression dropped in conversation, that they were not able to do this, and that a deficit in their accounts appeared in their winding up. If this conjecture be true, it is a proof that the salary, so far from admitting savings, is unequal to a very plain style of life; for such was theirs. I presume Congress will be asked to allow it, and it is evident to me, from what I saw while in 1093. that it ought to be done, as they did not expend a shilling which should have been avoided. Would it be more eligible to set the example of making good a deficit, or to give him an outfit, which will cover it? The impossibility of living on the sum allowed, respectably, was the true cause of his insisting on his recall.
821.267.1292. He came over while all expenses were paid. He rented a house with standing furniture, such as tables, chairs, presses, &c., and bought all other necessaries. The latter were charged in his account, the former was included in the article of house-rent, and paid during the whole time of his stay here; and as the established rate of hire for furniture, is from thirty to forty per cent. per annum, the standing furniture must have been paid for three times over, during the eight years he stayed here. His salary was two thousand five hundred guineas. When Congress reduced it to less than two thousand, he refused to accede to it, asked his recall, and insisted that whenever they chose to alter the conditions on which he came out, if he did not approve of it, they ought to replace him in America on the old conditions. He lived plainly, but as decently as his salary would allow. He saved nothing, but avoided debt. He knew he could not do this on the reduced salary, and therefore asked his recall with decision.
To 935.145. succeeded. He had established a certain style of living. The same was expected from 1214. and there were five hundred guineas a year less, to do it on. It has been aimed at, however, as far as was practicable. This rendered it constantly necessary to step neither to the right nor to the left, to incur any expense which could possibly be avoided, and it called for an almost womanly attention to the details of the household, equally perplexing, disgusting, and inconsistent with business. You will be sensible, that in this situation, no savings could be made for reimbursing the half year's salary, ordered to be advanced under the former commission, and more than as much again, which was unavoidably so applied without order, for the purchase of the outfit. The reason of the thing, the usage of all nations, the usage of our own, by paying all expenses of preceding ministers, which gave them the outfit, as far as their circumstances appeared to them to render it necessary, have made me take for granted all along, that it would not be refused to me; nor should I have mentioned it now, but that the administration is passing into other hands, and more complicated forms. It would be disagreeable to me, to be presented to them in the first instance, as a suitor. Men come into business at first, with visionary principles. It is practice alone, which can correct and conform them to the actual current of affairs. In the meantime, those to whom their errors were first applied, have been their victims. The government may take up the project of appointing foreign ministers without outfits, and they may ruin two or three individuals, before they find that that article is just as indispensable as the salary. They must then fall into the current of general usage, which has become general, only because experience has established its necessity. Upon the whole, be so good as to reflect on it, and to do, not what your friendship to me, but your opinion of what is right shall dictate. Accept, in all cases, assurances of the sincere esteem and respect with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO PETER CARR
Paris, May 28, 1788.
Dear Peter,—The preceding letter7 was written at its date, and I supposed you in possession of it, when your letters of December the 10th, 1787, and March the 18th, 1788, told me otherwise. Still, I supposed it on its way to you, when a few days ago, having occasion to look among some papers in the drawer, where my letters are usually put away, till an opportunity of sending them occurs, I found that this letter had slipped among them, so that it had never been forwarded. I am sorry for it, on account of the remarks relative to the Spanish language only. Apply to that, with all the assiduity you can. That language and the English covering nearly the whole face of America, they should be well known to every inhabitant, who means to look beyond the limits of his farm. I like well the distribution of your time, mentioned in your letter of March the 18th; and the counsels of Mr. Wythe, so kindly extended to you, leave it necessary for me to add nothing of that kind. Be assiduous in learning, take much exercise for your health, and practice much virtue. Health, learning and virtue, will insure your happiness; they will give you a quiet conscience, private esteem and public honor. Beyond these, we want nothing but physical necessaries, and they are easily obtained. My daughters are well, and join me in love to yourself, your mother, brothers and sisters. I am, with very sincere esteem, dear Peter, your affectionate friend.
TO THE COMTE DE BERNSTORFF
Paris, June 19, 1788.
I had the honor of addressing your Excellency, by Admiral Paul Jones, on the 21st of January, on the subject of the prizes taken under his command during the late war, and sent into Bergen. I communicated, at the same time, a copy of the powers which the Congress of the United States of America had been pleased to confide to me therein, having previously shown the original to the Baron Blome, envoy extraordinary of his Majesty, the King of Denmark, at this court; and I furnished, at the same time, to Admiral Paul Jones, such authority as I was empowered to delegate, for the arrangement of this affair. That officer has transmitted me a copy of your Excellency's letter to him, of the 4th of April, wherein you are pleased to observe, that the want of full powers on his part was an invincible obstacle to the definitive discussion of this claim with him, and to express your dispositions to institute a settlement at this place. Always assured of the justice and honor of the court of Denmark, and encouraged by the particular readiness of your Excellency to settle and remove this difficulty from between the two nations, I take the liberty of recalling your attention to it. The place of negotiation proposed by your Excellency, meets no objection from us, and it removes, at the same time, that which the want of full powers in Admiral Paul Jones, had produced in your mind. These full powers, Congress have been pleased to honor me with. The arrangement taken between the person to be charged with your full powers, and myself, will be final and conclusive. You are pleased to express a willingness to treat at the same time, on the subjects of amity and commerce. The powers formerly communicated on our part, were given to Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin and myself, for a limited term only. That term has expired, and the other two gentlemen returned to America: so that no person is commissioned at this moment, to renew those conferences. I may safely, however, assure your Excellency, that the same friendly dispositions still continue, and the same desire of facilitating and encouraging a commerce between the two nations, which produced the former appointment. But our nation is, at this time, proposing a change in the organization of its government. For this change to be agreed to by all the members of the Union, the new administration chosen and brought into activity, their domestic matters arranged, which will require their first attention, their foreign system afterwards decided on and carried into full execution, will require very considerable length of time. To place under the same delay, the private claims which I have the honor to present to your Excellency, would be hard on the persons interested; because these claims have no connection with the system of commercial connection, which may be established between the two nations, nor with the particular form of our administration. The justice due to them is complete, and the present administration as competent to final settlement as any future one will be, should a future change take place. These individuals have already lingered nine years, in expectation of their hard and perilous earnings. Time lessens their numbers continually, disperses their representatives, weakens the evidence of their right, and renders more and more impracticable, his majesty's dispositions to repair the private injury, to which public circumstances constrained him. These considerations, the just and honorable intentions of your Excellency, and the assurances you give us in your letter, that no delay is wished on your part, give me strong hopes that we may speedily obtain that final arrangement, which express instructions render it my duty to urge. I have the honor, therefore, of agreeing with your Excellency, that the settlement of this matter, formerly begun at Paris, shall be continued there: and to ask that you will be pleased to give powers and instructions for this purpose, to such persons as you shall think proper, and in such full form as may prevent those delays, to which the distance between Copenhagen and Paris might otherwise expose us.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most profound respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. THOMAS DIGGES
Paris, June 19, 1788.
Sir,—I have duly received your favor of May 12, as well as that of the person who desires information on the state of cotton manufactures in America, and for his interest and safety I beg leave to address to you the answer to his queries.
In general, it is impossible that manufactures should succeed in America, from the high price of labor. This is occasioned by the great demand of labor for agriculture. A manufacturer going from Europe will turn to labor of other kinds if he finds more to be got by it, and he finds some employment so profitable, that he can soon lay up money enough to buy fifty acres of land, to the culture of which he is irresistibly tempted by the independence in which that places him, and the desire of having a wife and family around him. If any manufactures can succeed there, it will be that of cotton. I must observe for his information that this plant grows nowhere in the United States northward of the Potomac, and not in quantity till you get southward as far as York and James Rivers. I know nothing of the manufacture which is said to be set up at Richmond. It must have taken place since 1783, when I left Virginia. In that State (for it is the only one I am enabled to speak of with certainty) there is no manufacture of wire or of cotton cards; or if any, it is not worth notice. No manufacture of stocking-weaving, consequently none for making the machine; none of cotton clothing of any kind whatever for sale; though in almost every family some is manufactured for the use of the family, which is always good in quality, and often tolerably fine. In the same way they make excellent stockings of cotton, weaving it in like manner, carried on principally in the family way: among the poor, the wife weaves generally; and the rich either have a weaver among their servants or employ their poor neighbors. Cotton cost in Virginia from 12d. to 18d. sterling the pound before the war, probably it is a little raised since. Richmond is as good a place for a manufactory as any in that State, and perhaps the best as to its resources for this business. Cotton clothing is very much the taste of the country. A manufacturer, on his landing, should apply to the well-informed farmers and gentlemen of the country. Their information will be more disinterested than that of merchants, and they can better put him into the way of disposing of his workmen in the cheapest manner till he has time to look about him and decide how and where he will establish himself. Such is the hospitality in that country, and their disposition to assist strangers, that he may boldly go to any good house he sees, and make the inquiry he needs. He will be sure to be kindly received, honestly informed, and accommodated in an hospitable way, without any other introduction than an information who he is and what are his views. It is not the policy of the government in that country to give any aid to works of any kind. They let things take their natural course without help or impediment, which is generally the best policy. More particularly as to myself, I must say that I have not the authority nor the means of assisting any persons in their passage to that country. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of perfect esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MR. RUTLEDGE
Paris, January 19, 1788.
Dear Sir,—Having omitted to ask you how I should address letters to you, I am obliged to put the present under cover to Mr. Shippen, to the care of his banker at Amsterdam. Enclosed you will receive a letter lately come to my hands, as also such notes as I have been able to scribble very hastily and undigested. I am ashamed of them; but I will pay willingly that price, if they may, on a single occasion, be useful to you. I will at some future moment find time to write the letters for Frankfort, Florence, Milan, Nice and Marseilles, which those notes will point out, and lodge them on your route, if you will be so good as to keep me always informed how and where I must send letters to you. I would suggest an alteration in the route I had proposed to you; that is, to descend the Danube from Vienna, so as to go to Constantinople, and from thence to Naples and up Italy. This must depend on your time, and the information you may be able to get as to the safety with which you may pass through the Ottoman territories. It is believed the Emperor is making overtures for peace. Should this take place it would lessen the difficulties of such a tour. In the meantime, this gleam of peace is counterbalanced by the warlike preparations of Sweden and Denmark, known to be made under the suggestions of the Court of London. In this country there is great internal ferment. I am of opinion the new regulations will be maintained. Perhaps the Cour pleniere may be amended in its composition, and the States General called at an earlier period than was intended. We have no accounts yet of the decision of Maryland, South Carolina, or Virginia on the subject of the new Constitution. Yet it seems probable they will accept it in the same manner Massachusetts has done; and I see nothing improbable in the supposition that our new government may be in motion by the beginning of November. I must press on you, my dear Sir, a very particular attention to the climate and culture of the olive tree. This is the most interesting plant in existence for South Carolina and Georgia. You will see in various places that it gives being to whole villages in places where there is not soil enough to subsist a family by the means of any other culture. But consider it as the means of bettering the condition of your slaves in South Carolina. See in the poorer parts of France and Italy what a number of vegetables are rendered eatable by the aid of a little oil, which would otherwise be useless. Remark very particularly the northern limits of this tree, and whether it exists by the help of shelter from the mountains, &c. I know this is the case in France. I wish to know where the northern limit of this plant crosses the Apennines; where it crosses the Adriatic and the Archipelago, and if possible what course it takes through Asia. The fig, the dried raisin, the pistache, the date, the caper, are all very interesting objects for your study. Should you not in your passage through countries where they are cultivated inform yourself of their hardiness, their culture, the manner of transporting, &c., you might hereafter much repent it. Both then and now I hope you will excuse me for suggesting them to your attention; not omitting the article of rice also, of which you will see species different from your own. I beg you to make use of me on all possible occasions and in all the ways in which I can serve you, not omitting that of money, should any disappointment take place in your own arrangements. Mr. Berard's money was paid to Bayoker & Co. as you desired. I have the honor to be, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO T. LEE SHIPPEN, ESQ
Paris, June 19, 1788.
Dear Sir,—I have been honored with your favor of May 20, and take the first possible moment of acknowledging it, and of enclosing such notes as my recollection has suggested to me might be of service to you on your route. They have been scribbled so hastily and so informally that I would not send them, did not a desire of accommodating yourself and Mr. Rutledge get the better of my self-love. You will have seen in the Leyden gazette the principal articles of intelligence received from America since you left us, and which I have furnished to Mr. Dumas for that paper. The account of the riot in New York was given me by Mr. Paradise, who was there at the time, and who with his lady is now here. You may, perhaps, meet them at Venice. Mr. Jay and Baron Steuben were wounded with stones in that riot. General Washington writes me word he thinks Virginia will accept of the new Constitution. It appears to me, in fact, from all information, that its rejection would drive the States to despair and bring on events which cannot be foreseen; and that its adoption is become absolutely necessary. It will be easier to get the assent of nine States to correct what is wrong in the way pointed out by the Constitution itself, than to get thirteen to concur in a new convention and another plan of confederation. I therefore sincerely pray that the remaining States may accept it, as Massachusetts has done, with standing instructions to their delegates to press for amendments till they are obtained. They cannot fail of being obtained when the delegates of eight States shall be under such perpetual instructions. The American newspapers say that the Spaniards have sunk one of our boats on the Mississippi, and we one of theirs, by way of reprisal. The silence of my letters on the subject makes me hope it is not true. Be so good as to keep me constantly furnished with your address. I will take the first moment I can to write letters for you to Baron Leimer for Frankfort, Febroni at Florence, the Count del Verme and Clerici at Milan, Sasserns at Nice, Cathalan at Marseilles, which at this time it is impossible for me to do. I beg you to make on all occasions all the use of me of which I am susceptible, and in any way in which your occasions may require, and to be assured of the sentiments of sincere esteem and attachment with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
