Томас Джефферсон
Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2
LETTER CLIV.—TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, August 12, 1788
TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
Paris, August 12, 1788.
Dear Sir,
Since my last to you, I have been honored with yours of the 18th and 29th of May, and 5th of June. My latest American intelligence is of the 24th of June, when nine certainly, and probably ten States, had accepted the new constitution, and there was no doubt of the eleventh (North Carolina), because there was no opposition there. In New York, two thirds of the State were against it, and certainly if they had been called to the decision, in any other stage of the business, they would have rejected it; but before they put it to the vote, they would certainly have heard that eleven States had joined in it, and they would find it safer to go with those eleven, than put themselves into opposition, with Rhode Island only. Though I am much pleased with this successful issue of the new constitution, yet I am more so, to find that one of its principal defects (the want of a declaration of rights) will pretty certainly be remedied. I suppose this, because I see that both people and conventions, in almost every State, have concurred in demanding it. Another defect, the perpetual re-eligibility of the same President, will probably not be cured, during the life of General Washington. His merit has blinded our countrymen to the danger of making so important an officer re-eligible. I presume there will not be a vote against him, in the United States. It is more doubtful, who will be Vice-President. The age of Dr. Franklin, and the doubt whether he would accept it, are the only circumstances that admit a question, but that he would be the man. After these two characters of first magnitude, there are so many which present themselves equally, on the second line, that we cannot see which of them will be singled out. John Adams, Hancock, Jay, Madison, Rutledge, will be all voted for. Congress has acceded to the prayer of Kentucky to become an independent member of the Union. A committee was occupied in settling the plan of receiving them, and their government is to commence on the 1st day of January next.
You are, I dare say, pleased, as I am, with the promotion of our countryman, Paul Jones. He commanded the right wing, in the first engagement between the Russian and Turkish galleys; his absence from the second, proves his superiority over the Captain Pacha, as he did not choose to bring his ships into the shoals in which the Pacha ventured, and lost those entrusted to him. I consider this officer as the principal hope of our future efforts on the ocean. You will have heard of the action between the Swedes and Russians, on the Baltic; as yet, we have only the Swedish version of it. I apprehend this war must catch from nation to nation, till it becomes general.
With respect to the internal affairs of this country, I hope they will be finally well arranged, and without having cost a drop of blood. Looking on as a by-stander, no otherwise interested, than as entertaining a sincere love for the nation in general, and a wish to see their happiness promoted, keeping myself clear of the particular views and passions of individuals, I applaud extremely the patriotic proceedings of the present ministry. Provincial Assemblies established, the States General called, the right of taxing the nation without their consent abandoned, corvées abolished, torture abolished, the criminal code reformed, are facts which will do eternal honor to their administration, in history. But were I their historian, I should not equally applaud their total abandonment of their foreign affairs. A bolder front in the beginning, would have prevented the first loss, and consequently, all the others. Holland, Prussia, Turkey, and Sweden, lost without the acquisition of a single new ally, are painful reflections for the friends of France. They may, indeed, have in their places the two empires, and perhaps Denmark; in which case, physically speaking, they will stand on as good ground as before, but not on as good moral ground. Perhaps, seeing more of the internal working of the machine, they saw, more than we do, the physical impossibility of having money to carry on a war. Their justification must depend on this, and their atonement, on the internal good they are doing to their country; this makes me completely their friend.
I am, with great esteem and attachment, Dear Sir, you friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLV.—TO M. CATHALAN, August 13,1788
TO M. CATHALAN.
Paris, August 13,1788.
Sir,
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors, of June, and July the 11th, and to thank you for the political intelligence they contained, which is always interesting to me. I will ask a continuance of them, and especially that you inform me, from time to time, of the movements in the ports of Marseilles and Toulon, which may seem to indicate peace or war. These are the most certain presages possible; and being conveyed to me from all the ports, they will always enable me to judge of the intentions or expectations of the ministry, and to notify you of the result of the intelligence from all the ports, that you may communicate it to the American commerce.
I have the pleasure to inform you, that the new constitution proposed to the United States, has been established by the votes of nine States. It is happy for us to get this operation over before the war kindled in Europe could affect us, as by rendering us more respectable, we shall be more probably permitted, by all parties, to remain neutral.
I take the liberty of putting under your cover a letter for Mr. Bernard, containing some seeds, and another to Giuseppe Chiappe, our consul at Mogadore. I thank you for your settlement of the price of the Observations Météorologiques, and I have repaid the sixty livres to Sir John Lambert, in your name. When the nursery man, whom you have been so good as to employ to prepare the olives and olive plants, to be sent to Charleston, shall be executing that commission, I shall be glad if he will, at the same time, prepare a few plants only, of the following kinds. Figs, the best kind for drying, and the best kind for eating fresh, raisins, the best kind for drying, prugnolles, cork trees, pistaches, capers. I desire only a few plants of each of these, that they may not take too much of the place of the olives, which is our great object, and the sole one we have at heart. If you will be so good as to give the nursery man this order immediately, it will save you the necessity of recurring to my letter, when the season comes.
I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLVI.—TO JOHN JAY, August 20,1788
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, August 20,1788.
Sir,
I had the honor to write to you on the 3rd, 10th, and 11th instant, with a postscript of the 12th; all of which went by Mrs. Barclay. Since that date, we have received an account of a third victory obtained by the Russians over the Turks, on the Black Sea, in which the Prince of Nassau, with his galleys, destroyed two frigates, three smaller vessels, and six galleys. The Turkish power on that sea is represented, by their enemies, as now annihilated. There is reason to believe, however, that this is not literally true, and that aided by the supplies furnished by the English, they are making extraordinary efforts to re-establish their marine. The Russian minister here has shown the official report of Admiral Greigh, on the combat of July the 17th, in which he claims the victory, and urges in proof of it, that he kept the field of battle. This report is said to have been written on it. As this paper, together with the report of the Swedish admiral, is printed in the Leyden gazette of the 15th instant, I enclose it to you. The court of Denmark has declared, it will furnish Russia the aid stipulated in their treaty: and it is not doubted they will go beyond this, and become principals in the war. The next probable moves are, that the King of Prussia will succor Sweden; and Poland, Russia, by land: and a possible consequence is, that England may send a squadron into the Baltic, to restore equilibrium in that sea. In my letter of the 11th, I observed to you, that this country would have two difficulties to struggle with, till the meeting of their States General, and that one of these was the want of money: this has, in fact, overborne all their resources, and the day before yesterday, they published an Arrêt, suspending all reimbursements of capital, and reducing the payments of the principal mass of demands for interest, to twelve sous in the livre; the remaining eight sous to be paid with certificates. I enclose you a newspaper with the Arrêt. In this paper you will see the exchange of yesterday, and I have inserted that of the day before, to show you the fall. The consternation is, as yet, too great to let us judge of the issue. It will probably ripen the public mind to the necessity of a change in their constitution, and to the substituting the collected wisdom of the whole, in place of a single will, by which they have been hitherto governed. It is a remarkable proof of the total incompetency of a single head to govern a nation well, when, with a revenue of six hundred millions, they are led to a declared bankruptcy, and to stop the wheels of government, even in its most essential movements, for want of money.
I send the present letter by a private conveyance to a sea-port, in hopes a conveyance may be found by some merchant vessel.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLVII.—TO MR. CUTTING, August 23, 1788
TO MR. CUTTING.
Paris, August 23, 1788.
Dear Sir,
I have duly received your favors of the 3rd, 8th, 14th, and 15th instant, and have now the honor of enclosing you a letter of introduction to Doctor Ramsay.
I think a certainty that England and France must enter into the war, was a great inducement to the ministry here to suspend the portion of public payments, which they have lately suspended. By this operation, they secure two hundred and three millions of livres, or eight millions and a half of guineas, in the course of this and the ensuing year, which will be sufficient for the campaign of the first year: for what is to, follow, the States General must provide. The interesting question now is, how the States General shall be composed? There are three opinions. 1. To place the three estates, Clergy, Noblesse, and Commons, in three different Houses. The Clergy would, probably, like this, and some of the Nobility; but it has no partisans out of those orders. 2. To put the Clergy and Noblesse into one House, and the Commons into another. The Noblesse will be generally for this. 3. To put the three orders into one House, and make the Commons the majority of that House. This re-unites the greatest number of partisans, and I suspect it is well patronized in the ministry, who, I am persuaded, are proceeding bona fide, to improve the constitution of their country. As to the opposition which the English expect from the personal character of the King, it proves they do not know what his personal character is. He is the honestest man in his kingdom, and the most regular and economical. He has no foible which will enlist him against the good of his people; and whatever constitution will promote this, he will befriend. But he will not befriend it obstinately: he has given repeated proofs of a readiness to sacrifice his opinion to the wish of the nation. I believe he will consider the opinion of the States General, as the best evidence of what will please and profit the nation, and will conform to it. All the characters at court may not be of this disposition, and from thence may, possibly, arise representations, capable of leading the King astray; but upon a full view of all circumstances, I have sanguine hopes, that such a constitution will be established here, as will regenerate the energy of the nation, cover its friends, and make its enemies tremble. I am, with very great esteem, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLVIII.—TO JOHN JAY, September 3, 1788
TO JOHN JAY.
Paris, September 3, 1788.
Sir,
By Mrs. Barclay I had the honor of sending you letters of the 3rd, 10th, and 11th of August; since which, I wrote you of the 20th of the same month, by a casual conveyance, as is the present.
In my letter of the 20th, I informed you of the act of public bankruptcy which had taken place here. The effect of this would have been a forced loan of about one hundred and eighty millions of livres, in the course of the present and ensuing year. But it did not yield a sufficient immediate relief. The treasury became literally moneyless, and all purposes depending on this mover came to a stand. The Archbishop was hereupon removed, with Monsieur Lambert, the Comptroller General; and Mr. Necker was called in, as Director General of the finance. To soften the Archbishop’s dismission, a cardinal’s hat is asked for him from Rome, and his nephew promised the succession to the Archbishopric of Sens. The public joy, on this change of administration, was very great indeed. The people of Paris were amusing themselves with trying and burning the Archbishop in effigy, and rejoicing on the appointment of Mr. Necker. The commanding officer of the city-guards undertook to forbid this, and not being obeyed, he charged the mob with fixed bayonets, killed two or three, and wounded many: this stopped their rejoicings for that day; but enraged at being thus obstructed in amusements wherein they had committed no disorder whatever, they collected in great numbers the next day, attacked the guards in various places, burnt ten or twelve guard-houses, killed two or three of the guards, and had about six or eight of their own number killed. The city was hereupon put under martial law, and after a while, the tumult subsided, and peace was restored. The public stocks rose ten per cent, on the day of Mr. Necker’s appointment: he was immediately offered considerable sums of money, and has been able so far to wave the benefit of the act of bankruptcy, as to pay in cash all demands, except the remboursements des capitaux. For these, and for a sure supply of other wants, he will depend on the States General, and will hasten their meetings, as is thought. No other change has yet taken place in the administration. The minister of war, however, must certainly follow his brother, and some think, and all wish, that Monsieur de Lamoignon, the Garde des Sceaux, may go out also. The administration of justice is still suspended. The whole kingdom seems tranquil at this moment.
Abroad, no event worth noting has taken place since my last. The court of Denmark has not declared it will do any thing more, than furnish the stipulated aid to Russia. The King of Prussia has as yet made no move, which may decide whether he will engage in the war, nor has England sent any squadron into the Baltic. As the season for action is considerably passed over, it is become more doubtful, whether any other power will enter the lists till the next campaign; this will give time for stopping the further progress of the war, if they really wish to stop it. Two camps of twenty-five thousand men each are forming in this country on its northern limits. The Prince of Conde has the command of one, and the Duke de Broglio of the other.
I trouble you with the enclosed letter from a Henry Watson, claiming prize monies, as having served under Admiral Paul Jones, which I suppose should go to the treasury, or war-office.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble; servant,
Th: Jefferson,
LETTER CLIX.—TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY, Sep. 6, 1788
TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY.
Paris, September 6, 1788.
Gentlemen,
Your favor of July the 3rd came to hand some days ago, and that of July the 22nd in the afternoon of yesterday. Knowing that a Mr. Vannet was to leave Paris this morning to go to Virginia in a vessel bound from Havre to Potomac, I have engaged him to receive the papers which are the subject of those letters, to take care of them from thence to Havre, and on the voyage; and when he shall have arrived in Potomac, instead of going directly to Richmond, as he intended, he will proceed with them himself to New York. I shall pay here all expenses to their delivery at the ship’s side in America, freight included: unless, perhaps, he may find it necessary to put another covering over them, if he should not be able to get them into the cabin; in this case, you will have to reimburse him for that. I engage to him that you shall pay him their transportation from the ship’s side to New York, and his own reasonable expenses from the place of his landing to New York, and back to the place of landing. As he takes that journey for this object only, it would be reasonable that you give him some gratuity for his time and trouble, and I suppose it would be accepted by him; but I have made no agreement for this. The papers are contained in a large box and a trunk. They were sent here by Mr. Ast, during my absence in Holland. When they arrived at the gates of Paris, the officers of the customs opened the trunk, to see whether it contained dutiable articles; but finding only books and papers, they concluded the contents of the box to be of the same nature, and did not open that. You receive it, therefore, as it came from the hands of Mr. Ast. A small trunk, which came as a third package from Mr. Ast, and which has never been opened, I have put into the great trunk, without displacing, or ever having touched a single paper, except as far as was necessary to make room for that. I shall have the whole corded and plumbed by the Custom-house here, not only to prevent their being opened at the Custom-houses on the road, and at the port of exportation, but to prove to you, whether they shall have been opened by any body else after going out of my hands. If the stamped leads are entire, and the cords uncut, when you receive them, you will be sure they have not been opened; they will be wrapt in oil-cloth here to guard them against the damps of the sea; and, as I mentioned before, Mr. Vannet will put them under another covering, if he finds it necessary, at Havre.
At the same time with your last letter, I received from the office of Foreign Affairs the ratification by Congress of the loan of 1788, for another million of guilders. As the necessity of this loan resulted from the estimate made by Mr. Adams and myself, which estimate was laid before Congress, I suppose their ratification of the loan implies that of the estimate. One article of this was for the redemption of our captives at Algiers. Though your letter says nothing on this subject, I am in hopes you have sent orders to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam to furnish, as soon as they shall have it, what may be necessary for this pressing call. So also for the foreign officers. If the ratification of the loan has been made by Congress, with a view to fulfil the objects of the estimate, a general order from you to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam, to pay the monies from time to time, according to that estimate, or to such other as you shall furnish them with, might save the trouble of particular orders on every single occasion, and the disappointments arising from the delay or miscarriage of such orders: but it is for you to decide on this.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLX.—TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN,
TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.
Paris, September 11, 1788.
Sir,
In the course of the last war, the house of Schweighaeuser and Dobree of Nantes, and Puchilberg of L’Orient, presented to Dr. Franklin a demand against the United States of America. He, being acquainted with the circumstances of the demand, and knowing it to be unfounded, refused to pay it. They thereupon procured seizure, by judiciary authority, of certain arms and other military stores which we had purchased in this country, and had deposited for embarkation at Nantes: and these stores have remained in that position ever since. Congress have lately instructed me to put an end to this matter. Unwilling to trouble your Excellency, whenever it can be avoided, I proposed to the parties to have the question decided by arbitrators, to be chosen by us jointly. They have refused it, as you will see by their answers to my letters, copies of both which I have the honor to enclose you. I presume it to be well settled in practice, that the property of one sovereign is not permitted to be seized within the dominions of another; and that this practice is founded not only in mutual respect, but in mutual utility. To what the contrary practice would lead, is evident in the present case, wherein military stores have been stopped, in the course of a war, in which our greatest difficulties proceeded from the want of military stores. In their letter, too, they make a merit of not having seized one of our ships of war, and certainly the principle which admits the seizure of arms, would admit that of a whole fleet, and would often furnish an enemy the easiest means of defeating an expedition. The parties obliging me, then, to have recourse to your Excellency on this occasion, I am under the necessity of asking an order from you for the immediate delivery of the stores and other property of the United States at Nantes, detained by the house of Schweighaeuser and Dobree, and that of Puchilberg, or by either of them, under a pretence of a judicial seizure.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem, your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
