Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2 (of 9)
TO MR. SHORT
Paris, December 8, 1788.
Dear Sir,—My last to you was of the 21st of November, addressed to Milan, poste restante, according to the desire expressed through Mrs. Paradise. I have lately received yours of the 19th of November, and sincerely felicitate you on your recovery. I wish you may have suffered this to be sufficiently established before you set out on your journey. The present letter will probably reach you amidst the classical enjoyments of Rome. I feel myself kindle at the reflection, to make that journey; but circumstances will oblige me to postpone it, at least. We are here under a most extraordinary degree of cold. The thermometer has been ten degrees of Reaumur below freezing; this is eight degrees of Fahrenheit above zero, and was the degree of cold here in the year 1740. The long continuance of this severity, and the snow now on the ground, give physical prognostications of a hard winter. You will be in a privileged climate, and will have had an enviable escape from this. The Notables are not yet separated, nor is their treasonable vote against the people yet consolidated; but it will be. The parliament have taken up the subject, and passed a very laudable vote in opposition. They have made it the occasion of giving sketches of what should be a bill of rights. Perhaps this opposition of authority may give the court an option between the two. Stocks are rising slowly, but steadily. The loan of 1784, is at thirteen loss; the caisse d'escompte, four thousand and seventy-five. The Count de Bryenne has retired, and M. de Puy-segur succeeded to his place. Madame de Chambonois (sister of M. de Langear) is dead of the small-pox. Pio is likely to receive a good appointment in his own country, which will take him from us. Corn is likely to become extremely scarce in France, Spain and England. This country has offered a premium of forty sous the quintal on flour of the United States, and thirty sous the quintal on our wheat, to be brought here between February and June.
General Washington writes me that industry and economy begin to take place of that idleness and extravagance which had succeeded to the close of the war. The Potomac canal is in great forwardness. J. M. writes me word that Mr. Jay and General Knox are talked of in the middle States for Vice Presidents, but he queries whether both will not prefer their present berths. It seems agreed that some amendments will be made to the new Constitution. All are willing to add a bill of rights; but they fear the power of internal taxation will be abridged. The friends of the new government will oppose the method of amendment by a federal convention, which would subject the whole instrument to change, and they will support the other method, which admits Congress, by a vote of two-thirds, to submit specific changes to the Assemblies, three-fourths of whom must concur to establish them.
The enclosed letter is from Pallegrino, one of the Italian laborers established in our neighborhood. I fancy it contains one for his father. I have supposed it would not be unpleasant to you to have the delivery of it, as it may give you a good opportunity of conferring with one of that class as much as you please. I obey at the same time my own wishes to oblige the writer. Mazzei is at this time ill, but not in danger. I am impatient to receive further letters from you, which may assure me of the solidity of your recovery, being with great anxiety for your health and happiness, dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant.
[The annexed is here inserted in the Author's MS. To whom addressed, does not appear.]
The Minister Plenipotentiary for the United States of America, finds himself under the necessity of declining to authenticate writings destined to be sent to the United States, for this main reason, that such authentication is not legal evidence there. After a reason so sufficient, it seems superfluous to add, that, were his authentication admissible in the courts of the United States, he could never give it to any seal or signature, which had not been put in his presence; that he could never certify a copy, unless both that and the original were in a hand-writing legible to him, and had been compared together by him, word by word: that so numerous are the writings presented, that their authentication alone, would occupy the greater part of his time, and withdrawing him from his proper duties, would change the nature of his office to that of a Notary. He observes to those who do him the honor of addressing themselves to him on this subject, that the laws for the authentication of foreign writings, are not the same through all the United States, some requiring an authentication under the seal of the Prevoté of a city, and others admitting that of a Notary; but that writings authenticated in both these manners, will, under the one or the other, be admitted in most, if not all, of the United States. It would seem advisable, then, to furnish them with this double authentication.
TO DOCTOR CURRIE
Paris, December 20, 1788.
Dear Doctor,—"Procrastination is the thief of time," so says Young, and so I find it. It is the only apology, and it is the true one for my having been so long without writing to you. In the meantime I shall overtake the present epistle if it be as long getting to you as my letters are sometimes coming to me from America. I have asked of Congress a leave of five or six months' absence this year to carry my family back to America, and hope to obtain it in time to sail in April from Havre for James river directly. In this case I shall have the pleasure of seeing you at Richmond and Eppington a few days. This country is seriously meditating the establishment of a constitution, and the distress of the court for money with the real good intentions of the King, will produce their concurrence in it. All the world is occupied at present in framing, every one his own plan, of a bill of rights. The States General will meet probably in March, (the day not being yet known.) They will probably establish their own periodical meetings, their right to participate of the legislation, their sole right to tax. So far the court will not oppose. Some will endeavor to procure, at the same time, a habeas corpus law and free press. I doubt if the latter can be obtained yet, and as for the former, I hardly think the nation itself ripe to accept it. Though they see the evil of lettres de cachet, they believe they do more good on the whole. They will think better in time. The right of taxation includes the idea of fixing a civil list for the King, and of equalizing the taxes on the clergy and nobility as well as the commons. The two former orders do not pay one-third of the proportion ad valorum, which the last pay. This will be a great addition to their revenue. While engaged so much internally, you may be assured they wish for external peace. The insanity of the King of England will much befriend their desires in this respect. Regencies are generally peaceable. The war in the north appeared at one time likely to be quieted, but new dissensions in Poland threaten to embroil Russia and Prussia. In this case Prussia will previously make her peace with the Turks by ceding the Crimea to them. So much for political news. In the literary way we are like, after a very long dearth of good publications, to have something worth reading. The works of the late King of Prussia in sixteen volumes 8vo, appear now. They contain new and curious historical matter. A work on Grecian Antiquities, by the Abbé Barthelemi, of great classical learning, the produce of twenty years' labor, is now in the press, about eight volumes 8vo. A single small volume on government, by the Marquis de Condorcet, is struggling to get abroad in spite of the prohibition it is under. You have heard of the new chemical nomenclature endeavored to be introduced by Lavoisier, Fourcroy, &c. Other chemists of this country, of equal note, reject it, and prove, in my opinion, that it is premature, insufficient and false. These latter are joined by the British chemists; and upon the whole, I think the new nomenclature will be rejected, after doing more harm than good. There are some good publications in it, which must be translated into the ordinary chemical language before they will be useful. A person lately discovered here a very simple method of bleaching yellow paper, or stained paper, (provided there be no grease on the stain,) by the fumes of the muriatic acid poured on magnesia. He showed it to me two or three days after the discovery. On mentioning it to M. Bertholet, we found that a process on the same principles had, for a year or two past, been adopted successfully for the bleaching linen. This is now effected in from eight hours to two or three days, without requiring the great bleaching fields which the ancient method does; and they say that the linen is less injured. There are two large bleacheries established in this country on this principle, and I believe they are beginning to try it in England. There is a vast improvement in the composition of gunpowder, not yet communicated to the public. We are now at the twenty-ninth livraison of the Encyclopedia. I shall bring to Mr. Hay what he has not yet received, and have then the pleasure of assuring you in person of the sentiments of sincere esteem with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO THOMAS PAINE
Paris, December 23, 1788.
Dear Sir,—It is true that I received, very long ago, your favors of September the 9th and 15th, and that I have been in daily intention of answering them, fully and confidentially; but you know, such a correspondence between you and me cannot pass through the post, nor even by the couriers of ambassadors. The French packet boats being discontinued, I am now obliged to watch opportunities by Americans going to London, to write my letters to America. Hence it has happened, that these, the sole opportunities by which I can write to you without fear, have been lost, by the multitude of American letters I had to write. I now determine, without foreseeing any such conveyance, to begin my letter to you, so that when a conveyance occurs, I shall only have to add recent occurrences. Notwithstanding the interval of my answer which has taken place, I must beg a continuance of your correspondence; because I have great confidence in your communications, and since Mr. Adams' departure, I am in need of authentic information from that country.
I will begin with the subject of your bridge, in which I feel myself interested; and it is with great pleasure that I learn, by your favor of the 16th, that the execution of the arch of experiment exceeds your expectations. In your former letter, you mention, that instead of arranging your tubes and bolts as ordinates to the cord of the arch, you had reverted to your first idea, of arranging them in the direction of the radii. I am sure it will gain, both in beauty and strength. It is true that the divergence of those radii recurs as a difficulty, in getting the rails on upon the bolts; but I thought this fully removed by the answer you first gave me, when I suggested that difficulty, to wit, that you should place the rails first, and drive the bolts through them, and not, as I had imagined, place the bolts first, and put the rails on them. I must doubt whether what you now suggest, will be as good as your first idea; to wit, to have every rail split into two pieces longitudinally, so that there shall be but the halves of the holes in each, and then to clamp the two halves together. The solidity of this method cannot be equal to that of the solid rail, and it increases the suspicious part of the whole machine, which, in a first experiment, ought to be rendered as few as possible. But of all this, the practical iron men are much better judges than we theorists. You hesitate between the catenary and portion of a circle. I have lately received from Italy, a treatise on the equilibrium of arches, by the Abbé Mascheroni. It appears to be a very scientific work. I have not yet had time to engage in it; but I find that the conclusions of his demonstrations are, that every part of the catenary is in perfect equilibrium. It is a great point, then, in a new experiment, to adopt the sole arch, where the pressure will be equally borne by every point of it. If any one point is pushed with accumulated pressure, it will introduce a danger foreign to the essential part of the plan. The difficulty you suggest, is, that the rails being all in catenaries, the tubes must be of different lengths, as these approach nearer or recede farther from each other, and therefore, you recur to the portions of concentric circles, which are equi-distant in all their parts. But I would rather propose, that you make your middle rail an exact catenary, and the interior and exterior rails parallels to that. It is true they will not be exact catenaries, but they will depart very little from it; much less than portions of circles will. Nothing has been done here on the subject since you went away. There is an Abbé D'Arnal at Nismes, who has obtained an exclusive privilege for navigating the rivers of this country, by the aid of the steam engine. This interests Mr. Rumsey, who had hoped the same thing. D'Arnal's privilege was published in a paper of the 10th of November. Probably, therefore, his application for it was previous to the delivery of Mr. Rumsey's papers to the Secretary of the Academy of Sciences, which was in the latter part of the month of August. However, D'Arnal is not a formidable competitor. He is not in circumstances to make any use, himself, of his privilege, and he has so illy succeeded with a steam mill he erected at Nismes, that he is not likely to engage others to venture in his projects. To say another word of the catenarian arch, without caring about mathematical demonstrations, its nature proves it to be in equilibrio in every point. It is the arch formed by a string fixed at both ends, and swaying loose in all the intermediate points. Thus at liberty, they must finally take that position, wherein every one will be equally pressed; for if any one was more pressed than the neighboring point, it would give way, from the flexibility of the matter of the string.
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I am, with sentiments of sincere esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
TO MR. THOMAS PAINE
Paris, December 23, 1788.
Dear Sir,—As to the affairs of this country, they have hitherto gone on well. The Court being decided to call the States General, know that the form of calling and constituting them would admit of cavil. They asked the advice of the Notables. These advised that the form of the last States General of 1614 be observed. In that, the commons had but about one-third of the whole number of members, and they voted by orders. The Court wished now that they should have one-half of the whole number of members, and that they should form but one house, not three. The parliament have taken up the subject, and given the opinion which the Court would have wished. We are, therefore, in hopes that, availing themselves of these contrary opinions, they will follow that which they wished. The priests and nobles threaten schism; and we do not know yet what form will ultimately be adopted. If no schism of this kind prevents it, the States will meet about March or April, and will obtain, without opposition from the Court, 1. Their own periodical convocation; 2. A share in the legislation; 3. The exclusive right to tax and appropriate the public money. They will attempt also to obtain a habeas corpus law and free press; but it does not appear to me that the nation is ripe to accept of these, if offered. They may try to modify them to their present ideas in their first session, and at some future day adopt them in all their latitude. Upon the whole, if the dispute between the privileged and unprivileged orders does not prevent it, there is no doubt in my mind that they will obtain a fixed, free and wholesome Constitution. I should add, also, if external war does not call them from this pursuit. But against this they are secured by the insanity of the King of England, and they will not suffer themselves to be drawn into war by any other nation. There is reason to believe that the disturbances lately arisen in Poland, will induce the Empress to make her peace with the Turks, by parting with the Crimea, that she may be able to turn herself this way and preserve Poland, of more consequence to her. In this event, there is no doubt the Emperor makes peace with the Turks also, and it would not surprise if he and the Empress should attack the King of Prussia. I think it is not apprehended here that the death of the King of Spain will make any change in the politics of that Court. You ask about Mr. Littlepage. We heard that he joined the Prince of Nassau on the Black Sea, but know nothing of him since, nor have we any information about Paul Jones since the first action on that sea, wherein he was present. You also ask when I shall go to America, and whether by the way of England. I hope to receive my permission in time to sail immediately after the vernal equinox, because this will give me time to arrange my affairs in America, and to return here between the autumnal equinox and setting in of the winter. I shall certainly not go by the way of England. The encumbrance of a family and baggage will prevent this. I hope you will find some conveyance sufficiently confidential to communicate to me by letter what you say you wish to communicate in person. While in America, I shall attend on our President and Senate in order to possess them of such views of European affairs as I shall have been able to obtain. I shall suppose this the more my duty, as they will be forming their plan of foreign affairs. You have heard of the Arret of September 28th, excluding foreign whale oils from the ports of this country. I have obtained the promise of an explanatory Arret to declare that that of September 28th was not meant to extend to us. Orders are accordingly given in the ports to receive ours, and the Arret will soon be published. This places us on a better footing than ever, as it gives us a monopoly of this market in conjunction with the French fishermen.
TO MR. CARMICHAEL
Paris, December 25, 1788.
Dear Sir,—A sick family has prevented me, for upwards of a month, from putting pen to paper but in indispensable cases, and for some time before that, I had been waiting to receive American news worth communicating to you. These causes have occasioned my silence since my last, which was of the 12th of August, and my leaving unacknowledged, till now, your several favors of July 24th, Aug. 14th, Sept. 9th and Nov. 3d. That of the 14th instant also came to hand the day before yesterday.
You have long ago known that eleven States have ratified our new Constitution, and that North Carolina, contrary to all expectation, had declined either accepting or refusing, but has proposed amendments copied verbatim from those of Virginia. Virginia and Massachusetts had preferred this method of management, that is to say, desiring Congress to propose specific amendments to the several legislatures, which is one of the modes of amendment provided in the new Constitution; in this way nothing can be touched but the parts specifically pointed out. New York has written circular letters to the legislatures to adopt the other mode of amendment, provided also by the Constitution, that is to say, to assemble another federal convention. In this way the whole fabric would be submitted to alteration. Its friends, therefore, unite in endeavoring to have the first method adopted, and they seem agreed to concur in adding a bill of rights to the Constitution. This measure will bring over so great a part of the opposition, that what will remain after that will have no other than the good effect of watching, as sentinels, the conduct of government, and laying it before the public. Many of the opposition wish to take from Congress the power of internal taxation. Calculation has convinced me this would be very mischievous. The Electors are to be chosen the first Wednesday of January; President the first Wednesday in February, and the new government is to meet at New York the first Wednesday in March. The election of Senators has already begun. Pennsylvania has chosen Mr. R. Morrison and McClay; Connecticut, Dr. Johnson and Elsworth. I have heard of no others. I hope there is no doubt of General Washington's acceptance of the Presidentship. Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Jay and General Knox, are talked of in the Northern and Middle States for Vice-President. Yet it is suggested to me that the two latter will probably prefer their present offices, and the two former divide each other's interest so that neither may be chosen. Remarkable deaths are Colonel Bannister of Virginia, and John Penn of North Carolina. General Washington writes me word that the great rains had prevented the continuance of their labors on the Potomac, so that they should not be able to bring the navigation this winter to the great falls as he had hoped. It will want little of it, and no doubt remains of their completing the whole. That of James River has some time since been so far completed as to let vessels pass down to Richmond. The crop of wheat in America the last year has been a fine one both for quantity and quality. This country is likely to want. They have offered a premium of forty sous the quintal on flour of the United States, and thirty sous on their wheat imported here. They have also opened their islands for our supplies. Much will come here. Views which bid defiance to my calculations had induced this court in an Arret of September 28th, to comprehend us with the English, in the exclusion of whale oil from their ports, in flat contradiction to their Arret of December last. This you know would be a sentence of banishment to the inhabitants of Nantucket, and there is no doubt they would have removed to Nova Scotia or England, in preference to any other part of the world. A temporary order, however, is now given for our admittance, and a more prominent one under preparation. The internal affairs of this country will, I hope, go on well. Neither the time, place, nor form of the States General are yet announced. But they will certainly meet in March or April. The clergy and nobility, as clergy and nobility eternally will, are opposed to the giving to the Tiers Etat so effectual a representation as may dismount them from their backs. The court wishes to give to the unprivileged order an equal number of votes with the privileged, and that they should sit in one house, but the court is timid. Some are of opinion that a majority of the nobles are also on the side of the people. I doubt it when so great a proportion of the Notables, indeed almost an unanimity, were against them, and five princes of the blood out of seven. If no schism prevents the proceedings of the States General, I suppose they will obtain in their first session, 1. The periodical convocation of the States. 2. Their participation in the legislature; and 3. Their exclusive right to levy and appropriate money; and that at some future day, not very far distant, they will obtain a habeas corpus law and free press. They have great need of external peace to let them go on quietly with these internal improvements. This seems to be secured to them by the insanity of the King of England. Regents are generally peaceable, and I think this country will not let itself be diverted from its object by any other power. There are symptoms which render it suspicious that the two empires may make their peace with the Turks. It seems more eligible to Russia to do this by ceding the Crimea to them, that she may turn to the other side and save Poland, which the King of Prussia is endeavoring to wrest from her. Probably the loss of his principal ally will induce him to adopt a language and a conduct less Thrasonic. The death of the King of Spain contributes to throw into uncertainty the future face and fate of Europe. The English count on his successor. We have not yet received from London the decision on the question of regency. It is believed the Prince of Wales will be sole regent, and that there will be a total change in the ministry. In this case, probably 1405. 452. will be 846. 1453. 915. he will have found that the old proverb is not always true, "that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." There is something 816. 1209. 1225. 319. 8. 1548. 173. 1140. 457. 980. 913. 537. 814. 478. 887. 1363. 12. 1271. 1266. 904. 1266. 1017. 1548. 1128. 1581. 1438. 254.
The necessity of carrying back my family to America, and of carrying my affairs, which I left under expectation of returning to them very soon, have induced me to ask of Congress a leave of five or six months' absence during the next year. I hope to obtain it in time to sail soon after the vernal equinox, and shall return immediately after the autumnal. I shall be happy while there if I can render you any service, and shall hope to receive your commands before my departure, and in the meantime a continuance of your interesting communications, now become much more so, till we see which way the new administration of your residence will turn itself. I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
