Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 3 (of 9)
TO MR. SHORT
Philadelphia, January 3, 1793.
Dear Sir,—My last private letter to you was of October 16, since which I have received your Nos. 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113 and 114 and yesterday your private one of September 15, came to hand. The tone of your letters had for some time given me pain, on account of the extreme warmth with which they censured the proceedings of the Jacobins of France. I considered that sect as the same with the Republican patriots, and the Feuillants as the Monarchical patriots, well known in the early part of the Revolution, and but little distant in their views, both having in object the establishment of a free constitution, differing only on the question whether their chief Executive should be hereditary or not. The Jacobins (as since called) yielded to the Feuillants, and tried the experiment of retaining their hereditary Executive. The experiment failed completely, and would have brought on the re-establishment of despotism had it been pursued. The Jacobins knew this, and that the expunging that office was of absolute necessity. And the nation was with them in opinion, for however they might have been formerly for the constitution framed by the first assembly, they were come over from their hope in it, and were now generally Jacobins. In the struggle which was necessary, many guilty persons fell without the forms of trial, and with them some innocent. These I deplore as much as any body, and shall deplore some of them to the day of my death. But I deplore them as I should have done had they fallen in battle. It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordial friends met at their hands the fate of enemies. But time and truth will rescue and embalm their memories, while their posterity will be enjoying that very liberty for which they would never have hesitated to offer up their lives. The liberty of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood? My own affections have been deeply wounded by some of the martyrs to this cause, but rather than it should have failed I would have seen half the earth desolated; were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is. I have expressed to you my sentiments, because they are really those of ninety-nine in an hundred of our citizens. The universal feasts, and rejoicings which have lately been had on account of the successes of the French, showed the genuine effusions of their hearts. You have been wounded by the sufferings of your friends, and have by this circumstance been hurried into a temper of mind which would be extremely disrelished if known to your countrymen. The rescue of 224.68.1460.916.83. had never permitted me to discover the light in which he viewed it, and as I was more anxious that you should satisfy him than me, I had still avoided explanations with you on the subject. But your 113. induced him to break silence, and to notice the extreme acrimony of your expressions. He added that he had been informed the sentiments you expressed in your conversations were equally offensive to our allies, and that you should consider yourself as the representative of your country, and that what you say might be imputed to your constituents. He desired me therefore to write to you on this subject. He added that he considered 729.633.224.939.1243. 1210.741.1683.1460.216.1407.890.1416.1212.674.125.633.1450. 1559.182. there are in the United States some characters of opposite principles; some of them are high in office, others possessing great wealth, and all of them hostile to France, and fondly looking to England as the staff of their hope. These I named to you on a former occasion. Their prospects have certainly not brightened. Excepting them, this country is entirely republican, friends to the Constitution, anxious to preserve it, and to have it administered according to its own republican principles. The little party above mentioned have espoused it only as a stepping-stone to monarchy, and have endeavored to approximate it to that in its administration in order to render its final transition more easy. The successes of republicanism in France have given the coup de grace to their prospects, and I hope to their projects. I have developed to you faithfully the sentiments of your country, that you may govern yourself accordingly. I know your republicanism to be pure, and that it is no decay of that which has embittered you against its votaries in France, but too great a sensibility at the partial evil which its object has been accomplished there. I have written to you in the style to which I have been always accustomed with you, and which perhaps it is time I should lay aside. But while old men are sensible enough of their own advance in years, they do not sufficiently recollect it in those whom they have seen young. In writing, too, the last private letter which will probably be written under present circumstances, in contemplating that your correspondence will shortly be turned over to I know not whom, but certainly to some one not in the habit of considering your interests with the same fostering anxieties I do, I have presented things without reserve, satisfied you will ascribe what I have said to its true motive, use it for your own best interest, and in that fulfil completely what I had in view. With respect to the subject of your letter of Sept. 15, you will be sensible that many considerations would prevent my undertaking the reformation of a system with which I am so soon to take leave. It is but common decency to leave to my successor the moulding of his own business. Not knowing how otherwise to convey this letter to you with certainty, I shall appeal to the friendship and honor of the Spanish commissioners here, to give it the protection of their cover, as a letter of private nature altogether. We have no remarkable event here lately but the death of Dr. Lee, nor have I anything new to communicate to you of your friends or affairs. I am, with unalterable affection and wishes for your prosperity, my dear Sir, your sincere friend and servant.
TO MR. RANDOLPH
Philadelphia, January 7, 1793.
Dear Sir,—Our news from France continues to be good, and to promise a continuance; the event of the revolution there is now little doubted of, even by its enemies, the sensations it has produced here, and the indications of them in the public papers, have shown that the form our own government was to take depended much more on the events of France than anybody had before imagined. The tide which after our former relaxed government, took a violent course towards the opposite extreme, and seemed ready to hang everything round with the tassels and baubles of monarchy, is now getting track as we hope to a just mean, a government of laws addressed to the reason of the people and not to their weaknesses. The daily papers show it more than those you receive. An attempt in the House of Representatives to stop the recruiting service has been rejected. Indeed, the conferences for peace, agreed to by the Indians, do not promise much, as we have reason to believe they will insist on taking back lands purchased at former treaties. Maria is well; we hope all are so at Monticello. My best love to my dear Martha, and am, most affectionately, dear Sir, yours, &c.
TO MR. GALLATIN
Philadelphia, January 25, 1793.
Sir,—Mr. Segaux called on me this morning to ask a statement of the experiment which was made in Virginia by a Mr. Mazzie, for the raising vines and making wines, and desired I would address it to you. Mr. Mazzie was an Italian, and brought over with him about a dozen laborers of his own country, bound to serve him four or five years. We made up a subscription for him of £2,000 sterling, and he began his experiment on a piece of land adjoining to mine. His intention was, before the time of his people should expire, to import more from Italy. He planted a considerable vineyard, and attended to it with great diligence for three years. The war then came on, the time of his people soon expired, some of them enlisted, others chose to settle on other lands and labor for themselves; some were taken away by the gentlemen of the country for gardeners, so that there did not remain a single one with him, and the interruption of navigation prevented his importing others. In this state of things he was himself employed by the State of Virginia to go to Europe as their agent to do some particular business. He rented his place to General Riedesel, whose horses in one week destroyed the whole labor of three or four years; and thus ended an experiment which, from every appearance, would in a year or two more have established the practicability of that branch of culture in America. This is the sum of the experiment as exactly as I am able to state it from memory, after such an interval of time, and I consign it to you in whose hands I know it will be applied with candor, if it contains anything applicable to the case for which it has been asked.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
TO MRS. RANDOLPH
Philadelphia, January 26, 1793.
My Dear Martha,—
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I have for some time past been under an agitation of mind which I scarcely ever experienced before, produced by a check on my purpose of returning home at the close of this session of Congress. My operations at Monticello had been all made to bear upon that point of time, my mind was fixed on it with a fondness which was extreme, the purpose firmly declared to the President, when I became assailed from all quarters with a variety of objections. Among these it was urged that my return just when I had been attacked in the public papers, would injure me in the eyes of the public, who would suppose I either withdrew from investigation, or because I had not tone of mind sufficient to meet slander. The only reward I ever wished on my retirement was to carry with me nothing like a disapprobation of the public. These representations have, for some weeks past, shaken a determination which I had thought the whole world could not have shaken. I have not yet finally made up my mind on the subject, nor changed my declaration to the President. But having perfect reliance in the disinterested friendship of some of those who have counseled and urged it strongly; believing that they can see and judge better a question between the public and myself than I can, I feel a possibility that I may be detained here into the summer. A few days will decide. In the meantime I have permitted my house to be rented after the middle of March, have sold such of my furniture as would not suit Monticello, and am packing up the rest and storing it ready to be shipped off to Richmond as soon as the season of good sea weather comes on. A circumstance which weighs on me next to the weightiest is the trouble which, I foresee, I shall be constrained to ask Mr. Randolph to undertake. Having taken from other pursuits a number of hands to execute several purposes which I had in view this year, I cannot abandon those purposes and lose their labor altogether. I must, therefore, select the most important and least troublesome of them, the execution of my canal, and (without embarrassing him with any details which Clarkson and George are equal to) get him to tell them always what is to be done and how, and to attend to the levelling the bottom; but on this I shall write him particularly if I defer my departure. I have not received the letter which Mr. Carr wrote to me from Richmond, nor any other from him since I left Monticello. My best affections to him, Mr. Randolph and your fireside, and am, with sincere love, my dear Martha, yours.
TO DR. STEWART, OR TO ALL THE GENTLEMEN
January 31, 1793.
I have had under consideration Mr. Hallet's plans for the capitol, which undoubtedly have a great deal of merit. Doctor Thornton has also given me a view of his. These last came forward under some very advantageous circumstances. The grandeur, simplicity and beauty of the exterior, the propriety with which the apartments are distributed, and economy in the mass of the whole structure, will, I doubt not, give it a preference in your eyes, as it has done in mine and those of several others whom I have consulted. I have, therefore, thought it better to give the Doctor time to finish his plan, and for this purpose to delay until your next meeting a final decision. Some difficulty arises with respect to Mr. Hallet, who you know was in some degree led into his plan by ideas we all expressed to him. This ought not to induce us to prefer it to a better; but while he is liberally rewarded for the time and labor he has expended on it, his feelings should be saved and soothed as much as possible. I leave it to yourselves how best to prepare him for the possibility that the Doctor's plan may be preferred to his. Some ground for this will be furnished you by the occasion you will have for recourse to him as to the interior of the apartments, and the taking of him into service at a fixed allowance; and I understand that his necessities render it material that he should know what his allowance is to be.
TO MR. CARROLL
Philadelphia, February 1, 1793.
Dear Sir,—Doctor Thornton's plan of a capitol has been produced, and has so captivated the eyes and judgment of all as to leave no doubt you will prefer it when it shall be exhibited to you; as no doubt exists here of its preference over all which have been produced, and among its admirers no one is more decided than him whose decision is most important. It is simple, noble, beautiful, excellently distributed, and moderate in size. The purpose of this letter is to apprize you of this sentiment. A just respect for the right of approbation in the commissioners will prevent any formal decision in the President till the plan shall be laid before you and be approved by you. The Doctor will go with it to your meeting in the beginning of March. In the meantime, the interval of apparent doubt may be improved for settling the mind of poor Hallet, whose merit and distresses interest every one for his tranquillity and pecuniary relief. I have taken the liberty of making these private estimates, thinking you would wish to know the true state of the sentiments here on this subject, and am with sincere respect and esteem for your colleagues and yourself, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.
Circular to the ministers of France, the United Netherlands, Great Britain, &c
Philadelphia, February 13, 1793.
Sir,—The House of Representatives having referred to me, to report to them the nature and extent of the privileges and restrictions on the commerce of the United States with foreign nations, I have accordingly prepared a report on that subject. Being particularly anxious that it may be exact in matters of fact, I take the liberty of putting into your hands, privately and informally, an extract of such as relate to our commerce with your nation, in hopes that if you can either enlarge or correct them, you will do me that favor. It is safer to suppress an error in its first conception, than to trust to any after-correction; and a confidence in your sincere desire to communicate or to re-establish any truths which may contribute to a perfect understanding between our two nations, has induced me to make the present request. I wish it had been in my power to have done this sooner, and thereby have obtained the benefit of your having more time to contemplate it; but circumstances have retarded the entire completion of the report till the Congress is approaching its end, which will oblige me to give it in within three or four days.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. The report having been prepared before the late diminution of the duties on our tobacco, that circumstance will be noted in the letter which will cover that report.
France receives favorably our bread stuff, rice, wood, pot and pearl ashes.
A duty of five sous the quintal, or nearly four and a half cents, is paid on our tar, pitch and turpentine. Our whale oils pay six livres the quintal, and are the only whale oils admitted. Our indigo pays five livres the quintal, their own two and a half; but a difference of quality, still more than a difference of duty, prevents its seeking that market.
Salted beef is received freely for re-exportation; but if for home consumption, it pays five livres the quintal. Other salted provisions pay that duty in all cases, and salted fish is made lately to pay the prohibitory one, of twenty livres the quintal.
Our ships are free to carry thither all foreign goods, which may be carried in their own or any other vessels, except tobaccos not of our own growth; and they participate with theirs, the exclusive carriage of our whale oils.
During their former government, our tobacco was under a monopoly, but paid no duties; and our ships were freely sold in their ports and converted into national bottoms. The first National Assembly took from our ships this privilege. They emancipated tobacco from its monopoly, but subjected it to duties of eighteen livres fifteen sous the quintal, carried in their own vessels, and twenty five livres, carried in ours; a difference more than equal to the freight of the article.
They and their colonies consume what they receive from us.
France, by a standing law, permits her West India possessions to receive directly our vegetables, live provisions, horses, wood, tar, pitch, and turpentine, rice and maize, and prohibits our other bread stuff; but a suspension of this prohibition having been left to the colonial legislature, in times of scarcity, it was formerly suspended occasionally, but latterly without interruption.
Our fish and salted provisions (except pork) are received in their islands, under a duty of three colonial livres the quintal, and our vessels are as free as their own to carry our commodities thither, and to bring away rum and molasses.
The United Netherlands prohibit our pickled beef and pork, meals, and bread of all sorts, and lay a prohibitory duty on spirits distilled from grain.
All other of our productions are received on varied duties, which may be reckoned, on a medium, at about three per cent.
They consume but a small proportion of what they receive. The residue is partly forwarded for consumption in the inland parts of Europe, and partly re-shipped to other maritime countries. On the latter portion, they intercept between us and the consumer, so much of the real value as is absorbed by the charges attending an intermediate deposit.
Foreign goods, except some East India articles, are received in the vessels of any nation.
Our ships may be sold and naturalized there, with exceptions of one or two privileges, which scarcely lessen their value.
In the American possessions of the United Netherlands, and Sweden, our vessels and produce are received, subject to duties, not so heavy as to have been complained of.
Great Britain receives our pot and pearl ashes free, while those of other nations pay a duty of two shillings and three pence the quintal. There is an equal distinction in favor of our bar iron, of which article, however, we do not produce enough for our own use. Woods are free from us, whilst they pay some small duty from other countries. Indigo and flaxseed are free from all countries. Our tar and pitch pay eleven pence sterling the barrel. From other alien countries they pay about a penny and a third more.
Our tobacco, for their own consumption, pays one shilling three pence sterling the pound, custom and excise, besides heavy expenses of collection; and rice, in the same case, pays seven shillings four pence sterling the hundred weight, which rendering it too dear as an article of common food, it is consequently used in very small quantity.
Our salted fish, and other salted provisions, except bacon, are prohibited. Bacon and whale oils are under prohibitory duties: so are our grains, meals and bread, as to internal consumption, unless in times of such scarcity as may raise the price of wheat to fifty shillings sterling the quarter, and other grains and meals in proportion.
Our ships, though purchased and navigated by their own subjects, are not permitted to be used, even in their trade with us.
While the vessels of other nations are secured by standing laws, which cannot be altered but by the concurrent will of the three branches of the British Legislature, in carrying thither any produce or manufacture of the country to which they belong, which may be lawfully carried in any vessels, ours, with the same prohibition of what is foreign, are further prohibited by a standing law (12. Car. 2. c. 18, s. 3,) from carrying thither all and any of our domestic productions and manufactures. A subsequent act, indeed, has authorized their executive to permit the carriage of our own productions in our own bottoms, at its sole discretion; and the permission has been given from year to year, by proclamation; but subject every moment to be withdrawn on that single will, in which event, our vessels having anything on board, stand interdicted from the entry of all British ports. The disadvantage of a tenure which may be so suddenly discontinued, was experienced by our merchants on a late occasion, when an official notification that this law would be strictly enforced, gave them just apprehensions for the fate of their vessels and cargoes despatched or destined to the ports of Great Britain. It was privately believed, indeed, that the order of that court went further than their intention, and so we were, afterwards, officially informed; but the embarrassments of the moment were real and great, and the possibility of their renewal lays our commerce to that country under the same species of discouragement, as to other countries where it is regulated by a single legislator; and the distinction is too remarkable not to be noticed, that our navigation is excluded from the security of fixed laws, while that security is given to the navigation of others.
Our vessels pay in their ports one shilling nine pence sterling per ton, light and tritrity dues, more than is paid by British ships, except in the port of London, where they pay the same as British.
The greater part of what they receive from us, is re-exported to other countries, under the useless charges of an intermediate deposit and double voyage.
From tables published in England, and composed, as is said, from the books of their Custom Houses, it appears, that of the indigo imported there in the years 1773-4-5, one third was re-exported; and from a document of authority, we learn that of the rice and tobacco imported there before the war, four-fifths were re-exported. We are assured, indeed, that the quantities sent thither for re-exportation since the war, are considerably diminished; yet less so than reason and national interest would dictate. The whole of our grain is re-exported, when wheat is below fifty shillings the quarter, and other grains in proportion.
Great Britain admits in her islands our vegetables, live provisions, horses, wood, tar, pitch and turpentine, rice and bread stuff, by a proclamation of her executive, limited always to the term of a year, but hitherto renewed from year to year. She prohibits our salted fish and other salted provisions. She does not permit our vessels to carry thither our own produce. Her vessels alone may take it from us, and bring in exchange, rum, molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa nuts, ginger and pimento. There are, indeed, some freedoms in the island of Dominica, but under such circumstances as to be little used by us. In the British continental colonies, and in Newfoundland, all our productions are prohibited, and our vessels forbidden to enter their ports. Their Governors, however, in times of distress, have power to permit a temporary importation of certain articles in their own bottoms, but not in ours.
Our citizens cannot reside as merchants or factors within any of the British plantations, this being expressly prohibited by the same statute of 12 Car. 2, c. 18, commonly called their navigation act.
Of our commercial objects, Spain receives favorably our bread stuff, salted fish, wood, ships, tar, pitch, and turpentine. On our meals, however, when re-exported to their colonies, they have lately imposed duties of from half a dollar to two dollars the barrel, the duties being so proportioned to the current price of their own flour, as that both together are to make the constant sum of nine dollars per barrel.
They do not discourage our rice, pot and pearl ash, salted provisions, or whale oil; but these articles being in small demand at their markets, are carried thither but in a small degree. Their demand for rice, however, is increasing. Neither tobacco nor indigo are received there.
Themselves and their colonies are the actual consumers of what they receive from us.
Our navigation is free with the kingdom of Spain, foreign goods being received there in our ships on the same conditions as if carried in their own, or in the vessels of the country of which such goods are the manufacture or produce.
Spain and Portugal refuse to those parts of America which they govern, all direct intercourse with any people but themselves. The commodities in mutual demand between them and their neighbors, must be carried to be exchanged in some part of the dominant country, and the transportation between that and the subject State, must be in a domestic bottom.
