Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9)
TO RICHARD M. JOHNSON
Washington, March 10, 1808.
Sir,—I am sure you can too justly estimate my occupations; to need an apology for this tardy acknowledgment of your favor of February the 27th. I cannot but be deeply sensible of the good opinion you are pleased to express of my conduct in the administration of our government. This approbation of my fellow citizens is the richest reward I can receive. I am conscious of having always intended to do what was best for them; and never, for a single moment, to have listened to any personal interest of my own. It has been a source of great pain to me, to have met with so many among our opponents, who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions. I suppose, indeed, that in public life, a man whose political principles have any decided character, and who has energy enough to give them effect, must always expect to encounter political hostility from those of adverse principles. But I came to the government under circumstances calculated to generate peculiar acrimony. I found all its offices in the possession of a political sect, who wished to transform it ultimately into the shape of their darling model, the English government; and in the meantime, to familiarize the public mind to the change, by administering it on English principles, and in English forms. The elective interposition of the people had blown all their designs, and they found themselves and their fortresses of power and profit put in a moment into the hands of other trustees. Lamentations and invective were all that remained to them. This last was naturally directed against the agent selected to execute the multiplied reformations, which their heresies had rendered necessary. I became of course the butt of everything which reason, ridicule, malice and falsehood could supply. They have concentrated all their hatred on me, till they have really persuaded themselves, that I am the sole source of all their imaginary evils. I hope, therefore, that my retirement will abate some of their disaffection to the government of their country, and that my successor will enter on a calmer sea than I did. He will at least find the vessel of state in the hands of his friends, and not of his foes. Federalism is dead, without even the hope of a day of resurrection. The quondam leaders, indeed, retain their rancor and principles; but their followers are amalgamated with us in sentiment, if not in name. If our fellow citizens, now solidly republican, will sacrifice favoritism towards men for the preservation of principle, we may hope that no divisions will again endanger a degeneracy in our government.
* * * * * * * *
I pray you to accept my salutations, and assurances of great esteem and respect.
TO MR. MADISON
March 11, 1808.
I suppose we must despatch another packet by the 1st of April at farthest. I take it to be an universal opinion that war will become preferable to a continuance of the embargo after a certain time. Should we not then avail ourselves of the intervening period to procure a retraction of the obnoxious decrees peaceably, if possible? An opening is given us by both parties, sufficient to form a basis for such a proposition.
I wish you to consider, therefore, the following course of proceeding, to wit:
To instruct our ministers at Paris and London, by the next packet, to propose immediately to both those powers a declaration on both sides that these decrees and orders shall no longer be extended to vessels of the United States, in which case we shall remain faithfully neutral; but, without assuming the air of menace, to let them both perceive that if they do not withdraw these orders and decrees, there will arrive a time when our interests will render war preferable to a continuance of the embargo; that when that time arrives, if one has withdrawn and the other not, we must declare war against that other; if neither shall have withdrawn, we must take our choice of enemies between them. This it will certainly be our duty to have ascertained by the time Congress shall meet in the fall or beginning of winter; so that taking off the embargo, they may decide whether war must be declared, and against whom. Affectionate salutations.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL
Washington, March 13, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I received last night your favor of the 10th. There can certainly be no present objection to the forwarding the letters therein mentioned, according to their address.
We have nothing new of importance, except that at the last reading of an amendatory bill a few days ago, the House of Representatives were surprised into the insertion of an insidious clause permitting any merchant having property abroad, on proving it to the executive, to send a ship for it. We are already overwhelmed with applications, and there is real danger that the great object of the embargo in keeping our ships and seamen out of harm's way, will be defeated; and every vessel and seaman sent out under this pretext, and placed in the prize of the belligerent tyrants. I salute you with friendship and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN
March 17, 1808.
I think it will be impossible to form general rules for carrying into execution the seventh section of the law of March 12th, without a fuller view of the number and nature of the cases which are to come under it. I have waited in expectation the applications would multiply so as to give one a general view, but I have received but about half a dozen. But, indeed, nothing short of a knowledge of all the cases can enable us to provide for them. I have been wishing, therefore, to converse with you on this proposition; to wit, to direct the collectors to advertize in their respective ports, that all persons desiring the benefit of that law, must immediately deliver to him a statement of the place where they have property, its amount, whether cash or goods, and what kind of goods, and in whose hands, on oath, but without exhibiting other proofs till further called on. These particulars may be stated in a tabular view; for cash we might authorize vessels to go immediately, but for goods rules must be framed on a view of all circumstances.
With respect to the constitution of the act, there are cases in the books where the word "may" has been adjudged equivalent to "shall," but the term "is authorized," unless followed by "and required," was, I think, never so considered. On the contrary, I believe it is the very term which Congress always use toward the executive when they mean to give a power to him, and leave the use of it to his discretion.
It is the very phrase on which there is now a difference in the House of Representatives, on the bill for raising 6,000 regulars, which says "there shall be raised," and some desire it to say "the President is authorized to raise," leaving him the power with a discretion to use it or not. It is to be observed also that the one construction puts it in the power of individuals to defeat the embargo in a great measure, while the other leaves a power to combine a due regard to the object of the law with the interests of individuals. I like your idea of proportioning the tonnage of the vessel to the value (in some degree) of the property, but its bulk must also be taken into consideration. On the whole, I should be for giving prompt permission to bring home money, because one vessel will bring for all those who have cash at the same port; but the bringing property in other forms, will require a fuller view and digest of rules. Affectionate salutations.
TO W. C. NICHOLAS, ESQ
Washington, March 20, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 18th is duly received. Be assured that I value no act of friendship so highly as the communicating facts to me, which I am not in the way of knowing otherwise, and could not therefore otherwise guard against. I have had too many proofs of your friendship not to be sensible of the kindness of these communications, and to receive them with peculiar obligation. The receipt of Mr. Rose's answer has furnished the happiest occasion for me to present to Congress a complete view of the ground on which we stand with the two principal belligerents, and, with respect to France, to lay before them, for the public, every communication received from that government since the last session, including those heretofore sent, in order that they also may be published, and let our constituents see whether these papers gave just ground for the falsehoods which have been so impudently advanced. We shall hope to see you to-day. Affectionate salutations.
TO DOCTOR WISTAR
Washington, March 20, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 12th is received. Congress, I think, will rise in about three weeks,—say about the 11th of April, and I shall leave this five or six days after, on a visit of some length to Monticello. This illy accords with your journey to the westward in May; but can you not separate your excursion to this place from the western journey? Between Philadelphia and this place is but two days, and the roads are already fine. I would propose, therefore, that you should come a few days before Congress rises, so as to satisfy that article of your curiosity. The bones are spread in a large room, where you can work at your leisure, undisturbed by any mortal, from morning till night, taking your breakfast and dinner with us. It is a precious collection, consisting of upwards of three hundred bones, few of them of the large kinds which are already possessed. There are four pieces of the head, one very clear, and distinctly presenting the whole face of the animal. The height of his forehead is most remarkable. In this figure, the indenture at the eye gives a prominence of six inches to the forehead. There are four jaw-bones tolerably entire, with several teeth in them, and some fragments; three tusks like elephants; one ditto totally different, the largest probably ever seen, being now from nine to ten feet long, though broken off at both ends; some ribs; an abundance of teeth studded, and also of those of the striated or ribbed kind; a fore-leg complete; and then about two hundred small bones, chiefly of the foot. This is probably the most valuable part of the collection, for General Clarke, aware that we had specimens of the larger bones, has gathered up everything of the small kind. There is one horn of a colossal animal. The bones which came do not correspond exactly with General Clarke's description; probably there were some omissions of his packers. Having sent my books to Monticello, I have nothing here to assist you but the Encyclopedie Methodique. I hope you will make this a separate excursion; and come before Congress rises, whenever it best suits you. I salute you with friendship and respect.
TO THE DEMOCRATIC CITIZENS OF THE COUNTY OF ADAMS, PENNSYLVANIA
March 20, 1808.
I see with pleasure, fellow citizens, in your address of February 15th, a sound recurrence to the first principles on which our government is founded; an examination by that test of the rights we possess, and the wrongs we have suffered; a just line drawn between a wholesome attention to the conduct of rulers, and a too ready censure of that conduct on every unfounded rumor; between the love of peace, and the determination to meet war, when its evils shall be less intolerable than the wrongs it is meant to correct. With so just a view of principles and circumstances, your approbation of my conduct, under the difficulties which have beset us on every side, is doubly valued by me, and offers high encouragement to a perseverance in my best endeavors for the preservation of your peace, so long as it shall be consistent with the preservation of your rights. When this ceases to be practicable, I feel entire confidence in the arduous exertions which you pledge in support of the measures which may be called for by the exigencies of the times, and in the known energies and enterprize of our countrymen in whatsoever direction they are pointed. If these energies are embodied by an union of will, and by a confidence in those who direct it, our nation, so favored in its situation, has nothing to fear from any quarter. To that union of effort may our citizens ever rally, minorities falling cordially, on the decision of a question, into the ranks of the majority, and bearing always in mind that a nation ceases to be republican only when the will of the majority ceases to be the law. I thank you, fellow citizens, for the solicitude you kindly express for my future welfare. A retirement from the exercise of my present charge is equally for your good and my own happiness. Gratitude for past favors, and affectionate concern for the liberty and prosperity of my fellow citizens, will cease but with life to animate my breast.
TO MR. GALLATIN
March 23, 1808.
It is a maxim of our municipal law, and, I believe, of universal law, that he who permits the end, permits of course the means, without which the end cannot be effected. The law permitting rum, molasses, and sugar, to be imported from countries which have not packages for them, would be construed in the most rigorous courts to permit them to be carried. They would consider the restriction to ballast and provisions as a restriction to necessaries, and merely equivalent to a declaration that they shall carry out nothing for sale.
This is certainly one object of the law, and the second is to import the property; and to these objects all constructions of it should be directed. I have no doubt, therefore, that Messrs. Low and Wallace, and others, should be allowed to carry out the necessary and sufficient packages. But a right to take care that the law is not evaded, allows us to prescribe that kind of package which can be best guarded against fraud. Boxes ready-made could not, perhaps, be so easily probed, to discover if they contained nothing for exportation. Casks filled with water can be easily sounded from the bunghole. If you think, therefore, that one kind of package is safer than another, it may be prescribed; for that nothing for sale shall be exported is as much the object of the law, as that their property shall be imported. Reasonable attention is due to each object. Affectionate salutations.
TO M. LE VAVASSEUR
Washington, March 23, 1807.
Sir,—I am sensible of the extraordinary ingenuity and merit of the work which you offer to the acquisition of our government. It would certainly be an ornament to any country. But with such an immense extent of country before us, wanting common improvement to render it productive, the United States have not thought the moment as yet arrived when it would be wise in them to divert their funds to objects less pressing; no law has yet authorized acquisitions of this character. The idea of rendering the Greek and Latin languages living, has certainly some captivating points. The experiment has, I believe, been tried in Europe as to the Latin language, but with what degree of success I am not precisely informed. I suppose it very possible to reform the language of the modern Greeks to the ancient standard, and that this may one day take place. But in our infant country objects more urgent force themselves on our attention, and call for the aid of all our means. These peculiarities of our situation deprive us of the advantage of availing our country of propositions which, in a more advanced stage of improvement, might be entitled to consideration.
Permit me to tender my salutations, and assurances of respect.
TO LEVI LINCOLN
Washington, March 23, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Your letter on the subject of Mr. Lee came safely to hand. You know our principles render federalists in office safe, if they do not employ their influence in opposing the government, but only give their own vote according to their conscience. And this principle we act on as well with those put in office by others, as by ourselves.
We have received from your presses a very malevolent and incendiary denunciation of the administration, bottomed on absolute falsehood from beginning to end. The author would merit exemplary punishment for so flagitious a libel, were not the torment of his own abominable temper punishment sufficient for even as base a crime as this. The termination of Mr. Rose's mission, re infecta, put it in my power to communicate to Congress yesterday, everything respecting our relations with England and France, which will effectually put down Mr. Pickering, and his worthy coadjutor Mr. Quincy. Their tempers are so much alike, and really their persons, as to induce a supposition that they are related. The embargo appears to be approved, even by the federalists of every quarter except yours. The alternative was between that and war, and in fact, it is the last card we have to play, short of war. But if peace does not take place in Europe, and if France and England will not consent to withdraw the operation of their decrees and orders from us, when Congress shall meet in December, they will have to consider at what point of time the embargo, continued, becomes a greater evil than war. I am inclined to believe, we shall have this summer and autumn to prepare for the defence of our seaport towns, and hope that in that time, the works of defence will be completed which have been provided for by the Legislature. I think Congress will rise within three weeks.
I salute you with great affection and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN
March 26, 1808.
Mr. Madison happening to call on me just now, I consulted him on the subject of Hoffman's letter. We both think that it would be neither just nor expedient that the supplies necessary to the existence of the Indians should be cut off from them; and that if no construction of the embargo law will permit the passage of their commerce, and if that law could, and did intend to control the treaty, (the last of which is hardly to be believed,) then an amendment should be asked of Congress. I have no copy of the law by me, and indeed am too unwell for very close exercise of the mind. Affectionate salutations.
TO CHARLES PINCKNEY
Washington, March 30, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Your letter of the 8th was received on the 25th, and I proceed to state to you my views of the present state and prospect of foreign affairs, under the confidence that you will use them for your own government and opinions only, and by no means let them get out as from me. With France we are in no immediate danger of war. Her future views it is impossible to estimate. The immediate danger we are in of a rupture with England, is postponed for this year. This is effected by the embargo, as the question was simply between that and war. That may go on a certain time, perhaps through the year, without the loss of their property to our citizens, but only its remaining unemployed on their hands. A time would come, however, when war would be preferable to a continuance of the embargo. Of this Congress may have to decide at their next meeting. In the meantime, we have good information, that a negotiation for peace between France and England is commencing through the medium of Austria. The way for it has been smoothed by a determination expressed by France (through the Moniteur, which is their government paper) that herself and her allies will demand from Great Britain no renunciation of her maritime principles; nor will they renounce theirs. Nothing shall be said about them in the treaty, and both sides will be left in the next war to act on their own. No doubt the meaning of this is, that all the Continental powers of Europe will form themselves into an armed neutrality, to enforce their own principles. Should peace be made, we shall have safely rode out the storm in peace and prosperity. If we have anything to fear, it will be after that. Nothing should be spared from this moment in putting our militia in the best condition possible, and procuring arms. I hope, that this summer, we shall get our whole seaports put into that state of defence, which Congress has thought proportioned to our circumstances and situation; that is to say, put hors d'insulte from a maritime attack, by a moderate squadron. If armies are combined with their fleets, then no resource can be provided, but to meet them in the field. We propose to raise seven regiments only for the present year, depending always on our militia for the operations of the first year of war. On any other plan, we should be obliged always to keep a large standing army. Congress will adjourn in about three weeks. I hope Captain McComb is getting on well with your defensive works. We shall be able by mid-summer, to give you a sufficient number of gun-boats to protect Charleston from any vessel which can cross the bar; but the militia of the place must be depended on to fill up the complement of men necessary for action in the moment of an attack, as we shall man them, in ordinary, but with their navigating crew of eight or ten good seamen.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
