Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 5 (of 9)
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Monticello, May 15, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I received yesterday the enclosed letter from a Mr. Wood, of New York. I should suppose the fruits of Europe stood nearly on the ground of the dry goods of Europe, not tempting evasion by exorbitant prices, nor defeating the object of the embargo in any important degree, even if a deviation should take place. I send it to yourself for decision and answer, in order that there may be an uniformity in the decisions. I am really glad to find the collector so cautious, and hope others will be equally so, and I place immense value in the experiment being fully made, how far an embargo may be an effectual weapon in future as well as on this occasion. I salute you with affection and respect.
P. S. Will you send me sixteen copies of my letters to the Governors of Orleans, Georgia, &c., which I think you proposed to have printed? I will enclose it to the other governors with explanations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Monticello, May 17, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 16th came to hand last night. As the lead mines do not press in point of time, I would rather they should be the subject of a conversation on my return. It is not merely a question about the terms we have to consider, but the expediency of working them. As to the Savannah revenue cutter, I approve of the proposition in your letter, or whatever else you may think proper to be done. The regular traders to New Orleans may be admitted to go as usual, the characters of the owners being known to be safe, and provisions and lumber being excepted. Cotton perhaps may be permitted to be brought back on the consideration that its price in Europe is not likely to be such as that the adventurers may afford to pay all the forfeitures. I presume Mr. Price's application, which I enclose you, will fall under this general permission. Will you be so good as to have the proper answer given him. If we change our rule of tonnage for Mr. Murray's purpose, the next application will be for such a rate of tonnage as will allow them to bring back their property in the form of hay. General Dearborne has occasion to send a vessel to Passamaquoddy with cannon for the batteries, and perhaps provision for the troops, and has asked me to send him a blank license. But as these licenses are not signed by me, I refer him to you for the necessary arrangements.
I shall sincerely lament Cuba's falling into any hands but those of its present owners. Spanish America is at present in the best hands for us, and "Chi sta bene, non si muove" should be our motto. I salute you with affection.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Monticello, May 19, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I now return you the papers reserved from the last post. Our regular answer to Mr. Livingston may well be, that the Attorney General having given an official opinion that the right to the batture is in the United States, and the matter being now referred to Congress, it is our duty to keep the grounds clear of any adversary possession, until the Legislature shall decide on it. I have carefully read Mr. Livingston's printed memoir. He has shaken my opinion as to the line within the road having been intended as a line of boundary instead of its being a line of admeasurement only. But he establishes another fact by the testimony of Fendeau, very fatal to his claim; to wit, that the high-water mark, "batture, ou viennent battre les eaux lorsqu elles sont dans leurs plus grandes croissances," is the universal boundary of private grants on the river.
Your observations on his allegations that Gravier's grant must be under the Spanish law, because after the cession of the province by France to Spain, though before delivery of possession, are conclusive. To which may be added, that Louis XIV. having established the Constumes de Paris as the law of Louisiana, this was not changed by the mere act of transfer; on the contrary, the laws of France continued and continue to be the law of the land, except where specially altered by some subsequent edict of Spain or act of Congress. He has not in the least shaken the doctrine that the bed of the river, and all the atterrissements or banks which arise on it by the depositions of the river, are the property of the King by a peculiarity in the law of France; so that nothing quoted from those of Spain or the Roman law is of authority on that point. Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Monticello, May 20, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I return you the papers of Fanning, Lesdernier, and Sacket. With respect to Fanning's case, the true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law, is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances, provided they do not contradict the express words of the law. We certainly know that the Legislature meant that vessels might go out to bring home property, but not to commence a new career of commerce. The bringing home the property being the main object, if it be in an impracticable form, it expects the intention of the law to let it be commuted into a practicable form; and so from an inconvenient to a convenient form. To prevent any abuse of this accommodation, by entering into a new operation of commerce with it, the discretionary permission is left to the President. I think the conversion of the sandal wood into a more portable form in this case, is fulfilling the object of the law, and that it is immaterial whether that be done in the Friendly Islands, where the wood now is, or wherever by the way it can be better done. Consequently, that permission may be granted. I hope you will spare no pains or expense to bring the rascals of Passamaquoddy to justice, and if more force be necessary, agree on the subject with General Dearborne or Mr. Smith, as to any aid they can spare, and let it go without waiting to consult me. Let the successor to Sacket also be commissioned without waiting for my opinion, which will be yours. Should a pardon be granted to Russell, I generally but not invariably require a recommendation from the judges. I shall be ready to consider any propositions you may make for mitigating the embargo law of April 25th, but so only as not to defeat the object of the law. I shall be ready to make a distinction between provisions, timber, naval stores, and such things, as by the exaggerated prices they have got to in foreign markets, would enable infactors to pay all forfeitures and still make great profit, and cotton and such other articles as have not got to such prices. I am for going substantially to the object of the law, and no further; perhaps a little more earnestly because it is the first expedient, and it is of great importance to know its full effect.
I salute you with constant affection and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR
Monticello, May 20, 1808.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 14th came to hand yesterday. I do not see that we can avoid agreeing to estimates made by worthy men of our own choice for the sites of fortifications, or that we could leave an important place undefended because too much is asked for the site. And therefore we must pay what the sites at Boston have been valued at. At the same time I do not know on what principles of reasoning it is that good men think the public ought to pay more for a thing than they would themselves if they wanted it. I salute you with affection and respect.
TO GENERAL BENJAMIN SMITH
Monticello, May 20, 1808.
Sir,—I return you my thanks for the communication by your letter of April 19th, of the resolutions of the Grand Jury of Brunswick, approving of the embargo. Could the alternative of war or the embargo have been presented to the whole nation, as it occurred to their representatives, there could have been but the one opinion that it was better to take the chance of one year by the embargo, within which the orders and decrees producing it may be repealed, or peace take place in Europe, which may secure peace to us. How long the continuance of the embargo may be preferable to war, is a question we shall have to meet, if the decrees and orders and war continue. I am sorry that in some places, chiefly on our northern frontier, a disposition even to oppose the law by force has been manifested. In no country on earth is this so impracticable as in one where every man feels a vital interest in maintaining the authority of the laws, and instantly engages in it as in his own personal cause. Accordingly, we have experienced this spontaneous aid of our good citizens in the neighborhoods where there has been occasion, as I am persuaded we ever shall on such occasions. Through the body of our country generally our citizens appear heartily to approve and support the embargo. I am also to thank you for the communication of the Wilmington proceedings, and I add my salutations and assurances of great respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Monticello, May 24, 1807.
Dear Sir;– * * * * * What has been already said on the subject of Casa Calvo, Yrujo, Miranda, is sufficient, and that these should be seriously brought up again argues extreme weakness in Cavallos, or a plan to keep things unsettled with us. But I think it would not be amiss to take him down from his high airs as to the right of the sovereign to hinder the upper inhabitants from the use of the Mobile, by observing, 1st, that we claim to be the sovereign, although we give time for discussion. But 2d, that the upper inhabitants of a navigable water have always a right of innocent passage along it. I think Cavallos will not probably be the minister when the letter arrives at Madrid, and that an eye to that circumstance may perhaps have some proper influence on the style of the letter, in which, if meant for himself, his hyperbolic airs might merit less respect. I think too that the truth as to Pike's mission might be so simply stated as to need no argument to show that (even during the suspension of our claims to the eastern border of the Rio Norte) his getting on it was mere error, which ought to have called for the setting him right, instead of forcing him through the interior country. [Sullivan's letter.] His view of things for some time past has been entirely distempered.
Cathcart's, Ridgeley's, Navour's, Degen's, Appleton's, Lee's, and Baker's letters, are all returned. I salute you with great affection and respect.
TO GENERAL DEARBORNE
Monticello, May 25, 1808.
Dear Sir,—There is a subject on which I wished to speak with you before I left Washington; but an apt occasion did not occur. It is that of your continuance in office. Perhaps it is as well to submit my thoughts to you by letter. The present summer is too important in point of preparation, to leave your department unfilled, for any time, as I once thought might be done; and it would be with extreme reluctance that, so near the time of my own retirement, I should proceed to name any high officer, especially one who must be of the intimate councils of my successor, and who ought of course to be in his unreserved confidence. I think too it would make an honorable close of your term as well as mine, to leave our country in a state of substantial defence, which we found quite unprepared for it. Indeed, it would for me be a joyful annunciation to the next meeting of Congress, that the operations of defence are all complete. I know that New York must be an exception; but perhaps even that may be closed before the 4th of March, when you and I might both make our bow with approbation and satisfaction. Nor should I suppose that under present circumstances, anything interesting in your future office could make it important for you to repair to its immediate occupation. In February my successor will be declared, and may then, without reserve, say whom he would wish me to nominate to the Senate in your place. I submit these circumstances to your consideration, and wishing in all things to consult your interests, your fame and feelings, it will give me sincere joy to learn that you will "watch with me to the end." I salute you with great affection and respect.
TO MR. LIEPER
Monticello, May 25, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I received your favor of April 22d a little before I was to leave Washington, much engaged with despatching the business rendered necessary by the acts of Congress just risen, and preparatory to a short visit to this place. Here again I have been engrossed with some attentions to my own affairs, after a long absence, added to the public business which presses on me here as at Washington. I mention these things to apologize for the long delay of an answer to the address of the Democratic republicans of Philadelphia, enclosed in your letter, and which has remained longer unanswered than I wished. I have been happy in my journey through the country to this place, to find the people unanimous in their preference of the embargo to war, and the great sacrifice they make, rendered a cheerful one from a sense of its necessity.
Whether the pressure on the throne from the suffering people of England, and of their Islands, the conviction of the dishonorable as well as dishonest character of their orders of council, the strength of their parliamentary opposition, and remarkable weakness of the defence of their ministry, will produce a repeal of these orders and cessation of our embargo, is yet to be seen. To nobody will a repeal be so welcome as to myself. Give us peace till our revenues are liberated from debt, and then, if war be necessary, it can be carried on without a new tax or loan, and during peace we may chequer our whole country with canals, roads, &c. This is the object to which all our endeavors should be directed. I salute you with great friendship and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
Monticello, May 27, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I received yesterday yours of the 23d, and now return you Woolsey's and Astor's letters. I send you one also which I have received from a Mr. Thorne, on the evasions of the embargo on Lake Champlain. The conduct of some of our officers there, and of some excellent citizens, has been very meritorious, and I will thank you to express any degree of approbation you think proper, in my name, for Captain Mayo. Woolsey appears also to deserve assurances of approbation. If you think Thorne's suggestion of some militia at Point au Fer necessary and proper, be so good as to consult General Dearborne, who will give any order you and he approve. With respect to the coasting trade, my wish is only to carry into full effect the intentions of the embargo laws. I do not wish a single citizen in any of the States to be deprived of a meal of bread, but I set down the exercise of commerce, merely for profit, as nothing when it carries with it the danger of defeating the objects of the embargo. I have more faith, too, in the Governors. I cannot think that any one of them would wink at abuses of that law. Still, I like your circular of the 20th, and the idea there brought forward of confining the shipment to so small a proportion of the bond as may correspond with the exaggeration of price and foreign markets, and thus restrain the adventurer from gaining more than he would lose by dishonesty. Flour, by the latest accounts, I have observed, sold at about eight times its cost here, while the legal penalties are but about three prices—by restraining them to an eighth they will be balanced. But as prices rise must not our rules be varied? Had the practicability of this mode of restraint occurred before the recurrence to the Governors, I should have preferred it, because it is free from the objection of favoritism to which the Governors will be exposed, and if you find it work well in practice, we may find means to have the other course discontinued. Our course should be to sacrifice everything to secure the effect of the law, and nothing beyond that.
I enclose you an application of Neilson & Son, to which you will please to have given whatever answer is conformable to general rules. The petition of Gardner and others, masters of the Rhode Island packet ships, which I enclose you, does not specify the particular act required from us for their relief. If it be to declare that the open sea in front of their coast is a bay or a river, the matter of fact, as well as the law, renders that impossible. I really think it desirable to relieve their case, in any way which is lawful, because it is one, which though embraced by the words of the law, is not within its object. You mention that a principal method of evading the embargo is by loading secretly and going off without clearance. The naval department must aid us against this. As I shall leave this for Washington in about ten or twelve days, I now desire the post-office there to send no letters to this place after receiving this notice. All further matters relative to the embargo will therefore be answered verbally as soon as they could by letter. I salute you with great affection and respect.
TO MR. BOWDOIN
Monticello, May 29, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I received the favor of your letter, written soon after your arrival, a little before I left Washington, and during a press of business preparatory to my departure on a short visit to this place; this has prevented my earlier congratulations to you on your safe return to your own country. There, judging from my own experience, you will enjoy much more of the tranquil happiness of life, than is to be found in the noisy scenes of the great cities of Europe. I am also aware that you had at Paris additional causes of disquietude; these seem inseparable from public life, and, indeed, are the greatest discouragements to entering into or continuing in it. Perhaps, however, they sweeten the hour of retirement, and secure us from all dangers of regret. On the subject of that disquietude, it is proper for me only to say that, however unfortunate the incident, I found in it no cause of dissatisfaction with yourself, nor of lessening the esteem I entertain for your virtues and talents; and, had it not been disagreeable to yourself, I should have been well pleased that you could have proceeded on your original destination.
While I thank you for the several letters received from you during your absence, I have to regret the miscarriage of some of those I wrote you. Not having my papers here, I cannot cite their dates by memory; but they shall be the subject of another letter on my return to Washington.
You find us on your return in a crisis of great difficulty. An embargo had, by the course of events, become the only peaceable card we had to play. Should neither peace, nor a revocation of the decrees and orders in Europe take place, the day cannot be distant when that will cease to be preferable to open hostility. Nothing just or temperate has been omitted on our part, to retard or to avoid this unprofitable alternative. Our situation will be the more singular, as we may have to choose between two enemies, who have both furnished cause of war. With one of them we could never come into contact; with the other great injuries may be mutually inflicted and received. Let us still hope to avoid, while we prepare to meet them.
Hoping you will find our cloudless skies and benign climate more favorable to your health than those of Europe, I pray you to accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and consideration.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE
Monticello, May 31, 1808.
Dear Sir,—I return you all the papers received from you by yesterday's mail, except Mr. Burnley's, which I shall send by the Secretary at War. Although all the appointments below field-officers are made, it is possible some may decline, and open a way for new competition. I have observed that Turreau's letters have for some time past changed their style unfavorably. I believe this is the first occasion he has had to complain of French deserters being enlisted by us, and if so, the tone of his application is improper. The answer to him, however, is obvious as to our laws and instructions, and the discharge, not delivery, of the men, for which purpose I presume you will write a line to the Secretary at War. Woodward's scruples are perplexing. And they are unfounded, because, on his own principle, if a law requires an oath to be administered, and does not say by whom, he admits it may be any judge; if, therefore, it names a person no longer in existence, it is as if it named nobody. On this construction all the territories have practised, and all the authorities of the national government,—even the Legislature. It was wrong on a second ground; no judge ever refusing to administer an oath in any useful case, although he may not consider it as strictly judicial. If it may be valid or useful, he administers "ut valeat quantum valer potest." But what is to be done? Would it not be well for you to send the case to the Attorney General, and get him to enclose his opinion to Governor Hull, who will use it with Judge Witherall, or some territorial judge or justice?
With the quarrel of Judge Vandeberg and his bar we cannot intermeddle. Mercer's querulous letter is an unreasonable one. How could his offer of service be acted on, but by putting it in the hands of those who were to act on all others?
I shall to-day direct the post-rider not to continue his route to this place after to-day, and to take your orders as to the time you would wish him to continue coming to you. I salute you with affectionate esteem and respect.
