Томас Джефферсон
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 6 (of 9)
TO DABNEY CARR
Monticello, January 19, 1816.
Dear Sir,—At the date of your letter of December the 1st, I was in Bedford, and since my return, so many letters, accumulated during my absence, have been pressing for answers, that this is the first moment I have been able to attend to the subject of yours. While Mr. Girardin was in this neighborhood writing his continuation of Burke's history, I had suggested to him a proper notice of the establishment of the committee of correspondence here in 1773, and of Mr. Carr, your father, who introduced it. He has doubtless done this, and his work is now in the press. My books, journals of the times, &c., being all gone, I have nothing now but an impaired memory to resort to for the more particular statement you wish. But I give it with the more confidence, as I find that I remember old things better than new. The transaction took place in the session of Assembly of March 1773. Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Frank Lee, your father and myself, met by agreement, one evening, about the close of the session, at the Raleigh Tavern, to consult on the measures which the circumstances of the times seemed to call for. We agreed, in result, that concert in the operations of the several colonies was indispensable; and that to produce this, some channel of correspondence between them must be opened; that therefore, we would propose to our House the appointment of a committee of correspondence, which should be authorized and instructed to write to the Speakers of the House of Representatives of the several Colonies, recommending the appointment of similar committees on their part, who, by a communication of sentiment on the transactions threatening us all, might promote a harmony of action salutary to all. This was the substance, not pretending to remember the words. We proposed the resolution, and your father was agreed on to make the motion. He did it the next day, March the 12th, with great ability, reconciling all to it, not only by the reasonings, but by the temper and moderation with which it was developed. It was adopted by a very general vote. Peyton Randolph, some of us who proposed it, and who else I do not remember, were appointed of the committee. We immediately despatched letters by expresses to the Speakers of all the other Assemblies. I remember that Mr. Carr and myself, returning home together, and conversing on the subject by the way, concurred in the conclusion that that measure must inevitably beget the meeting of a Congress of Deputies from all the colonies, for the purpose of uniting all in the same principles and measures for the maintenance of our rights. My memory cannot deceive me, when I affirm that we did it in consequence of no such proposition from any other colony. No doubt the resolution itself and the journals of the day will show that ours was original, and not merely responsive to one from any other quarter. Yet, I am certain I remember also, that a similar proposition, and nearly cotemporary, was made by Massachusetts, and that our northern messenger passed theirs on the road. This, too, may be settled by recurrence to the records of Massachusetts. The proposition was generally acceded to by the other colonies, and the first effect, as expected, was the meeting of a Congress at New York the ensuing year. The committee of correspondence appointed by Massachusetts, as quoted by you from Marshall, under the date of 1770, must have been for a special purpose, and functus officio before the date of 1773, or Massachusetts herself would not then have proposed another. Records should be examined to settle this accurately. I well remember the pleasure expressed in the countenance and conversation of the members generally, on this debut of Mr. Carr, and the hopes they conceived as well from the talents as the patriotism it manifested. But he died within two months after, and in him we lost a powerful fellow-laborer. His character was of a high order. A spotless integrity, sound judgment, handsome imagination, enriched by education and reading, quick and clear in his conceptions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with the sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in whatever he thought was right; but when no moral principle stood in the way, never had man more of the milk of human kindness, of indulgence, of softness, of pleasantry of conversation and conduct. The number of his friends, and the warmth of their affection, were proofs of his worth, and of their estimate of it. To give to those now living, an idea of the affliction produced by his death in the minds of all who knew him, I liken it to that lately felt by themselves on the death of his eldest son, Peter Carr, so like him in all his endowments and moral qualities, and whose recollection can never recur without a deep-drawn sigh from the bosom of any one who knew him. You mention that I showed you an inscription I had proposed for the tomb stone of your father. Did I leave it in your hands to be copied? I ask the question, not that I have any such recollection, but that I find it no longer in the place of its deposit, and think I never took it out but on that occasion. Ever and affectionately yours.
TO DR. PETER WILSON, PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK
Monticello, January 20, 1816.
Sir,—Of the last five months, I have been absent four from home, which must apologize for so very late an acknowledgment of your favor of November 22d, and I wish the delay could be compensated by the matter of the answer. But an unfortunate accident puts that out of my power. During the course of my public life, and from a very early period of it, I omitted no opportunity of procuring vocabularies of the Indian languages, and for that purpose formed a model expressing such objects in nature as must be familiar to every people, savage or civilized. This being made the standard to which all were brought, would exhibit readily whatever affinities of language there be between the several tribes. It was my intention, on retiring from public business, to have digested these into some order, so as to show not only what relations of language existed among our own aborigines, but by a collation with the great Russian vocabulary of the languages of Europe and Asia, whether there were any between them and the other nations of the continent. On my removal from Washington, the package in which this collection was coming by water, was stolen and destroyed. It consisted of between thirty and forty vocabularies, of which I can, from memory, say nothing particular; but that I am certain more than half of them differed as radically, each from every other, as the Greek, the Latin, and Islandic. And even of those which seemed to be derived from the same radix, the departure was such that the tribes speaking them could not probably understand one another. Single words, or two or three together, might perhaps be understood, but not a whole sentence of any extent or construction. I think, therefore, the pious missionaries who shall go to the several tribes to instruct them in the Christian religion, will have to learn a language for every tribe they go to; nay, more, that they will have to create a new language for every one, that is to say, to add to theirs new words for the new ideas they will have to communicate. Law, medicine, chemistry, mathematics, every science has a language of its own, and divinity not less than others. Their barren vocabularies cannot be vehicles for ideas of the fall of man, his redemption, the triune composition of the Godhead, and other mystical doctrines considered by most Christians of the present date as essential elements of faith. The enterprise is therefore arduous, but the more inviting perhaps to missionary zeal, in proportion as the merit of surmounting it will be greater. Again repeating my regrets that I am able to give so little satisfaction on the subject of your inquiry, I pray you to accept the assurance of my great consideration and esteem.
TO MR. AMOS J. COOK, PRECEPTOR OF FRYEBURG ACADEMY IN THE DISTRICT OF MAINE
Monticello, January 21, 1816.
Sir,—Your favor of December 18th was exactly a month on its way to this place; and I have to thank you for the elegant and philosophical lines communicated by the Nestor of our Revolution. Whether the style or sentiment be considered, they were well worthy the trouble of being copied and communicated by his pen. Nor am I less thankful for the happy translation of them. It adds another to the rare instances of a rival to its original: superior indeed in one respect, as the same outline of sentiment is brought within a compass of better proportion. For if the original be liable to any criticism, it is that of giving too great extension to the same general idea. Yet it has a great authority to support it, that of a wiser man than all of us. "I sought in my heart to give myself unto wine; I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens, and orchards, and pools to water them; I got me servants and maidens, and great possessions of cattle; I gathered me also silver and gold, and men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all sorts; and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and behold! all was vanity and vexation of spirit! I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness." The Preacher, whom I abridge, has indulged in a much larger amplification of his subject. I am not so happy as my friend and ancient colleague, Mr. Adams, in possessing anything original, inedited, and worthy of comparison with the epigraph of the Spanish monk. I can offer but humble prose, from the hand indeed of the father of eloquence and philosophy; a moral morsel, which our young friends under your tuition should keep ever in their eye, as the ultimate term of your instructions, and of their labors. "Hic, quisquis est, qui moderatione et constantia quietus animo est, sibique ipse placatus; ut nec tabescat molestiis, nec frangatur timore, nec sitienter quid expectens ardeat desiderio, nec alacritate futili gestiens deliquescat; is est sapiens, quem quaerimus; is est beatus; cui nihil humanarum rerum aut intolerabile ad dimittendum animum, aut nimis lactabile ad efferendum, videri potest." Or if a poetical dress will be more acceptable to the fancy of the juvenile student:
"Quisnam igitur liber? Sapiens, sibique imperiosus:
Quem neque pauperies, neque mors, neque vincula terrent:
Responsare cupidinibus, contemnere honores
Fortis, et in scipso totus teres, atque rotundus;
Externi ne quid valeat per laeve morari:
In quem manea ruit semper Fortuna."
And if the Wise be the happy man, as these sages say, he must be virtuous too; for, without virtue, happiness cannot be. This then is the true scope of all academical emulation.
You request something in the handwriting of General Washington. I enclose you a letter which I received from him while in Paris, covering a copy of the new Constitution; it is offered merely as what you ask, a specimen of his handwriting.
On the subject of your Museum, I fear I cannot flatter myself with being useful to it. Were the obstacle of distance out of the way, age and retirement have withdrawn me from the opportunities of procuring objects in that line. With every wish for the prosperity of your institution, accept the assurances of my great esteem and respect.
TO MR. THOMAS RITCHIE
Monticello, January 21, 1816.
Dear Sir,—In answering the letter of a northern correspondent lately, I indulged in a tirade against a pamphlet recently published in this quarter. On revising my letter, however, I thought it unsafe to commit myself so far to a stranger. I struck out the passage therefore, yet I think the pamphlet of such a character as not to be unknown, or unnoticed by the people of the United States. It is the most bold and impudent stride New England has ever made in arrogating an ascendency over the rest of the Union. The first form of the pamphlet was an address from the Reverend Lyman Beecher, chairman of the Connecticut Society for the education of pious young men for the ministry. Its matter was then adopted and published in a sermon by Reverend Mr. Pearson of Andover in Massachusetts, where they have a theological college; and where the address "with circumstantial variations to adopt it to more general use" is reprinted on a sheet and a half of paper, in so cheap a form as to be distributed, I imagine, gratis, for it has a final note indicating six thousand copies of the first edition printed. So far as it respects Virginia, the extract of my letter gives the outline. I therefore send it to you to publish or burn, abridge or alter, as you think best. You understand the public palate better than I do. Only give it such a title as may lead to no suspicion from whom you receive it. I am the more induced to offer it to you because it is possible mine may be the only copy in the State, and because, too, it may be à propos for the petition for the establishment of a theological society now before the legislature, and to which they have shown the unusual respect of hearing an advocate for it at their bar. From what quarter this theological society comes forward I know not; perhaps from our own tramontaine clergy, of New England religion and politics; perhaps it is the entering wedge from its theological sister in Andover, for the body of "qualified religious instructors" proposed by their pious brethren of the East "to evangelize and catechize," to edify our daughters by weekly lectures, and our wives by "family visits" from these pious young monks from Harvard and Yale. However, do with this what you please, and be assured of my friendship and respect.
TO NATHANIEL MACON
Monticello, January 22, 1816.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 7th, after being a fortnight on the road, reached this the last night. On the subject of the statue of General Washington, which the legislature of North Carolina has ordered to be procured, and set up in their capitol, I shall willingly give you my best information and opinions.
1. Your first inquiry is whether one worthy the character it is to represent, and the State which erects it, can be made in the United States? Certainly it cannot. I do not know that there is a single marble statuary in the United States, but I am sure there cannot be one who would offer himself as qualified to undertake this monument of gratitude and taste. Besides, no quarry of statuary marble has yet, I believe, been opened in the United States, that is to say, of a marble pure white, and in blocks of sufficient size, without vein or flaw. The quarry of Carara, in Italy, is the only one in the accessible parts of Europe which furnishes such blocks. It was from thence we brought to Paris that for the statue of General Washington, made there on account of this State; and it is from there that all the southern and maritime parts of Europe are supplied with that character of marble.
2. Who should make it? There can be but one answer to this. Old Canova, of Rome. No artist in Europe would place himself in a line with him; and for thirty years, within my own knowledge, he has been considered by all Europe as without a rival. He draws his blocks from Carara, and delivers the statue complete, and packed for transportation, at Rome; from thence it descends the Tiber, but whether it must go to Leghorn, or some other shipping port, I do not know.
3. Price, time, size, and style? It will probably take a couple of years to be ready. I am not able to be exact as to the price. We gave Houdon, at Paris, one thousand guineas for the one he made for this State; but he solemnly and feelingly protested against the inadequacy of the price, and evidently undertook it on motives of reputation alone. He was the first artist in France, and being willing to come over to take the model of the General, which we could not have got Canova to have done, that circumstance decided on his employment. We paid him additionally for coming over about five hundred guineas; and when the statue was done, we paid the expenses of one of his under workmen to come over and set it up, which might, perhaps, be one hundred guineas more. I suppose, therefore, it cost us, in the whole, eight thousand dollars. But this was only of the size of life. Yours should be something larger. The difference it makes in the impression can scarcely be conceived. As to the style or costume, I am sure the artist, and every person of taste in Europe, would be for the Roman, the effect of which is undoubtedly of a different order. Our boots and regimentals have a very puny effect. Works of this kind are about one-third cheaper at Rome than Paris; but Canova's eminence will be a sensible ingredient in price. I think that for such a statue, with a plain pedestal, you would have a good bargain from Canova at seven or eight thousand dollars, and should not be surprised were he to require ten thousand dollars, to which you would have to add the charges of bringing over and setting up. The one-half of the price would probably have to be advanced, and the other half paid on delivery.
4. From what model? Ciracchi made the bust of General Washington in plaster. It was the finest which came from his hand, and my own opinion of Ciracchi was, that he was second to no sculptor living except Canova; and, if he had lived, would have rivalled him. His style had been formed on the fine models of antiquity in Italy, and he had caught their ineffable majesty of expression. On his return to Rome, he made the bust of the General in marble, from that in plaster; it was sent over here, was universally considered as the best effigy of him ever executed, was bought by the Spanish Minister for the king of Spain, and sent to Madrid. After the death of Ciracchi, Mr. Appleton, our Consul at Leghorn, a man of worth and taste, purchased of his widow the original plaster, with a view to profit by copies of marble and plaster from it. He still has it at Leghorn; and it is the only original from which the statue can be formed. But the exterior of the figure will also be wanting, that is to say, the outward lineaments of the body and members, to enable the artist to give to them also their true forms and proportions. There are, I believe, in Philadelphia, whole length paintings of General Washington, from which, I presume, old Mr. Peale or his son would sketch on canvas the mere outlines at no great charge. This sketch, with Ciracchi's bust, will suffice.
5. Through whose agency? None so ready or so competent as Mr. Appleton himself; he has had relations with Canova, is a judge of price, convenient to engage the work, to attend to its progress, to receive and forward it to North Carolina. Besides the accommodation of the original bust to be asked from him, he will probably have to go to Rome himself, to make the contract, and will incur a great deal of trouble besides, from that time to the delivery in North Carolina; and it should therefore be made a matter of interest with him to act in it, as his time and trouble is his support. I imagine his agency from beginning to end would not be worth less than from one to two hundred guineas. I particularize all these things, that you may not be surprised with after-claps of expense, not counted on beforehand. Mr. Appleton has two nephews at Baltimore, both in the mercantile line, and in correspondence with him. Should the Governor adopt this channel of execution, he will have no other trouble than that of sending to them his communications for Mr. Appleton, and making the remittances agreed on as shall be convenient to himself. A letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Appleton, informing him that any service he can render the State of North Carolina in this business, would be gratifying to his government, would not be without effect.
Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect.
