THE WRITINGS OF







        THOMAS JEFFERSON







         Definitive Edition







        CONTAINING HIS







        AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NOTES ON VIRGINIA, PARLIAMENTARY MANUAL, OFFICIAL



 PAPERS, MESSAGES AND ADDRESSES, AND OTHER WRITINGS, OFFICIAL AND PRIVATE, NOW

COLLECTED AND PUBLISHED IN THEIR ENTIRETY FOR THE FIRST TIME







        INCLUDING







        ALL OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS, DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

AND PUBLISHED IN :85; BY ORDER OF THE            JO



INT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS







        WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS







        AND A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYTICAL INDEX















        ALBERT ELLERY BURGH EDITOR







VOL. XVII.











         ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL       

ASSOCIATION         OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON,  D. C. 1907 













        COPYRIGHT, 1905,







        BY THE THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION 





         JEFFERSON'S RELIGION.















" Rebellion to tyrants_is obedience to God." Motto on Jefferson's Seal







 To attempt to pry into the heart of any man and analyze his religious

convictions was the last thing Thomas Jefferson would have done. "Religion is a

.subject on which I have been most scrupulously reserved, " he wrote in a

letter to Richard Rush,; "I have considered that it is a matter between a man

and his Maker in which no other, and far less the public, had a right to

intermeddle." For this reason the writer was somewhat reluctant to enter into

the arcana of Jefferson's religious beliefs. But the memory and influence of

Jefferson are so precious an heritage to the American people that any effort to

defend them from slander and misinterpretation is its own justification.

Over-zealous partisans of religious conceptions have made bitter attacks upon

Jefferson, both while he was alive and since his death. He has been called an

atheist and infidel, and the fiercest denunciations of his life and character,

based upon this thought, have been hurled against him. While not altogether

undisturbed by these attacks he felt, as he has himself







VOL XVII-A 













ii        Jefferson's Religion















expressed it, that the patriot, like the Christian, must learn that to bear

revilings and persecutions is a part of his duty. " " I know I might have

filled the courts of the United States with actions 'for these slanders, " he

adds, " and have ruined, perhaps, many persons who are not innocent. But this

would be no equivalent to the loss of character. I leave them to the reproof of

their own consciences. If these do not condemn them, there will yet come a day

when the false witness will meet a Judge who has not slept over his slander. "







  Both Jefferson and his defamers of his day have long gone to meet that

sleepless Judge. The attacks upon him did not cease when his mighty mind rested

from its. work and his noble soul ' left its tenement of clay. But "though

being dead, he yet speaketh, " and his words, treasured in the pantheon of

humanity's most splendid utterances do tell to-day of his abiding faith and his

reverent obedience to the Divine Will. I purpose to let his own words speak for

him, and himself to express what, he being silent, no other man would have

right to affirm or deny.







  Far from being an infidel or an atheist Thomas Jefferson was a deeply

reverent and religious spirit, a firm believer in God and in the supreme

justice of His overruling providence. Jefferson's religion was that of an

earnest, serious character, the result of many hours of profound. study and

meditation. Its very nature forbade its display, much more its 













        Jefferson's Religion      iii







constant protestation. He did not feel that it was necessary for him to "wear

his heart upon his sleeve, " nor did he ask any other man to do so. But he was

not a dogmatist: His religion was a rational faith and not a theological creed.

He believed firmly in the existence of God; and he believed just as firmly that

every human being had the right to believe as he chose, or to' disbelieve if he

chose. This faith he gave evidence of on many occasions and in many documents,

both of public and private nature. In an address which he prepared for the

Virginia House of Burgesses to be presented to Lord Dunmore, in 1775, he uses

this language: " We commit our injuries to the evenhanded justice of that

Being, Who doth no wrong, earnestly beseeching Him to illuminate the councils,

and prosper the endeavors of those to whom America has confided her hopes. " In

his first inaugural address he said, " May that infinite Power which rules the

destinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best and give them a

favorable issue for your peace and prosperity. " In an address of Congress to

General Washington, prepared by Jefferson, are these words, "We join you in

commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty

God, beseeching Him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve

the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation: And

for you we address to Him our earnest prayers, that a life so 













iv        Jefferson's Religion







beloved may be fostered with all His care; that your days may be happy as they

have been illustrious ; and that He will finally give you that reward which

this world cannot give: " In a letter to John Adams, written in 1823, he

upholds the teleological argument for the existence of God, and declares that

he holds, without an appeal to revelation, the belief that the consummate skill

and infinite power exhibited in the universe support the hypothesis of an

eternally pre-existent Creator.







 He did not hesitate to seek, publicly in prayer, the help of God. In his first

inaugural address he invokes the help of that `` Infinite power which rules the

destinies of the universe." In his second inaugural address he says, " I shall

need the favor of that Being in Whose hands we are, Who led our forefathers, as

Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a land flowing with

all the necessaries and comforts of life; Who has covered our infancy with His

providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power; and to Whose goodness

I ask you to join me in supplications, that He will so enlighten the minds of

your servants ; guide their councils and prosper their measures that whatsoever

they shall do shall result in your good, and secure the peace, friendship and

approbation of all nations " '







  His belief in immortality he voiced a number of times, and very clearly so in

a letter to John Adams, written toward the close of his life. He wrote, 













        Jefferson's Religion       v







"The term is not very distant when we are to deposit in the same cerement our

sorrows and our suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an ecstatic

meeting with the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love

and never lose again. "







 Thomas Jefferson was neither a hypocrite nor a coward. These utterances were

not thus made to curry favor' or to cater to an unreasoning public, nor to ward

off attack. They were given in private letters to personal friends, and most of

those that w ere incorporated in public documents were done so after he had

attained to the Presidency, the highest gift at the hands of the people, and

when he had nothing more of public honor to await. They are the sincere

outpourings of a brave and reverent soul, of an earnest heart that beat in full

sympathy with his fellow-men and in humble concord with the throbbing pulse of

the omnipresent and omniscient Spirit that permeates the universe.







 It is possible that the charge of atheism; where it was not the fruit of

malice, grew out of a misunderstanding of the noble tolerance and breadth of

view that  characterized the sage of Monticello. He was utterly free from every

form of cant. His constant struggle was for liberty. Liberty was the passion of

his life. He could not abide anything that savored in the slightest of any form

of tyranny or compulsion. The said, "I have sworn, on the altar of God, eternal

hostility against every form, of 













vi        Jefferson's Religion







tyranny ever the mind of man. " Full seventy-five years before the great

conflict that finally. cut the Gordian knot of slavery, Jefferson endeavored to

obtain its abolition by the gradual emancipation of the slave. He deplored

slavery on the high ground of justice and morality, and he fought for its

destruction on the lofty basis of liberty and human right. It was a thing dear

to his heart and a life-long anxiety; and on it he speaks with the sentiment of

a patriot and a God-fearing man. He wrote, "Can the liberties of a nation be

thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the

minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God ? That they are

not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I

reflect that God is just ; that His justice cannot sleep forever ; that

considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel

of fortune, an. exchange of situation is among possible events; that it may

become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute

which can take side with us in such a contest."







 Shortly before his death he sketched the simple design that has served as the

model for his tombstone, and he selected the epitaph which he desired to be

placed thereon. He had been Governor of Virginia, he had been Ambassador to

France. He had been Vice-President and twice President of the United States.

But he made no mention of these. 













        Jefferson's Religion      vii







He wished to be remembered as the "Author of the Declaration of American

Independence, and of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and as Father

of the University of Virginia. " These were his achievements in behalf of human

liberty. They comprise civil freedom, religious freedom and intellectual

freedom. If he laid stress upon any one of these, it was upon religious

freedom, the freedom of conscience. To him conscience was the voice of God

within the human breast. It was the final guide, the ultimate arbiter of all

things. It was too intimate, too sacred a thing to be made to suffer the least

coercion. It was the fountain of all other liberties and its untrammeled

activity was to be maintained at all hazard. It was this view of conscience

that made him so reserved in the matter of religion. "I am averse to the

communication of my religious tenets to the public, " he said " because it

would countenance the presumption of those who have endeavored to draw them out

before that tribu- nal, and to reduce public opinion to erect itself into that

inquisition over the rights of conscience which the laws so justly prescribe. "







 A misinterpretation of these utterances in behalf of religious freedom may

have given rise to the attacks made upon him. But he did not deny God. He

denied the dogmatic statements that men had made about God.  He was no enemy of

religion, but he was a bitter opponent to the bigotry of sectarianism. Tyranny

was tyranny, whether







POL. XVII-H 













viii        Jefferson's Religion







it was the tyranny of the throne or the tyranny of theology, and against every

form of tyranny he had sworn eternal hostility. He was consistently an untiring

advocate of the separation of church and state. Their union is an illogical and

a dangerous one. No one saw this more clearly than Jefferson, and no one.

argued against it more cogently or logically than he. Like all his reasoning on

earnest topics, his arguments are based on the high ground of morality and pure

religion itself. " To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into

the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of

principles on the supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy,

which at once destroys all religious liberty. I cannot give up my guidance to

the magistrate, because he knows no more the way to Heaven than I do, and is

less concerned to direct me right, than I am .to go right. If a magistrate

command me to bring my commodity to a public storehouse, I bring it because he

can indemnify .me if he erred, and I thereby lose it; but what indemnification

can he give one for the kingdom of Heaven? Believing that religion is solely a

matter that lies between a man and his God, that he owes account to none other

for his faith and his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach

actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act

of the whole American people, which declared that their legislature should make

no law 













        Jefferson's Religion      ix







respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise

thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. " These

are some of the sentiments which he expressed relative to the union of the

church and the state.







 His attitude toward the church itself is best given in the definition of a

church which he set forth, that it is "a voluntary society of men joining

themselves of their own accord in order to the public worshiping of God in such

a manner as they judge acceptable to Him and effectual to the salvation of

their souls. It is voluntary, because no man is by nature bound to any church.

The hope of salvation is the cause of his entering into it. If he find anything

wrong about it he should be as free to go out as he was to come in." As to the

jurisdiction of the church he added, " Each church being free, no one can have

jurisdiction over another one, not even when the civil magistrate joins it. It

neither acquires the right of the sword by the magistrate's coming into it, nor

does it lose the right of instruction or excommunication by his going from it.

"







 Of his attitude toward the Christian church specifically he gave a statement,

in a letter written to Dr. Rush, in 1813. His views, he says, are " the result

of a life of enquiry and reflection and very different from that anti-Christian

system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the

corruptions of Christianity I 'am indeed 













x        Jefferson's Religion







opposed, but not to the precepts of Jesus Himself. I am a Christian in the only

sense in which He wished any one to be ; sincerely 'attached to His doctrines

in preference to all others; ascribing to Himself every human excellence, and

believing He never claimed any other." To this letter he added a short

syllabus, in which, after reviewing the ethics of ancient philosophy and of the

Hebrew code, and giving a brief history of the life of Jesus, he says that in

spite of imperfections, due to various causes, the moral doctrines taught by

Jesus surpass those of the other philosophies, give juster notions of the

attributes and government of God and that whereas the " Precepts of philosophy

and of the Hebrew code laid hold of actions only, He (Jesus) pushed His

scrutinies into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his

thoughts and purified the waters at the fountain head. "







 In his own words Jefferson has given his religious views. To have charged him

with being an atheist, or an infidel, or an enemy of religion, was simply

folly, where it was not malicious invention. Jeffer- son had far more religion

than his detractors, I care not how orthodox their views or how frequent their

church attendance. Jefferson devoted his life, the whole energy of his splendid

moral strength and his finely equipped mind, to the service of his fellow men.

Humanity has had no more loyal servant and pure religion no truer defender.







 Men are beginning to differentiate between theol













        Jefferson's Religion     xi







ogy and religion, between creed and faith. The throne of dogmatism has been

shaken and the rule of sectarianism is nigh unto its end. In the light of a

nobler vision men are beginning to see that deed is better than dogma, that

character and conduct are more than theological finesse; that the eternal God

is the Father of all human beings; that He understands the language of every

prayer and hears and heeds the moan of every heart. To serve humanity is to

serve humanity's God. Like Ben Adhem's name, when the roll is called of those

who loved God best, the name of Thomas Jefferson will lead all the rest, for he

loved his fellow-men and worked and suffered for them. 













         CONTENTS.















                                                                               

                                                               page 



JEFFERSON'S RELIGION.  By Edward N. Calisch, B. L.

M.A............................................................i







MISCELLANEOUS

PAPERS.........................................................................

................................1 - 470







Extract from Diary Relative to the Invasion of Virginian 1780,

1791..................................................1







Memorandum Relative to Invasion of Virginia in 1780,

1781.............................................................13







Instructions to the Ministers Plenipotentiary Appointed to Negotiate Treaties

of Commerce 



with the European Nations. May 7,

1784...........................................................................

....................21







Report of a Conference with the Count de Vergennes on the Subject of the

Commerce of 



the United States with

France.........................................................................

........................................28







Explanations on some of the Subjects of Conversation which I had the honor of

having 



with his Excellency, the Count de Vergennes, when `I was last at

Versailles'.................................36







Answers by Mr. Jefferson, to Questions addressed to him by Monsieur de

Meusnier, Author 



of that Part of the Encyclopedie Methodique, entitled Economie 



Politique et

Diplomatique...................................................................

.....................................................49







Answers to Questions Propounded by Monsieur de Meusnier, January 24th,

1786.................107



Notes on Monsieur Soules'

Work...........................................................................

............................123







Observations on the Letter of Monsieur  de Galonnes,to Monsieur Jefferson,

dated 



Fontainebleau,  October  22d,

1786...........................................................................

..........................141 













xiv        Contents







MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS-Continued.







Proposals for Concerted Operation among the Powers at War with the Piratical

States



 of Barbary, November,

1786...........................................................................

.....................................145







To the Editor of the Journal de Paris, August 29,

1787....................................................................148







Memoranda Taken on a Journey from Paris into the Southern Parts of France, and



 Northern Parts of Italy, in the Year

1787...........................................................................

.................153







A Tour to Some of the Gardens of

England........................................................................

...............236







Memorandums on a Tour from Paris to Amsterdam, Strasburg, and back to Paris,

March 3d,

1788...........................................................................

...............................................................................

.244







ling Notes for Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Shippen,  June 3, 1788

..........................................................290







Queries as to the Rights and Duties of the United States under her Treaties

with France, and 



the Laws of

Neutrality.....................................................................

.......................................................290







Heads of Consideration on the Conduct we are to Observe in the War between

Spain and Great Britain, and Particularly should the Latter Attempt the

Conquest of Louisiana and the

Floridas.......................................................................

.............................................................................29

9







Heads of Consideration on the Navigation of the Mississippi, for Mr.

Carmichael, Aug. 22

1790...........................................................................

...............................................................................

.302







Questions to be Considered

of.............................................................................

................................307







Plan of a Bill Concerning

Consuls........................................................................

................................309







Matters to be Arranged Between the Governments of England and the United

States, December 12th, 1791

...............................................................................

..................................................................313







Memorandum of Communications made to a Committee of the Senate on the Subject

of the Diplomatic Nominations to Paris, London and the Hague, January 4,

1792...................................314 













        Contents             xv







MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS-Continued







Considerations on the Subjects of Ransom and Peace with the Algerines, April

1st,

1792...........................................................................

...............................................................................

.320







Notes of a Conversation with George Hammond, June 3d,

1792....................................................322







Extempore Thoughts and Doubts, on very Superficially Running over the Bankrupt

Bill...........................................................................

...............................................................................

...331







Heads of Conversation with George

Hammond........................................................................

........333







Instructions to Andrew Michaud for Exploring the Western Boundary, January,

1793...........................................................................

...............................................................................

335







Memorandum Relative to Commissioners for Laying off the Federal City, March

11th,

1793...........................................................................

...............................................................................

339







Note Given to the President Relative to

Genet..........................................................................

.......340







Rules for the Regulation of our Conduct towards the Belligerent Powers

recommended to the President for his

Adoption.......................................................................

...........................................344







Opinion Relative to the Propriety€ of Convening the Legislature at an Earlier

Period than that Fixed by Law. August 4th,

1793...........................................................................

...............................346







Communication Relative to our French Relations: August  22d, 1793

.........................................347







Explanation of the Origin of the Principle that "Free bottoms make free goods."

December 20th, 1793

...............................................................................

.........................................................................349







An Account of the Capitol in

Virginia.......................................................................

........................353







To the Speaker and House of Delegates of Commonwealth of Virginia, being a

Protest against Interference of Judiciary between Representative and

Constituent; 1797...................................355







Etiquette......................................................................

............................................. ..............................365







Charges Exhibited to the President of the United States against .the Honorable

Arthur Sinclair, as Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of

the River Ohio.........................367 













xvi        Contents







MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS--Continued.                                               

                             page







Hints on the Subject of Indian Boundaries, Suggested for Consideration,

December 29th,

1802...........................................................................

...............................................................................

373







Notes on the Subject of the Consular Convention Between the United States and

France. May 3d,

1803...........................................................................

..........................................................................377







Resolutions Relative to the Alien and Sedition Laws (Kentucky

Resolutions)...........................379







Dr. Stevens' Case. June 12th,

1804...........................................................................

............................391       







Notes on a Draught for a Second Inaugural

Acidress.....................................................................39

7







Farewell Address to Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, February

7, 



1809...........................................................................

............................................................

.................398







Notes on Fifth Volume of Marshall's "Life of Washington"

........................................................400







Scheme for a System of Agricultural Societies, March,

1811........................................................404







Observations on the Force and Obligation of the Common Law in the United

States, on the Occasion of Hardin's case, in Kentucky. November 11th,

1812:...................................................410







Plan for Elementary Schools, Sept. 9th,

1817...........................................................................

........417







The Solemn Declaration and Protest of the Commonwealth of Virginia on the

Principles of the Constitution of the United States of America, and on the

Violations of Them..........................442







Thoughts on Lotteries, February,

1826...........................................................................

..................448







Thomas Jefferson's Will, March 16,

1826...........................................................................

...............465 

















         MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.







         INTRODUCTORY NOTES.















  Aside from the official documents drawn by Jefferson in connection with his

political positions, he left, at his death, among his voluminous manuscripts, a

mass of material that he€ had prepared for special or private purposes. Of such

the Miscellaneous Papers are composed together with rough drafts and extempore

notes made for future elaboration, and evidently for some final and effective

use. The papers presented under this head cover a period of nearly half a

centary, from the time Jefferson was Governor of Virginia right up to the year

of his death. , At the beginning of this series will be found the extracts from

Jefferson's diary during the years 1780-81-excerpts he Selected to vindicate

his conduct as Executive of his State during the invasion of Virginia under

Benedict Arnold. Jefferson retired from the Governorship of Virginia amid a

storm of criticism and censure and determined never to fill another public

office. Subsequently, however, he was mollified by the apology extended by the

Legislature for the obloquy cast upon him, and accepted a reappointment to

Congress. Due to his efforts there are the humane measures, promulgated in the

Instructions to American Ministers for negotiating commercial treaties with

European nations.







  These " Instructions " are followed by a group of unclassified papers written

while Jefferson was Minister to France. At the close of this group we have

daily memoranda jotted down by Jefferson on trips made in the early spring

through the southern part of France and northern section of Italy; chiefly

interesting as exhibiting the minuteness of his observation and his examination

of anything in the line of agricultural, mechanical or industrial improvements

that might prove of value to his country.







  Many of these Miscellaneous Papers were written while Jefferson was '

Secretary of State, and bear evidence of his powers as a diplomat in

maintaining peaceful relations with war-waging foreign countries. They also

present his successful arguments in securing the right to navigate the

Mississippi-one of the first steps to reveal the importance and worth of the

Louisiana territory.







  Probably one of the most interesting papers in the entire collection is the

draft of the famous Kentucky Resolutions from the pen of Jefferson 













XXII       Introductory Notes







 while Vice-President. These Resolutions were drawn as a protest against the

Alien and Sedition Laws as " palpable and alarming infractions of the

Constitution." They were passed with some changes by the Kentucky Legislature

on November 14, 1798. Jefferson's authorship of these Resolutions was kept a

secret for many years. In 1821 he wrote a brief history of their inception in

a-letter to the son of his friend, Colonel W. C. Nicholas. He says in this

letter: "At the time when the republicans of our country were so much alarmed

at the proceedings of the Federal ascendancy in Congress, in the Executive and

Judiciary departments, it became a matter of serious consideration how head

could be made against their enterprises on the Constitution. The leading

republicans in Congress found themselves of no use there, browbeaten as they

were by a bold and overwhelming majority. They concluded to retire from that

field, take a stand in their State legislatures, and endeavor there to arrest

their progress. The Alien and Sedition Laws furnished the particular occasion.

The sympathy between Virginia and Kentucky was more cordial and more intimately

confidential than between any other two States of republican policy. Mr.

Madison came into the Virginia Legislature. I was then in the Vice-Presidency,

and could not leave my station; but your father, Colonel W. C. Nicholas, and

myself, happening to be together, the engaging cooperation of Kentucky in an

energetic protestation against the constitutionality of those laws became a

subject of consultation. Those gentlemen pressed me strongly to sketch

resolutions for that purpose, your father undertaking to introduce them to that

legislature, with a solemn assurance which I strictly required, that it should

not be known from what quarter they came. I drew and delivered them to him, and

in keeping their origin secret he fulfilled his pledge of honor."







There are at least two remaining numbers of the Miscellaneous Papers which will

awaken the interest of even the casual reader. Namely the scheme for organizing

agricultural societies devised by Jefferson in his retirement at Monticello, in

1811, as an early expression of such a project ; 'and the construction of a

plan for establishing elementary schools in the form of a bill outlining a

system of education incorporating principles not improved upon in this day of

eclectic and synthetic instruction. Attention is called to the fact that this

farreaching educational thesis of Jefferson is given for the first time in its

entirety in the present edition of his Writings. The Congressional edition of

1853 gave it in part, while the Ford collection of 1892 omitted it altogether.





















        JEFFERSON'S WORKS.







        MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.















         _______________







Extract from Diary relative to the Invasion of Vi-ginia in 1780, 1781. 







        _______________















  Saturday, December the  31st, 1780, eight o'clock, A. M. Received first

intelligence that twenty-seven sail were, on the morning of December the 29th,

just below Willoughby's Point. Sent off General Nelson, with full powers.







  1781. January the 1st.    No intelligence.







  January the 2d, ten o'clock, A. M. Information from N. Burwell, that their

advance was at Warrasqueak Bay. Gave orders for militia, a quarter from some,

and half from other counties. Assembly rose.







 Wednesday, January the 3d, eight o'clock, P. M. Received a letter from E.

Archer, Swan's Point that at twelve o'clock that day they were at anchor a

little below Jamestown. At five o'clock, P. M., of the same day, I had received

a letter from R. Andrews for General Nelson, that they were at Jamestown the

evening of the 2d.







   VOL. XVII--I 













2        Jefferson's Works







 Thursday, January the 4th, five o'clock, A. M. Mr. Eppes and family, etc.,

came and informed me from the Speaker,that they had passed Kennon's and Hood's

the evening before ; the tide having made for them at one o'clock, P. M., of

the 3d, and the wind shifted to the east strong. They had not, however, passed

Hood's, but anchored at Kennon's. Called whole militia from adjacent counties.

I was then anxious to know whether they would pass Westover, or not, as that

would show the side they would land.







  Five o'clock, P. M. Learned by Captain De Ponthiere, that at two o'clock, P.

M., they were drawn up at Westover. Then ordered arms, and stores, etc., (which

till then had been carrying to Westham,) to be thrown across the river at

Richmond; and at half-past seven o'clock, P. M., set out to the foundry and

Westham, and set Captain Brush, Captain Irish, and Mr. Hylton, to see

everything wagoned from the magazine and laboratory to Westham, and there

thrown over; to work all night. The enemy encamped at Four-Mile Creek. I went

to Tuckahoe and lodged.







 January the 5th. Went early over the river with my family ; sent them up to

Fine Creek ; went myself to Westham; gave orders for withdrawing ammunition and

arms (which lay exposed on. the bank to the effect of artillery from opposite

shore), behind a point. Then. went to Manchester ; had a view of the enemy. My

horse sunk under me with 













        Miscellaneous Papers              3







fatigue ; borrowed one, went to Chetwood's, appointed by Baron Steuben as a

rendezvous and headquarters; but finding him not there, and understanding he

would go to Colonel Henry's, I proceeded there for quarters. The enemy arrived

in Richmond at one 'o'clock, P. M. One regiment of infantry and thirty horse

proceeded, without stopping, to the foundry ; burned that and the magazine and

Ballendine's house, and went as far as Westham. They returned that evening to

Richmond. Sent me a proposition to compound for property. Refused. 







  January the 6th. In the morning they burned certain houses and stores, and at

twelve o'clock of that day left Richmond, and encamped at FourMile Creek. I

went to Westham, ordered books and papers particularly from magazine. In the

evening I went up to Fine Creek.







  January the 7th. I returned to Westham, and then came down to Manchester,

where I lodged. The enemy encamped at Westover and Berkley. It had rained

excessively the preceding night, and continued to do so till about noon. Gibson

has one thousand ; Steuben, eight hundred ; Davis, two hundred; Nelson, two

hundred and fifty.







  January the 8th, at half-past seven o'clock,-A. M. I returned to Richmond.

The wind gets, about this time, to northwest ; a good gale ; in the afternoon

becomes easterly. The enemy remain in their last encampment. General Nelson at

Charles City C, H, 













4        Jefferson's Works







Colonel Nicholas with three hundred men at the Forest.







 January the 9th, eleven o'clock. The wind is southeast, but almost nothing.

The enemy remain in their last encampment, except embarking their horse.







 January the 10th, at one' o'clock, P. M. They embark infantry, and fall down

the river, the wind having shifted a little north of west, and pretty fresh.

Baron Steuben gets to Bland's Mills to-night nine miles short of Hood's.







 January the 11th, eight o'clock, A. M. The wind due west, and strong.







        Loss sustained by the public.







 The papers and books of the Council since the Revolution. The papers of the

auditors, but not their books. Five brass field-pieces, four-pounders, which

had been sunk in the river, but were weighed by the enemy. About one hundred

and fifty arms in the Capitol loft. About one hundred and fifty in a wagon on

the Brook road. About five tons of powder, and some made ammunition at

magazine. Some small proportion of the linens; cloths, etc., in the public

store. Some quartermasters ' stores ; the principal articles was one hundred

and twenty sides of leather. Some of the tools in the artificers' shops.

Foundry, magazine, four artificers' shops, public store, quartermasters' store,

one artificers' shop, three wagons. 













        Miscellaneous Papers          5







 The legislature was sitting when the entrance of the enemy into James river

was made known. They were informed, without reserve, of the measures adopted.

Every suggestion from the members was welcomed and weighed, and their

adjournment on the 2d of January furnished the most immediate and confidential

means of calling for the militia of their several counties. They accordingly

became the bearers of those calls, and they were witnesses themselves, that

every preparation was making which the exhausted and harassed state of the

country admitted.







 They met again at Richmond in May, and adjourned to Charlottesville, where

they made a House on the 28th. My office of Governor expired on the 2d of June,

being the fifth day of the session; and no successor had been appointed, when

an enter-







rise on the 4th by Tarleton's cavalry drove them thence, and they met again at

Staunton on the 7th. Some members attended there who had not been at Richmond

at the time of Arnold's enterprise. One of these, George Nicholas, a very

honest and able man,then, however, young and ardent, supposing there had been

some remissness in the measures of the Executive on that occasion, moved for an

inquiry into them, to be made at the succeeding session. The members who had

been present and privy to the transactions, courted the inquiry on behalf of

the executive. Mr. Nicholas, as 'a candid and honorable man, sent me, through a

friend, a 













6        Jefferson's Works







copy of the topics of inquiry he proposed to go into ; and I communicated to

him, with the sam e frankness, the justifications I should offer, that he might

be prepared to refute them if not founded in fact.







The following is a copy of both :







   1st Objection.-That General Washington's information was, that an

embarcation was taking place, destined for this State.







  Answer.-His information was, that it was destined for the southward, as was

given out at New York. Had similar informations from General Washington, and

Congress, been considered as sufficient ground at all times for calling the

militia into the field, there would have been a standing army of militia kept

up; because there has never been a time, since the invasion expected in

December, 1779, but what we have had those intimations hanging over our heads.

The truth is, that General Washington always considered as his duty to convey

every rumor of an embarkation ; but we (for some time past, at least) never

thought anything but actual invasion should induce us to the expense and

harassment of calling the militia into the field ; except in the case. of

December, 1799, when it was thought proper to do this in order to convince the

French of our disposition to protect their ships. Inattention to this necessary

economy, in the beginning, went far towards that ruin of our finances which

followed. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       7







  2d Objection. Where were the post-riders, established last summer?







  Answer.-They were established at Continental expense, to convey speedy

information to, Congress of the arrival of the French fleet, then expected

here. When that arrived at Rhode Island, these expenses were discontinued. They

were again established on the invasion in October, and discontinued when that

ceased. And again on the first intimation of the invasion of December. But it

will be asked, why were they not established on General Washington's letters ?

Because those letters were no more than we had received upon many former

occasions, and would have led to a perpetual establishment of post-riders.







  3d Objection.-If a proper number of men had been put into motion on Monday;

for the relief of the lower country, and ordered to march to Williamsburg, that

they would at least have been in the neighborhood of Richmond on Thursday.







  Answer.-The order could not be till Tuesday, because we then received our

first certain information. Half the militia of the counties round about

Richmond were then ordered out, and the whole of them on the 4th, and ordered

not to wait to come in a body, but in detachments as they could assemble. Yet

were there not on Friday more than two hun- dred collected, and they were

principally of the town of Richmond.







  4th Objection.-That we had not the signals. 













8        Jefferson's Works







 Answer.-This, though a favorite plan of some gentlemen, and perhaps a

practicable one, has hitherto been thought too difficult.







  5th Objection.-That we had not look-outs.







Answer.-There had been no cause to order lookouts more than has been ever

existing. This is only in fact asking why we do not always keep look-outs.







 6th Objection.-That we had not heavy artillery on travelling carriages.







 Answer.-The gentlemen who acted as members of the Board of War a twelvemonth

can answer this question, by giving the character of the artificers whom,

during that time, they could never get to mount the heavy artillery. The same

reason prevented their being mounted from May, 1780, to December. We have even

been unable to get those heavy cannon moved from Cumberland by the whole energy

of government. A like difficulty which occurred in the removal of those at

South Quay, in their day, will convince them of the possibility of this. 







  7th Objection.-That there was not a body of militia thrown into Portsmouth,

the great bridge, Suffolk.







 Answer.-In the sumner of 1780, we asked the favor of General Nelson, to call

together the County Lieutenants of the lower counties, and concert the general

measures which should be taken fox instant opposition; on any invasion, until

aid could be ordered by the Executive ; and the County Lieuten













        Miscellaneous Papers       9







ants were ordered to obey his call ; he did so the first moment, to wit, on

Saturday, December the 31st; at 8 o 'clock A. M. , of our receiving information

of the appearance of a fleet in the bay. We, asked the favor of General Nelson

to go down, which he did, with full powers to call together the militia of any

counties he thought proper, to call on the keepers of any public arms or

stores, and to adopt for the instant such measures as exigencies required, till

we could be better informed.







  Query.-Why were not General Nelson, and the brave officers with him,

particularly mentioned?







  Answer. What should have been said of them? The enemy did not land, nor give

them an opportunity of doing what nobody doubts they would have done; that is,

something worthy of being minutely recited.







  Query.-Why publish Arnold's letter without General Nelson 's answer ?







  Answer.-Ask the printer: He got neither from the Executive.







  Objection. As to the calling out a few militia, and that late.







 Answer.-It is denied that they were few or late. Four thousand and seven

hundred men (the number required by Baron Steuben) were called out the moment

an invasion was known to have taken place, that is on Tuesday, January 2d.







  Objection.-The abandonment of York and Portsmouth fortifications. 













10        Jefferson's Works







 Answer.-How can they be kept without regulars, on the large scale on which

they were formed? Would it be approved of to harass the militia with

garrisoning them ?







  To place me on equal ground for meeting the inquiry, one of the

representatives of my county resigned his seat, and I was unanimously elected

in his place. Mr. Nicholas; however, before the day,. became better satisfied

as to what had been done, and did not appear, to bring forward the inquiry; and

in a publication, several years after, he made honorable acknowledgment of the

erroneous views he had entertained on those transactions. I therefore read in

my place the inquiries he had proposed to make, and stated the justifications

of the Executive. And nearly every member present having been a witness to

their truth, and conscious all was done which could have been done, concurred

at once in the following resolution:







  " The following resolution was unanimously agreed to by both Houses of the

General Assembly of Virginia, December the 19th, 1781.







  " Resolved, That the sincere thanks of the General Assembly be given to our

former Governor, Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, for his impartial, upright, and

attentive administration whilst in office. The Assembly wish in the strongest

manner to declare the high opinion they entertain of Mr. Jefferson's ability,

rectitude, and integrity as Chief Magistrate of this Commonwealth, and mean, by

thus publicly avow













        Miscellaneous Papers       11







ing their opinion, to obviate and to remove all unmerited censure. "           

    







 And here it is but proper to notice the parody of these transactions which

General Lee has given as their history. He was in a distant State at the time,

and seems to have made up a random account from the rumors which were afloat

where he then was. It is a tissue of errors from beginning to end.







 The nonsense which has been uttered on the coup de main of Tarleton on

Charlottesville is really so ridiculous, that it is almost ridiculous seriously

to notice it. I will briefly, however, notice facts and dates. It has been said

before, that the legislature was driven from Charlottesville by an incursion

.of the enemy's cavalry. Since the adjournment from Richmond, their force in

this country had been greatly augmented by reinforcements under Lord Cornwallis

and General Phillips; and they had advanced up into the country as far as Elk

Island, and the Fork of James river. Learning that the legislature was in

session at Charlottesville, they detached Colonel Tarleton with his legion of

horse to surprise them. As he was passing .through Louisa on the evening of the

3d of June, he was observed by a Mr. Gouett, who, suspecting the object, set

out immediately for Charlottesville, and knowing the byways of the

neighborhood, passed the enemy's encampment, rode all night, and before sunrise

of the 4th, called at Monticello with notice af what he had seen, and passed on

to Charlottes













12        Jefferson's Works







ville to notify the members of the legislature. The Speakers of the two Houses,

and some other members were lodging with us. I ordered a carriage to be ready

to carry off my family ; we breakfasted at leisure with our guests, and after

breakfast they had gone to Charlottesville; when a neighbor rode up full speed

to inform me that a troop of horse was then ascending the hill to the house. I

instantly sent off my family, and after a short delay for some pressing

arrangements, I mounted my horse; and knowing that in the public road I should

be liable to fall in with the enemy, I went through the woods, and joined my

family at the house of a friend, where we dined. Would it be believed, were it

not known, that this flight from a troop of horse whose whole legion, too, was

within supporting distance, has been 'the subject, with party writers, of

volumes of reproach on me, serious or sarcastic? That it has been sung in

verse, and said in humble prose, that forgetting the noble example of the hero

of La Mancha; and his wind-mills, I declined a combat singly against a troop,

in which victory would have been so glorious ? Forgetting, themselves, at the

same time, that I was not provided with the enchanted arms of the Knight, nor

even with his helmet of Mambrino. These closet heroes, forsooth, would .have

disdained the shelter of a wood, even singly and unarmed, against a legion of

armed enemies.







 Here, too, I must note another instance of the want of that correctness in 

writing history, without 













        Miscellaneous Papers     13







which it becomes romance. General Lee says that Tarleton, in another enterprise

some time after, penetrated up the south side of James river to New London; in

Bedford county. To that neighborhood precisely, where I had a possession, I had

carried my family, and was confined there several weeks by the effects of a

fall from my horse ; and I can assure the readers of General Lee's history,

that no enemy ever came within forty miles of New London.















         _______________







  Memorandum relative to invasion of Virginia







              in 1780, 1781.







 Among the manuscripts of Mr. Jefferson, and in his own handwriting, is the

following paper in relation to the invasion of Virginia in 1780-1781. It is,

therefore, inserted here, in connection with the foregoing extract from his

diary. 







        _______________















  Richmond, 1780. Dec. 31st; at 8 A. M. The Governor received the first

intelligence that twentyseven sail of ships had entered Chesapeake Bay, and

were in the morning of the 29th just below Willoughby's Point, [the southern

cape of James river,] their destination unknown.







  1781. January 2, at 10 A. M. Information received that they had entered James

river, their `advance being at Warrasqueak Bay. Orders were immediately given

for calling in the militia, onefourth from some, and half from other counties.

The members of the legislature, which rises this day, are the bearers of the

orders to their respective 













14        Jefferson's Works







counties. The Governor directs the removal of the records into the country, and

the transportation of the military stores from Richmond to Westham; (on the

river seven miles above,] there to be carried across the river.







  January 3d, 8 P. M. The enemy are said to be a little below Jamestown ;

convenient for landing, if Williamsburg is their object.







  January 4th, at 5 A. M. . Information is received that they had passed Kennon

's and Hood 's the evening before with a strong easterly wind, which determines

their object to be either Petersburg or Richmond. The Governor now calls in the

whole militia from the adjacent counties.







  At 5 P. M. Information that at 2 P. M. they were landed and drawn up at

Westover, (on the north side of the river, and twenty-five miles below

Richmond,) and consequently Richmond was their destination. Orders are now

given to discontinue wagoning the military stores from Richmond to Westham, and

to throw them across directly at Richmond.







  The Governor having attended to this till an hour and a half in the night,

then rode up to the foundry, (one mile below Westham,] ordered Captains Brush

and Irish, and Mr. Hylton to continue all night wagoning to Westham the arms

and stores still at the foundry, to be thrown across the river at Westham, then

proceeded to Westham to urge the pressing the transportation there across the

river, and 













        Miscellaneous Papers       15







thence went to Tuckahoe (eight miles above, and on the same side of the river)

to see after his family-, which he had sent that far in the course of the day.

He arrived there at 1 o'clock in the night.







  Early in the morning he carried his family across the river there, and

sending them to Fine Creek, (eight miles higher up,] went himself to Breton's

on the south side of the river, [opposite to Westham,) finding the arms, etc.,

in a heap near the shore, and exposed to be destroyed by cannon from the north

bank. He had them removed under cover of a point of land near by. He proceeded

to Manchester [opposite to, Richmond]. The enemy had arrived at Richmond at 1

P. M. Having found that nearly the whole arms had been got there from Richmond,

he set out for Chetwood's to meet with Baron Steuben, who had appointed that

place as a rendezvous and headquarters ; but not finding him there, and

understanding that he would be at Colonel Fleming's, (six miles above

Breton's,) he proceeded thither. The enemy had now a detachment at Westham, and

sent a deputation from the city of Richmond to the Governor at Colonel

Fleming's to propose terms for ransoming the safety of the city, which terms

'he rejected. The Governor returned to Breton's, had measures taken more

effectually to secure the books and papers there. The enemy having burnt some

houses and stores, left Richmond, after twenty-four hours' stay there, and

encamped at Four-Mile Creek, [eight or ten miles below,) and 













16        Jefferson's Works







the Governor went to look to his family at Fine Creek.







 He returned to Breton's to see further to the arms there, exposed on the

ground to heavy rains which had fallen the night before, and then proceeded to

Manchester, and lodged there. The enemy encamped at Westover.







 At half-past 7 A. M. he crossed over to Richmond, and resumed his residence

there. The enemy are still retained in their encampment at Westover by an

easterly wind. Colonel John Nicholas has now three hundred militia at the

Forest, [six miles off from Westover,] General Nelson two hundred at Charles

City Court House, [eight miles below Westover,) Gibson, one thousand, and Baron

Steuben eight hundred on the south side the river.







January 9th. The enemy are still encamped at Westover.







 January 10th. At 1 P. M. they embark ; and the wind having shifted a little to

the north of the west, and pretty fresh, they fall down the river. Baron

Steuben marches for Hood's, where their passage may be checked. He reaches

Bland's Mills in the evening, within. nine miles of Hood's.







 January 11th. At 8 A. M. the wind due west and strong, they may make good

their retreat. During this period time and place have been minutely cited, in

order that those who think there was any remissness in the movements of the

Governor, may lay their finger on the point, 













        Miscellaneous Papers    17







and say when and where it was. Hereafter less detail will suffice.







 Soon after this General Phillips having joined Arnold with a reinforcement of

two thousand men, they advanced again up to Petersburg, and about the last of

April to Manchester. The Governor had remained constantly in and about

Richmond, exerting all his powers collecting militia, and providing such means

for the defence of the State as its exhausted resources admitted. Never

assuming a guard, and with only the river between him and the enemy, his

lodgings were frequently within four, five, or six miles of them.







 M. de la Fayette, about this time, arrived at Richmond with some Continental

troops, with which, and the militia collected, he continued to occupy that

place, and the north bank of the river, while Phillips and Arnold held

Manchester and the south bank. But Lord Cornwallis, about the middle of May,

joining the main southern armies, M. de la Fayette was obliged to retire. The

enemy crossed the river; and advanced up into the country about fifty miles,

and within thirty miles of Charlottesville, at which place the legislature

being to meet in June, the Governor proceeded to his seat at Monticello, two or

three miles from it. His office was now near expiring, the country under

invasion by a powerful army, no services but military of any avail, unprepared

by his line of life and education for the command of armies, he believed it

right







  VOL. XVII-? 













18        Jefferson's Works







not to stand in the way of talents better fitted than his own to the

circumstances under which the country was placed. He therefore himself proposed

to his friends in the legislature that General Nelson, who commanded the

militia of the State, should be appointed Governor, as he was sensible that the

union of the civil and military power in the same hands at this time, would

greatly facilitate military measures. This appointment accordingly took place

on the 12th of June, 1781.







  This was the state of things when, his office having actually expired, and no

successor as yet in place, Colonel Tarleton, with his regiment of horse, was

detached by Lord Cornwallis to surprise Mr. Jefferson (whom they thought still

in office) and the legislature now sitting in Charlottesville. The Speakers of

the two Houses, and some other members of the legislature, were lodging with

Mr. Jefferson at Monticello. Tarleton, early in the morning, when within ten

miles of that place, detached a company of horse to secure him and his guests,

and proceeded himself rapidly with his main body to Charlottesville, where he

hoped to find the legislature unapprized of his movement. Notice of it,

however, had been brought, both to Monticello and Charlottesville, about

sunrise. The Speakers, with their colleagues, returned to Charlottesville, and

with the other members of the legislature, had barely time to get out of his

way. Mr. Jefferson sent off his family to secure them from danger, and 













        Miscellaneous Papers     19







was himself still at Monticello making arrangements for his own departure, when

a Lieutenant Hudson arrived there at half speed, and informed him that the

enemy were then ascending the hill of Monticello. He departed immediately, and

knowing that he would be pursued if he took the high road, he plunged into the

woods of the adjoining mountain, where being at once safe, he proceeded to

overtake his family. This is the famous adventure of Carter's mountain, which

has been so often resounded through the slanderous chronicles of federalism.

But they have taken care never to detail the facts, lest these should show that

this favorite charge amounted to nothing more than that he did not remain in

his house, and there singly fight a whole troop of horse, or suffer himself to

be taken prisoner. Having accompanied his family one day's journey, he returned

to Monticello. Tarleton had retired after eighteen hours' stay in

Charlottesville. Mr. Jefferson then rejoined his family, and proceeded with

them to an estate he had in Bedford, about eighty miles southwest, where,

riding on his farm some time after, he was thrown from his horse, and disabled

from riding on horseback for a considerable time. But Mr. Turner finds it more

convenient to give him this fall in his retreat before Tarleton, which had

happened some weeks before, as a proof that he withdrew from a troop of horse

with a precipitancy which Don Quixote would not have practiced. 













20        Jefferson's Works







 The facts here stated most particularly, with date of time and place, are

taken, from the notes made by the writer hereof. for his own satisfaction at

the time. The others are from memory, but so well recollected that he is

satisfied there is no material fact misstated. Should any person under- take to

contradict any particular on evidence which may at all merit the public

respect, the writer will take the trouble (though not at all in the best

situation for it) to produce the proof in support of it. He finds, indeed, that

of the persons whom he recollects to have been present on these occasions, few

have survived the intermediate lapse of four and twenty years. Yet he trusts

that some, as well as himself, are yet among the living; and he is positively

certain that no man can falsify any material fact here stated. He well

remembers, indeed, that there were then, as there are at all times, some who

blamed everything done contrary to their own opinion, although their opinions

were formed on a very partial knowledge of facts. The censures which have been

heralded by such men as Wm. Turner, are nothing but revivals of these

half-informed opinions. Mr. George Nicholas, then a very young man, but always

a   very honest one, was prompted by these persons to bring specific charges

against Mr. Jefferson; the heads of these in writing were communicated through

a mutual friend to Mr. Jefferson, who committed to writing also the heads of

justification on 













        Miscellaneous Papers    21







each of them. I well remember this paper, and believe the original of it still

exists; and though framed when every real fact was fresh in the knowledge of

every one, ,this fabricated flight from Richmond was not among the charges

stated in this paper, nor any charge against Mr. Jefferson for not fighting

singly the troop of horse. Mr. Nicholas candidly relinquished further

proceeding. The House of Representatives of Virginia pronounced an honorable

sentence of entire approbation of Mr. Jefferson's conduct, and so much the more

honorable as themselves had been witness to it. And Mr. George, Nicholas took a

conspicuous occasion afterwards, of his own free will, and when the matter was

entirely at rest, to retract publicly the erroneous opinions he had been led

into on that occasion, and to make just reparation by a candid acknowledgment

of them.







Instructions to the Ministers Plenipotentiary appointed to negotiate Treaties

of Commerce with the European nations. May 7, 1784.







 WHEREAS, instructions bearing date the 29th day of October, 1783, were sent to

the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the Court of

Versailles, empowered to negotiate a peace, or to any one or more of them, for

concerting drafts or propositions for treaties of amity and commerce with the

commercial powers of Europe: 













22        Jefferson's Works







 Resolved, That it will be advantageous to these United States to conclude such

treaties with Russia, the Court of Vienna, Prussia, Denmark, Saxony, Hamburg,

Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Genoa, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Venice, Sardinia,

and the Ottoman Porte.







  Resolved, That in the formation of these treaties the following points be

carefully stipulated:







  1st. That each party shall have a right to carry their own produce,

manufactures, and merchandise, in their own bottoms to the ports of the other,

and thence the produce and merchandise of the other, paying, in both cases,

such duties only as are paid by the most favored nation, freely, where it is

freely granted to such nation, or paying the compensation where such nation

does the same.







  2. That with the nations holding territorial possessions in America, a direct

and similar intercourse€ be admitted between the United States and such

possessions; or if this cannot be obtained, then a direct and similar

intercourse between the United States and certain free ports within such

possessions ; that if this neither can be obtained, permission be stipulated to

bring from such possessions, in their own bottoms, the produce and .merchandise

thereof to their States directly ; and for these States to carry in their own

bottoms their produce and merchandise to such possessions directly.







  3. That these United States be considered in all such treaties, and in every

case arising under them, 













        Miscellaneous Papers       23







as one nation, upon the .principles of the federal constitution.







  4. That it be proposed, though not indispensably required, that if war should

hereafter arise between the two contracting parties, the merchants of either

country, then residing in the other, shall be allowed to remain nine months to

collect their debts and settle their affairs, and may depart freely, carrying

off all their effects, without molestation or hindrance; and all fishermen, all

cultivators of the earth, and all artisans or manufacturers, unarmed and

inhabiting unfortified towns, villages or places, who labor for the common

Subsistence and benefit of mankind, and peaceably following their respective

employments, shall be allowed to continue the same, and shall not be molested

by the armed force of the enemy, in whose power, by the events of war, they may

happen to fall; but if anything is necessary to be taken from them, for the use

of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price; and all

merchants and traders, exchanging the products of different places, and thereby

rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy

to obtain and more general, shall be allowed to pass free and unmolested; and

neither of the contracting powers shall grant or issue any commission to any

private armed vessels empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships, or

interrupt such commerce.







  5.  And in case either of the contracting parties 













24        Jefferson's Works







shall happen to be engaged in war with any other nation, it be further agreed,

in order to prevent all the difficulties and misunderstandings that usually

arise respecting the merchandise heretofore called contraband, such as arms,

ammunition, and military stores of all kinds, that no such articles, carrying

by the ships or subjects of one of the parties to the enemies of the other,

shall, on any account, be deemed contraband, so as to induce confiscation, and

a loss of property to individuals. Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop

such ships and detain them,for such length of time as the captors may think

necessary, to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might ensue, from their

proceed ing on their voyage, paying, however, a reasonable compensation for the

loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors; and it shall be further

allowed to use in the service of the captors, the whole or any part of the

military stores so detained, paying the owners the full value of the same, to

be ascertained by the current price at the place of its destination. But if the

other contracting party will not consent to discontinue the confiscation of

contraband goods, then that it be stipulated, that if the master of the vessel

stopped, will deliver out the goods charged to be contraband, he shall be

admitted to do it, and the vessel shall not in that case be curried into any

port; but shall be allowed to proceed on her voyage.







  6. That in the same case, when either of the con













        Miscellaneous Papers       25







tracting parties shall happen to be engaged in war with any other power, all

goods, not contraband, belonging to the subjects of that other power, and

shipped in the bottoms of the party hereto, who is not engaged in the war,

shall be entirely free. And that to ascertain what shall constitute the

blockade of any place or port, it shall be understood to be in such

predicament, when the assailing power shall have taken such a station as to

expose to imminent danger any ship or ships, that would attempt to sail in or

out of the said port; and that no vessel of the party, who is not engaged in

the said war, shall be stopped without a material and wellgrounded cause; and

in such cases justice shall be done, and an indemnification given, without loss

of time to the persons aggrieved, and thus stopped without sufficient cause.







  7. That no right be stipulated for aliens to hold real property within these

States, this being utterly inadmissible by their several laws and policy; but

when on the death of any person holding real estate within the territories of

one of the contracting parties, such real estate would by their laws descend on

a subject or citizen of the other, were he not disqualified by alienage, then

he shall be allowed a reasonable time to dispose of the same, and withdraw the

proceeds without molestation.







 8. That such treaties be made for a term not exceeding ten years from the

exchange of ratification.







 9. That these instructions be considered as sup













26        Jefferson's Works







plementary to those of October 29th, 1783; and not as revoking, except when

they contract them. That where in treaty with a particular nation they can

procure particular advantages, to the specifi- cation of which we have been

unable to descend, our object in these instructions having been to form

outlines only and general principles of treaty with many nations, it is our

expectation they will procure them, though not pointed out in these

instructions ; and where they may be able to form treaties on principles which,

in their judgment, will be more beneficial to the United States than those

herein directed to be made their basis, they are permitted to adopt such

principles. That as to the duration of treaties, though we have proposed to

restrain them to the term of ten years, yet they are at liberty to extend the

same as far as fifteen years with any nation which may pertinaciously insist

thereon. And that it will be agreeable to us to have supplementary treaties

with France, the United Netherlands and Sweden, which may bring the treaties we

have entered into with them as nearly as may be t o the principles of those now

directed ; but that this be not pressed, if the proposal should be found

disagreeable.







  Resolved, That treaties of amity, or of amity and commerce, be entered into

with Morocco, and the Regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, to continue for

the same term of ten years, or for a term as much longer as can be procured. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     27















That our Ministers, to be commissioned for treating with foreign nations, make

known to the Emperor of Morocco the great satisfaction which Congress feel from

the amicable disposition he has shown towards these States, and his readiness

to enter into alliance with them. That the occupations of the war, and distance

of our situation have prevented our meeting his friendship so early as we

wished. But the powers are now delegated to them for entering into treaty with

him, in the execution of which they are ready to proceed, and that as to the

expenses of his Minister, they do therein what is for the honor and interest of

the United States.







 Resolved, That a commission be issued to Mr. J. Adams, Mr. B. Franklin, and

Mr. T. Jefferson, giving powers to them, or the greater part of them, to make

and receive propositions for such treaties of amity and commerce, and to

negotiate and sign the same, transmitting them to Congress for their final

ratification; and that such commission be in force for a term not exceeding two

years. 













28        Jefferson's Works







 Report of a Conference with the Count de Vergennes on the subject of the

Commerce of the United States with France. (1)







 The next levee day at Versailles, I meant to bring again under the view of the

Count de Vergennes, the whole subject of our commerce with France ; but the

number of audiences of ambassadors and other ministers, which take place, of

course, before mine, and which seldom, indeed, leave me an opportunity of

audience at all, prevented me that day. I was only able to ask the Count de

Vergennes, as a particular favor, that he would permit me to wait on him some

day that week. He did so, and I went to Versailles the Friday following, (the

9th of December). M. de Reyneval was with







            







        _______________







   (1) to John Jay.







                       Paris, January 2d, 1786.







 SIR,-Several conferences and letters having passed between the Count de

Vergennes and myself, on the subject of the commerce of. this country with the

United States, I think them sufficiently interesting to be communicated to

Congress. They are stated in the form of a report, and are herein enclosed. The

length of this despatch, perhaps, needs apology. Yet I have not been able to

abridge it, without omitting circumstances which I thought Congress would

rather choose to know. Some of the objects of these conferences present but

small hopes for the present, but they seem to admit a possibility of success at

some future moment.







    *   *   *   *  *   *   *   *   *







I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.







 The above extract from the report referred to in the preceding letter embraces

everything interesting therein, not communicated to the reader in the previous

correspondence. 







        _______________







 













        Miscellaneous Papers      29







the Count. Our conversation began with the usual topic; that the trade of the

United States had not yet learned the way to France, but continued to centre in

England, though no longer obliged by law to go there. I observed, that the real

cause of this was to be found in the difference of. the commercial arrangements

in the two countries; that merchants would not, and could not trade but where

there was to be some gain; that the commerce between two countries could not be

kept up, but by an exchange of commodities; that, if an American merchant was

forced to carry his produce to London, it could not be expected he would make a

voyage from thence to France, with the money, to lay it out here; and, in like

manner, that if he could bring his commodities, with advantage, to this

country, he would not make another voyage to England, with the money, to lay it

out there, but would take in exchange the merchandise of this country. The

Count de Vergennes agreed to this, and particularly that where there was no

exchange of merchandise, there could be no durable commerce ; and that it was

natural for merchants to take their returns in the port where they sold their

cargo. I desired his permission, then, to take a summary view of the

productions of the United States, that we might see which of them could be

brought here to advantage.







  1. Rice. France gets from the Mediterranean a rice not so good indeed, but

cheaper than ours. He said that they bought of our rice, but that they 













30        Jefferson's Works







got from Egypt also, rice of a very fine quality. I observed that such was the

actual state of their commerce, in that article, that they take little from us.

2. Indigo. They make a plenty in their own colonies. He observed that they did,

and that they thought it better than ours. 3. Flour, fish, and provisions of

all sorts, they produce for themselves. That these articles might, therefore,

be considered as not existing, for commerce, between the United States and the

kingdom of France.







  I proceeded to those capable of becoming objects of exchange between the two

nations. 1. Peltry and furs. Our posts being in the hands of the English, we

are cut off from that article. I am not sure even, whether we are not obliged

to buy of them, for our own use. When these posts are given up, if ever they

are, we shall be able to furnish France with skins and furs, to the amount of

two millions of livres, in exchange for her merchandise; but at present, these

articles are to be counted as nothing. 2. Potash. An experiment is making

whether this can be brought here. We hope it may, but at present it stands for

nothing. He observed that it was much wanted in France, and he thought it would

succeed. 3. Naval stores. Trials are also making on these, as subjects of

commerce with France. They are heavy, and the voyage long. The result,

therefore, is doubtful. At present, they are as nothing in our commerce with

this country. 4. Whale oil. I told him I had great hopes that the 













        Miscellaneous Papers     31







 late diminution of duty would enable us to bring this article, with advantage,

to France ; that a merchant was just arrived (Mr. Barrett) who proposed to

settle at L'Orient, for the purpose of selling the cargoes of this article, and

choosing the returns. That he had informed me, that in the first year, it would

be necessary to take one-third in money, and the remainder only in merchandise;

because the fishermen require, indispensably, some money. But he thought that

after the first year, the merchandise of the preceding year, would always

produce money for the ensuing one, and that the whole amount would continue to

be taken annually afterwards, in merchandise. I added, that though the

diminution of duty was expressed to be but for one year, yet I hoped they would

find their advantage in renewing and continuing it ; for that if they intended

really to admit it for one year only, the fishermen would not find it worth

while to rebuild their vessels, and to prepare themselves for the business. The

Count expressed satisfaction on the view of commercial exchange held up by this

article. He made no answer as to the continuance of it; and I did not choose to

tell him, at that time, that we should claim its continuance under their treaty

with the Hanseatic towns, which fixes this duty for them, and our own treaty,

which gives us the rights of the most favored nation. 5. Tobacco. I recalled to

the memory of the Count de Vergennes, the letter I had written to him on 













32        Jefferson's Works







this article ; and the object of the present conversation being, how to

facilitate the exchange of com- merciable articles between the two countries, I

pressed that of tobacco, in this point of view; observed that France, at

present, paid us two millions of livres for this  article ; that for such

portions of it as were bought in London, they sent the money directly there,

and for what they bought in the United States, the money was stili remitted to

London, by bills of exchange; whereas, if they would permit our merchants to

sell€ this article freely, they would bring it here, and take the returns on

the spot, in merchandise, not money. The Count observed, that my proposition

contained what was doubtless useful, but that the King received on this

article, at present; a revenue of twenty-eight millions, which was so

considerable, as to render them fearful of tampering with it ; that the

collection of this revenue by way of Farm, was of very ancient date, and that

it was always hazardous to alter arrangements of long standing, and of such €

infinite combinations with the fiscal system. I answered, that the simplicity

of the mode of collection proposed for this article, withdrew it from all fear

of deranging other parts of their system; that I supposed they would confine

the importation to some of their principal ports, probably not more than five

or six; that a single collector in each of these, was the only new officer

requisite; that he could get rich himself on six livres a hogshead, 













        Miscellaneous, Papers       33







and would receive the whole revenue, and pay it into the treasury, at short

hand. M. de Reyneval entered particularly into this part of the conversation,

and explained to the Count, more in detail, the advantages and simplicity of

it, and concluded by observing to me, that it sometimes happened that useful

propositions, though not practicable at one time, might become so at another. I

told him that that consideration had induced me to press the matter when I did,

because I had understood the renewal of the Farm was then on the carpet, and

that it was the precise moment when I supposed that this portion might be

detached from the mass of the Farms. I asked Count de Vergennes whether, if the

renewal of the Farm was pressing, this article might not be separated, merely

in suspense, till government should have time to satisfy themselves on the

expediency of renewing it. He said no promises could be made.







  In the course of this conversation, he had mentioned the liberty we enjoyed

of carrying our fish to the French islands. I repeated to him what I had hinted

in my letter, of November the 20th, 1785, that I considered as a prohibition

the laying such duties on our fish, and giving such premiums on theirs, as made

a difference between their and our fishermen of fifteen livres the quintal, in

an article which sold for but fifteen livres. He said it would not have that

effect, for two reasons : 1. That their fishermen could not furnish supplies

sufficient for







   vol. xvii-3 













34        Jefferson's Works







their islands, and, of course, the inhabitants must, of necessity, buy our

fish. a. That from the constancy of our fishery, and the short season during

which theirs continued, and also from the economy and management of ours,

compared with the expense of theirs, we had always been able to sell our fish,

in their islands, at twenty-five livres the quintal, while they were obliged to

ask thirty-six livres. (I suppose he meant the livre of the French islands.)

That thus, the duty and premium had been a necessary operation on their side,

to place the sale of their fish on a level with ours, and that without this,

theirs could not bear the competition.







  I have here brought together the substance of what was said on the preceding

subjects, not pretending to give it verbatim, which my memory does not enable

me to do. I have, probably, omitted many things which were spoken, but have

mentioned nothing which was not. It was interrupted, at times, with collateral

matters. One of these was important. The Count de Vergennes complained, and

with a good deal of stress, that they did not find a sufficient dependence on

arrangements taken with us. This was the third time too, he had done it; first,

in a conversation at Fontainebleau, when he first complained to me of the

navigation acts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire; secondly, in his letter of

October the 30th, 1785 ; on the same subject; and now, in the present

conversation, wherein he added, as another instance, the case of the Che













        Miscellaneous Papers       35







valier de Mezieres, heir of General Oglethorpe, who; notwithstanding that the

11th article of the treaty provides, that the subjects or citizens of either

party shall succeed, ab intestato, to the lands of their ancestors, within the

dominions of the other, had been informed from Mr. Adams, and by me also, that

his right of succession to the General's estate in Georgia was doubtful. He

observed too, that the administration of justice with us was tardy, insomuch

that their merchants, when they had money due to them within our States,

considered it as desperate; and that our commercial regulations, in general,

were disgusting to them. These ideas were new, serious and delicate. I decided,

therefore, not to enter into them at that moment, and the rather, as we were

speaking in French, in which language I did not choose to hazard myself. I

withdrew from the objections of the tardiness of justice with us, and the

disagreeableness of our commercial regulations, by a general observation, that

I was not sensible they were well founded. With respect to the case of the

Chevalier de Mezieres, I was obliged to enter into some explanations. They

related chiefly to l,he legal operation of our Declaration of Independence, to

the undecided question whether our citizens and British subjects were thereby

made aliens to one another, to the general laws as to conveyances of land to

aliens, and the doubt whether an act of the Assembly of Georgia might not have

been passed,_ to confiscate General Oglethorpe's property, which 













36        Jefferson's Works







would of course prevent its devolution on any heir. Mr. Reyneval observed, that

in this case" it became a mere question of fact, whether a confiscation of

these lands had taken place before the death of General Oglethorpe, which fact

might be easily known by inquiries in Georgia, where the possessions lay. I

thought it very material, that the opinion of this court should be set to

rights on these points. On my return, therefore, I wrote the following

observations on them, which, the next time I went to Versailles, (not having an

opportunity of speaking to the Count de Vergennes,) I put into the hands of M.

Reyneval, praying him to read them, and to ask the favor of the Count to do the

same.







Explanations on some of the subjects of conversation which I had the honor of

having with his Excellency, the Count de Vergennes, when I was last at

Versailles.







 The principal design of that conversation was, to discuss those articles of

commerce which the United States could spare, ,which are wanted in France, and

if received there on a convenient footing, would be exchanged for the

productions of France. But in the course of the conversation, some

circumstances were incidentally mentioned by the Count de Vergennes, which

induced me to suppose he had received impressions, neither favorable to us, nor

derived from perfect information.







 The case of the Chevalier de Mezieres was supposed to furnish an instance of

our disregard to 













        Miscellaneous Papers       37







treaties ; and the event of that case was inferred from opinions supposed to

have been given by Mr. Adams and myself. This is ascribing's weight to our

opinions, to which they are not entitled. They will have no influence on the

decision of the case. The judges in our courts, would not suffer them to be

read. Their guide is the law of the land, of which law its treaties make a

part. Indeed, I know not what opinion Mr. Adams may have given on the case.

And, if any be imputed to him derogatory of our regard to the treaty with

France, I think his opinion has been misunderstood. With respect to myself, the

doubts which I expressed to the Chevalier de Mezieres, as to the success of his

claims, were not founded on any question whether the treaty between France and

the United States would be observed. On the contrary, I venture to pronounce

that it will be religiously observed, if his case comes under it. But I doubted

whether it would come under the treaty: The case, as I understand it, is this:

General Oglethorpe, a British subject, had lands in Georgia. He died since '

the peace, having devised these lands to his wife. His heirs are the Chevalier

de Mezieres, son of his elder sister, and the Marquis de Bellegarde, son of his

younger sister. This case gives rise to legal questions, some of which have not

yet been decided, either in England or America, the laws of which countries are

nearly the same.







  1. It is a question under the laws of those countries, whether persons born

before their separation; 













38        Jefferson's Works







and once completely invested, in both, with the character of natural subjects,

can ever become aliens in either? There are respectable opinions on both sides.

If the negative be right, then General Oglethorpe having never become an alien,

and having devised his lands to his wife, who, on this supposition, also, was

not an alien, the devise has transferred the lands to her, and there is nothing

left for the treaty to operate on.







  2. If the affirmative opinion be right, and the inhabitants of Great Britain

and America, born before the Revolution, are become aliens to each other, it

follows by the laws of both, that the lands which either possessed, within the

jurisdiction of the other, became the property of the State in which they are.

But a question arises, whether the transfer of the property took place on the

Declaration of Independence, or not till an office, or an act of Assembly, had

declared the transfer. If the property passed to the State on the Declaration

of Independence, then it did not remain in General Oglethorpe, and, of course,

at the time of his death, he having nothing, there was nothing to pass to his

heirs, and so, nothing for the treaty to operate on.







  3. If the property does not pass till declared by an office found by jury, or

an act passed by the Assembly, the question then is, whether an office had been

found, or an act of Assembly been passed for that purpose, before the peace? If

there was, the lands had passed to the State during his life, and 













        Miscellaneous Papers       39







nothing being left in him, there is nothing for his heirs to claim under the

treaty.







 4. If the property had not been transferred to the State before the peace,

either by the Declaration of Independence, or an office; or an act of Assembly,

then it remained in General Oglethorpe at the epoch of the peace; and it will

be insisted, no doubt, that, by the sixth article of the treaty of peace,

between the United States and Great Britain, which forbids future

confiscations, General Oglethorpe acquired a capacity of holding and of

conveying his lands. He has conveyed them to his wife. But she being an alien,

it will be decided by the laws of the land, whether she took them for her own

use, or for the use of the State. For it is a general principle of our law,

that conveyances to aliens pass the lands to the State; and it may be urged,

that though, by the treaty of peace, General Oglethorpe could convey, yet that

treaty did not mean to give him a greater privilege of conveyance than natives

hold, to wit: a privilege of transferring the property to persons incapable, by

law, of taking it. However, this would be a question between the State of

Georgia and the widow of General Oglethorpe, in the decision of which the

Chevalier de Mezieres is not interested, because, whether she takes the land by

the will, for her own use, or for that of the State, it is equally prevented

from descending to him: there is neither a conveyance to him, nor a succession

ab intestato devolving on him, which are the cases provided for













 40        Jefferson's Works







by our treaty with France. To sum up the matter in a few words ; if the lands

had passed to the State before the epoch of peace, the heirs of General

Oglethorpe cannot say they have descended on them, and if they remained in the.

General at that epoch, the treaty saving them to him, he could convey them away

from his heirs, and he has conveyed them to his widow, either for her own use,

or for that of the State.







  Seeing no event in which, according to the facts stated to me, the treaty

could be applied to this case, or could give any right whatever, to the heirs

of General Oglethorpe, I advised the Chevalier de Mezieres not to urge his

pretensions on the footing of right, nor under the treaty, but to petition the

Assembly of Georgia for a grant of these lands. If, in the question between the

State and the widow of General Oglethorpe, it should be decided that they were

the property of the State, I expected from their generosity, and the friendly

disposition in America towards the subjects of France, that they would be

favorable to the Chevalier de Mezieres. There is nothing in the preceding

observations which would not have applied against the heir of General

Oglethorpe, had he been a native citizen of Georgia, as it now applies against

him, being a subject of France. The treaty has placed the subjects of France on

a footing with natives, as to conveyances and descent of property. There was no

occasion for the Assemblies to pass laws on this subject; the treaty being a

law, as I conceive, superior to those of particular 













        Miscellaneous Papers     41







  Assemblies, and repealing them, when they stand in the way of its operations.







    The supposition that the treaty was disregarded on our part, in the

instance of the acts of Assembly of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which made

a distinction between natives and foreigners, as to the duties to be paid on

commerce, was taken notice of in the letter of November the 20th, which I had

the honor of addressing to the Count de Vergennes. And while I express my hopes

that, on a revision of these subjects, nothing will be found in them derogatory

from either the letter or spirit of our treaty, I will add assurances that the

United States will not be behindhand in going beyond both, whenever. occasions

shall offer of manifesting their sincere attachment to this country.







    I will pass on to the observation, that our commercial regulations are

difficult, and repugnant to the French merchants. To detail these regulations

minutely, as they exist in every State, would be beyond my information. A

general view of them, however, will suffice, because the States differ little

in their several regulations. On the arrival of a ship in America, her cargo

must be reported at the proper office. The duties on it are to be paid.







  These are commonly from two and a half to five per cent. on its value. On

many articles, the value of which is tolerably uniform, the precise sum is

fixed: by law. A tariff of these is presented to the importer, and he can see

what he has to pay, as well 













42        Jefferson's Works







as the officer. For other articles, the duty is such a per cent. on their

value. That value is either shown by the invoice, or by the oath of the

importer. This operation being once over, and it is a very short one, the goods

are considered as entered, and may then pass through the whole thirteen States

without their being ever more subject to a question, unless they be reshipped.

Exportation is still more simple ; because, as we prohibit the exportation of

nothing, and very rarely lay a duty on any article of export, the State is

little interested in examining outwardbound vessels. The captain asks a

clearance for his own purposes. As to the operations of internal commerce, such

as matters of exchange, of buying, selling, bartering, etc. , our laws are the

same as the English. If they have been altered in any instance, it has been to

render them more simple.







  Lastly, as to the tardiness of the administration of justice with us, it

would be equally tedious and impracticable for me to give a precise account of

it in every State. But I think it probable that it is much on the same footing

through all the States, and that an account of it in any one of them may found

a general presumption of it in the others. Being best acquainted with its

administration in Virginia, I shall confine myself to that. Before the

Revolution, a judgment could not be obtained under eight years in the Supreme

Court, where the suit was in the department of the common law, which department

embraces about nine-tenths of the subject of 













        Miscellaneous Papers       43







legal contestation. In that of the chancery, from twelve to twenty years were

requisite. This did not proceed from any vice in the laws, but from the

indolence of the judges appointed by the King; and these judges holding their

office during his will only, he could have reformed the evil at any time. This

reformation was among the first works of the legislature after our

independence. A judgment can now be obtained in the Supreme Court in one year

at the common law, and in about three years in the chancery. But more

particularly to protect the commerce of France, which, at that moment, was

considerable with us, a law was passed, giving all suits wherein a foreigner

was a party, a privilege to be tried immediately, on the return of his process,

without waiting till those of natives, which stand before them, shall have been

decided on. Out of this act, however, the British stand excluded by a

subsequent one. This, with its causes, must be explained. The British army,

after ravaging the State of Virginia, had sent off a very great number of

slaves to New York. By the seventh article of the treaty of peace, they

stipulated not to carry away any of these. Notwithstanding this, it was known,

when they were evacuating New York, that they were carrying away the slaves.

General Washington made an official demand of Sir Guy Carleton, that he should

cease to send them away. He answered, that these people had come to them under

promise of the King's protection, and that that 













44        Jefferson's Works







promise should be fulfilled in preference to the stipulation in the treaty. The

State of Virginia, to which nearly the whole of these slaves belonged, passed a

law to forbid the recovery of debts due to British subjects. They declared, at

the same time, they would repeal the law, if Congress were of opinion they

ought to do it. But, desirous that their citizens should be discharging their

debts, they afterwards permitted British creditors to prosecute their suits,

and to receive their debts in seven equal and annual payments; relying that the

demand for the slaves would be either admitted or denied in time to lay their

hands on some of the latter payments for reimbursement. The immensity of this

debt was another reason for forbidding such a mass of property to be offered

for sale under execution at once, as, from the small quantity of circulating

money, it must have sold for little or. nothing, whereby the creditor would

have failed to receive his money, and the debtor would have lost his whole

estate without being discharged of his debt. This is the history of the delay

of justice in that country in the case of British creditors. As to all others,

its administration is as speedy as justice itself will admit. I presume it is

equally so in all the other States, and can add, that it, is administered in

them all, with a purity and integrity of which few counties afford an example.







 I cannot take leave altogether of the subjects of this conversation without

recalling the attention of the Count de Vergennes to what had been its princi













        Miscellaneous Papers     45







cipal drift. This was to endeavor to bring about a direct exchange between

France and the United States (without the intervention of a third nation), of

those productions with which each could furnish the other. We can furnish to

France (because we have heretofore furnished to England), of whale oil and

spermaceti, of furs and peltry, of ships and naval stores, and of potash, to

the amount of fifteen millions of livres; and the quantities will admit of

increase. Of our tobacco, France consumes the value of ten millions more.

Twenty-five millions of livres, then, mark the extent of that commerce of

exchange, which is, at present, practicable between us. We want, in return,

productions and manufactures; not money. If the duties on our produce are

light, and the sale free, we shall undoubtedly bring it here, and lay out the

proceeds on the spot in the productions and manufactures which we want. The

merchants of France will, on their part, become active in the same business. We

shall no more think, when we shall have sold our produce here, of making an

useless voyage to another country to lay out the money, than we think at

present, when we have sold it elsewhere, of coming here to lay out the money.

The conclusion is, that there are commodities which form a basis of exchange to

the extent of a million of guineas annually; it is for the wisdom of those in

power to contrive that the exchange shall be made.







 Having put this paper into the hands of Monsieur 













46        Jefferson's Works







Reyneval, we entered into conversation again; on the subject of the Farms,

which were now understood to be approaching to a conclusion. He told me, that

he was decidedly of opinion, that the interest of the State required the Farm

of tobacco to be discontinued, and that he had, accordingly, given every aid to

my proposition, which lay within his sphere; that the Count de Vergennes was

very clearly of the same opinion, and had supported it strongly with reasons of

his own, when he transmitted it to the Comptroller General; but that the

Comptroller, in the discussions of this subject which had taken place, besides

the objections which the Count de Vergennes had repeated to me, and which are

before mentioned, had added, that the contract with the Farmers General was now

so far advanced, that the article of tobacco could not be withdrawn from it,

without unravelling the whole transaction. Having understood that, in this

contract, there was always reserved to the crown a right to discontinue it at

any moment, making just reimbursements to the Farmers, I asked M. Reyneval, if

the contract should be concluded in its present form, whether it might still be

practicable to have it discontinued, as to the article of tobacco, at some

future moment. He said it might be possible.







  Upon the whole, the true obstacle to this proposition has penetrated, in

various ways, through the veil which covers it. The influence of the Farmers

General has been heretofore found sufficient to 













        Miscellaneous Papers       47







shake a minister in his office. Monsieur de Calonnes' continuance or

dismission, has been thought for some time, to be on a poise. Were he to shift

this great weight, therefore, out of his own scale into that of his

adversaries, it would decide their preponderance. The joint interests of France

and America would be insufficient counterpoise in his favor.







  It will be observed that these efforts to improve the commerce of the United

States, have been confined to that branch only which respects France itself,

and t,hat nothing passed on the subject of our commerce with the West Indies,

except an incidental conversation as to our fish. The reason of this, was no

want of a due sense of its importance. Of that, I am thoroughly sensible. But

efforts in favor of this branch would, at present, be desperate: To nations

with which we have not yet treated, and who have possessions in America, we may

offer a free vent of their manufactures in the United States, for a full or

modified admittance into those possessions. But to France, we are obliged to

give that freedom for a different compensation; to wit, for her aid in

effecting our independence. It is difficult, therefore, to say what we have now

to offer her, for an admission into her West Indies. Doubtless, it has its

price. But the question is, what this would be, and whether worth our while to

give it. Were we to propose to give to each other 's citizens all the rights of

natives, they would, of course, count what they should gain by 













48        Jefferson's Works







this enlargement of right, and examine whether it would be worth to them as

much as their monopoly of their West India commerce. If not, that commercial

freedom which we wish to preserve, and which, indeed, is so valuable, leaves us

little to offer. An expression in my letter to the Count de Vergennes, of

November the 20th, wherein I hinted that both nations might, perhaps, come into

the opinion, that the condition of natives might be a better ground of

intercourse for their citizens, than that of the most favored nation, was

intended to furnish an opportunity to the minister of parleying on that

subject, if he was so disposed, and to myself, of seeing whereabouts they would

begin, that I might communicate it to Congress, and leave them to judge of the

expediency of pursuing the subject. But no overtures have followed; for I have

no right to consider as coming from the minister, certain questions which were,

very soon after, proposed to me by an individual. It sufficiently accounts for

these questions, that that individual had written a memorial on the subject,

for the consideration of the minister, and might wish to know what we would be

willing to do. The idea that I should answer such questions to him, is equally

unaccountable, whether we suppose them originating with himself, or coming from

the minister. In fact, I must suppose them to be his own; and I transmit them,

only that Congress may see what one Frenchman, at least, thinks on the subject.















        Miscellaneous Papers       49







If we can obtain from Great Britain reasonable conditions of commerce, (which,

in my idea, must forever include an admission into her islands), the freest

ground between these two nations would seem to be the best. But if we can

obtain no equal terms from her, perhaps Congress might think it prudent, as

Holland has done, to connect us unequivocally with France. Holland has

purchased the protection of France. The price she pays, is aid in time of war.

It is interesting for us to purchase a free commerce with the French islands.

But whether it is best to pay for it, by aids in war, or by privileges in

commerce, or not to purchase it at all, is the question.







Answers by Mr. Jefferson, to Questions. addressed to him by Monsieur de

Meusnier, author of that part of the Encyclopedie Methodique, entitled Economic

Politique et Diplomatique.







 1. What has led Congress to determine, that the concurrence of seven votes is

requisite in questions which, by the Confederation, are submitted to the

decision of a majority of the United States, in Congress assembled ?







 The ninth article of Confederation, section six, evidently establishes three

orders of questions in Congress. 1.. The greater ones, which relate to making

peace or war, alliances, coinage, requisitions for money, raising military

force, or appointing its commander-in-chief. z. The lesser ones, which







   VOL. xvii-4 













50        Jefferson's Works







comprehend all other matters submitted by the Confederation to the federal

head. 3. The. single question of adjourning from day to day. This gradation of

questions is distinctly characterized by the article.







  In proportion to the magnitude of these questions, a greater concurrence. of

the voices composing the Union was thought necessary. Three degrees of

concurrence, well distinguished by substantial circumstances, offered

themselves to notice. 1. A concurrence of a majority of the people of the

Union. It was thought that this would be insured, by requiring the voices of

nine States; because, according to the loose estimates which had been made of

the inhabitants, and the proportion of them which were free, it was believed

that even the nine smallest would include a majority of the free citizens of

the Union. The voices, therefore, of nine States were required in the greater

questions. 2. A concurrence of the majority of the States. Seven constitute

that majority. This number, therefore, was required in the lesser questions. 3.

A concurrence of the majority of Congress, that is to say, of the States

actually present in it. As there is no Congress, when there are not seven

States present, this concurrence could never be of less than four States. But

these might happen to be the four smallest, which would not include one-ninth

part of the free citizens of the Union. This kind of majority, therefore, was

entrusted 













        Miscellaneous Papers        51







with nothing but the power of adjourning themselves from day to day.







  Here then are three kind of majorities. 1. Of the people. z. Of the States.

3. Of the Congress: each of which is entrusted to a certain length.







  Though the paragraph in question be clumsily expressed, yet it strictly

announces its own intentions. It defines with precision, the greater questions,

for which nine votes shall be requisite. In the lesser questions, it then

requires a majority of the United States in Congress assembled: a term which

will apply either to the number seven, as being a majority of the States, or to

the number four as being a majority of Congress. Which of the two kinds of

majority, was meant? Clearly, that which would leave a still smaller kind, for

the decision of the question of adjournment. The contrary construction would be

absurd.







  This paragraph, therefore, should be understood, as if it had been expressed

in the following terms: "The United States, in Congress assembled, shall never

engage in war, etc. , but with the consent of nine States: nor determine any

other question, but with the consent of a majority of the whole States, except

the question of adjournment from day to day, which may be determined by a

majority of the States actually present in Congress."







  2. How far is it permitted, to bring on the reconsideration of a question

which Congress has once determined ? 













52        Jefferson's Works







  The first Congress which met, being composed mostly of persons who had been

members of the legislatures of their respective States, it was natural for them

to adopt those rules in their proceedings, to which they had been accustomed in

their legislative Houses; and the more so, as these happened to be nearly the

same, as having been copied from the same original, those of the British

Parliament. One of those rules of proceeding was, that "a question once

determined, cannot be proposed, a second time, in the same session." Congress,

during their first session, in the autumn of 1774, observed this rule strictly.

But before their meeting in the spring of the following year, the war had

broken out. They found themselves at the head of that war, in an executive as

well as legislative capacity. They found that a rule, wise and necessary for a

legislative body, did not suit an executive one, which, being governed by

events, must change their purposes as those change. Besides, their session was

then to become of equal duration with the war; and a rule, which should render

their legislation immutable, during all that period, could not be submitted to.

They, therefore, renounced it in practice, and have ever since continued to

reconsider their questions freely. The only restraint as yet' provided against

the abuse of this permission to reconsider, is, that when a question has been

decided, it cannot be proposed for reconsideration, but by some one who voted 













        Miscellaneous Papers       53







in favor of the former decision, and declares that he has since changed his

opinion. I do not recollect accurately enough, whether it be necessary that his

vote should have decided that of his State, and the vote of his State have

decided that of Congress.







  Perhaps it might have been better, when they were forming the federal

Constitution, to have assimilated it, .as much as possible, to the particular

Constitutions of the States. All of these have distributed the legislative,

executive and judiciary powers, into different departments. In the federal

Constitution, the judiciary powers are separated from the others; but the

legislative and executive are both exercised by Congress. A means of amending

this defect has been thought of. Congress having a power to establish what

committees of their own body they please, and to arrange among them the

distribution of their business, they might, on the first day of their annual

meeting, appoint an executive committee, consisting of a member from each

State, and refer to them 'all executive business which should occur during

their session; confining themselves to what is of a legislative nature, that is

to say, to the heads described in the ninth article, as of the competence of

nine States only, and to such other questions as should lead to the

establishment of general rules. The journal of this committee, of the preceding

day, might be read the next morning in Congress, and considered







   approved unless a vote was demanded on a 













54        Jefferson's Works







particular article, and that article changed: The sessions of Congress would

then be short, and when they separated, the Confederation authorizes the

appointment of a committee of the States, which would naturally succeed to the

business of the executive committee. The legislative business would be better

done, because the attention of the members would not be interrupted by the

details of execution; and the executive business would be better done,

because,. business of this nature is better adapted to small, than great

bodies. A monarchical head should confide the execution of its will to

departments, consisting, each, of a plurality of hands, who would warp that

will, as much as possible, towards wisdom and moderation, the two qualities it

generally wants. But, a republican head, founding its decrees, originally, in

these two qualities, should commit them to a single hand for execution, giving

them, thereby, a promptitude which republican proceedings generally want.

Congress could not, indeed, confide their executive business to a smaller

number than a committee consisting of a member from each State. This is

necessary to insure the confidence of the Union. But it would be gaining a

great deal, to reduce the executive head to thirteen, and to relieve themselves

of those details. This, however, has as yet been the subject of private

conversations only.







  3. A succinct account of paper money in America? Previous to the Revolution,

most of the States 













        Miscellaneous Papers        55







were in the habit, whenever they had occasion for more money than could be

raised immediately by taxes, to issue paper notes or bills, in the name of the

State, wherein they promised to pay to the bearer the sum named in the note or

bill. In some of the States no time of payment was fixed, nor tax laid to

enable payment. In these, the bills depreciated. But others of the States named

in the bill the day when it should be paid, laid taxes to bring in money enough

for that purpose, and paid the bills punctually, on or before the day named. In

these States, paper money was in as high estimation as gold and silver. On the

commencement of the late Revolution, Congress had no money: The external

commerce of the States being suppressed, the farmer could not sell his produce,

and, of course, could not pay a tax. Congress had no resource then but in paper

money. Not being able to lay a tax for its redemption, they could only promise

.that taxes should be laid for that purpose, so as to redeem the bills by a

certain day. They did not foresee the long continuance of the war, the almost

total suppression of their exports, and other events, which rendered the

performance of their engagement impossible. The paper money continued for a

twelvemonth equal to gold and silver. But the quantities which they were

obliged to emit for the purpose of the war, exceeded what had been the usual

quantity of the circulating medium. It began, therefore, to be













56        Jefferson's Works







come cheaper, or, as we expressed it, it depreciated, as gold and silver would

have done, had they been thrown into circulation in equal quantities. But not

having, like them, an intrinsic value, its depreciation was more rapid and

greater than could ever have happened with them. In two years, it had fallen to

two dollars of paper money for one of silver ; in three years, to four for one

; in nine months more, it fell to ten for one; and in the six months following,

that is to say, by September, 1779, it had fallen to twenty for one.







 Congress, alarmed at the consequences which were to be apprehended, should

they lose this resource altogether, thought it necessary to make a vigorous

effort to stop its further depreciation. They therefore determined, in the

first place; that their emissions should not exceed two hundred millions of

dollars, to which term they were then nearly arrived; and though they knew that

twenty dollars of what they were then issuing, would buy no more for their army

than one silver dollar would buy, yet they thought it would be worth while to

submit to the sacrifice of nineteen out of twenty dollars, if they could

thereby stop further depreciation. They, therefore, published an address to

their constituents, in which they renewed their original declarations, that

this paper money should be redeemed at dollar for dollar. They proved the

ability of the States to do this, and that their liberty would be cheaply

bought at that price. The 













        Miscellaneous Papers         57







declaration was ineffectual. No man received the money at a better rate; on the

contrary, in six months more, that is, by March, 1780, it had fallen to forty

for one. Congress then tried an experiment of a different kind. Considering

their former offers to redeem this money at par, as relinquished by the general

refusal to take it, but in progressive depreciation, they required the whole to

be brought in, declared it should be redeemed at its present value, of forty

for one, and that they would give to the holders new bills, reduced in their

denomination to the sum of gold or silver, which was actually to be paid for

them. This would reduce the nominal sum of the mass in circulation to the

present worth of that mass, which was five millions; a sum not too great for

the circulation of the States, and which, they therefore hoped, would not

depreciate further, as they continued firm in their purpose of emitting no

more. This effort was as unavailing as the former. Very little of the money was

brought in. It continued to circulate and to depreciate, till the end of 1780,

when it had fallen to seventyfive for one, and the money circulated from the

French army, being, by that time, sensible in all the States north of the

Potomac, the paper ceased its circulation altogether in those States. In

Virginia and North Carolina it continued a year longer, within which time it

fell to one thousand for one, and then expired, as it had done in the other

States, without a single groan. Not a murmur was heard on this 













58        Jefferson's Works







occasion, among the people. On the contrary, universal congratulations took

place on their seeing this gigantic mass, whose dissolution had threatened

convulsions which should shake their infant confederacy to its centre, quietly

interred in its grave. Foreigners, indeed, who do not, like the natives, feel

indulgence for its memory, as of a being which has vindicated their liberties,

and fallen in the moment of victory, have been loud, and still are loud in

their complaints. A few of them have reason; but the most noisy are not the

best of them. They are persons who have become bankrupt by unskillful attempts

at commerce with America. That they may have some pretext to offer to their

creditors, they have bought up great masses of this dead money in America,

where it is to be had at five thousand for one, and they show the certificates

of their paper possessions, as if they had all died in their hands, and had

been the cause of their bankruptcy. Justice will be done to all, by paying to

all persons what this money actually cost them, with an interest of six per

cent. from the time they received it. If difficulties present themselves in the

ascertaining the epoch of the receipt, it has been thought better that the

State should lose, by admitting easy proofs, than that individuals, and

especially foreigners, should, by being held to such as would be difficult,

perhaps impossible.







  4. Virginia certainly owed two millions sterling to Great Britain at the

conclusion of the war. Some 













        Miscellaneous Papers     59







have conjectured the debt as high as three millions. I think that State owed

near as much as all the. rest put together. This is to be ascribed to

peculiarities in the tobacco trade. The advantages made by the British

merchants, on the tobaccos consigned to them, were so enormous, that they.

spared no means of increasing those consignments. A powerful engine for this

purpose, was the giving good prices and credit to the planter, till they got

him more immersed in debt than he could pay, without selling his lands or

slaves. They then reduced the prices given for his tobacco, so that let his

shipments be ever so great, and his demand of necessaries ever so economical,

they never permitted him to clear off his debt. These debts had become

hereditary from father to son, for many generations, so that the planters were

a species of property, annexed to certain mercantile houses in London.







  5. The members of Congress are differently paid by different States. Some are

on fixed allowances, from four to eight dollars a day. Others have their

expenses paid, and a surplus for their time. This surplus is of two; three, or

four dollars a day.







  6. I do not believe there has ever been a moment, when a single Whig, in any

one State, would not have shuddered at the very idea of a separation of their

State from the confederacy. The Tories would, at all times, have been glad to

see the confederacy dissolved, even by particles at a time, 













60        Jefferson's Works







in hopes of their attaching themselves again to Great Britain.







  7. The 11th article of Confederation admits Canada to accede to the

Confederation at its own will, but adds, "no other colony shall be admitted to

the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States." When the plan of

April, 1784, for establishing new States was on the carpet, the committee who

framed the report of that plan, had inserted this clause, "provided nine States

agree to such admission, according to the reservation of the 11th of the

articles of Confederation. " It was objected, 1. That the words of the

confederation, " no other colony, " could refer only to the residuary

possessions of Great Britain, as the two Floridas, Nova Scotia, etc., not being

already parts of the Union ; that the law for " admitting " a new member into

the Union, could not be applied to a territory which was already in the Union,

as making part of a State which was a member of it. a. That it would be

improper to allow " nine " States to receive a new member, because the same

reasons which rendered that number proper now, would render a greater one

proper, when the number composing the Union should be increased. They therefore

struck out this paragraph and inserted a proviso, that "the consent of so many

States, in Congress, shall be first obtained, as may, at the time, be competent

; " thus leaving the question, whether the 11th article applies to the

admission of new States, to be 













        Miscellaneous Papers     61







decided when that admission shall be asked. See the Journal of Congress of

April 20, 1784. Another doubt was started in this debate, viz. : whether the

agreement of the nine States, required by the Confederation, was to be made by

their legislatures, or b' y their delegates in Congress ? The expression

adopted, viz. : " so many States, in Congress, is first obtained, " show what

was their sense of this matter. If it be agreed that the 11th article of the

Confederation is not to be applied to the admission of these new States, then

it is contended that their admission comes within the 13th article, which

forbids "any alteration, unless agreed to in a Congress of the United States,

and afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State. " The independence

of the new States of Kentucky and Franklin, will soon bring on the ultimate

decision of all these questions.







 8. Particular instances whereby the General Assembly of Virginia have shown

that they considered the ordinance called their Constitution, as every other

ordinance, or act of the legislature, subject to be altered by the legislature

for the time being.







  1. The convention which formed that Constitution, declared themselves to be

the House of Delegates, during the term for which they were originally elected,

and in the autumn of the year met the Senate, elected under the new

Constitution, and did legislative business with them. At this time, there were

malefactors in the public jail, and 













62        Jefferson's Works







there was as yet no court established for their trial. They passed a law,

appointing certain members by name, who were then members of the Executive

Council, to be a court for the trial of these malefactors, though the

Constitution had said, in express words, that no person should exercise the

powers of more than one of the three departments, legislative, executive, .and

judiciary at the same time. This .proves that the very men who had made that

Constitution understood that it would be alterable by the General Assembly.

This court was only for that occasion. When the next General Assembly met,

after the election of the ensuing year, there was a new set of malefactors in

the jail, and no court to try them. This Assembly passed a similar law to the

former, appointing certain members of the Executive Council to be an occasional

court for this particular case. Not having the journals of Assembly by me, I am

unable to say whether this measure was repealed afterwards. However, they are

instances of executive and judiciary powers exercised by the same persons,

under the authority of a law made in contradiction to the Constitution.







  2. There was a process depending in the ordinary courts of justice, between

two individuals of the names of Robinson and Fauntleroy, who were relations, of

different descriptions, to one Robinson, a British subject, lately dead. Each

party claimed a right to inherit the lands of the 













        Miscellaneous Papers       63







decedent according to the laws. Their right should by the Constitution have

been decided by the judi- ciary courts ; and it was actually depending before

them. One of the parties petitioned the Assembly (I think it was in the year

1782), who passed a law deciding the right in his favor. In the following year,

a Frenchman, master of a vessel, entered into port without complying with the

laws established in such cases, whereby he incurred the forfeitures of the law

to any person who would sue for them. An individual instituted a legal process

to recover these forfeitures according to the law of the land. The Frenchman

petitioned the Assembly, who passed a law deciding the question of forfeiture

in his favor. These acts are occasional repeals of that part of the

Constitution which forbids the same persons to exercise legislative and

judiciary powers at the same time.







  The Assembly is in the habitual exercise, during their sessions, of directing

the Executive what to do. There are few pages of their journals which do not

show proofs of this, and consequently instances of the legislative and

executive powers exercised by the same persons at the same time. These things

prove that it has been the uninterrupted opinion of every Assembly, from that

which passed the ordinance called the Constitution down to the present day,

that their acts may control that ordinance, and, of course, that the State of

Virginia has no fixed Constitution at all. 













64        Jefferson's Works















        _______________







 The succeeding observations were made by Mr. Jefferson on an article entitled

"Etats Unis," prepared for the Encyclopedie Methodique, and submitted to him

before its publication. 







        _______________















  Page 8. The malefactors sent to America were not sufficient in number to

merit enumeration, as one class-out of three which peopled America. It was at a

late period of their history that this practice began. I have no book by me

which enables me to point out the date of its commencement. But I do not think

the whole number sent would amount to two thousand, and being principally men,

eaten up with disease, they married seldom and propagated little. I do not

suppose that themselves and their descendants are at present four thousand;

which is little more than one-thousandth part of the whole inhabitants.







  Indented servants formed a considerable supply. These were poor Europeans,

who went to America to settle themselves. If they could pay their passage, it

was well. If not, they must find means of paying it. They were at liberty,

therefore, to make an agreement with any person they chose, to serve him such a

length of time as they agreed on, upon condition that he would repay to the

master of the vessel the expenses of their passage. If, being foreigners;

unable to speak the language, they did not know how to make a bargain for

themselves, the captain of the vessel contracted for them with such persons as

he could. This contract was by deed indented, which occasioned them to be

called 













        Miscellaneous Papers      65







indented servants. Sometimes they were called redemptioners, because by their

agreement with the master €of the vessel, they could redeem themselves. from

his power by paying their passage, which they frequently effected by hiring

themselves on their arrival, as is before mentioned. In some States I know that

these people had a right of marrying themselves without their master 's leave,

and I and suppose they had that right everywhere. I did not know that in any of

the States they demanded so much as a week for every day's absence .without

leave. I suspect this must have been at a very early period, while the

governments were in the hands of the first emigrants, who, being mostly

laborers, were narrow-minded and severe. I know that in Vir- ginia the laws

allowed their servitude to be protracted only two days for every one they were

absent without leave. So mild was this kind of servitude, that it was very

frequent for foreigners, who carried to America money enough not only to pay

their passage, but to buy themselves a farm, to indent themselves to a master

for three years for a certain sum of money, with a view to learn the husbandry

of the country. I will here make a general observation. So desirous are the

poor of Europe to get to America, where they may better their condition, that

being unable to pay their passage, they will agree to serve two or three years

on their arrival here, rather than not go. During the time of that service,

they are better fed, better clothed, and







   vol. xvii-5 













66        Jefferson's Works







have lighter labor, than while in Europe. Continu- ing to work for hire a few

years longer, they buy a farm, marry, and enjoy all the sweets of a domestic

society of their own. The American governments are censured for permitting this

species of servitude, which lays the foundation of the happiness of these

people. But what should these governments do? Pay the passage of all those who

choose to go int o their country ? They are not able ; nor were they able, do

they think the purchase worth the price? Should .they exclude these people from

their shores? Those who know their situations in Europe and America, would not

say that this is the alternative which humanity dictates. It is said that these

people are deceived by those who carry them over. But this is done in Europe.

How can the American governments prevent it? Should they punish the deceiver ?

It seems more incumbent on the European government, where the act is done, and

where a public injury is sustained from it. However, it is only in Europe that

this deception is heard of. The individuals are generally satisfied in America

with their adventure, and very few of them wish not to have made it. I must add

that the Congress have nothing to do with this matter. It belongs to the

legislatures of the several States.







  Page 26. "Une puissance, en effet," etc. The account of the settlement of the

colonies, which precedes this paragraph, shows that that settlement was not

made by public authority, or at the public 













        Miscellaneous Papers       67







expense of England ; but by the exertions, and at the expense of individuals.

Hence it happened, that their constitutions were not formed systematically, but

according to the circumstances which happened to exist in each. Hence; too, the

principles of the political connection between the  old and new countries, were

never settled. That it would have been advantageous to have settled them, is

certain ; and, particularly, to have provided a body which should decide, in

the last resort, all cases wherein both parties were interested. But it is not

certain that that right would have been given, or ought to have been given to

the Parliament; much less, that it resulted to the Parliament, without having

been given to it expressly. Why was it necessary that there should have been a

body to decide in the last resort ? Because, it would have been for the good of

both parties. But this reason shows it ought not to have been the Parliament,

since that would have exercised it for the good of one party only.







  Page 105. As to the change of the 8th article of Confederation, for quoting

requisitions of money on the States.







  By a report of the Secretary of Congress, dated January the 4th-, 1786, eight

States had then acceded to the proposition ; to wit, Massachusetts,

Connecticut; New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North

Carolina.







  Congress, on the 18th of April, 1783, recommended to the States to invest.

them - with - a power, 













68         Jefferson's Works







for twenty-five years, to levy an impost of five per cent. on all articles

imported from abroad. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey,

Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Caro- lina, and South Carolina, had

complied with this, before the 4th of January, 1786. Maryland had passed an act

for the sa 'me purpose ; but, by a mistake in referring to the date of the

recommendation of Congress, the act failed of its effect. This was therefore to

be rectified. Since the 4th of January, the public papers tell us that Rhode

Island has complied fully with this recommendation. It remains still for New

York and Georgia to do it.    The exportations of America, which are tolerably

well known, are the best measure for estimating the importations. These are

probably worth about twenty millions of dollars, annually. Of course, this

impost will pay the interest of a debt to that amount. If confined to the

foreign debt, it will pay the whole interest of that, and sink half a million

of the capital, annually: The expenses of collecting this impost, will probably

be six per cent. on .its amount, this being the usual expense of collection in

the United States. This will be sixty thousand dollars. 







 On the 30th of April; 1784, Congress recommended to the States, to invest them

with a power, for fifteen years, to exclude from their ports the vessels of all

nations, not having a treaty of commerce with them; and to pass, as to all

nations, an act on the principles of the British navigation act. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     69







Not that they were disposed to carry these powers into execution, with such as

would meet them in fair and equal arrangements of commerce ; but that they

might be able to do it against those who should not. On the 4th of January,

1786, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, had done it. It remained

for New Jersey, Delaware, South Carolina, and Georgia, to do the same.







  In the meantime, the general idea has advanced before the demands of

Congress, and several States have passed acts, for vesting Congress with the

whole regulation of their commerce, reserving the revenue arising from these

regulations, to the disposal of the State in which it is levied. The States

which, according to the public papers, have passed such acts, are New

Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia; but

the Assembly of Virginia, apprehensive that this disjointed method of

proceeding may fail in its effect, or be much retarded, passed a resolution on

the 21st of January, 1786, appointing commissioners to meet others from the

other States, whom they invite into the same measure, to digest the farm of an

act, for investing Congress with such powers over their commerce, as shall be

thought expedient, which act is to be reported to their several Assemblies, for

their adoption. This was the state of the several propositions relative to the

impost, and regulation of commerce, at the date of our latest advices from

America. 













70        Jefferson's Works







  Page 125. The General Assembly of Virginia, at their session in I 7 85,

passed an act, declaring that the district, called Kentucky, shall be a

separate and independent State, on these conditions : 1. That the people of

that district shall consent to it. 2. That Congress shall consent to it, and

shall receive them into the federal Union. 3. That they shall take on

themselves a proportionable part of the public debt of Virginia. 4. That they

shall confirm all titles to lands within their district, made by the State of

Virginia, before their separation.







  Page 139. It was in 1783, and not in 1781, that Congress quitted

Philadelphia.







  Page 140. " Le Congres qui se trouvoit a la portee des rebelles fut effraye."

I was not present on this occasion, but I have had relations of the transaction

from several who were. The conduct of Congress was marked with indignation and

firmness. They received no propositions from the mutineers: They came to the

resolutions, which may be seen in the journals of June the 21st, 1783,' then

adjourned regularly, and went through the body of the mutineers to their

respective lodgings. The measures taken by Dickinson, the President of

Pennsylvania, for punishing this insult, not being satisfactory to Congress,

they assembled, nine days after, at Princeton, in Jersey. The people of

Pennsylvania sent petitions declaring their indignation at what had passed,

their devotion to the federal head, and their dispositions to protect it, and

praying them to 













        Miscellaneous Papers     71







return ; the legislature, as soon as assembled, did the same thing; the

Executive, whose irresolution had been so exceptionable, made apologies. But

Congress were now removed; and, to the opinion that this example was proper,

other causes were now added, sufficient to prevent their return to

Philadelphia.







  Page 155. 1.  2. Omit " La detta actuelle, " etc.







  And also, " Les details, etc., etc., to the end of the paragraph, " celles

des Etats Unis ; " page 156. The reason is, that these passages seem to

suppose, that the several sums emitted by Congress, at different times,

amounting nominally-to two hundred millions of dollars, had been actually worth

that at the time of emission, and, of course, that the soldiers and others had

received that sum from Congress. But nothing is further from the truth. The

soldier, victualler, or other persons who received forty dollars for a service,

at the close of the year 1779 received, in fact, no more than he who received

one dollar for the same service, in the year 1775, or 1776 ; because, in those

years, the paper money was at par with silver ; whereas, by the close of 1779,

forty paper dollars were worth but one of silver, and would buy no more of the

necessaries of life. To know what the moneys emitted by Congress were worth to

the people, at the time they received them, we will state the date and amount

of every several emission, the depreciation of paper money at the time, and the

real worth of the emission in silver or gold. 





 72        Jefferson's Works







Emission.        łSum Emitted        ł depre-        łWorth of the sum



        ł        łciati-        łemitted, the silver



        ł        ł        łdollars.



        ł        łon.        ł



1775  June  23         ł 2,000,000        ł0        ł2,000,000



1775  Nov.  29         ł 3,000,000        ł0         ł3,000,000



1776  Feb.  17         ł 4,000,000        ł0         ł4,000,000



1776  Aug.  13         ł 5,000,000        ł0         ł5,000,000



1777  May   20         ł 5,000,000        ł2 2/3         ł1,877,273



1777  Aug.  15         ł 1,000,000        ł3         ł   333,333.33



1777  Nov.   7         ł 1,000,000        ł4         ł   250,000



1777  Dec.   3         ł 1,000,000        ł4         ł   250,000



1778  Jan.   8         ł 1,000,000        ł4         ł   250,000



1778  Jan.  22        ł 2,000,000        ł4         ł   500,000



1778  Feb.  16         ł 2,000,000        ł5         ł   400,000



1778  Mar.   5        ł 2,000,000        ł5         ł   400,000



1778  Apr.   4         ł 1,000,000        ł6         ł   166,666.66



1778  Apr.  11         ł 5,000,000        ł6         ł   833,333.33



1778  Apr.  18         ł    500,000        ł6         ł     83,333.33



1778  May   22         ł 5,000,000        ł5         ł 1,000,000



1778  June  20         ł 5,000,000        ł4         ł 1,250,000



1778  July  30         ł 5,000,000        ł4.5         ł 1,111,111



1778  Sept.  5         ł 5,000,000        ł5         ł1,000,000



1778  Sept. 26         ł10,000,100        ł5         ł2,000,020



1778  Nov.  14         ł10,000,100        ł6         ł1,666,683.33



1778  Dec.   4         ł10,000,100        ł6         ł1,666,683.33



1779  Jan.  14         ł24,447,620(1)        ł8         ł3,055,952.5



1779  Feb.   3         ł5,000,160        ł10        ł   500,016



1779  Feb.  12         ł5,000,160        ł10         ł   500,016



1779  Apr.   2         ł5,000,160        ł17         ł   294,127



1779  May    5         ł10,000,100        ł24         ł   416,670.83



1779  June   4         ł10,000,100        ł20         ł   500,005



1779  July  17         ł15,000,280        ł20         ł   750,014



1779  Sept. 17         ł15,000,260        ł24         ł   625,010.83



1779  Oct.  14         ł5,000,180        ł30         ł   166,672.66



1779  Nov.  17         ł10,050,540        ł38.5         ł   261,053



1779  Nov.  29         ł10,000,140        ł38.5        ł   259,743



        ł        ł        ł



        ł200,000,000         ł        ł36,367,719.83 



    







        _______________







1 The sum actually voted was 50,000,400, but part of it Çvas for exchange of

old bills,without saying how much.  It is presumed that these exchanges

absorbed $25,552,780,because the remainder 24,447,620 with all the other

emissions preceding September 2. 1779 will amount to 159,948,880, the sum which

Congress declared to  be then in circulation.







        _______________





















        Miscellaneous Papers    73







 Thus, it appears, that the two hundred millions of dollars, emitted by

Congress, were worth, to those who received them, but about thirty-six millions

of silver dollars. If we estimate at the same value, the like sum of two

hundred millions, supposed to have been emitted by the States, and reckon the

federal debt, foreign and domestic, at about forty-three millions, and the

State debts at about twenty-five millions, it will form an amount of one

hundred and forty millions of dollars, or seven hundred and thirtyfive millions

of livres, Tournois; the total sum which the war has cost the inhabitants of

the United States. It continued eight years, from the battle of Lexington to

the cessation of hostilities in America. The annual expense, then, was about

seventeen millions and five hundred thousand dollars, while that of our enemies

was a greater number of guineas.







  It will be asked, how will the two masses of Continental and of State money

have cost the people of the United States seventy-two millions of dollars, when

they are to be redeemed, now, with about six millions? I answer, that the

difference, being sixtysix millions, has been lost on the paper bills,

separately, by the successive holders of them. Every one, through whose hands a

bill passed, lost on that bill what it lost in value, during the time it was '

in his hands. This was a real tax o n him; and in this way, the people of the

United States actually contributed those sixty-six millions of dollars, during

the war, and by a mode of taxation the 













74        Jefferson's Works







most oppressive of all, because the most unequal of all.                 







  Page 166 ; bottom line. Leave out " Et c'est une autre economie ", etc. The

reason of this, is, that in 1784 ,. purchases of lands were to be made of the

Indians, which were accordingly made. But in 1785, they did not propose to make

any purchase. The money desired in 1785, five thousand dollars, was probably to

pay agents residing among the Indians, or balances of the purchases of 1784.

These purchases will not be made every year ; but only at distant intervals,

as, our settlements are extended; and it may be regarded as certain, that not a

foot of land will ever, be taken from the Indians, without their own consent.

The sacredness of their rights, is felt by all thinking persons in America, as

much as in Europe.







 Page 170. Virginia was quoted the highest of any State in the Union. But

during the war, several States appear to have paid more, because they were free

from the enemy, whilst Virginia was cruelly ravaged. The requisition of 1784,

was so quoted on the several States, as to bring up their arrear ages; so that

when they should have paid the sums then demanded, all would be on an equal

footing. It is necessary to give a ,further explanation of this requisition.

The requisitions` of one million and two hundred thousand dollars, of eight

millions, and two millions, had been made during the war, as an experiment" to

see whether, 













        Miscellaneous Papers    75







in that situation, the' States could furnish the necessary supplies. It was

found they could not. The money was thereupon obtained by loans in Europe; and

Congress meant, by their requisition of 1784, to abandon the requisitions of

one million and two hundred thousand dollars, and of two millions, and also

one-half of the eight millions. But as all the States, almost, had made some

payments in part of that requisition, they were obliged to retain such a

proportion of it, as would enable them to call for equal contributions from all

the others.







  Page 170. I cannot say how it has happened, that the debt of Connecticut is

greater than that of Virginia. The latter is the richest in productions, and,

perhaps,. made greater exertions to pay for her supplies in the course of the

war.















Page 172. " Les Americains sevant apres une banqueroute, " etc. The objections.

made to the United States, being here condensed together in a short compass,

perhaps, it would not be improper to condense the answers in as small a

compass, in some such form as follows. That is, after the words " aucun espoir,

" add, " But to these charges it may be justly answered, that those are no

bankrupts who acknowledge the sacredness of their debts, in their just and real

amount, who are able, within a reasonable time, to pay them, and who are

actually proceeding in that payment; that they furnish, in fact, the supplies

necessary for the support of their government ; that their officers and

soldiers 













76        Jefferson's Works







are satisfied, as the interest of their debt is paid regularly, and the

principal is in a course  of payment; that the question, whether they fought

ill, should be asked of those who met them at Bunker's Hill, Bennington,

Stillwater, King's Mountain, the Cowpens, Guilford, and the Eutaw. And that the

charges of ingratitude, madness, infidelity and corruption, are easily made by,

those to whom falsehoods cost nothing ; but that no instances, in support of

them, have been produced, or can be produced. "







  Page 187. " Les officers et les soldats ont ete payes," etc. The balances due

to the officers and soldiers have been ascertained, and a certificate of the

sum given to each ; on these, the interest is regularly paid ; and every

occasion is seized of paying the principal, by receiving these certificates as

money, whenever public property is sold, till a more regular and effectual

method can be taken, for paying the whole.







  Page 191. "Quoique la loi dont nous parlons, ne s 'observe plus en

Angleterre. " ` ` An alien born may purchase lands or other estates, but not

for his own use; for the King is thereupon entitled to them." "Yet an alien may

acquire a property in goods, money and other personal estate; or may hire a

house for his habitation. For this is necessary for the advancement of trade. "

" Also, an alien may bring an action concerning personal property, and may make

a will, and dispose of his personal 













        Miscellaneous Papers.     77







estate. " " When I mention these rights of an alien, I must be understood of

alien friends only, or such whose countries are in peace with ours; for alien

enemies have no rights, no privileges, unless by the King's special favor,

during the time of war. " Blackstone, B. . I. c. 10, page 372. " An alien

friend may have personal actions, but not real; an alien enemy shall have

neither real, personal, or mixed actions. The reason why an alien friend is

allowed to maintain a personal action, is, because he would otherwise be

incapacitated to merchandise, which may be as much to our prejudice as his. "

Cunningham 's Law Dict. , title, Aliens. The above ' is the clear law of

England, practiced from the earliest ages to this day, and never denied. The

passage quoted by M. de Meuisnier from 2 Blackstone, c. 26, is from his

chapter, " Of title to things personal by occupancy. " The word " personal, "

shows, that nothing in this chapter relates to lands, which are real estate;

and, therefore, this passage does not contract the one before quoted from the

same' author, (1 B1. c. 10.) which says, that the lands of an alien belong to

the King. The words, " of ' title by occupancy, " show, that it does not relate

 to debts, which, being a moral existence only, cannot be the subject. of

occupancy. Blackstone, in this passage, (B. 2. c. 26.) speaks only of personal

goods of an alien, which another may find, and seize as prime occupant.







  Page 193. " Le reimbursement presenters des 













78        Jefferson's Works







difficulties des sommes considerables, " etc. There is no difficulty nor doubt

on this subject. Every one is sensible how this is to be ultimately settled.

Neither the British creditor, nor the State, will be permitted to lose by these

payments. The debtor will be credited for what he paid, according to what it

was really worth at the time he paid it, and he must pay the balance. Nor does

he lose by this; for if a man who owed one thousand dollars to a British

merchant, paid eight hundred paper dollars into the treasury, when the

depreciation was at eight for one, it is clear he paid but one hundred real

dollars, and must now pay nine hundred. It is probable, he received those eight

hundred dollars for one hundred bushels of wheat, which were never worth more

than one hundred silver dollars. He is credited, therefore, the full worth of

his wheat. The equivoque is in the use of the word "dollar."







  Page 226. " Qu ' on abolisse les privileges du clerge." This privilege,

originally allowed to the clergy, is now extended to every man, and even to

women. it is a right of exemption from capital punishment, for the first

offence, in most cases. It is, then, a pardon by the law. In other cases, the

Executive gives the pardon. But when laws are made as mild as they should :be,

both those pardons are absurd. The principle of Beccaria is sound. Let the

legislators be merciful, but the executors of the law inexorable. As the term "

privileges du clerge " may be understood by for













        Miscellaneous Papers    79







eigners, perhaps, it will be better to strike it out here, and Substitute the

word " pardon. "







  Page 239. " Les commissaries venlent, " etc. Manslaughter is the killing a

man with design, but in a sudden gust of passion, and where the killer has not

had time to cool. The first offence is not punished capitally; but the second

is. This is the law of England and of all the American States ; and is not now

a new proposition. Those laws have supposed that a man, whose passions have so

much dominion over him, as to lead him to repeated acts of murder, is unsafe to

society: that it is better he should be put to death by the law, than others,

more innocent than himself,on the movements of his impetuous passions.







  Ibid. " Mal-aise d ' indiquer- la nuance precise," etc. In forming a scale of

crimes and punishments, two considerations have principal weight. I. The

atrocity of the crime. 2. The peculiar circumstances of a country, which

furnish greater temptations to commit it, or greater facilities for escaping

detection. The punishment must be heavier, to counterbalance this. Were the

first the only consideration, all nations would form the same scale. But, as

the circumstances of a country have influence on the punishment, and no two

countries exist precisely under the same circumstances, no two countries will

form the same scale of crimes and punishments. For example ; in America, the

inhabitants let their horses go at large, in the unin













80        Jefferson's Works







closed lands, which are so extensive; as to maintain them altogether. It is

easy, therefore, to steal them, and easy to escape. Therefore, the laws are

obliged to oppose these temptations with a heavier degree of punishment. For

this reason, the stealing of a horse in America, is punished more severely than

stealing the same value in any other form: In Europe, where horses are confined

so securely, that it is impossible to steal them, that species of theft need

not be punished more severely than any other. In some countries of Europe,

stealing fruit from trees is punished capitally. The reason is, that it being

impossible to lock fruit trees up in coffers, as we do our money, it is

impossible to oppose physical bars to this species of theft: Moral ones are,

therefore, opposed by the laws. This, to an unreflecting American, appears the

most enormous of all the abuses of power ; because, he has been used to see

fruits hanging in such quantities, that, if not taken by men, they would rot:

he has been used to consider them, therefore, as of no value, and as not

furnishing materials for the commission of a crime. This must serve as an

apology for the arrangements of crimes and punishments, in the scale under our

consideration. A different one would be formed here; and still different ones

in Italy, Turkey, China, etc.







 Page 240. "Les officers Americains," etc., to page 264, "qui le meritoient." I

would propose to new model this section, in the following manner.





















        Miscellaneous Papers     81







1. Give a succinct history of the origin and establishment of the Cincinnati.

2. Examine whether, in its present form, it threatens any dangers to the State.

3. Propose the most practicable method of preventing them.







 Having been in America, during the period in which this institution was

formed, and being then in a situation which gave me opportunities of seeing it,

in all its stages, I may venture to give M. de Meusnier materials for the first

branch of the preceding distribution of the subject. The second and third, he

will best execute himself. I should write its history in the. following form :







 When, on the close of that war, which established the independence of America,

its army was about to be disbanded, the officers, who, during the course of it,

had gone through the most trying scenes together, who, by mutual aids and good

offices, had become dear to one another, felt with great oppression of mind,

the approach of that moment which was to separate them, never, perhaps, to meet

again. They were from different States, and from distant parts of the same

State. Hazard alone could, therefore, give them but rare and partial occasions

of seeing each other. They were, of course, to abandon altogether the hope of

ever meeting again, or to devise some occasion which might bring them together.

And why not come together on purpose, at stated times? Would not the trouble of

such a journey be greatly over-







VOL. XVII-6 













82        Jefferson's Works







paid, by the pleasure of seeing each other again, by the sweetest of all

consolations, the talking over the scenes of difficulty and of endearment they

had gone through? This, too, would enable them to know who of them should

succeed in the world, who should be unsuccessful, and to open the purses of all

to every laboring brother. This idea was too soothing, not to be cherished in

conversation. It was improved into that of a regular association, with an

organized administration; with periodical meetings, general and particular,

fixed contributions for those who should be in distress, and a badge, by which,

not, only those who had not had occasion to become personally known, should be

able to recognize one another, but which should be worn by their descendants,

to perpetuate among them the friendships which had bound their ancestors

together.







 General Washington was, at that moment, oppressed with the operation of

disbanding an army which was not paid, and the difficulty of this operation was

increased, by some two or three States having expressed sentiments, which did

not indicate a sufficient attention to their payment. He was sometimes present,

when his officers were fashioning, in their conversations, their newly proposed

society. He saw, the innocence of its origin, and foresaw no effects less

innocent. He was, at that time, writing his valedictory letter to the States,

which has been so deservedly applauded by the 













        Miscellaneous Papers       83







world. Far from thinking it a moment to multiply the causes of irritation, by

thwarting a proposition which had absolutely no other basis but that of

benevolence and friendship, he was rather satisfied to find himself aided in

his difficulties by this new incident, which occupied, and, at the same time,

soothed the minds of the officers. He thought, too, that this institution would

be one instrument the more for strengthening the federal bond, and for

promoting federal ideas. The institution was formed. They incorporated into it

the officers of the French army and navy, by whose sides they had fought, and

with whose aid they had finally prevailed, extending it to such grades as they

were told might be permitted to enter into- it. They sent an officer to France,

.to make the proposition to them, and to procure the badges which they had

devised for their order. The moment of disbanding the army having come, before

they could have a full meeting to appoint their President, the General was

prayed to act in that office till their first general meeting, which was to be

held at Philadelphia, in the month of May following.







  The laws of the society were published. Men who read them in their closets,

unwarmed by those sentiments of friendship which had produced them, inattentive

to those pains which an approaching separation had excited in the minds of the

institutors, politicians, who see in everything only the dangers with which it

threatens civil society, in 













84        Jefferson's Works







fine, the laboring people, who, shielded by equal laws, had never seen any

difference between man and man, but had read of terrible oppressions, which

people of their description experience in other countries, from those who are

distinguished by titles and badges, began to be alarmed at this new

institution. A remarkable silence, however, was observed. Their solicitudes

were long confined within the circles of private conversation. At length,

however, a Mr. Burke, Chief Justice of South Carolina, broke that silence. He

wrote against the new institution, foreboding its dangers, very imperfectly,

indeed, because he had nothing but his imagination to aid him. An American

could do no more ; for to detail the real evils of aristocracy, they must be

seen in Europe. Burke's fears were thought exaggerations in America; while in

Europe, it is known that even Mirabeau has but faintly sketched the curses of

hereditary aristocracy as they are experienced here, and as they would have

followed in America, had this institution remained. The epigraph of Burke's

pamphlet, was, " Blow ye the trumpet in Zion." Its effect corresponded with its

epigraph. This institution became, first, the subject of general conversation.

Next, it was made the subject of deliberation in the legislative Assemblies of

some of the States. The Governor of South Carolina censured it, in an address

to the Assembly of that State. The Assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island,

and Pennsylvania, condemned its 













        Miscellaneous Papers      85







principles. No circumstance, indeed, brought the consideration of it expressly

before Congress; yet it had sunk deep into their minds. An offer having been

made to them, on the part of the Polish order of Divine Providence, to receive

some of their distinguished citizens into that order, they made that an

occasion to declare, that these distinctions were contrary to the principles of

their Confederation.







 The uneasiness excited by this institution, had very early caught the notice

of General Washington. Still recollecting all the purity of the motives which

gave it birth, he became sensible that it might produce political evils, which

the warmth of those motives had masked. Add to this, that it was disapproved by

the mass of citizens of the Union. This, alone, was reason strong enough, in a

country where the will of the majority is the law, and ought to be the law. He

saw that the objects of the institution were too light, to be opposed to

considerations as serious as these ; and that it was become necessary to

annihilate it absolutely. On this, therefore, he was decided. The first annual

meeting at Philadelphia was now at hand; he went to that, determined to exert

all his influence for its suppression. He proposed it to his fellow officers,

and urged it with all his powers. It met an opposition which was observed to

cloud his face with an anxiety, that the most distressful 'scenes of the war

had scarcely ever produced. It was 













86        Jefferson's Works







canvassed for several days, and, at length, it was no more a doubt what would

'be its ultimate fate. The order was on the point of receiving its

annihilation, by the vote of a great majority of 'its members. In this moment,

their envoy arrived from France, charged with letters from the French officers,

accepting with cordiality the proposed- badges of union, with solicitations

from others to be received into the order, and with notice that their

respectable Sovereign had been pleased to recognize it, and permit his officers

to wear its badges. . The prospect now changed. The question assumed a new

form. After the offer made by them, and accepted by their friends, in what

words could they clothe a proposition to retract it, which would not cover

themselves with the reproaches of levity and ingratitude? which would not

appear an insult to those whom they loved? Federal principles, popular

discontent, were considerations whose weight was known and felt by themselves.

But would foreigners know and feel them equally? Would they so far acknowledge

their cogency, as to permit without any indignation, the eagle and ribbon to be

torn from their breasts, by the very hands which had placed them there ? The

idea revolted the whole society. They found it necessary, then, to preserve so

much of their institution as might continue to support this foreign branch,

while 'they should prune off every other, which would give offence to their

fellow citizens: thus 













        Miscellaneous Papers     87







sacrificing, on each hand, to their friends and to their country.







  The society was to retain its existence, its name, its meetings, and its

charitable funds: but these last were to be deposited with their respective

legislatures. The order was to be no longer hereditary; a reformation, which

had been pressed even from this side the Atlantic ; it was to be communicated

to no new members ; the general meetings, instead of annual, were to be

triennial only. The eagle and ribbon, indeed, were retained; because they were

worn, and they wished them to be worn by their friends who were in a country

where they would not be objects of offence; but themselves never wore them.

They laid them up in their bureaus with the medals of American Independence,

with those of the trophies they had taken, and the battles they had won. But

through all the United States, no officer is seen to offend the public eye,

with the display of this badge. These changes have tranquilized the American

States. Their citizens feel too much interest in the reputation of their

officers; and value too much, whatever may serve to recall to the memory of

their allies, the moments wherein they formed but one people, not to do justice

to the circumstance which prevented a total annihilation of the order. Though

they are obliged by a prudent foresight, to keep out everything from among

themselves, which might pretend to divide them into orders, and to







 













88        Jefferson's Works







degrade one description of men below another, yet they hear with pleasure that

their allies, whom circumstances have. already placed under these distinctions,

are willing to consider it as one,:to have aided them in the establishment of

their liberties, and to wear a badge which may recall them to their

remembrance; and it would be an extreme affliction to them, if the domestic

reformation which has been found necessary, if the censures of individual

writers, or if any other circumstance should discourage the wearing their badge

or lessen its reputation:







 This short but true history of the order of the Cincinnati, taken from the

mouths of persons on the spot, who were privy to its origin and progress, and

who knew its present state, is the best apology which can be made for an

insinuation, which appeared to be, and was really, so heterogeneous to the

governments in which .it was erected.







  It should be further considered, that in America no other distinction between

man and man had ever been known, but that of persons in office, exercising

powers by authority of the laws, and private individuals. Among these last, the

poorest laborer 'stood on equal ground with the wealthiest millionaire, and

generally on a more favored one, whenever their rights seemed to jar. It has

been seen that a shoemaker or other artisan, removed by the voice of his

country from his work-bench into a chair of office, has instantly commanded all















        Miscellaneous Papers    89







the respect and obedience which the laws ascribe to his office. But of

distinction by birth or badge, they had no more idea than they had of the mode

of existence in the moon or planets. They had heard only that there were such,

and knew that they must be wrong. A due horror of the evils which flow, from

these distinctions, could be excited in Europe only, where the dignity of man

is lost in arbitrary distinctions, where the human species is classed into

several stages of degradation, where the many are crushed under the weight of

the few, and where the order established, can present to the contemplation of a

thinking being, no other picture than that of God Almighty and His angels,

trampling under foot the host of the damned: No wonder, then, that the

institution of the Cin- cinnati should be innocently conceived by one order of,

American citizens, should raise in the other orders, only a slow, temperate,

and rational oppo- sition, and should be viewed in Europe as a detestable

parricide.







 The second and third branches of this subject, no body can better execute than

M. de Meusnier. Perhaps it may be curious to him to see how they strike an

American mind at present. He shall, therefore, have the ideas of one who was an

enemy to the institution from the first moment of its conception, but who was

always sensible that the officers neither foresaw nor intended the injury they

were doing to their country. 













90        Jefferson's Works







  As to the question, then, whether any evil can proceed from the institution

at it stands as present, I am of opinion there may. 1. From the meetings. These

will keep the officers formed into a body; will continue a distinction between

the civil and military, which it would be for the good of the whole to

obliterate, as soon as possible ; and the military assemblies will not only

keep alive the jealousies and fears of the civil government, but give ground

for these fears and jealousies. For when men meet together, they will make

business if they have none ; they will collate their grievances, some real,

some imaginary, all highly painted; they will communicate to each other the

sparks of discontent; and these may engender a flame which will consume their

particular, . as well as the general happiness. 2. The charitable part of the

institution is still more likely to do mischief, as it perpetuates the dangers

apprehended in the preceding clause. For here is a fund provided of permanent

existence. To whom will it belong? To the descendants of American officers of a

certain description. These descendants, then, will form a body, having

sufficient interest to keep up an attention to their description, to continue

meetings, and perhaps, in some moment, when the political eye shall be

slumbering, or the firmness of their fellow citizens relaxed, to replace the

insignia of the order and revive all its pretensions. What good can the

officers propose which may weigh against 













        Miscellaneous Papers    91







these possible evils? The securing their descendants against want? Why afraid

to trust them to the same fertile soil, and the same genial climate; which will

secure from want the descendants of their other fellow citizens? Are they

afraid they will be reduced to labor the earth for their sustenance? They will

be rendered thereby both more honest and happy. An industrious farmer occupies

a more dignified place in the scale of beings, whether moral or political, than

a lazy lounger, valuing himself on his family, too proud to work, and drawing

out a miserable existence, by eating on that surplus of other men's labor,

which is the sacred fund of the helpless poor. A pitiful annuity will only

prevent them from exerting that industry and those talents which would soon

lead them to better fortune.







 How are these evils to be prevented ? 1. At their first general meeting, let

them distribute the funds on hand to the existing objects of their destination,

and discontinue all further contributions. 2. Let them declare, at the same

time, that their meetings, general and particular, shall thenceforth cease. 3.

Let them melt up their eagles and add the mass to the distributable fund, that

their descendants may have no temptation to hang them in their buttonholes.







 These reflections are not proposed as worthy the notice of M. de Meusnier. He

will be so good as to treat the subject in his own way, and nobody has 













92        Jefferson's Works







a better. I will only pray him to avail us of his forcible manner, to evince

that there is evil to be apprehended, even from the ashes of this institution,

and to exhort the society in America to make their reformation complete;

bearing in mind, that we must keep the passions of men on our side, even when

we are persuading them to do what they ought to do.







  Page 268. "Et en effet la population," etc.







  Page 270. " Plus de confiance. "







  To this we answer that no such census of the numbers was ever given out by

Congress; nor ever presented to them: and further, that Congress never have, at

any time, declared by their vote, the number of inhabitants in their respective

States. On the 22d of June, 1775 , they first resolved to emit paper money. The

sum resolved on was two millions of dollars. They declared, then, that the

twelve confederate colonies (for Georgia had not yet joined them) should be

pledged for the redemption of these bills. To ascertain in what proportion each

State should be bound, the members from each were desired to say, as nearly as

they could, what was the number of the inhabitants of their respective States.

They were very much unprepared for such a declaration. They guessed, however,

as well as they could. The following are the numbers, as they conjectured them,

and the consequent apportionment of the two millions of dollars. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       93







        łInhabitants        łDollars



ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĹÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĹÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ



New Hampshire        ł  100,000        ł   82,713



Massachusetts         ł  350,000        ł 289,496



Rhode Island         ł    58,000        ł   47,973



Connecticut        ł  200,000        ł 165,426



 New York         ł  200,000        ł 165,426



New Jersey         ł  130,000        ł 107,527



Pennsylvania         ł  300,000        ł 248,139



Delaware         ł    30,000        ł   24,813



Maryland         ł  250,000        ł 206,783



Virginia         ł  400,000        ł 330,852



North Carolina         ł  200,000        ł 165,426



South Carolina         ł  200,000        ł 165,426



        ł        ł



        ł 2,418,000        ł2,000,000











 Georgia having not yet acceded to the measures of the other States, was not

quotaed; but her numbers were generally estimated at about thirty thousand, and

so would have made the whole two million four hundred and forty-eight thousand

persons, of every condition. But it is to be observed, that though Congress

made this census the basis of their apportionment, yet they did not even give

it a place on their journals; much less publish it to the world with their

sanction. The way it got abroad was this: As the members declared from their

seats the number of inhabitants which they conjectured to be in their State,

the secretary of Congress wrote them on a piece of paper, calculated the

portion of two millions of dollars to be paid by each, and entered the sum only

in the journals. The members, however, for their own satisfaction, and the

information of their States, took copies of this enumeration and sent them to

their States, From 













94        Jefferson's Works







thence they got into the public papers: and when the English news writers found

it answer their purpose to compare this with the enumeration of 1783, as their

principle is "to lie boldly that they may not be suspected of lying, " they

made it amount to three millions one hundred and thirty-seven thousand eight

hundred and nine, and ascribed its publication to Congress itself.







  In April, 1785, Congress being to call on the States to raise a million and a

half of dollars annually for twenty-five years, it was necessary to apportion

this among them. The States had never furnished them with their exact numbers.

It was agreed, too, that in this apportionment five slaves should be counted as

three freemen only. The preparation of this business was in the hands of a

committee; they applied to the members for the best information they could give

them of the number of their States. Some of the States had taken pains to

discover their numbers. Others had done nothing in that way, and, of course,

were now where they were in 1775, when their numbers were first called on to

declare their members. _ Under these circumstances, and on the principle of

counting three-fifths only of the slaves, the committee apportioned the money

among the States, and reported their work to Congress. In this they had

assessed South Carolina as having one hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants.

The delegate for that State, however, prevailed on Congress to assess them on 













        Miscellaneous Papers      95







the footing of one hundred and fifty thousand only, in consideration of the

state of total devastation in which the enemy had left their country. The

difference was then laid on the other States, and the following was the result:







 



        łInhabitants        łDollars



ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĹÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĹÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ



New Hampshire        ł   82,200        ł   52,708



Massachusetts        ł 350,000        ł 224,427



 Rhode Island        ł   50,400        ł   32,318



Connecticut         ł206,000        ł 132,091



New York        ł200,000        ł 128,243



New Jersey         ł130,000        ł   83,358



Pennsylvania         ł320,000        ł 205,189



Delaware         ł  35,000        ł   22,443



Maryland         ł220,700        ł 141,517



Virginia         ł400,000        ł 256,487



North Carolina         ł170,000        ł 109,006



South Carolina         ł150,000        ł   96,183



Georgia        ł  25,000        ł   16,030



        ł         ł



        ł2,339,300        ł1,500,000











Still, however, Congress refused to give the enumeration the sanction of a

place on their journals, because it was not formed on such evidence as a strict

attention to accuracy and truth required. They used it from necessity, because

they could get no better rule, and they entered on their, journals only the

apportionment of money. The members, however, as before, took copies of the

enumeration, which was the groundwork of the apportionment, sent them to their

States, and thus this second enumeration got into the public papers, and was by

the English ascribed to Congress a,s their declaration of their present

numbers. To get at the





















96        Jefferson's Works







real numbers which this enumeration supposes, we must add twenty thousand to

the number on which South Carolina was quotaed; we must consider that seven

hundred thousand slaves are counted but as four hundred and twenty thousand

persons, and add, on that account, two hundred and eighty thousand. This will

give us a total of two millions six hundred and thirty-nine thousand three

hundred inhabitants of every condition in the thirteen States, being two

hundred and twenty-one thousand three hundred more ' than the enumeration of

1775, instead of seven hundred and ninety-eight thousand five hundred and nine

less, which the English papers asserted to be the diminution of members in the

United States, according to the confession of Congress themselves.







  Page 272. " Comporters peut etre une popula- tion de thirty millions. "







  The territory of the United States contains about a million of square miles,

English. There is, in them, a greater proportion of fertile lands than in the

British dominions in€ Europe. Suppose the territory of the United States, then,

to attain an equal degree of population with the British European dominions,

they will have an hundred millions of inhabitants. Let us extend our views to

what may be the population of the two continents of North and South America,

supposing them divided at the narrowest part of the isthmus of Panama. Between

this line and that of 50 degrees of north latitude 













        Miscellaneous Papers    97







the northern continent contains about five millions of square miles, and south

of this line of division the southern continent contains about seven millions

of square miles. I do not pass the 50th degree of northern latitude in my

reckoning, because we must draw a line somewhere, and considering the soil and

climate beyond that, I would only avail my calculation of it, as a make-weight,

to make good what the colder regions within that line may be supposed to fall

short in their future population. Here are twelve millions of square miles,

then, which, at the rate of population before assumed, will nourish twelve

hundred millions of inhabitants, a ' number greater than the present population

of the whole globe is supposed to amount to. If those who propose medals for

the resolution of questions, about which nobody makes any question, those who

have invited discussion on the pretended problem, Whether the discovery of

America was for +he good of mankind? if they, I say, would have viewed it only

as doubling the numbers of mankind, and, of course, the quantum of existence

and happiness, they might have saved the money and the reputation which their

proposition has cost them. The present population of the inhabited parts of the

United States is of about ten to the square mile; and experience has shown us,

that wherever we reach that, the inhabitants become uneasy, as too much

compressed, and go off in great numbers to search for vacant country. Within

forty years







   VOL. XVII-7 













98        Jefferson's Works







their whole territory will be peopled at that rate. We may fix that, then, as

the term beyond which the people of those States will not be restrained within

their present limits; we may fix that population, too, as the limit which they

will not exceed till the whole of those two continents are filled up to that

mark, that is to say, till they shall contain one hundred and twenty millions

of inhabitants. The soil of the country on the western side of the Mississippi,

its climate, and its vicinity to the United States, point it out as the first

which will receive population from that nest. The present occupiers will just

have force enough to repress and restrain the emigrations to a certain degree

of consistence. We have seen lately a single person go and decide on a

settlement in Kentucky, many hundred miles from any white inhabitant, remove

thither with his family and a few neighbors ; and though perpetually harassed

by the Indians, that settlement in the course of ten years has acquired thirty

thousand inhabitants. Its numbers are increasing while we are writing, and the

State, of which it formerly made a part, has offered it independence.







  Page 280, line five. "Huit des onze Etats," etc. Say, " There were ten States

present ; six voted unanimously for it, three against it, and one was divided;

and seven votes being requisite to decide the proposition affirmatively, it was

lost. The voice of a single individual of the State which was divided, or of

one of those which were of the nega













        Miscellaneous Papers       99







  tive, would have prevented this abominable crime from spreading itself over

the new country. Thus we see the fate of millions unborn hanging on the tongue

of one man, and Heaven was silent in that awful moment! But it is to be hoped

it will not always be silent, and that the friends to the rights of human

nature will in the end prevail.







  " On the 16th of March, 1785, it was moved in Congress that the same

proposition should be referred to a committee, and it was referred by the votes

of eight States against three. We do not hear that anything further is yet done

on it. "







   Page 286. "L'autorite du Congres etoit necessaire." The substance of the

passage alluded to in. the journal of Congress, May the 26th, 1784, is, " That

the authority of Congress to make requisitions of troops during peace is

questioned; that such an authority would be dangerous, combined with the

acknowledged one of emitting or borrowing money ; and that a few troops only

being wanted to guard magazines and garrison the frontier posts; it would be

more proper at present to recommend than to require."







 Mr. Jefferson presents his compliments to M. de Meusnier, and sends him copies

of the thirteenth, twenty-third, and twenty-fourth articles of treaty between

the King of Prussia and the United States.







 If M. de Meusnier proposes to mention the facts of cruelty of which he and Mr.

Jefferson spoke 













100        Jefferson's Works







yesterday, the twenty-fourth article will introduce them properly, because they

produced a sense of the necessity of that article. These facts are, 1. The

death of upwards of eleven thousand American prisoners in one prison ship (the

Jersey), and. in the space of three years. 2. General Howe's permitting our

prisoners, taken at the battle of Germantown, and placed under a guard in the

yard of the State House of Philadelphia, to be so long without any food

furnished them that many perished with hunger. Where the bodies lay, it was

seen that they had eaten all the grass around them within their reach, after

they had lost the power of rising, or moving from their place. 3. The second

fact was the act of a commanding officer ; the first, of several commanding

officers, and for so long a time as must suppose the approbation of government.

But the following was the act of government itself. During the periods that.

our affairs seemed unfavorable, and theirs successful, that is to say, after

the evacuation of New York, and again; after the taking of Charleston, in South

Carolina, they regularly sent our prisoners, taken on the seas and carried to

England, to the East Indies. This is so certain, that in the month of November

or December, 1785, Mr. Adams having officially demanded a delivery of the

American prisoners sent to the East Indies, Lord Caermar then answered,

officially, "That orders were immediately issued for their discharge, " M, de.

Meusnaer is at liberty 













        Miscellaneous Papers    101







 to quote this fact. 4. A fact to be ascribed not only to the government, but

to the Parliament who passed an act for that purpose in the beginning of the

war, was the obliging our prisoners taken at sea, to join them, and fight

against their country= men. This they effected by starving and whipping them.

The insult on Captain Stanhope, which happened at Boston last year, was a

consequence of this.' Two persons, Dunbar and Lowthorp, whom Stanhope had

treated in this manner (having particularly inflicted twenty-four lashes on

Dunbar), meeting him at Boston, attempted to beat him. But the people

interposed and saved him. The fact is referred to in that paragraph of the

Declaration of Independence which says, " He has constrained our fellow

citizens; taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country,

to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves

by their hands." This was the most afflicting to our prisoners of all the

cruelties exercised on them. The others affected the body only, but this the

mind ; they were haunted by the horror of having, perhaps, themselves shot the

ball by which a father or a brother fell. Some of them had constancy enough to

hold out against half allowance of food and repeated whippings. These were

generally sent to England, and from thence to the East Indies. One of them

escaped from the East Indies, and got back to Paris, where he gave an account

of his sufferings to Mr. Adams, who.happened to be then at Paris. 













102        Jefferson's Works







 M. de Meusnier, where he mentions that the slave law has' been passed in

Virginia, without the clause of emancipation, is pleased to mention, that

neither Mr. Wythe nor Mr. Jefferson was present, to make the proposition they

had meditated; from which, people, who do not give themselves the trouble to

reflect or inquire, might conclude hastily, that their absence was the cause

why the proposition was not made; and, of course, that there were not in the

Assembly, persons of virtue and firmness enough to propose the clause for

emancipation. This supposition would not be true. There were persons there who

wanted neither the virtue to propose, nor talents to enforce the proposition,

had they seen that the disposition of the legislature was ripe for it. These

worthy characters would feel themselves wounded, degraded, and discouraged by

this idea. Mr. Jefferson would therefore be obliged to M. de Meusnier, to

mention it in some such manner as this. " Of the two commissioners, who had

concerted the amendatory clause for the gradual emancipation of slaves, Mr.

Wythe could not be present, he being a member of the judiciary department, and

Mr. Jefferson was absent on the legation to France. But there were not wanting

in that Assembly, men of virtue enough to propose, and talents to vindicate

this clause. But they saw, that the moment of doing it with success was not yet

arrived, and that an unsuccessful effort, as too often happens, would only

rivet still closer the chains of 













        Miscellaneous Papers     103







bondage, and retard the moment of delivery to this oppressed description of

men. What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! who can endure

toil, famine,stripes, imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication of his own

liberty, and, the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power

supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one

hour of which is fraught with more misery, than ages of that which he rose in

rebellion to oppose. But we must await, with patience, the workings of an

overruling Providence, and hope that that is preparing the deliverance of

these, our suffering brethren. When the measure of their tears shall be full,

when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in darkness, doubtless, a

God of justice will awaken to their distress, and by diffusing light and

liberality among their oppressors, or, at length, by his exterminating thunder,

manifest his attention to the things of this world, and that they are not left

to the guidance of a blind fatality. "







  [The following are the articles of the treaty with Prussia, referred to in

the preceding observations.)







 Article 13. And  in the same case, of one of the contracting parties being

engaged in war with any other power, to prevent all the difficulties and

misunderstandings, that usually arise respecting the merchandise heretofore

called contraband, such as arms, ammunition, and military stores of every kind,

no such articles, carried in the vessels, or by 













104        Jefferson's Works







the subjects or citizens of one of the parties, to the enemies of the other,

shall be deemed contraband, so as to induce confiscation or condemnation, and a

loss of property to individuals. Nevertheless, it shall be lawful to stop such

vessels and articles, and to detain them for such length of time, as the

captors may think necessary to prevent the inconvenience or damage that might

ensue from their proceeding, paying, however, a reasonable compensation for the

loss such arrest shall occasion to the proprietors; and it shall further be

allowed to use, in the service of the captors, the whole or any part of the

military stores so detained, paying the owners the full value of the same, to

be ascertained by the current price at the place of its destination. But in the

case supposed, of a vessel stopped for articles heretofore deemed contraband,

if the master of the vessel stopped, will deliver out the goods supposed to be

of contraband nature, he shall be admitted to do it, and the vessel shall not,

in that case, be carried into any port, nor further detained, but shall be

allowed to proceed on her voyage.







Article a 3. If war should arise between the two contracting parties, the

merchants of either country, then residing in the other, shall be allowed to

remain nine months to collect their debts, and settle their affairs, and may

depart freely, carrying off all their effects, without molestation or

hindrance; and all women and children, scholars of every faculty, cultivators

of the earth, artisans, manufacturers, 













        Miscellaneous Papers    105







and fishermen, unarmed, and inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, or places,

and in general, all others whose occupations are for the common subsistence and

benefit of mankind, shall be allowed to continue their respective employments,

and shall not be molested in their persons, nor shall their houses be burned or

otherwise destroyed, nor their fields wasted by the armed force of the enemy,

into whose power, by the events of war, they may happen to fall ; but if

anything is necessary to be taken from them, for the use of such armed force,

the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price. And all merchant and trading

vessels, employed in exchanging the products of different places, and thereby

rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy

to be obtained, and more general, shall be allowed to pass free and unmolested.

And neither of the contracting parties shall grant, or issue any commission to

any private armed vessels, empowering them to take or destroy such trading

vessels, or interrupt such commerce.







 Article 24. And to prevent the destruction of prisoners of war, by sending

them into distant and inclement countries, or by crowding them into close and

noxious places,' the two contracting parties solemnly pledge themselves to each

other ar d the world, that they will not adopt any .such practice; that neither

will send the prisoners whom they may take from the other, into the East Indies

or any 













106        Jefferson's Works







other parts of Asia or Africa; but that they shall be placed in some part of

their dominions in Europe or America, in wholesome situations, that they shall

not be confined in dungeons, prison ships, nor prisons, nor be put into irons,

nor bound, nor otherwise restrained in the use of their limbs. That the

officers shall be enlarged, on their paroles, within convenient districts, and

have comfortable quarters, and the common men be disposed in cantonments, open

and extensive enough for air and exercise, and lodged in barracks as roomy and

good, as are provided by the party in whose power' they are, for their own

troops; that the officers shall be daily furnished by the party, in whose power

they are, with as many rations, and of the same articles and quality, as are

allowed by them, either in kind or by commutation, to officers of equal rank in

their own army; and all others shall be daily furnished by them, with such

rations as they allow to a common soldier in their own service ; the value

whereof shall be paid by the other party, on a mutual adjustment of accounts

for the subsistence of prisoners, at the close of the war ; and the said

accounts shall not be mingled with, or set off against any others, nor the

balances due on them, be withheld as a satisfaction or reprisal for any other

article, or for any other cause, real or pretended, whatever. That each party

shall be allowed to keep a commissary of prisoners, of their own appointment,

with every separate cantonment of prisoners in possession 













        Miscellaneous Papers    107







of the other, which commissary shall see the prisoners as often as he pleases,

shall be allowed to receive and distribute whatever comforts may be sent to

them by their friends, and shall be free to make his reports in open letters,

to those who employ him. But if any officer shall break his parole, or any

other prisoners shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after they

shall have been designated to him, such individual officer, or other prisoner,

shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article, as provides for his

enlargement on parole or cantonment. And it is declared, that neither the

pretence that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other whatever, shall be

considered as annulling or suspending this, or the next preceding article, but,

on the contrary, that the state of war is precisely that for which they are

provided, and during which they are to be as sacredly observed, as the most

acknowledged articles in the law of nature and nations.







 Answers to Questions Propounded by Monsieur de Meusnier, January 24th, 1786.







 1. On the original establishment of the several States, the civil code of

England, from whence they had emigrated, was adopted. This of course could

extend only to general laws, and not to those which were particular to certain

places in England only. The circumstances of the new States obliged them 













108        Jefferson's Works







to add some new laws, which their special situation required, and even to

change some of the general laws of England in cases which did not suit their

circumstances or ways of thinking. The law of descents, for instance, was

changed in several States. On the late revolution, the .changes which their new

form of government rendered necessary were easily made. It was only necessary

to say that the powers of legislation, the judiciary, and the executive powers,

heretofore exercised by persons of such and such description, shall henceforth

be exercised by persons to be appointed in such and such manners. This was what

their constitution did. Virginia thought it might be necessary to examine the

whole code of law, to reform such parts of it as had been calculated to produce

a devotion to monarchy, and to reduce into smaller volume such useful parts as

had become too diffuse. A committee was appointed to execute this work; they

did it ; and the Assembly began in October, 1785, the examination of it, in

order to change such parts of the report as might not meet their approbation,

and to establish what they should approve. We may expect to hear the result of

their deliberations about the last of February next.







  I have heard that Connecticut undertook a. like work; but I am not sure of

this, nor do I know whether any other of the States have or have not done the

same. '







 2. The Constitution of New Hampshire, estab-. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     109







lished in 1776, having been expressly made to continue only during the contest

with Great Britain, they proceeded, after the close of that, to form and

establish a permanent one, which they did. The Convention of Virginia which-

organized their new government, had been chosen before a separation from Great

Britain had been thought of in their State. They had, therefore, none but the

ordinary powers of legislation. This leaves their act for organizing the

government subject to be altered by every legislative assembly; and though no

general change in it has been made, yet its effect has been controlled in

several special cases. It is therefore thought that that State will appoint a

convention for the special purpose of forming a stable constitution. I think no

change has been made in any other of the States.







  3. The following is a rough estimate of the particular debts of some of the

States as they existed in the year 1784: 



 New Hampshire   $   500,000        ł United States Principal of



        ł Foreign debt nearly    $7,000,000



Rhode Island         $ 5,000,000        ł



        ł The principal of the  domestic debt



Massachusetts       $   430,000         łis somewhere between 27.5 millions



        łand 35.5 millions call it therefore 



Connecticut           $ 3,439,086.3        ł$31,300,000



        ł



Virginia                 $ 2,300,000        ł      $38,300,000



The other States not named here, are probably indebted in the same proportion

to their abilities. If so, and we estimate their abilities by the rule of

quotaing them, those eight States will owe about fourteen millions, and

consequently the particular debts of all the States 













110        Jefferson's Works







will amount to twenty-five or twenty-six millions of dollars.







  5. A particular answer to this question would lead to very minute details:

one general idea, however, may be applied to all the States. Each having their

separate debt, and a determinate proportion of the Federal debt, they endeavor

to lay €taxes sufficient to pay the interest of both of these, and to support

their own and the Federal Government. These taxes are generally about one or

one and a half per cent. on the value of property; and from two and a half to

five per cent. on foreign merchandise imported. But the payment of this

interest regularly, is not accomplished in many of the States. The people are

as yet not recovered from the depredations of the war. When that ended their

houses were in ruin, their farms waste, themselves distressed for clothing and

necessaries for their households. They cannot as yet, therefore, bear heavy

taxes. For the payment of the principal no final measures are yet taken. Some

States will have land for sale, the produce of which may pay the principal

debt. Some will endeavor to have an exceeding of their taxes to be applied as a

sinking fund; and all of them look forward to the increase of population, and

of course an increase of productions in their present taxes, to enable them to

be sinking their debt. This is a general view. Some of the States have not yet

made even just efforts for satisfying either the principal or interest of their

public debt. 





         Miscellaneous Papers      111







  6. By the close of the year 1785 there had probably passed over about 50,000

emigrants. Most of these were Irish. The greatest number of the residue were

Germans. Philadelphia receives most of them, and next to that, Baltimore and

New York.







  7. Nothing is decided as to Vermont. The four northernmost States wish it to

be received into the Union. The Middle and Southern States are rather opposed

to it. But the great difficulty arises with New York, which claims that

territory. In the beginning every individual revolted at the idea of giving

them up. Congress therefore only interfered from time to time; to prevent the

two parties from coming to an open rupture: In the meanwhile the minds of the

New Yorkers have been familiarizing to the idea of a separation, and I think it

will not be long before they will consent to it. In that case, the Southern and

Middle States will doubtless acquiesce, and Vermont will be received into the

Union.







  8. LeMaine, a part of the government of Massachusetts, but detached from it,

(the State of New Hampshire lying between,) begins to desire to be separated.

They are very weak in numbers as yet: but whenever they shall attain a certain

degree of population, there are circumstances which render it highly probable

they will be allowed to become a separate member of the Union.







 9. It is believed that the State of Virginia has by this time made a second

cession of lands to Con













112        Jefferson's Works







gress, comprehending all those between the meridian of the mouth of the Great

Kanhaway, the Ohio, Mississippi, and Carolina boundary. Within this lies

Kentucky. I believe that their numbers are sufficient already to entitle them

to come into Congress. And their reception there will only increase the delay

necessary for taking the consent of the several Assemblies. There is no other

new State as yet approaching the time of its reception.







  10. The number of Royalists which left New York, South Carolina and Georgia,

when they were evacuated by the British army, was considerable, but I am

absolutely unable to conjecture their numbers.. From all the other States, I

suppose perhaps two thousand may have gone.







 11. The Confederation is a wonderfully perfect instrument, considering

the€circumstances under which it was formed. There are, however, some

alterations which experience proves to be wanting. These are principally three.

I. To establish a general rule for the admission of new States into the Union. 

By the confederation no new States, except Canada, can be permitted to have a

vote in Congress without first obtaining the consent of all the thirteen

legislatures. It becomes necessary to agree what € districts may be established

into separate States, and at what period of their population they may come into

Congress. The act of Congress of April 23, 1784, has pointed out what ought to

be agreed on, to say also what number of votes 





         Miscellaneous Papers      113







must concur when the number of voters .shall be thus enlarged. 2. The

Confederation, in its eighth article, decides that the quota of money to be

contributed by the several States shall be proportioned to the value of the

landed property in the State. Experience has shown it impracticable to come at

this value. Congress have therefore recommended to the States to agree that

their quotas shall be in proportion to the number of their inhabitants,

counting five slaves, however, but as equal to three free inhabitants. I

believe all the States have agreed to this alteration except Rhode Island. 3.

The Confederation forbids the States individually to enter into treaties of

commerce, or of any other nature, with foreign nations: and it authorizes

Congress to establish such treaties, with two reservations however, viz., that

they shall agree to no treaty which would, I. restrain the legislatures from

imposing such duties on foreigners as natives are subject to ; or 2. , from

prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of commodities.

Congress may therefore be said to have a power to regulate commerce so far as

it can be effected by conventions with other nations, and by conventions which

do not infringe the two fundamental reservations before mentioned. But this is

too imperfect. Because, till a convention be made with any particular nation,

the commerce of any one of our States with that nation may be regulated by the

State itself, and even when a convention







VOL. XVII-S 













114        Jefferson's Works







is made, the regulation of the commerce is taken out of the hands of the

Several States only so far as it is covered or provided for by that convention

or treaty. But treaties are made in such general terms, that the greater part

of the regulations would still result to the legislatures. Let us illustrate

these observations by observing how far the commerce of France and England can

be affected by the State legislatures. As to England, any one of the

legislatures may impose on her goods double the duties which are paid other

nations; may prohibit their goods altogether; may refuse them the usual

facilities for recovering their debts or withdrawing their property; may refuse

to receive their Consuls or to give those Consuls any jurisdiction. But with

France, whose commerce is protected by a treaty, no State can give any

molestation to that commerce which is defended by the treaty. Thus, though a

State may exclude the importation of all wines (because one of the reservations

aforesaid is that they may prohibit the importation of any species of

commodities), yet they cannot prohibit the importation of French wines,

particularly while they allow wines to be brought in from other countries. They

cannot impose heavier duties on French commodities than on those of other

nations. They cannot throw peculiar obstacles in the way of their recovery of

debts due to them, etc., etc., because those things are provided for by treaty.

Treaties, however, are very imperfect machines for regulating





























        Miscellaneous Papers     115







commerce in the detail. The principal objects in the regulation of our commerce

would be : 1. to lay such duties, restrictions, or prohibitions on the goods of

any particular nation, as might oblige that nation to concur in just and equal

arrangements of commerce. 2. To lay such uniform duties on the articles of

commerce throughout all the States, as may avail them of that fund for

assisting to bear the burden of public expenses. Now, this cannot be done by

the States separately, because they will not separately pursue the same plan.

New Hampshire cannot lay a given duty on a particular article unless

Massachusetts will do the same, because it will turn the importation of that

article from her ports into those of Massachusetts, from whence they will be

smuggled into New Hampshire by land. But though Massachusetts were willing to

concur with New Hampshire in laying the same duty, yet she cannot do it for the

same reason, unless Rhode Island will also, nor can Rhode Island without

Connecticut, nor Connecticut without New York, nor New York without New Jersey,

and so on quite to Georgia. It is visible, therefore, that the commerce of the

States cannot be regulated to the best advantage but by a single body, and no

body so proper as Congress. Many of the States have agreed to add an article to

the Confederation for allowing to Congress the regulation of their commerce,

only providing that the revenues to be raised on it shall belong to the States

in which they are levied. Yet 













116        Jefferson's Works







it is believed that Rhode Island will prevent. this also. An everlasting

recurrence to this same obstacle will occasion a question to be asked. How

happens it that Rhode Island is opposed to every useful proposition? Her

geography accounts for it, with the aid of one or two observations. The

cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous citizens, and possess most of

the amor patriae. Merchants are the least virtuous, and possess the least of

the amor patriae. The latter reside principally in the seaport towns, the

former in the interior country. Now, it happened that of the territory

constituting Rhode Island and Connecticut, the part containing the seaports was

erected into a State by itself, called Rhode Island, and that containing the

interior country was erected into another State called Connecticut. For though

it has a little sea-coast, there are no good ports in it. Hence it happens that

there is scarcely one merchant in the whole State of Connecticut, while there

is not a single man in Rhode Island who is not a merchant of some sort. Their

whole territory is but a thousand square miles, and what. of that is in use is

laid out in grass farms almost entirely. Hence they have scarcely anybody

employed in agriculture. All exercise some species of commerce. This

circumstance has decided the characters of these two States. The remedies to

this evil are hazardous. One would be to consolidate the two States into one.

Another would be to banish Rhode Island 













        Miscellaneous Papers      117







from the Union. A third, to compel her submission to the will of the other

twelve. A fourth, for the other twelve to govern themselves according to the

new propositions, and to let Rhode Island go on by herself according to the

ancient articles. But the dangers and difficulties attending all these remedies

are obvious.







  These are the only alterations proposed to the confederation, and the last of

them is the only additional power which Congress is thought to need.







  12. Congress have not yet ultimately decided at what rates they will redeem

the paper money in the hands of the holders. But a resolution of 1784 has

established the principle, so that there can be little doubt but that the

holders of paper money will receive as much real money as the paper was

actually worth at the time they received it, and an interest of six per cent.

from the time they received it. Its worth will be found in the depreciation

table of the State wherein it was received; these depreciation tables having

been formed according to the market price of the paper money at different

epochs.







  13. Those who talk of the bankruptcy of the United States, are of two

descriptions : 1. Strangers who do not understand the nature and history of our

paper money. a. Holders of that paper money who do not wish that the world

should understand it. Thus, when in March, 1780, the paper money being so far

depreciated that forty dollars of it would purchase only one silver dollar,

Congress 













118        Jefferson's  Works







endeavored to correct the progress of that depreciation by declaring they would

emit no more, and would redeem what was in circulation at the rate of one

dollar of silver for forty of paper; this was called by the brokers in paper

money, a bankruptcy. Yet these very people who had only given one dollar's

worth of provisions, of manufactures, or perhaps of silver, for their forty

dollars, were displeased that they could not in a moment multiply their silver

into forty. If it were decided that the United States should pay a silver

dollar for every paper dollar they emitted, I am of opinion (conjecturing from

loose data of my memory only as to the amount and true worth of the sums

emitted by Congress and by the several States) that a debt, which in its just

amount is not more, perhaps, than six millions of dollars, would amount up to

four hundred millions, and instead of assessing every inhabitant with a debt of

about two dollars, would fix on him thirty guineas, which is considerably more

than the national debt of England affixes on each of its inhabitants, and would

make a bankruptcy where there is none. The real just debts of the United

States, which were stated under the third query, will be easily paid by the

sale of their lands, which were ceded on the fundamental condition of being

applied as a sinking fund for this purpose.







  14. The whole army of the United States was disbanded at the close of the

war. A few guards only were engaged for their magazines.' Lately they 













        Miscellaneous Papers    119







have enlisted some two or three regiments to garrison the posts along the

Northern boundary of the United States.







  16. The United States do not own, at present, a single vessel of war; nor has

Congress entered into any resolution on that subject.







  17. I conjecture there are six hundred and fifty thousand negroes in the five

southernmost States, and not fifty thousand in the rest. In most of these

latter, effectual measures have been taken for their future emancipation. In

the former, nothing is done towards that. The disposition to emancipate them is

strongest in Virginia. Those who desire it, form, as yet, the minority of the

whole State, but it bears a respectable portion to the whole in numbers and

weight of character, and it is continually recruiting by the addition of nearly

the whole of the young men as fast as they come into public life. I flatter

myself it will take place there at some period of time not very distant. In

Maryland and North Carolina a very few are disposed to emancipate. In South

Carolina and Georgia, not the smallest symptom of it, but, on the contrary,

these two States, and North Carolina, continue inportations of negroes. These

have been long prohibited in all the other States.







 18. In Virginia, where a great proportion of the legislature consider the

Constitution but as other acts of legislation, . laws have been frequently

passed which controlled its effects. I have not heard that 













120        Jefferson's Works







in the other States they have ever infringed their Constitution, and I suppose

they have not done it, as the Judges would consider any law as void which was

contrary to the Constitution. Pennsylvania is divided into two parties very

nearly equal, the one desiring to change the Constitution, the other opposing a

change. In Virginia there is a part of the State which considers the act for

organizing their government as a Constitution, and are content to let it

remain; there is another part which considers it only as an ordinary act of the

legislature, who, therefore, wish to form a real Constitution, correcting some

defects which have been observed in the act now in force. Most of the young

people as they come into office arrange themselves on this side, and I think

they will prevail ere long. But there are no heats on this account. I do not

know that any of the other States propose to change their Constitution.







  19. I have heard of no malversations in office which have been of any

consequence, unless we consider as such some factious transactions in the

Pennsylvania Assembly; or some acts of the Virginia Assembly which have been

contrary to their Constitution. The causes of these were explained in the

preceding article.







 20. Broils among the States may happen in the following ways : 1. A State may

be embroiled with the othe twelver by not complying with the lawful

requisitions of Congress. 2. Two States may differ 













        Miscellaneous Papers       121







about their boundaries. But the method of settling these is fixed by the

Confederation; and most of the States which have any differences of this kind,

are submitting them to this mode of determination, and there is no danger of

opposition to the decree by any State. The individuals interested may complain,

but this can produce no difficulty. 3. Other contestations may arise between

two States,. such as pecuniary demands, affrays among their citizens, and

whatever else may arise between any two nations; with respect to these, there

are two opinions. One that they are to be decided according to the ninth

article of the Confederation, ' which says that Congress shall be the last

resort in all differences between two or more States, concerning boundary

jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; and prescribes the mode of decision,

and the weight of reason is undoubtedly in favor of this opinion, yet there are

some who question it.







 It has been often said that the decisions of Congress are impotent because the

Confederation provides no compulsory power. But when two or more nations enter

into compact, it is not usual for them to say what shall be done to the party

who infringes it. Decency forbids this, and it is as unnecessary as indecent,

because the right of compulsion naturally results to the party injured by the

breach, When any one State in the American Union refuses obedience to the

Confederation by which they have bound themselves, the rest 













122        Jefferson's Works







have a natural right to compel them to obedience. Congress would probably

exercise long patience before they would recur to force; but if the case

ultimately required it, they would use that recurrence. Should this case ever

arise, they will probably coerce by a naval force, as being more easy, less

dangerous to liberty, and less likely to produce much bloodshed.







  It has been said, too, that our governments, both federal and particular;

want energy; that it is difficult to restrain both individuals and States from

committing wrong. This is true; and it is an inconvenience. On the other hand,

that energy which absolute governments derive from an armed force, which is the

effect of the bayonet constantly held at the breast of every citizen, and which

resembles very much the stillness of the grave, must be admitted also to have

its inconveniences. We weigh the two together; and like best to submit to the

former. Compare the number of wrongs committed with impunity by citizens among

us with those committed by the sovereign in other countries, and the last will

be found most numerous, most oppressive on the mind, and most degrading of the

dignity of man.















22. The States differed very much in their proceedings as to British property,

and I am unable to give the details.' In Virginia, the sums sequestered in the

treasury remain precisely as they did at the conclusion of the peace. The

British having 













        Miscellaneous Papers      123







refused to ,make satisfaction for the slaves they carried away, contrary to the

treaty of peace, and to deliver up the ports within our limits, the execution

of that treaty is in some degree suspended. Individuals, however, are paying

off their debts to British subjects, and the laws even permit the latter to

recover them judicially. But as the amount of these debts is twenty or thirty

times the amount of all the money in circulation in that State, the. same laws

permit the debtor to pay his debts in seven equal and annual payments.















        _______________







        Notes on Monsieur Soules' work.







                         Paris, Sept. 13th, 1786.







  Sir,-Before the receipt of your favor of the 11th instant I had written the

enclosed short notes on such parts of your work as I have been yet able to go

over. You will perceive that the corrections are very trifling. Such as they

are, I will continue them, and forward them to you from time to time as I get

along.    I will endeavor also to answer such of the queries you propose in

your letter as my memory will enable me to do with certainty. Some of them I

shall be unable to answer, having left in America all my notes, memorandums,

etc., which might have enabled me to give you the information you desire. I

have the honor to be, with the most esteem and respect, Sir,







          Your most obedient humble servant,







M. SOULES.                TH : JEFFERSON. 







        _______________















       Answers to the queries of M. Soules.







  I am unable to say what was the number of Americans engaged in the affair of

Bunker's Hill. I am able, however, to set right a gross falsehood of Andrews.

He says the Americans there engaged 













124        Jefferson's Works







were constantly relieved by fresh hands. This is entirely untrue. Bunker's Hill

(or rather Breed's. Hill whereon the action was) is a peninsula joined to the

main land by a neck of land almost level with the water, a few paces wide, and

about one or two hundred toises long. On one side of this neck lay a vessel of

war, and on the other several gunboats. The body of our army was on the main

land, and only a detachment had been sent into the peninsula. When the enemy

determined to make the attack, they sent the vessel of war and gunboats to take

the position before mentioned, to cut off all reinforcements, which they

effectually did. Not so much as a company could venture to the relief of the

men engaged, who therefore fought through the whole action, and at length were

obliged to retire across the neck through the cross-fire of the vessels before

mentioned.







  " On the fall of Montgomery and his aids at Quebec there were present Colonel

Campbell and Major Dubois. Campbell, though having the rank of colonel, was

only of the staff; Dubois was of the line. The usage of all nations, therefore,

authorized the latter to take the command. But it was a case for which Congress

had not yet provided. Campbell availed himself of this; and believing, on the

sight of blood, that all was lost, ordered a retreat. "







 The speech to the Indians, in Andrews ', page 357, is a little altered and

abridged. You will find the 













        Miscellaneous Papers       125







genuine one in the Journal of Congress, of July, 1775.  I do not distinctly

enough recollect the anecdote of the old man's company, related by Andrews, to

affirm it in all its parts. I think I recollect in general that there was such

a company.







  The questions relative to General Thomas, I could only have answered

indistinctly from my own memory: but fortunately there came to Paris a few days

ago, and will yet continue there a few days, a Colonel Blackden, an American

officer of good understanding and of truth, and who was at the latter part of

the affair of Quebec. He was at the surprise of Ticonderoga by Allen, and

continued with the army until 1781. I have spoken with him on this subject, and

find that he possesses treasures of details, which will be precious to M.

Soules. Any day that M. Soules will do me the honor to come and take a famile

soupe with me, (after the 16th instant,) if he will give me notice in the

morning, I will ask Colonel Blackden to meet him here, and will make them

acquainted. He is perfectly disposed to give all the information in his power

to M. Soules, and whatever he gives may be relied on. To him, then, I shall

refer M. Soules for answers to his military questions, and will wait his

orders, recommending despatch, as Colonel Blackden has not long to stay.







 The Stamp Act was passed in February, 1765. What powers the Parliament might

rightfully exercise over us, and whether any, had never been declared either by

them or us, They had very 













126        Jefferson's Works







early taken the gigantic step of passing the Navigation Act. The colonies

remonstrated violently against it, and one of them, Virginia, when she

capitulated to the commonwealth of England, expressly capitulated for a free

trade. [See the articles on the Notes on Virginia, p. 201. ) This capitulation,

however, was as little regarded as the original right, restored by it, had

been. The Navigation Act was re-enacted by Charles, and was enforced. And we

had been so long in the habit of seeing them consider us merely as objects for

the extension of their commerce, and of submitting to every duty or regulation

imposed with that view, that we had ceased to complain of them. But when they

proposed to consider us as objects of taxation, all the States took the alarm.

Yet so little had we attended to this subject, that our advocates did not at

first know on what ground to take their stand. Mr. Dickenson, a lawyer of more

ingenuity than sound judgment, and still more timid than ingenious, not daring

to question the authority to regulate commerce so as best to answer their own

purpose, to which we had so long submitted, admitted that authority in its

utmost extent. He acknowledged * * * * * that they could levy duties, internal

or external, payable in Great Britain or in the States. He only required that

these duties should be bona fide for the regulation of commerce, and not to

raise a solid revenue. He admitted, therefore, that they might 













        Miscellaneous Papers     127







control our commerce, but not tax us. This mysterious system took, for a

moment, in America as well as in Europe. But sounder heads saw in the first

moment, that he who could put down the loom, could stop the spinning wheel, and

he who could stop the spinning wheel could tie the hands which turned it. They

saw that this flimsy fabric could not be supported. Who were to be judges

whether duties were imposed with a view to burden and suppress a branch of

manufacture, or to raise a revenue ? If either party, exclusively of the other,

it was plain where that would end. If both parties, it was plain where that

would end also. They saw, therefore, no sure clue to lead them out of their

difficulties but reason and right. They dared to follow them, assured that they

alone could lead them to defensible ground. The first elements of reason showed

that the members of Parliament could have no power which the people of the

several counties had not. That these had naturally a power over their own

farms, and; collectively, over all England. That if they had any power over

counties out of England, it must be founded on compact or force. No compact

could be shown, and neither party chose to bottom their pretensions on force.

It was objected that this annihilated the Navigation Act. True, it does. The

Navigation Act, therefore, becomes a proper subject of treaty between the two

nations. Or if Great Britain does not choose to have its basis questioned, let

us go on ac 













128        Jefferson's Works







we have done. Let no new shackles be imposed, and we will continue to submit to

the old. We will consider the restrictions on our. commerce, now actually

existing, as compensations yielded by us for the protection and privileges we

actually enjoy, only trusting that if Great Britain, on a revisal of these

restrictions, is sensible that some of them are useless to her and oppressive

to us, she will repeal them. But on this she shall be free. Place us in the

condition we were when the king came to the throne, let us rest so, and we will

be satisfied. This was the ground on which all the States very soon found

themselves rallied, and that there was no other which could be defended.







  I will now proceed with remarks on the history. I do not think that M. Soules

mentioned the affair of the Cedars, which happened in April, 1775. This was an

affair of no small importance. A committee was appointed by Congress to

institute inquiries concerning it, as may be seen by the journal of June 14,

1776. The report of that committee is inserted in the journal of July the 10th,

and I can assure M. Soules, that the facts therein stated were proved

unhesitatingly to the committee by witnesses present at the transactions, and

who were on watch. I have the originals of that inquiry in my possession in

America. The Captain Foster therein mentioned, was afterwards taken with

Burgoyne's army, though permitted to go at large on his parole. He was not

received into any American company, nor 













        Miscellaneous Papers      129







did the British officers, his fellow prisoners, . choose to be seen in company

with him-so detestable had been the transaction, etc. Vol. i. p. 324. I have

been very well informed, that during all the latter part of the defence, the

garrison were obliged to return the cannon balls of the enemy, with which,

indeed; the ground was covered, having none of their own left.







   Page 325. " Il l'eut un Serjent, " etc. This particular truly related in

Andrews.







   Page 5. " Ils en vinrent, " etc. See the journal of Congress. That it was on

that day put off to the 1st of July. This was done at the instance of the

members opposed to it. The friends of the resolution objected, that if it were

not agreed to till the 1st of July, they would after that have to frame a

Declaration of Independence, and that more time would then be lost. It was

therefore agreed between the two, that the .resolution should be put off till

the 1st of July; and that a committee should be immediately appointed to draw a

Declaration of Independence, conformable to the resolution, should it be

adopted. A.committee was accordingly appointed the next day. On the 1st of July

the resolution was proposed; and when ready for a vote, a State required it to

be put off till the next day. It was done, and was passed the next day, ad of

July. The Declaration of Independence was debated the 2d, 3d and 4th days of

July, and on the last of these was passed and signed.







   VOL. XVII-g 













130        Jefferson's Works







 Page 6th. A " se retirerent enseute du Congres. " I do not remember that the

delegates of Maryland retired from Congress, and I think I could not have

forgotten such a fact. On the contrary, I find by the journal of Congress, that

they were present, and acting on the 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th, and 24th of june.







  Page 7. A " la plus grande partie. " It should rather be the most important

parts.







  Page 7, 6. " Les etats ferrient encore aujourdhui partie de l'empire

Britannique." M. SoulÇs may be assured that the submission of the States could

not have been effected but by a long course of disasters, and such, too, as

were irreparable in their nature: Their resources were great, and their

determination so rooted, that they would have tried the last of them. I am as

satisfied as I can be of anything, that the conjecture here stated would not

have been verified by the event.







  Page 14. "Provinces unis." Should not this always be " etats unis ? "







 Page 15. " Mais qu'on pouvoir aussi les interpreter," etc. His exact answer

was, "That it was true the, etc. might include anything, but that might also

include nothing. "







 Page 16. " Tant de confiance, " etc. Their main confidence was in their own

resources. They corsidered foreign aid as probable and desirable, but not

essential. I believe myself, from the whole of what I have seen of our

resources and perseverance, 













        Miscellaneous Papers     131







that had we never received any foreign aid, we should not have obtained our

independence. But that we should have made a peace with Great Britain on any

terms we pleased short of that, which would have been a subjection to the same

king, a union of force in war, etc. z: That had France supplied us plentifully

with money, suppose about four millions of guineas a year, without entering

into the war herself at all, we should have established our independence, but

it would have cost more time and blood, but less money. 3. That France, aiding

us as she did, with money and forces, shortened much the time, lessened the

expense of blood, but at a greater expense of money to her than would have

otherwise been requisite.







  Page 18. "L 'extremite septentrional, " etc. I think the word " cote " would

be better adapted than " extremite " to the form of the island.







  Page 21. " 3000 hommes. " Inquire of Colonel Blackden.







  Perhaps the propositions of Congress to the Hessians may be worth mentioning.

See their journals, 1776, Aug. 14.







  I will make a general observation here on the events of Long Island, New

York, etc., at this time. The maxim laid down by Congress to their generals

was, that not a foot of territory was to be ceded to their enemies where there

was a possibility of defending it. In consequence of these views, and against

his own judgment, General Washington was 













132        Jefferson's Works







obliged to fortify and attempt to defend the city of New York.  But that could

not be defended without occupying the heights on Long Island which commanded

the city of New York. He was therefore obliged to establish a strong detachment

in Long Island to defend those heights. The moment that detachment was routed,

which he had much expected, his first object was to withdraw them, and his

second to evacuate New York. He did this, therefore, immediately, and without

waiting any movement of the enemy. He brought off his whole baggage, stores and

other implements, without leaving a single article except the very heaviest of

his cannon and things of little value. I well remember his letter to Congress,

wherein he expressed his wonder that the enemy had given him this leisure, as,

from the heights they had got possession of, they might have compelled him to a

very precipitate retreat. This was one of the instances where our commanding

officers were obliged to conform to popular views, though they foresaw certain

loss from it. Had he proposed at first to abandon New York, he might have been

abandoned himself. An obedience to popular will cost us an army in Charleston

in the year 1779.







  Page 30. " Une fuite precipitee. " It was a leisurely retreat, as I have

before observed.







  Page 41. " Que je n 'ai prie obtener que d 'un anglais. " Colonel Blackden

can probably give M. Soules good intelligence on this affair, I think I 













        Miscellaneous Papers      133







recollect the slaughter on Kniphausen's side to have been very great.







 Volume 3. "Si dans son institution," etc. This is a luminous idea, and worthy

of being a little more developed. It places the question between Great Britain

and America in the simplest form possible. No Englishman will pretend that 'a

right to participate in government can be derived from any other source than a

personal right, or a right of property. The conclusion is' inevitable that he,

who had neither his person nor property in America, could rightfully assume a

participation in its government.







 Page 17. The seeds 'of the war are here traced to their true source. The Tory

education of the King was the first preparation for that change in the British

government which that party never ceases to wish. This naturally ensured Tory

administrations during his life. At the moment he came to the throne and

cleared his hands of his enemies by the peace of Paris, the assumptions of

unwarrantable right over America commenced. They were so signal, and followed

one another so close, as to prove they were part of a system, either to reduce

it under absolute subjection, and thereby make it an instrument for attempts on

Britain itself, or to sever it from Britain, so that it might not be a weight

in the Whig scale. This latter alternative, however, was not considered as the

one which would take place. They knew so little of America, that 













134        Jefferson's Works







they thought it unable to encounter the little finger of Great Britain. M. de

Soules has well developed this subject. He is best judge whether anything more

need be said on this subject.







  Page 43. "Se le ministere anglais avoit eu la patience d'attendre," etc.







  Having seen and intimately known the positions of the Americans at that

moment, I am certain that this conjecture would not have been verified. The

determined resolution with which they met every effort of the ministry, whether

made in the form of force,.fraud, or persuasion, gives us a moral certainty

they would have been equally immovable, if tried in the way of privation here

proposed.







  Page 51. The substitution of Gage for Hutchinson was not intended as a favor,

but, by putting the civil government into military hands, was meant to show

they would enforce their measures by arms. See page 109, where Congress makes

it one of their grievances.







 Page 102. " Plusieurs criminals," etc. Notwithstanding the laws the English

made, I think they never ventured to carry a single person to be tried in

England. They knew that reprisals would be made, and probably on the person of

the governor who ventured on the measure.







 Page 149. The fact that the English commenced hostilities at Lexington being

proved beyond question by us, and even acknowledged by the English, justice

requires it should be plainly asserted and left 













        Miscellaneous Papers       135







clear of doubt. Few of the facts which history asserts and relies on, have been

so well established.







 Page 150. "L'humanite des Britons." I doubt whether this is the character of

the nation in general. But this history, and every one which is impartial, must

in its relation of this war show, in such repeated instances, that they

conducted it, both in theory and practice, on the most barbarous principles,

that the expression here cited will stand in contradiction to the rest of the

work. As examples of their theory, recollect the act of Parliament for

constraining our prisoners, taken on the sea, to bear arms against their

fathers, brothers, etc. For their practice, recollect the exciting the savages

against us, insurrections of our slaves, sending our prisoners to the East

Indies, killing them in prison ships, keeping them on half rations, and of the

most unwholesome quality, cruel murders of unarmed individuals of every sex,

massacres of those in arms after they had asked quarter, etc., etc.







 Page 150. "A ce que l'on det a, 20,000 hommes." It was of 22,000 men. I was in

a situation to know the fact from General Washington's own information. 







 Page 158. 1. 8. Strike out " et probablement, " and insert " mais

veritablement. " I remember the fact well, and the leading persons of

Connecticut, and particularly their delegates in Congress made no secret, that

their object was to overawe New York into its duty. Page 159. "E1 frit resolve

de 













136        Jefferson's Works







la reduire (i. e., nouvelle York) en cendre." This was proposed and considered

in Congress, but they refused to come to this resolution, nor do. I recol- lect

that any other body resolved it.







  Page 163. Doctor Franklin has been called by that title as early as 1760,

within my own knowledge ; I do not know how much onger.







  His quality in France was that of Minister Plenipotentiary, and not as

Ambassador. We have never appointed an Ambassador. France offered to receive

one.







  Page 166. The English set fire to Charleston. Query, as to the number of

their killed.







  Page 180. 181. Gates was and still is an inhabitant of Virginia. He never

lived in any other State.







  Page 190. " M. . Arnold avoit forme une entreprise," etc. I never understood

that he formed this enterprise, nor do I believe he did. I heard and saw all

General Washington's letters on this subject. I do not think he mentioned

Arnold as author of the proposition, yet he was always just in ascribing to

every officer the merit of his own works; and he was disposed particularly in

favor of Arnold. This officer is entitled to great merit in the execution, but

to ascribe to him that of having formed the enterprise, is probably to ascribe

to him what belongs to General Washington or some other person.







  Page 209. "Et qu"il ne leur fut plus permis de lever la milice," etc. They

had formerly had a law 













        Miscellaneous Papers     137







on the subject of invasions and insurrections, which was of a perpetual tenor.

They altered this law by one which was to be in force for a certain term of

years only. That term of years effluxed at this time, the altering law expired,

and therefore, the old one resumed its vigor. It was very imperfect, yet they

chose to act under the color of that rather than without any color of law.







   Page 216. "Dont elles se plaignorent." This seems to be the proper place to

rectify a small error in the arrangement of facts, and to state the answer to

the conciliatory proposition, which was, in truth, the first work of the

Assembly. I have not here the journals of the Assembly, but there are certain

circumstances which render it impossible for my memory to lead me astray. I was

under appointment to attend the general Congress ; but knowing the importance

of the answer to be given to the conciliatory proposition, and that our leading

Whig characters were then in Congress, I determined to attend on the Assembly,

and, though a young member, to take on myself the carrying through an answer to

the proposition. The Assembly met the 1st of June. I drew and proposed the

answer, and carried it through the House with very little alteration, against

the opposition of our timid members who wish to speak a different language.

This was finished before the 11th of June, because on that day, I set out from

Williamsburg to Philadelphia, and was the bearer of an authenticated copy of

this 













138        Jefferson's Works







instrument to Congress. The effect it had in fortyfying their minds, and in

deciding their measures, renders its true date important ; because only

Pennsylvania had as yet answered the proposition. Virginia was the second. It

was known how Massachusetts would answer it, and the example of these three

principal colonies would determine the measures of all the others, and of

course the fate of the proposition. Congress received it, therefore, with much

satisfaction. The Assembly of Virginia did not deliver the answer to Lord

Dunmore till late in the session. They supposed it would bring on a dissolution

of their body whenever they should deliver it to him; and they wished

previously to get some important acts passed. For this reason they kept it up.

I think that Lord Dunmore did not quit the Metropolis till he knew that the

answer framed by the House was a rejection of the proposition, though that

answer was not yet communicated to him regularly.







  Page 231. " Quelques certaines de blancs. " These were composed principally

of Scotch merchants and factors, and some few English, who had settled in the

country. I doubt whether there was a single native among them. If M. Soules

could therefore characterise more particularly who they were who joined Lord

Dunmore, it would be an agreeable ' act of justice to the natives.







  Page 283. " Les Americains qui avoit joint Milord Dunmore." The same

observation applies to this. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      139







  Page 245. " Pendant l'ete, le congres general avoit ete occupe a dresser un

plan pour former une confederation." It is necessary to set to rights here a

fact which has been mistaken by every person who has written on this subject. I

will do it from a perfect recollection of facts; but my memory does ' not

enable me to state the date exactly. I was absent from Congress from the

beginning of January, 1776, to the middle of May. Either just before I left

Congress, or immediately on my return to it, (I rather think it was the

former,) Doctor Franklin put into my hands the draught of a plan of

Confederation, desiring me to read it, and tell him what I thought of it. I

approved it highly. He showed it to others. Some thought as I did ; others were

revolted at it. We found it could not be passed, and the proposing it to

Congress as the subject for any vote whatever would startle many members so

much, that they would suspect we had lost sight of reconciliation with Great

Britain, and that we should lose much more ground than we should gain by the

proposition.. Yet, that the idea of a more firm bond of union than the

undefined one under which we then acted might be suggested and permitted to

grow, Doctor Franklin informed Congress that he had sketched the outlines of an

instrument which might become necessary at a future day, if the minority

continued pertinacious, and would ask leave for it to lay on the table of

Congress, that the members might in the meantime be turning the 













140        Jefferson's Works







subject in their minds, and have something more perfect prepared by the time it

should become necessary. This was agreed to by the timid members, only on

condition, that no entry whatever should be made in the journals of Congress

relative to this instrument. This was to continue in force only till a

reconciliation with Great Britain. This was all that ever was done or proposed

in Congress on the subject of a Confederation before June, 1776, when the

proposition was regularly made to Congress, a committee appointed to draw an

instrument of Confederation, who accordingly drew one, very considerably

differing from the sketch of Doctor Franklin.







  Page 294. "Il est a croire qu'ily avoit quelque convention. " It is well

known that there was such a convention. It was never made a secret of, on our

part. I do not exactly recollect its terms, but I believe they were what M.

Soules states.







  Page 301. " La petite verole. " I have been informed by officers who were on

the spot, and whom I believe myself, that this disorder was sent into our army

designedly by the commanding officer in Quebec. It answered his purpose

effectually. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      141







Observations on the Letter of Monsieur de Calonnes; to Monsieur Jefferson,

dated Fontainebleau, October 22d, 1786.







 A committee was appointed, in the course of the last year, to take a view of

the subjects of commerce which might be brought from the United States of

America, in exchange for those of France, and to consider what advantages and

facilities might be offered to encourage that commerce. The letter of Monsieur

de Calonnes was founded on their report. It was conclusive as to the articles

on which satisfactory information had been then obtained, and reserved for

future consideration certain others needing further enquiry. It is proposed,

now, to review those unfinished articles, that they also may be comprehended in

the Arret, and the regulations on this branch of commerce be rendered complete.







  1st. The letter promises to diminish the Droits du roi et d'amiraute, payable

by an American vessel entering into a port of France, and to reduce what should

remain into a single duty, which shall be regulated by the draught of the

vessel, or her number of masts. It is doubted whether it will be expedient to

regulate the duty in either of these ways. If by the draught of water, .it will

fall unequally on us as a nation; because we build our vessels sharp-bottomed,

for swift sailing, so that they draw more water than those of other nations, of

the same burden ; if by the number of masts, it 













142        Jefferson's Works







will fall unequally on individuals, because we often see ships of one hundred

and eighty tons, and brigs of three hundred and sixty. This, then, would

produce an inequality among individuals of six to one. The present principle is

the most just, to regulate by the burden.







  It is certainly desirable that these duties should be reduced to a single

one. Their names and numbers perplex and harass the' merchant more than their

amount, subject him to imposition, and to the suspicion of it where there is

none. An intention of general reformation in this article has been accordingly

announced(1) with augmentation as to foreigners. We. are in hopes that this

augmentation is not to respect us ; because it is proposed as a measure of

reciprocity ; whereas, in some of our States no such duties exist, and in

others they are extremely light; because we have been made to hope a diminution

instead of augmentation; and because this distinction cannot draw on France any

just claims from other nations, the Jura gentis amicissimre conferred by her

late treaties having reference expressly to the nations of Europe only; and

those conferred by the more ancient ones- not being susceptible of any other

interpretation, nor admitting a pretension of reference to a nation which did

not then exist, and which has come into existence under circumstances

distinguishing its commerce from thatof all other nations. Merchandise received

from







  







        _______________







(1) Memoires presentees a l'assemblee des Notables, page 53. 







        _______________







 













        Miscellaneous Papers      143







them takes employment from the poor of France; ours give it; theirs is brought

in the last stage of manufacture, ours in the first; we bring our tobaccoes to

be manufactured into snuff, our flax and hemps into linen and cordage, our furs

into hats, skins into saddlery, shoes, and clothing; we take nothing till it

has received the last hand.







  2d. Fish-oils. The Hanseatic treaty was the basis on which the diminution of

duty on this article was asked and granted. It is expressly referred to as such

in the letter of Monsieur de Calonnes. Instead, however, of the expression

"huile et graisse de baleine and d'autres poissons" used in that treaty, the

letter uses the terms "huiles de baleine, spermaceti, et tout ce qui est

compris sous ces denominations. " And the farmers have availed themselves of

this variation to refuse the diminution of duty on the oils of the yache

marine, chien de mer, esturgeon, and other fish. It is proposed, therefore, to

re-establish in the Arret the expressions of the Hanseatic treaty, and to add

from the same treaty the articles " baleine coupee et fanon de baleine. "







The letter states these regulations as finally made by the King. The merchants

on this supposition entered into speculations. But they found themselves called

on for the old duties, not only on other fish oils, but on the whale oil.

Monsieur de Calonnes always promised that the Arret should be retrospective to

the date of the letter, so as to refund to them the duties they had thus been

obliged to pay. To 













144        Jefferson's Works







this attention is prayed in forming the Arret. His Majesty having been pleased,

as an encouragement to the importation of our fish oils, to abolish the Droits

de fabrication, it is presumed that the purpose (1). announced of continuing

those duties on foreign oils will not be extended to us.







  3d. Rice. The duty on this is only seven and a; half deniers the quintal, or

about one-quarter per cent. on its first cost. While this serves to inform the

government of the quantities imported, it cannot discourage that importation.

Nothing further, therefore, is necessary on this article.







  4th. Potash. This article is of principal utility to France in her

bleacheries. of linen, glass-works, and soap-works.; and the potash of America,

being made of green wood, is known to be the best in the world. All duty on it

was therefore abolished by the King. But the city of Rouen levies on it a duty

of twenty sols the quintal, which is very sensible in its price, brings it

dearer to the bleacheries near Paris, to those of Beauvais, Laval Company, and

to the glass-works, and encourages them  to give a preference to the potash or

soda of other nations. This is a counteraction of the views of the King

expressed in the letter, which it is hoped will be prevented.







  5th. Turpentine, tar, -and pitch, .were not decided on € the former occasion.

Turpentine (Tereben- thine) pays ten sols the quintal, and ten sols the livre,

making fifteen sols the quintal ; which is ten







  







        _______________







(1) Memoires presentees ex. page 51, 52. 







        _______________







 













        Miscellaneous Papers    145







per cent. on its prime cost. Tar, (goudron, braigras) pays eight livres the

leth of twelve barrels, and tensols the livre, amounting to twenty sols the

barrel, which is twelve and a half per cent. on its prime cost. Pitch (brai

sec) pays ten sols the quintal, and ten sols the livre, making fifteen sols the

quintal, which is twenty per cent. on its prime cost. Duties of from ten to

twenty per cent. on articles of heavy carriage; prevent their importation. They

eat up all the profits of the merchant, and often subject him to loss. This has

been much the case with respect to turpentine, tar, and pitch, which are a

principal article of remittance for the State of North Carolina. It is hoped

that it will coincide with the views of government in making the present

regulations, to suppress the duties on these articles, which of all others can

bear them least.







Proposals for Concerted Operation among the Powers at War with the Piratical

States of Barbary, November, 1786.(1)







 1. It is proposed that the several powers at war with the piratical States of

Barbary, (or any two















        _______________







 (1) This plan was approved by Portugal, Naples, the two Sicilies, Venice,

Denmark, and Sweden. France seemed favorably disposed. Spain alone, having just

concluded a treaty with Algiers, was indisposed. In this state of things, the

plan was communicated to Congress, together with information that we would be

expected to maintain a frigate towards its execution. Unfortunately, the

supplies of the Treasury were so uncertain, that Congress were not willing to

enter into an engagement which they might not be able to fulfil, and thus the

plan failed.-ED. 







        _______________















  VOL. XVII-10 













146         Jefferson's Works







or more of them who shall be willing,) shall enter into a convention to carry

on their operations against those States in concert, beginning with the

Algerines.







  2. This convention shall remain open to any other power who shall, at any

future time, wish to accede to it: the parties reserving a right to prescribe

the conditions of such accession according to the circumstances existing at the

time it shall be proposed.







  3. The object of the convention shall be to compel the piratical States to

perpetual peace, without price, and to guarantee that peace to each other.







 4. The operations for obtaining that peace shall be constant cruises on their

coast, with a naval force to be agreed on. It is not proposed that this force

shall be so considerable as to be inconvenient to any party: It is believed

that half a dozen frigates, with as many tenders, or xebecks, one half of which

shall be on cruise while the other half is at rest, will suffice.







  5. The force agreed to be necessary, shall be furnished by the parties in

certain quotas now to be fixed; it being expected that each will be willing to

contribute in such proportion as circumstances may render reasonable.







 6. As miscarriages often proceed from the want of harmony among officers of

different nations, the parties shall now consider and decide, whether it shall

not be better to contribute their quotas in money, to be employed in fitting

out and keeping on duty, a single fleet of the force agreed on. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    147







  7. The difficulties and delays too, which will attend the management of these

operations, if conducted by the parties themselves separately, distant as their

courts may be from one another, and incapable of meeting in consultation,

suggest a question whether it will not be better for .them to give full powers

for that purpose to their ambassadors or other minister resident at some one

court of Europe, who shall form a committee or council for carrying this

convention into effect; wherein the vote of each member shall be computed in

proportion to the quota of his sovereign, and the majority, so computed, shall

prevail in all questions within the view of this convention. The court of

Versailles is proposed, on account of its neighborhood to the Mediterranean,

and because all those powers are represented there who are likely to become

parties to this convention.







  8. To save to that council the embarrassment of personal solicitations for

office, and to assure the parties that their contributions will be applied

solely to the object for which they are destined, there shall be no

establishment of officers for the said council, such as Commissaries,

Secretaries, or of any other kind, with either salaries or perquisites, nor any

other lucrative appointments, but such as whose functions are to be exercised

on board of the said vessels.







  9. Should war arise between any two of the parties to this convention, it

shall not extend to this 













148        Jefferson's Works







enterprise, nor interrupt it ; but as to this they shall be reputed at peace.







 10. When Algiers shall be reduced to peace, the other piratical States, if

they refuse to discontinue their piracies, shall become the objects of this

convention either successively or together, as shall seem best.







  11. Where this convention would interfere with treaties actually existing

between any of the parties and of the said States of Barbary, the treaty shall

prevail, and such party shall be allowed to withdraw from the operations

against that State.















 To the Editor of the Journal de Paris.







                  PARIs, August 29, 1797







SIR,-I am a citizen of the United States of America, and have passed in those

States almost the whole of my life. When young, I was passionately fond of

reading books of history and travels. Since the commencement of the late

Revolution which separated us from Great Britain, our country, too, has been

thought worthy to employ the pens of historians and travellers. I cannot paint

to you, Sir, the agonies which these have cost me, in obliging me to renounce

these favorite branches of reading, and in discovering to me at length, that my

whole life has been employed in nourishing my mind with fables and falsehoods.

For thus I reason. If the histories of d'Auberteuil and of Longchamps, and 













        Miscellaneous Papers      149







the travels of the Abbe Robin can be published in the face of the world, and

can be read and believed by those who are cotemporary with the events they

pretend to relate, how may we expect that future ages shall be better informed?

Will those rise from their graves to bear witness to the truth, who would not,

while living, lift their voices against falsehood? If cotemporary histories are

thus false, what will future compilations be? And what are all those of

preceding times? In your journal of this day, you announce and criticise a book

under the title of "les ligues Acheenne, Suisse, & Hollandoise, et revolution

des etats unis d'e l'Amerique par M. de Mayer." I was no part of the Achaean,

Swiss or Dutch confederacies, and have therefore nothing to say against the

facts related of them. And you cite only one fact from his account of the

American Revolution. It is in these words : " Monsieur Mayer assure qu'une

seule voix, un seul homme, prononca l'independance des Etats unis. Ce fut, dit

il, John Dickinson, un des Deputes de la Pensilvanie au Congres. la veille, il

avoit vote pour la soumission. l'egalite des suffrages avoit suspendu la

resolution; s'il eut persiste, le Congress ne deliberoit point, il fut foible :

il ceda aux instances de ceux qui avoient plus d'energie, plus d'eloquence, et

plus de lumieres; il donna sa voix : 1 'Amerique lui doit une reconnaissance

eternelle; c'est Dickinson qui l'a affranchie." The modesty and candor of Mr.

Dickinson himself, Sir, would disavow every word of this paragraph, 













150        Jefferson's Works







except these-" il avoit vote pour la soumission. " These are true, every other

tittle false. I was on the spot, and can relate to you this transaction with

precision. On the 7th of June, 1776, the delegates from Virginia moved, in

obedience to instructions from their constituents, that. Congress should

declare the thirteen united colonies to be independent of Great Britain, that a

confederation should be formed to bind them together, and measures be taken for

procuring the assistance of foreign powers. The House ordered a punctual

attendance of all their members the next day at ten o'clock, and then resolved

themselves into a committee of the whole and entered on the discussion. It

appeared in the course of the debates that seven States : viz. , New Hampshire,

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia,

were decided for a separation; but that six others still hesitated, to wit :

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina.

Congress, desirous of unanimity, and seeing that the public mind was advancing

rapidly to it, referred the further discussion to the first of July,

appointing, in the mean time, a committee to prepare a Declaration of

Independence, a second to form articles for the confederation of the States,

and a third to propose measures for obtaining foreign aid. On the 28th of June,

the Declaration of Independence was reported to the House, and was laid on the

table for the consideration of the members. On 













        Miscellaneous Papers     151







                                 







the first day of July, they resolved themselves into a committee of the whole,

and resumed the consideration of the motion of June 7th. It was debated through

the day, and at length was decided in the affirmative by the vote of nine

States : viz. , New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New

Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. Pennsylvania and South

Carolina voted against it. Delaware, having but two members present, was

divided. The delegates from New York declared they were for it, and their

constituents also ; but that the instructions against it which had been given

them a twelvemonth before, were still unrepealed; that their convention was to

meet in a few days, and they asked leave to suspend their vote till they could

obtain a repeal of their instructions. Observe that all this was in a committee

of the whole Congress, and that according to the mode of their proceedings, the

resolution of that committee to declare themselves independent, was to be put

to the same persons re-assuming their form as a Congress. It was now evening,

the members exhausted by a debate of nine hours, during which all the powers of

the soul had been distended with the magnitude of the object-without

refreshment, without a pause-and the delegates of South Carolina desired that

the final decision might be put off to the next morning, that they might still

weigh in their own minds their ultimate vote. It was put off, and in the

morning of the second of July they 













152        Jefferson's Works







joined the other nine States in voting for it. The members of the Pennsylvania

delegation too, who had been absent the day before, came in and turned the vote

of their State in favor of independence; and a third member of the State of

Delaware, who, hearing of the division in the sentiments of his two colleagues,

had travelled post to arrive in time, now came in and decided the vote of that

State also for the resolution. Thus twelve States voted for it at the time of

its passage, and the delegates of New York, the thirteenth State, received

instructions within a few days to add theirs to the general vote : so that,

instead of the " egalite des suffrages " spoken of by M. Mayer, there was not a

dissenting voice. Congress proceeded immediately to consider the Declaration of

Independence which had been reported by their committee on the 28th of June.

The several paragraphs of that were debated for three days: viz.,' the second,

third, and fourth of July. In the evening of the fourth they were finally

closed, and the instrument approved by an unanimous vote and signed by every

member, except Mr. Dickinson. Look into the 'Journal of Congress of that day,

Sir, and you will see the instrument and the names of the signers; and that Mr.

Dickinson's name is not among them. Then read again those words of your paper:

"il (M. Mayer) assure qu'une seule voix, un seul homme, prononca l'independance

des etats unis, ce fut John Dickinson. -l'Amerique lui doit une reconnaissance

eternelle; 













        Miscellaneous Papers     153







c 'est Dickinson qui 1 'a affranchie. " With my regrets and my adieus to

history; to travels, to Mayer, and to you, Sir, permit me to mingle assurances

of the great respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient

and most humble servant. Memoranda taken on a Journey from Paris into the

Southern Parts of France, and Northern of Italy, in the year 1787.







 CHAMPAGNE. March 3. Sens to Vermanton. The iace of the country is in large

hills, not too steep for the plough, somewhat resembling the Elk hill, and

Beaver-dam hills of Virginia. The soil is generally a rich mulatto loam, with a

mixture of coarse sand and some loose stone. The plains of the Yonne are of the

same color. The plains are in corn, the hills in vineyard, but the wine not

good. There are a few apple trees, but none of any other kind, and no

inclosures. No cattle, sheep, or swine ; fine mules.







 Few chateaux; no farm-houses, all the people being gathered in villages. Are

they thus collected by that dogma of their religion, which makes "hem believe,

that to keep the Creator in good humor with His own works, they must mumble a

mass every day? Certain it is, that they are less happy and less virtuous in

villages, than they would be insulated with their families on the grounds they

cultivate. The people are illy clothed. Perhaps they 













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have put on their worst clothes at this moment, as it is raining. But I observe

women and children carrying heavy burdens, and laboring with the hoe. This is

an unequivocal indication of extreme poverty. Men, in a civilized country,

never expose their wives and children to labor above their force and sex, as

long as their own labor can protect them from it. I see few beggars. Probably

this is the effect of a police.







  Burgundy. March 4. Lucy le bois. Cussy les forges. Rouvray. Maison-neuve.

Vitteaux. La Chaleure. Pont de Panis. Dijon. The hills are higher and more

abrupt. The soil, a good red loam and sand, mixed with more or less grit, small

stone, and sometimes rock. All in corn. Some forest wood here and there, broom,

whins and holly, and a few inclosures of quick hedge. Now and then a flock of

sheep.







  The people are well clothed, but it is Sunday. They have the appearance of

being well fed. The Chateau de Sevigny, near Cussy les forges, is a charming

situation. Between Maison-neuve and Vitt aux the road leads through an avenue

of trees, eig" American miles long, in a right line. It is impossible to paint

the ennui of this avenue. Or the summits of the hills which borde" the valley

in which Vitteaux is, there is a parapet of rock, twenty, thirty, or forty feet

perpendicular, which crowns the hills. The tops are nearly level, and appear to

be covered with earth. Very singular. Great 













        Miscellaneous Papers      155







masses of rock in the hills between la Chaleure and Pont de Panis, and a

conical hill in the approach to the last place.







  Dijon. The tavern price of a bottle of the best wine (e. g. of Vaune) is four

livres. The best round potatoes here I ever saw. They have begun a canal thirty

feet wide, which is to lead into the Saone at







     It is fed by springs. They are not allowed to take any water out of the

riviere d'Ouche, which runs through this place, on account of the mills on that

river. They talk of making a canal to the Seine, the nearest navigable part of

which at present is fifteen leagues from hence. They have very light wagons

here for the transportation of their wine. They are long and narrow; the fore

wheels as high as the hind. Two pieces of wine are drawn by one horse in one of

these wagons. The road in this part of the country is divided into portions of

forty or fifty feet by stones, numbered, which mark the task of the laborers.







  March 7 and 8. From la Baraque to Chagny. On the left are plains which extend

to the Saone, on the right the ridge of mountains called the Cote. The plains

are of a reddish-brown, rich loam, mixed with much small stone. The Cote has

for its basis a solid rock, on which is about a foot of soil and small stone,

in equal quantities, the soil red and of middling quality. The plains are in

corn; the Cote in vines. The former have no inclosures, the latter is in small

ones of dry stone wall. There is a good 













156        Jefferson's Works







deal of forest. Some small herds of small cattle and sheep. Fine mules, which

come from Provence, and cost twenty louis. They break them at two years old,

and they last to thirty.







 The corn lands here rent for about fifteen livres the arpent. They are now

planting, pruning, and sticking their vines. When a new vineyard is made, they

plant the vines in gutters about four feet apart. As the vines advance, they

lay them down. They put out new shoots, and fill all the intermediate space,

till all trace of order is lost. They have ultimately about one foot square to

each vine. They begin to yield good profit at five or six years old, and last

one hundred, or one hundred and fifty years A vigneron at Voulenay carried me

into his vineyard, which was of about ten arpents. He told me that some years

it produced him sixty pieces of wine, and some, not more than three pieces. The

latter is the most advantageous produce, because the wine is better in quality,

and higher in price in proportion as less is made, and the expenses at the same

time diminish in the same proportion. Whereas; when much is made, the expenses

are increased, while the price and quality become less. In very plentiful

years, they often give one half the wine for casks to contain the other half.

The cask for two hundred and fifty bottles, costs six livres in scarce years,

and ten in plentiful. The Feuillette is of one hundred and twenty-five bottles,

the Piece of two hundred and fifty, and the Queue or Botte, of five 













        Miscellaneous Papers      157







hundred. An arpent rents at from twenty to sixty livres. A farmer of ten

arpents has about three laborers engaged by the year. He pays four louis to a

man, and half as much to a woman, and feeds them. He kills one hog, and salts

it, which is all the meat used in the family during the year. Their ordinary

food is bread and vegetables. At Pommard and Voulenay, I observed them eating

good wheat bread ; at Meursault, rye. I asked the reason of this difference.

They told me that the white wines fail in quality much oftener than the red,

and remain on hand. The farmer, therefore, cannot afford to feed his laborers

so well. At Meursault, only white wines are made, because there is too much

stone for the red. On such slight circumstances depends the condition of man!

The wines which have given such celebrity to Burgundy, grow only on the Cote,

an extent of about five leagues long, and half a league wide. They begin at

Chambertin, and go through Vougeau, Romanie, Veaune, Nuys, Beaune, Pommard,

Voulenay, Meursault, and end at Monrachet. Those of the two last are white, the

others red. Chambertin, Vougeau and Veaune are strongest, and will bear

transportation and keeping. They sell, therefore, on the spot for twelve

hundred livres the queue, which is forty-eight sous the bottle. Voulenay is the

best of the other reds, equal in flavor to Chambertin, etc., but being lighter,

will not keep, and therefore sells for not more than three hundred livres the

queue, which is twelve sous the







 













158        Jefferson's Works







bottle. It ripens sooner than they do, and consequently is better for those who

wish to broach at a year old. In like manner of the white wines, and for the

same reason, Monrachet sells for twelve hundred livres the queue (forty-eight

sous the bottle), and Meursault of the best quality, viz., the Goutte d'or, at

only one hundred and fifty livres (six sous the bottle). It is remarkable, that

the best of each kind, that is, of the red and white, is made at the

extremities of the line, to wit, at Chambertin and Monrachet. It is pretended

that the adjoining vineyards produce the same qualities, but that belonging to

obscure individuals, they have not obtained a name, and therefore sell as other

wines. The aspect of the Cote is a little south of east. The western side is

also covered with vines, and is apparently of the same soil, yet the wines are

of the coarsest kinds. Such, too, are those which are produced in the plains ;

but there the soil is richer and less strong. Vougeau is the property of the

monks of Citeaux, and produces about two hundred pieces. Monrachet contains

about fifty arpents, and produces, one year with another, about one hundred and

twenty pieces. It belongs to two proprietors only, Monsieur de Clarmont, who

leases to some wine merchants, and the Marquis de Sarsnet, of Dijon, whose part

is farmed to a Monsieur de la Tour, whose family for many generations have had

the farm. The best wines are carried to Paris by land. The transportation costs

thirty-six livres the 













        Miscellaneous Papers      159







piece. The more indifferent go by water. Bottles cost four and a half sous

each.







  March 9. Chalons. Sennecy. Tournus. St. Albin. Macon. On the left are the

fine plains of the Saone; on the right, high lands, rather waving than hilly,

sometimes sloping gently to the plains, sometimes dropping down in precipices,

and occasionally broken into beautiful valleys by the streams which run into

the Saone. The plains are a dark rich loam, in pasture and corn; the heights

more or less red or reddish, always gritty, of middling quality only, their

sides in vines, and their summits in corn. The vineyards are inclosed with dry

stone walls, and there are some quick hedges in the corn grounds. The cattle

are few and indifferent. There are some good oxen, however. They draw by the

head. Few sheep, and small. A good deal of wood lands.







  I passed three times the canal called le Charollois, which they are opening

from Chalons on the Saone to Dijon on the Loire. It passes near Chagny, and

will be twenty-three leagues long. They have worked on it three years, and will

finish it in four more. It will reanimate the languishing commerce of Champagne

and Burgundy, by furnishing a water transportation for their wines to Nantes,

which also will receive new consequence by becoming the emporium of that

commerce. At some distance on the right are high mountains, which probably form

the separation between the waters of the Saone and 













160        Jefferson's Works







Loire. Met a malefactor in the hands of one of the Marechausee; perhaps a dove

in the talons of the hawk. The people begin now to be in separate

establishments, and not in villages. Houses are mostly covered with tile.







  Beaujolois. Maison blanche. St. George. Chateau de Laye-Epinaye. The face of

the country is like that from Chalons to Macon. The plains are a dark rich

loam, the hills a red loam of middling quality, mixed generally with more or

less coarse sand and grit, and a great deal of small stone. Very little forest.

The vineyards are mostly inclosed with dry stone wall. A few small cattle and

sheep. Here, as in Burgundy, the cattle are all white.







  This is the richest country I ever beheld. It is about ten or twelve leagues

in length, and three, four, or five in breadth; at least, that part of it which

is under the eye of the traveller. It extends from the top of a ridge of

mountains, running parallel with the Saone, and sloping down to the plains of

that river, scarcely anywhere too steep for the plough. The whole is thick set

with farm-houses, chateaux, and the Bastides of the inhabitants of Lyons. The

people live separately, and not in villages. The hillsides are in vine and

corn; the plains in corn and pasture. The lands are farmed either for money, or

on half-stocks. The rents of the corn lands, farmed for money, are about ten or

twelve livres the arpent. A farmer takes, perhaps, about one hundred and fifty

arpents, for three, six, or nine years. The





















        Miscellaneous Papers     161







first year they are in corn; the second in other small grain, with which he

sows red clover. The third is for the clover. The spontaneous pasturage is of

green sward, which they call fromenteau. When lands are rented on half-stocks,

the cattle, sheep, etc.', are furnished by the landlord. They are valued, and

must be left of equal value. The increase of these, as well as the produce of

the farm, is divided equally. These leases are only from year to year. They

have a method of mixing beautifully the culture of vines, trees, and corn. Rows

of fruit trees are planted about twenty feet apart. Between the trees, in the

row, they plant vines four feet apart, and espalier them. The intervals are

sowed alternately in corn, so as to be one year in corn, the next in pasture,

the third in corn, the fourth in pasture, etc. One hundred toises of vines in

length, yield generally about four pieces of wine. In Dauphine, I am told, they

plant vines only at the roots of the trees, and let them cover the whole trees.

But this spoils both the wine and the fruit. Their wine when distilled, yields

but one-third its quantity in brandy. The wages of a laboring man here, are

five louis; of a woman, one half. The= women do not work with the hoe; they

only weed the vines, the corn, etc., and spin. They speak a patois very

difficult to understand. I passed some time at the Chateau de Laye-Epinaye.

Monsieur de Laye has a seignory of about fifteen thousand arpents, in pasture,

corn, vines, and wood. He







VOL. XVII-II 













162        Jefferson's Works







has over this, as is usual, a certain jurisdiction, both criminal and civil.

But this extends only to the first crude examination, which is before his

judges. The subject is referred for final examination and decision, to the

regular judicatures of the country. The Seigneur is keeper of the peace on his

domains. He is therefore subject to the expenses of maintaining it. A criminal

prosecuted to sentence and execution, costs M. de Laye about five thousand

livres. This is so burdensome to the Seigneurs, that they are slack in criminal

prosecutions. A good effect from a bad cause. Through all Champagne, Burgundy,

and the Beaujolois, the husbandry seems good, except that they manure too

little. This proceeds from the shortness of their leases. The people of

Burgundy and Beaujolois are well clothed, and have the appearance of being well

fed. But they experience all the oppressions which result from the nature of

the general government, and from that of their particular tenures, and of the

seignorial government to which they are subject. What a cruel reflection, that

a rich country cannot long be a free one. M. de Laye has a Diana and Endymion,

a very superior morsel of sculpture by Michael Angelo Slodtz, done in 1740. The

wild gooseberry is in leaf; the wild pear and sweet briar in bud.







 Lyons. There are some feeble remains here, of an amphitheatre of two hundred

feet diameter, and of an aqueduct in brick. The Pont d'Ainay has 













        Miscellaneous Papers    163







nine arches of forty feet from centre to centre. The piers are of six feet. The

almond is in bloom.







    DauPhine. From St. Fond to Mornas. March 15, 16, 17, 18. The Rhone makes

extensive plains, which lie chiefly on the eastern side, and are often in two

stages. Those of Montelimart are three or four miles wide, and rather good.

Sometimes, as in the neighborhood of Vienne, the hills come in precipices to

the river, resembling then very much our Susquehanna and its hills, except that

the Susquehanna is ten times as wide as the Rhone. The highlands are often.very

level. The soil, both of hill and plain, where there is soil, is generally

tinged, more or less, with red. The hills are sometimes mere masses of rock,

sometimes a mixture of loose stone and earth. The plains are always stony, and,

as often as otherwise, covered perfectly with a coat of round stones, of the

size of the fist, so as to resemble the remains of inundations, from which all

the soil has been carried away. Sometimes they are middling good, sometimes

barren. In the neighborhood of Lyons, there is more corn than wine. Towards

Tains, more wine than corn. From thence, the plains, where best, are in corn,

clover, almonds, mulberries, walnuts; where there is still some earth, they are

in corn, almonds, and oaks. The hills are in vines. There is a good deal of

forest-wood near Lyons, but not much afterwards. Scarcely any inclosures. There

are a few small sheep before we reach Tains ; there the number increases. 













164        Jefferson's Works







  Nature never formed a country of more savage aspect, than that on both sides

the Rhone. A huge torrent rushes like an arrow between high precipices, often

of massive rock, at other times of loose stone, with but little earth. Yet has

the hand of man subdued this savage scene, by planting corn where there is a

little fertility, trees where there is still less, and vines where there is

none. On the whole, it assumes a romantic, picturesque, and pleasing air. The

hills on the opposite side of the river, being high, steep, and laid up in

terraces, are of a singular appearance. Where the hills are quite in waste,

they are covered with broom, whins, box, and some clusters of small pines. The

high mountains of Dauphine and Languedoc are now covered with snow. The almond

is in general bloom, and the willow putting out its leaf. There were formerly

olives at Pains; but a great cold, some years ago, killed them, and they have

not been replanted. I am told at Montelimart, that an almond tree yields about

three livres profit a year. Supposing them three toises apart, there will be

one hundred to the arpent, which gives three hundred livres a year, besides the

corn growing on the same ground. A league below Vienne, on the opposite side of

' the river, is Cote Rotie. It is a string of broken hills, extending a league

on the river, from the village of Ampuys to the town of Condrieux. The soil is

white, tinged a little, sometimes, with yellow, sometimes with red, stony,

poor, and laid up in terraces, Those 













        Miscellaneous Papers     165







parts of the hills only, which look to the sun at midday, or the earlier hours

of the afternoon, produce wines of the first quality. Seven hundred vines,

three feet apart, yield a feuillette, which is about two and a half pieces, to

the arpent. The best red wine is produced at the upper end, in the neighborhood

of Ampuys ; the best white, next to Condrieux. They sell of the first quality

and last vintage, at one hundred and fifty livres the piece, equal to twelve

sous the bottle. Transportation to Paris is sixty livres, and the bottle four

sous; so it may be delivered at Paris in bottles, at twenty sous. When old, it

costs ten or eleven louis the piece. There is a quality which keeps well, bears

transportation, and cannot be drunk under four years. Another must be drunk at

a year old. They are equal in flavor and price.







 The wine called Hermitage is made on the hills impending over the village of

Tains ; on one of which is the hermitage, which gives name to the hills for

about two miles, and to the wine made on them. There are but three of those

hills which produce wine of the first quality, and of these, the middle regions

only. They are about three hundred feet perpendicular height, three-quarters of

a mile in length, and have a southern aspect. The soil is scarcely tinged red,

consists of small rotten stone, and is, where the best wine is made, without

any perceptible mixture of earth. It is in sloping terraces. They use a little

dung. An homme de 













166        Jefferson's Works







vignes, which consists of seven hundred plants, three feet apart, yields

generally about three quarters of a piece, which is nearly four pieces to the

arpent. When new, the piece is sold at about two hundred and twenty-five

livres; when old, at three hundred. It cannot be drunk under four years, and

improves fastest in a hot situation. There is so little white made in

proportion to the red, that it is difficult to buy it separate. They make the

white sell the red. If bought separately, it is from fifteen to sixteen louis

the piece, new, and three livres the bottle, old. To give quality to the red,

they mix one eighth of white grapes. Portage to Paris is seventy-two livres the

piece, weighing six hundred pounds. There are but about one thousand pieces of

both red and white, of the first quality, made annually. Vineyards are never

rented here, nor are laborers in the vineyard hired by the year. They leave

buds proportioned to the strength of the vine ; sometimes as much as fifteen

inches. The last hermit died in 1751.







  In the neighborhood of Montelimart, and below that, they plant vines in rows,

six, eight, or ten feet apart, and two feet asunder in the row, filling the

intervals with corn.  Sometimes the vines are in double rows, two feet apart. I

saw single asses in ploughs proportioned to their strength. There are few

chateaux in this province. The people, too, are mostly gathered into villages.

There are, however, some scattering farm-houses. These are made 













        Miscellaneous Papers      167







either of mud, or of round stone and mud. They make inclosures also, in both

those ways. Day laborers receive sixteen or eighteen sous the day, and feed

themselves. Those by the year receive, men three louis, women half that, and

are fed. They rarely eat meat; a single hog salted, being the year s stock for

a family. But they have plenty of cheese, eggs, potatoes and other vegetables,

and walnut oil with their salad. It is a trade here, to gather dung along the

road for their vines. This proves they have few cattle. I have seen neither

hares nor partridges since I left Paris, nor wild fowl on any of the rivers.

The roads from Lyons to St. Rambert, are neither paved nor gravelled. After

that, they are coated with broken flint. The ferry boats on the Rhone and the

Isere, are moved by the stream, and very rapidly. On each side of the river is

a movable stage, one end of which is on an axle and two wheels, which,

according to the tide, can be advanced or withdrawn, so as to apply to the

gunwale of the boat. The Praetorian palace at Vienne is forty-four feet wide,

of the Corinthian order, four columns in front, and four in flank. It was begun

in the year 400, and finished by Charlemagne. The Sepulchral pyramid, a little

way out of the town, has an order for its basement, the pedestal of which, from

point to point of its cap, is twenty-four feet one inch. At each angle, is a

column, engaged one fourth in the wall. The circumference of the three fourths

disengaged, is four feet 













168        Jefferson's  Works.







four inches; consequently, the diameter is twentythree inches. The base of the

column indicates it to be Ionic, but the capitals are not formed. The cornice,

too, is a bastard Ionic, without modillions or dentils. Between the columns, on

each side, is an arch of eight feet four inches, opening with a pilaster on

each side of it. On the top of the basement is a zocle, in the plane of the

frieze below. On that is the pyramid, its base in the plane of the collarins of

the pilaster below. The pyramid is a little truncated on its top. This monument

is inedited.







  March 18th. Principality of Orange. The plains on the Rhone here are two or

three leagues wide, reddish, good, in corn, clover, almonds, olives. No

forests. Here begins the country of olives, there being very few till we enter

this principality. They are the only tree which I see planted among vines.

Thyme grows wild here on the hills. Asses, very small, sell here for two or

three louis. The high hills in Dauphine are covered with snow. The remains of

the Roman aqueduct are of brick : a fine piece of Mosaic, still on its bed,

forming the floor of a cellar. Twenty feet of it still visible. They are taking

down the circular wall of the amphitheatre to pave a road.







  March 19th to 23d. LANGUEDOC. Pont St. Esprit. Bagnols.. Connault.

Valignieres. Remoulins. St. Gervasy. Nismes. Pont d'Arles. To Remoulins, there

is a mixture of hill and dale. Thence to Nismes, hills on the right, on the

left, plains extend













        Miscellaneous Papers    169







ing to the Rhone and the sea. The hills are rocky. Where there is soil, it is

reddish and poor. The plains, generally reddish and good, but stony. When you

approach the Rhone, going to Arles, the soil becomes a dark gray loam with some

sand, and very good. The culture is corn, clover, St. foin, olives, vines,

mulberries, willow, and some almonds. There is no forest. The hills are

inclosed in dry stone wall. Many sheep.







   From the summit of the first hill, after leaving Pont St. Esprit, there is a

beautiful view of the bridge at about two miles distance, and a fine landscape

of the country both ways. From thence, an excellent road, judiciously

conducted, through very romantic scenes. In one part, descending the face of a

hill, it is laid out in serpentine, and not zigzag, to ease the descent. In

others, it passes through a winding meadow, from fifty to one hundred yards,

walled; as it were, on both sides, by hills of rock; and at length issues into

plain country. The waste hills are covered with thyme, box, and chene-vert.

Where the body of the mountains has a surface of soil, the summit has sometimes

a crown of rock, as observed in Champagne. At Nismes, the earth is full of

limestone. The horses are shorn. They are now pruning the olive.  A very good

tree produces sixty pounds of olives, which yield fifteen pounds of oil ; the

best quality sells at twelve sous the pound retail, and ten sous, wholesale.

The high hills of Languedoc still covered with snow. The horse 













170        Jefferson's Works







chestnut and mulberry are leafing; apple trees and peas blossoming. The first

butterfly I have seen. After the vernal equinox, they are often six or eight

months without rain. Many separate farm-houses, numbers of people in rags, and

abundance of beggars. The mine of wheat, weighing thirty pounds, costs four

livres and ten sous. Wheat bread, three sous the pound. Vin ordinaire, good,

and of a strong body, two or three sous the bottle. Oranges, one sou apiece.

They are nearly finishing at Nismes, a great mill, worked by a steam engine,

which pumps water from a lower into an upper cistern, from whence two overshot

wheels are supplied, each of which turns two pair of stones. The upper cistern

being once filled with water, it passes through the wheels into the lower one,

from whence it is returned to the upper by the pumps. A stream of water of one

quarter or one half inch diameter, supplies the waste of evaporation,

absorption, etc. This is furnished from a well by a horse. The arches of the

Pont St. Esprit are of eighty-eight feet: Wild figs, very flourishing, grow out

of the joints of the Pont du Gard. The fountain of Nismes is so deep, that a

stone was thirteen seconds descending from the surface to the bottom.







  March 24th. From Nismes to Arles. The plains extending from Nismes to the

Rhone, in the direction of Arles, are broken in one place by a skirt of low

hills. They are red and stony at first, but as you approach the Rhone, they are

of a dark gray 













        Miscellaneous Papers    171







mould, with a little sand, and very good. They are in corn and clover, vines,

olives, almonds, mulberries, and willow. There are some sheep, no wood, no

inclosures.







   The high hills of Languedoc are covered with snow. At an ancient church, in

the suburbs of Arles, are some hundreds of ancient stone coffins, along the

roadside. The ground is thence called les champs elysees. In a vault in a

church, are some curiously wrought, and in a back yard are many ancient

statues, inscriptions, etc. Within the town, are a part of two Corinthian

columns, and of the pediment with which they were crowned, very rich, having

belonged to the ancient capitol of the place. But the principal monument here,

is an amphitheatre, the external portico of which is tolerably complete. How

many porticoes there were, cannot be seen: but at one of the principal gates,

there are still five, measuring, from out to in, seventy-eight feet ten inches,

the vault diminishing inwards. There are sixty-four arches, each of which is,

from centre to centre, twenty feet six. inches. Of course, the diameter is of

four hundred and thirty-eight feet; or of four hundred and fifty feet, if we

suppose the four principal arches a little larger than the rest. The

ground-floor is supported on innumerable vaults. The first story, externally,

has a tall pedestal, like a pilaster, between every two arches: the upper

story, a column, the base of which would indicate it Corinthian. Every column

is truncated 













172        Jefferson's Works







as low as the impost of the arch, but the arches are all entire. The whole of

the upper entablature is gone, and of the Attic,if there was one. Not a single

seat of the internal is visible. The whole of the inside, and nearly the whole

of the outside, is masked by buildings. It is supposed there are one thousand

inhabitants within the amphitheatre. The walls are more entire and firm than

those of the amphitheatre at Nismes. I suspect its plan and distribution to

have been very different from that.







  Terrasson. The plains of the Rhone from Arles to this place, are a league or

two wide: the mould is of a dark gray, good, in corn and lucerne. Neither wood,

nor inclosures. Many sheep.







  St. Remis. From Terrasson to St. Remis, is a plain of a league or two wide,

bordered by broken hills of massive rock. It is gray and stony, mostly in

olives. Some almonds, mulberries, willows, vines, corn, and lucerne. Many

sheep. No forest, nor inclosures.







 A laboring man's wages here, are one hundred and fifty livres, a woman's half,

and fed. Two hundred and eighty pounds of wheat sell for forty-two livres. They

make no butter here. It costs, when brought, fifteen sous the pound. Oil is ten

sous the pound. Tolerably good olive trees yield, one with another, about

twenty pounds of oil. An olive tree must be twenty years old before it has paid

its own expenses. It lasts forever. In 1765, it was so cold that the Rhone was

frozen over at Arles for two 













        Miscellaneous Papers     173







months. In 1767, there was a cold spell of a week, which killed all the olive

trees. From being fine weather, in one hour there was ice hard enough to bear a

horse. It killed people on the road. The old roots of the olive trees put out

again. Olive grounds sell for twenty-four livres a tree, and lease at

twenty-four sous the tree. The trees are fifteen pieds apart. But lucerne is a

more profitable culture. An arpent yields one hundred quintals of hay a year,

worth three livres the quintal. It is cut four or five times a year. It is

sowed in the broadcast, and lasts five or six years. An arpent of ground for

corn, rents at from thirty to thirtysix livres. Their leases are for six or

nine years. They plant willow for fire-wood, and for hoops to their casks. It

seldom rains here in summer. There are some chateaux, many separate farm-houses

good, and ornamented in the small way, so as to show that the tenant's whole

time is not occupied in procuring physical necessaries.







 March 25th. Orgon. Pontroyal. St. Cannat. From Orgon to Pontroyal, after

quitting the plains of the Rhone, the country seems still to be a plain, cut

into compartments by chains of mountains of massive rock, running through it in

various directions. From Pontroyal to St. Cannat, the land lies rather in

basins. The soil is very various, gray and clay, gray and stony, red and stony;

sometimes good, sometimes middling, often barren. We find some golden willows.

Towards Pontroyal, the hills 













174        Jefferson's Works







begin to be in vines, and afterwards, in some pasture of green sward and

clover. About Orgon are some inclosures of quick set, others of conical yews

planted close. Towards St. Cannat, they begin to be of stone.







  The high mountains are covered with snow. Some separate farm-houses of mud.

Near Pontroyal is a canal for watering the country; one branch goes to

Terrasson, the other to Arles.







  March 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th.  Aix. . The country is waving, in vines,

pasture of green sward and clover, much inclosed with stone, and abounding with

sheep.







  On approaching Aix, the valley which opens from thence towards the mouth of

the Rhone and the sea, is rich and beautiful; a perfect grove of olive trees,

mixed among which, are corn, lucerne, and vines. The waste grounds throw out

thyme and lavender. Wheat bread is three sous the pound. Cow's milk sixteen

sous the quart, sheep's milk six sous, butter of sheep's milk twenty sous the

pound. Oil, of the best quality, is twelve sous the pound, and sixteen sous if

it be virgin oil. This is what runs from the olive when put into the press,

spontaneously; afterwards they are forced by the press and by hot water. Dung

costs ten sous the one hundred pounds. Their fire-wood is chene-vert and

willow. The latter is lopped every three years. An.ass sells for from one to

three louis; the best mules for thirty louis. The best asses will carry two

hundred pounds; the best horses three hundred pounds; the best mules six

hundred pounds. The temperature of the mineral 













        Miscellaneous s Papers     175







waters of Aix, is 90 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer at the spout. A mule

eats half as much as a horse.







  The allowance to an ass for the day, is a handful of bran mixed with straw.

The price of mutton and beef, about six and a half sous the pound. The beef

comes from Auvergne, and is poor and bad. The mutton is small, but of excellent

flavor. The wages of a laboring man are one hundred and fifty livres the year,

a woman's sixty to sixty-six livres, and fed. Their bread i.s half wheat, half

rye, made once in three or four weeks, to prevent too great a consumption. In

the morning, they eat bread with an anchovy, or an onion. Their dinner in the

middle of the day, is bread, soup, and vegetables. Their supper the same. With

their vegetables, they have always oil and vinegar. The oil costs about eight

sous the pound. They drink what is called piquette. This is made after the

grapes are pressed, by pouring hot water on the pumice. On. Sunday they have

meat and wine. Their wood for building comes mostly from the Alps, down the

Purance and Rhone. A stick of pine; fifty feet long; girting six feet and three

inches at one end, and three feet three inches at the other, costs, delivered

here, from fifty-four to sixty livres. Sixty pounds of wheat cost seven livres.

One of their little asses will travel with his burden about five or six leagues

a day, and day by day ; a mule from six to eight leagues.(1)















        _______________







(1) It is twenty American miles from Aix to Marseilles, and they call it five

leagues. Their league, then, is of four American miles.  







        _______________







 













176        Jefferson's Works







 March 29. Marseilles. The country is hilly, intersected by chains of hills and

mountains of massive rock. The soil is reddish, stony, and indifferent where

best. Wherever there is any soil, it is covered with olives: Among these are

corn, vines, some lucerne, mulberry, some almonds and willow. Neither

inclosures, nor forest. A very few sheep.







 On the road I saw one of those little whirlwinds which we have in Virginia,

also some gullied hillsides. The people are in separate establishments. Ten

morning observations of the thermometer, from the 20th to the 31st of March

inclusive, made at Nismes, St. Remis, Aix and Marseilles, give me an average of

52.5 degrees, and 46 degrees and 61 degrees for the greatest and least morning

heats. Nine afternoon observations, yield an average of 62 2/3 degrees, and 57

degrees and 66 degrees the greatest and least. The longest day here, from

sunrise to sunset, is fifteen hours and fourteen minutes; the shortest is eight

hours and forty-six  minutes ; the latitude being -. There are no tides in the

Mediterranean. It is observed to me, that the olive tree grows nowhere more

than thirty leagues distant from that sea. I suppose, however; that both Spain

and Portugal furnish proofs to the contrary, and doubt its truth as to Asia,

Africa, and America. They are six or eight months at a time, here, without

rain. The most delicate figs known in Europe, are those growing about this

place, called figues Marcelloises, or les veritables Marcelloises, to 













        Miscellaneous Papers     177







distinguish them from others of inferior quality growing here. These keep any

length of time. All others exude a sugar in the spring of the year, and become

sour. The only process for preserving them, is drying them in the sun, without

putting anything to them whatever. They sell at fifteen sous the pound, while

there are others as cheap as five sous the pound. I meet here a small dried

grape from Smyrna without a seed. There are few of the plants growing in this

neighborhood. The best grape for drying known here, is called des Panses. They

are very large, with a thick skin and much juice. They are best against a wall

of southern aspect, as their abundance of juice requires a great deal of sun to

dry it. Pretty good fig trees are about the size of the apricot tree, 'and

yield about twenty pounds of figs when dry; each. But the largest will yield

the value of a louis. They are sometimes fifteen. inches in diameter. It is

said the Marseilles fig degenerates when transported into any other part of the

country. The leaves of the mulberry tree will sell for about three livres, the

purchaser gathering them. The caper is a creeping plant. It is killed to the

roots every winter. In the spring it puts out branches, which creep to the

distance of three feet from the centre. The fruit forms on the stem as that

extends itself, and must be gathered every day as it forms. This is the work of

women. The pistache grows in this neighborhood also, but not very good. They

eat







VOL. XVII-I 2 













178        Jefferson's Works







them in their milky state. Monsieur de Bergasse has a wine cellar two hundred

and forty pieds long, in which are one hundred and twenty tuns, of from fifty

to one hundred pieces each. These tuns are twelve pieds diameter ; the staves

four inches thick, . the heading two and a half pouces thick. The temperature

of his cellar is of 9.5 degrees, of Reaumur. The best method of packing wine,

when bottled, is to lay the bottles on their side, and cover them with sand.

The 2d of April, the young figs are formed; the 4th we have Windsor beans. They

have had asparagus ever since the middle of March. The 5th, I see strawberries

and the Guelder rose in blossom., To preserve the raisin, it is first dipped

into ley and then dried in the sun. The aloe grows in the open ground. I

measured a mule, not the largest, five feet and two inches high. Marseilles is

in an amphitheatre, at the mouth of the Vaune, surrounded by high mountains of

naked rock, distant two or three leagues. The country within that amphitheatre

is a mixture of small hills, valleys, and plains. The latter are naturally

rich. The hills and valleys are forced into production. Looking from the

Chateau de Notre Dame de la Garde, it would seem as if there was a Bastide for

every arpent. The plain land sells for one hundred louis the caterelle, which

is less than an acre. The ground of the arsenal in Marseilles, sold for from

fifteen to forty louis the square verge, being nearly the square yard English.

In the fields open to the sea, 





         Miscellaneous Papers      179







they are obliged to plant rows of canes, every here and there, to break the

force of the wind. Saw at the Chateau Borelli, pumps worked by the wind.







   April 6. From Marseilles to Aubagne. A valley on the Vaune, bordered on each

side by high mountains of massive rock, on which are only some small pines. The

interjacent valley is of small hills, valleys and plains, reddish, gravelly,

and originally poor, but fertilized by art, and covered with corn, vines,

olives, figs, almonds, mulberries, lucerne and clover. The river is twelve or

fifteen feet wide, one or two feet deep, and rapid.







 From Aubagne to Cuges, Beausset, Toulon. The road quitting the Vaune and its

wealthy valley, a little after Aubagne, enters those mountains of rock, and is

engaged with them about a dozen miles. Then it passes six or eight miles

through a country still very hilly and stony, but laid up in terraces, covered

with olives, vines and corn. It then follows for two or three miles a hollow

between two of those high mountains, which has been found or made by a small

stream. The mountains then, reclining a little from their perpendicular, and

presenting a coat of soil, reddish and tolerably good, have given place to the

little village of Olioules, in the gardens of which are oranges in the open

ground. It continues hilly till we enter the plain of Toulon. On different

parts of this road there are figs in the open fields. At Cuges, is a plain of.

about three-fourths of a mile in diameter, surrounded by high moun













180        Jefferson's Works







tains of rock. In this, the caper is principally cultivated. The soil is

mulatto, gravelly, and of middiing quality, or rather indifferent. The plants

are set in quincunx, about eight feet apart. They have been covered, during

winter by a hill of earth a foot high. They are now inclosing, pruning and

ploughing them.







  Toulon. From' Olioules to Toulon, the figs, are in the open fields. Some of

them have stems of fifteen inches diameter. They generally fork near the

ground, but sometimes have a single stem of five feet long. They are as large

as apricot trees. The olive trees of this day's journey are about the size of

large apple trees. The people are in separate establishments. Toulon is in a

valley at the mouth of the Goutier, a little river of the size of the Vaune;

surrounded by high mountains of naked rock, leaving some space between them and

the sea. This space is hilly, reddish, gravelly, and of middling quality, in

olives, vines, corn, almonds, figs and capers. The capers are planted eight

feet apart. A bush yields, one year with another, two pounds, worth twelve sous

the pound. Every plant then, yields twenty-four sous, equal to one shilling

sterling. An acre containing six hundred and seventysix plants, would yield

thirty-three pounds sixteen shillings sterling. The fruit is gathered by women,

who can gather about twelve pounds a day. They begin to gather about the last

of June, and end about the middle of October. Each plant must 













        Miscellaneous Papers     181







be picked every day. These plants grow equally well in the best or worst soil,

or even in the walls where there is no soil. They will last the life of a man

or longer. The heat is so great at Toulon in summer, as to occasion very great

cracks in the earth. Where the caper is in a soil that will admit it, they

plough it. They have peas here through the winter, sheltering them

occasionally; and they have had them ever since the 25th of March without

shelter.







 April 6. Hieres. This is a plain of two or three miles diameter, bounded by

the sea on one side, and mountains of rock on the other. The soil is reddish,

gravelly, tolerably good and well watered. It is in olives, mulberries, vines,

figs, corn, and some flax. There are also some cherry trees. From Hieres to the

sea, which is two or three miles, is a grove of orange trees, olives, and

mulberries. The largest orange tree is of two feet diameter one way, and one

foot the other, (for the section of all the larger ones would be an oval, not a

round,) and about twenty feet high. Such a tree will yield about six thousand

oranges a year. The garden of M. Fille, has fifteen thousand six hundred orange

trees. Some years they yield forty thousand livres, some only ten thousand; but

generally about twentyfive thousand. The trees are from eight to ten feet

apart. They are blossoming and bearing all the year, flowers and fruit in every

stage, at the same time, But the best fruit is that which is 













182        Jefferson's Works







gathered in April and May. Hieres is a village of about five thousand

inhabitants, at the foot of a mountain which covers it from the north, and from

which extends a plain of two or three miles to the sea-shore. It has no port.

Here are palm trees twenty or thirty feet high, but they bear no fruit. There

is also a botanical garden kept by the King. Considerable salt ponds here.

Hieres is six miles from the public road. It is built on a narrow spur of the

mountain. The streets in every direction are steep, in steps of stairs, and

about eight feet wide. No carriage of any kind can enter it. The wealthiest

inhabitants use chaises a porteurs. But there are few wealthy, the bulk of the

inhabitants being laborers of the earth. At a league's distance in the sea, is

an island on which is the Chateau de Geans, belonging to the Marquis de

Pontoives; there is a causeway leading to it: The cold of the last November

killed the leaves of a great number of the orange trees, and some of the trees

themselves.







  From Hieres to Cuers, Pignans, Luc, is mostly a plain, with mountains on each

hand, at a mile or two distance. The soil is generally reddish, and the latter

part very red and good. The growth is, olives, figs, vines, mulberries, corn,

clover, and lucerne. The olive trees are from three to four feet in diameter.

There are hedges of pomegranates, sweetbriar, and broom. A great deal of thyme

growing wild. There are some inclosures of stone; some sheep and goats. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       183







   April 9th. From Luc to Vidauban, Muy, Frejus, the road leads through

valleys, and crosses occasionally the mountains which separate them. The

valleys are tolerably good, always red and stony, gravelly or gritty.  Their

produce as before. The mountains are barren.







  Lesterelle, Napoule. Eighteen miles of ascent and descent, of a very high

mountain. Its growth, where capable of any, two-leaved pine, very small, and

some chene-vert.







 Antibes, Nice. From Napoule, the road is generally near the sea, passing over

little hills or strings of valleys, the soil stony, and much below mediocrity

in its quality. Here and there, is a good plain.







 There is snow on the high mountains. The first frogs I have heard, are of this

day (the 9th). At Antibes are oranges in the open ground, but in small

inclosures; palm trees also. From thence to the Var, are the largest fig trees

and olive trees I have seen. The fig trees are eighteen inches in diameter, and

six feet stem; the olives, sometimes six feet in diameter, and as large heads

as the largest low-ground apple trees. This tree was but a shrub where I first

fell in with it, and has become larger and larger to this place. The people are

mostly in villages. The several provinces, and even cantons are distinguished

by the form of the women 's hats, so that one may know of what canton a woman

is, by her hat.







 Nice. The pine bur is used here for kindling fires. 













184        Jefferson's Works







The people are in separate establishments. With respect to the orange" there

seems to be no climate on this side of the Alps, sufficiently mild in itself to

preserve it without shelter.: At Olioules, they are between two high mountains;

at Hieres, covered on the north by a very high mountain ; at Antibes and Nice,

covered by mountains, and also within small high enclosures. Quere. To trace

the true line from east to west, which forms the northern and natural limit of

that fruit? Saw an elder tree (sambucus) near Nice, fifteen inches in diameter,

and eight feet stem. The wine made in this neighborhood is good, though not of

the first quality. There are one thousand mules, loaded with merchandise, which

pass every week between Nice and Turin, counting those coming as well as going.







 April 13th. Scarena. Sospello. There are no orange trees after we leave the

environs of Nice: We lose the olive after rising a little above the village of

Scarena, on Mount Braus, and find it again on the other side, a little before

we get down to Sospello. But wherever there is soil enough, it is terraced, and

in corn. The waste parts are either in two-leaved pine and thyme, or of

absolutely naked rock. Sospello is on a little torrent, called Bevera, which

runs into the river Roia, at the mouth of which is Ventimiglia. The olive trees

on the mountain, are now loaded with fruit; while some at Sospello are in

blossom. Firewood here and at Scarena, costs fifteen sous the quintal. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      185







 April 14th. Ciandola. Tende. In crossing Mount Brois, we lose the olive tree

after getting to a certain height, and find it again on the other side at the

village of Breglio. Here we come to the river Roia, which, after receiving the

branch on which is Sospello, leads to the sea at Ventimiglia. The Roia is about

twelve yards wide, and abounds with speckled trout. Were a road made from

Breglio, along the side of the Roia, to Ventimiglia, it might turn the commerce

of Turin to this last place instead of Nice ; because it would avoid the

mountains of Braus and Brois, leaving only that of Tende; that is to say, it

would avoid more than half the difficulties of the passage. Further on, we come

to the Chateau di Saorgio, where a scene is presented, the most singular and

picturesque I ever saw. The castle and village seem hanging to a cloud in

front. On the right, is a mountain cloven through, to let pass a gurgling

stream; on the left, a river, over which is thrown a magnificent bridge. The

whole forms a basin, the sides of which are shagged with rocks, olive trees,

vines, herds, etc. Near here, I saw a tub wheel without a ream; the trunk

descended from the top of the waterfall to the wheel, in a direct line, but

with the usual inclination. The produce along this passage, is most generally

olives, except on the heights as before observed; also corn, vines, mulberries,

figs, cherries, and walnuts. They have cows, goats, and sheep. In passing on

towards Tende, olives 'fail us ultimately at the village of 













186        Jefferson's Works







Fontan, and there the chestnut trees begin in good quantity. Ciandola consists

of only two houses, both taverns. Tende is a very inconsiderable village, in

which they have not yet the luxury of glass windows; nor in any of the villages

on this passage, have they yet the fashion of powdering the hair. Common stone

and limestone are so abundant, that the apartments of every story are vaulted

with stone, to save wood.







 April 15th. Limone. Coni. I see abundance of limestone as far as the earth is

uncovered with snow; i. e., within half or three-quarters of an hour's walk of

the top. The snows descend much lower on the eastern than the western side.

Wherever there is soil, there is corn quite to the commencement of the snows,

and I suppose under them also. The waste parts are in two-leaved pine, lavender

and thyme. From the foot of the mountain to Coni, the road follows a branch of

the Po, the plains of which being narrow, and widen at length into a general

plain country, bounded on one side by the Alps: They are good, dark colored,

sometimes tinged with red, and in pasture, corn, mulberries, and some almonds.

The hillsides bordering these plains, are reddish, and where they admit of it,

are in corn; but this is seldom. They are mostly in chestnut, and often

absolutely barren. The whole of the plains are plentifully watered from the

river, as is much of the hillside. A great deal of golden willow all along the

rivers, on the whole of this passage through the 













        Miscellaneous Papers     187







Alps. The southern parts of France, but still more the passage through the

Alps, enable one to form a scale of the tenderer plants, arranging them accord=

ing to their several powers of resisting cold. Ascending three different

mountains, Braus, Brois, and Tende, they disappear one after another; and

descending on the other side, they show themselves again one after another.

This is their order, from the tenderest to the hardiest. Caper, orange, palm,

aloe, olive, pomegranate, walnut, fig, almond. But this must be understood of

the plant ; for as to the fruit, the order is somewhat different. The caper,

for example, is the tenderest plant, yet being so easily protected, it is the

most certain in its fruit. The almond, the hardiest plant, loses its fruit the

of tenest, on account of its forwardness. The palm, hardier than the caper and

the orange, never produces perfect fruit in these parts. Coni is a considerable

town, and pretty well built. It is walled.







April 16th. Centale. Savigliano. Racconigi. Poerino. Turin. The Alps, as far as

they are in view from north to south, show the gradation of climate, by the

line which terminates the snows lying on them. This line begins at their foot

northwardly, and rises, as they pass on to the south, so as to be half way up

their sides on the most southern undulations of the mountain, now in view. From

the mountains to Turin, we see no tree tenderer than the walnut. Of these, as

well as of almonds and mulberries, there are a few; somewhat more of 













188        Jefferson's Works







vines, but most generally, willows and poplars. Corn is sowed with all these.

They mix with them also clover and small grass. The country is a general plain;

the soil dark, and sometimes, though rarely, reddish. It is rich, and much

infested with wild onions. At Racconigi, I see the tops and shocks of maize,

which prove it is cultivated here; but it can be in small quantities only,

because I observe very little ground, but what has already something else in

it. Here and there, are small patches prepared, I suppose, for maize. They have

a method of planting the vine, which I have not seen before. At intervals of

about eight feet, they plant from two to six plants of vine in a cluster. At

each cluster they fix a forked staff, the plane of the prongs of the fork at a

right angle with the row of vines. Athwart these prongs they lash another

staff, like a handspike, about eight feet long, horizontally, seven or eight

feet from the ground. Of course, it crosses the rows at right angles. The vines

are brought from the foot of the fork up to this cross piece, turned over it,

and conducted along over the next, the next, and so on, as far as they will

extend, the whole forming an arbor eight feet wide and high, and of the whole

length of the row, little interrupted by the stems of the vines, which being

close around the fork, pass up through hoops, so as to occupy a space only of

smaller diameter. All the buildings in this country are of brick, sometimes

covered with plaster, sometimes not. There 













        Miscellaneous Papers    189







is a very large and handsome bridge of seven arches over the torrent of

Sangone. We cross the Po, in swinging batteaux. Two are placed side by side,

and kept together by a plank floor, common to both and lying on the gunwales.

The carriage drives on this, without taking out any of the horses. About one

hundred and fifty yards up the river, is a fixed stake, and a rope tied to it,

the other end of which is made fast to one side of the batteaux, so as to throw

them oblique to the current. The stream then acting on them, as on an inclined

plane, forces them across the current in the portion of a circle of which the

rope is the radius. To support the rope in its whole length, there are two

intermediate canoes, about fifty yards apart, in the heads of which are short

masts. To the top of these, the rope is lashed, the canoes being free otherwise

to concur with the general vibration, in their smaller arcs of circles. The Po

is there, about fifty yards wide, and about one hundred in the neighborhood of

Turin.







  April 17th, 18th. Turin: The first nightingale I have heard this year, is

to-day (18th). There is a red wine of Nebiule made in the neighborhood, which

is very singular. It is about as sweet as the silky Madeira, as astringent on

the palate as Bordeaux, and as brisk as Champagne. It is a pleasing wine. At

Moncaglieri, about six miles from Turin, on the right side of the Po, begins a

ridge of mountains, which, following the Po by Turin, after some 













190        Jefferson's Works







distance, spreads wide, and forms the duchy of Montferrat. The soil is mostly

red, and in vines, affording a wine called Montferrat, which is thick and

strong.







  April 19th. Settimo. Chwasco. Ciliano. S.Germano. Vercelli. The country

continues plain and rich, the soil black. The culture; corn, pasture, maize,

vines, mulberries, walnuts, some willow and poplar. The maize bears a very

small proportion to the small grain. The earth is formed into ridges from three

to four feet wide, and the maize sowed in the broadcast on the higher parts of

the ridge, so as to cover a third or half of the whole surface. It is sowed

late in May. This country is plentifully and beautifully watered at present.

Much of it is by torrents which are dry in summer. These torrents make a great

deal of waste ground, covering it with sand and stones. These wastes are

sometimes planted in trees, sometimes quite unemployed. They make hedges of

willows, by setting the plants from one to three feet apart. When they are

grown to the height of eight or ten feet, they bend them down, and interlace

them one with another. I do not see any of these, however, which are become

old. Probably, therefore, they soon die. The women here smite on the anvil, and

work with the maul and spade. The people of this country are ill dressed in

comparison with those of France, and there are more spots of uncultivated

ground. The plough here is made with a single handle, which is a 













        Miscellaneous Papers    191







beam twelve feet long, six inches in diameter below, and tapered to about two

inches at the upper end. They use goads for the oxen, not whips. The first

swallows I have seen, are to-day. There is a wine called Gatina, made in the

neighborhood of Vercelli, both red and white. The latter resembles Calcavallo.

There is also a red wine of Salusola which is esteemed. It is very light. In

the neighborhood of Vercelli begin the rice fields. The water with which they

are watered is very dear. They do not permit rice to be sown within two miles

of the cities on account of the insalubrity. Notwithstanding this, when the

water is drawn off the fields in August; the whole country is subject to agues

and fevers: They estimate that the same measure of ground yields three times as

much rice as wheat, and with half the labor. They are now sowing. As soon as

sowed, they let on the water, two or three inches deep. After six weeks, or two

months, they draw it off to weed; then let it on again, and it remains till

August, when it is drawn off, about three or four weeks before the grain is

ripe. In September they cut it. It is first threshed, then beaten in the mortar

to separate the husk, then by different siftings it is separated into three

qualities. Twelve rupes, equal to three hundred pounds of twelve ounces each,

sell , for sixteen livres, money of Piedmont, where the livre is exactly the

shilling of England. Twelve rupes of maize sell for nine livres. The machine

for separating the husk is thus made. In the axis of a 













192        Jefferson's Works







water-wheel are a number of arms inserted, which, as they revolve, catches each

the cog of a pestle, lifts it to a certain height, and lets it fall again.

These pestles are five and a quarter inches square, ten feet long, and at their

lower end formed into a truncated cone of three inches diameter, where cut off.

The conical part is covered with iron. The pestles are ten and a half inches

apart in the clear. They pass through two horizontal beams, which string them,

as it were, together, and while the mortises in the beams are so loose, as to

let the pestles work vertically, it restrains them to that motion. There is a

mortar of wood, twelve or fifteen inches deep, under each pestle, covered with

a board, the hole of which is only large enough to let thepestle pass freely.

There are two arms in the axis for every pestle, so that the pestle gives two

strokes for every revolution of the wheel. Poggio, a muleteer, who passes every

week between Vercelli and Genoa, will smuggle a sack of rough rice for me to

Genoa; it being death to export it in that form. They have good cattle, and in

good number, mostly cream-colored; and some middle-sized sheep. The streams

furnish speckled trout.







  April  20th. Novara. Buffalora. Sedriano. Milan. From Vercelli to Novara the

fields are all in rice, and now mostly under water. The dams separating the

several water-plats, or ponds, are set in willow. At Novara there are some figs

in the gardens, in situations well protected. From Novara 













        Miscellaneous Papers   193







to the Ticino, it is mostly stony and waste, grown up in broom. From Ticino to

Milan, it is all in corn. Among the corn are willows, principally a good many

mulberries, some walnuts, and here and there an almond. The country still a

plain, the soil black and rich, except between Novara and the Ticino, as before

mentioned. There is very fine pasture round Vercelli and Novara to the distance

of two miles, within which rice is not permitted. We cross the Sisto on the

same kind of vibrating or pendulum boat as on the Po. The river is eighty or

ninety yards wide ; the rope fastened to an island two hundred yards above; and

supported by five intermediate canoes. It is about one and a half inches in

diameter. On these rivers they use a short oar of twelve feet long, the flat

end of which is hooped with iron, shooting out a prong at each corner, so that

it may be used occasionally as a setting pole. There is snow on the Apennines;

near Genoa. They have still another method here of planting the vine. Along

rows of trees, they lash poles from tree to tree. Between the trees are set

vines, which, passing over the pole, are carried on to the pole of the next

tree, whose vines are in like manner brought to this, and twined together, thus

forming the intervals between the rows of trees alternately into arbors and

open space. They have another method also of making quick-set hedges. Willows

are planted from one to two feet apart, and interlaced, so that every one is

crossed by three or four others.







   vol. xvii-13 













194        Jefferson's Works







   April 21st, 22d. Milan. Figs and pomegranates grow here unsheltered, as I am

told. I saw none, and therefore suppose them rare. They had formerly olives ;

but a great cold in 1709 killed them, and they have not been replanted. Among a

great many houses painted al fresco, the Casa Roma and Casa Candiani, by

Appiani, and Casa Belgioiosa, by Martin, are superior. In the second is a small

cabinet, the ceiling of which is in small hexagons, within which are cameos and

heads ,painted alternately, no two the same. The salon of the Casa Belgioiosa

is superior to anything I have ever seen. The mixture called Scaiola, of which

they make their walls and floors, is so like the finest marble as to be

scarcely distinguishable from it. The nights of the 20th and 21st instant the

rice ponds froze half an inch thick. Drouths of two or three months are not

uncommon here in summer. About five years ago, there was such a hail as to kill

cats. The Count del Verme tells me of a pendulum odometer for the wheel of a

carriage. Leases here are mostly for nine years. Wheat costs a louis d'or the

one hundred and forty pounds. A laboring manreceives sixty livres, and is fed

and lodged. The trade of this country is principally rice, raw silk, and

cheese.







  April 23d. Casino, five miles from Milan. I examined another rice-beater of

six pestles. They are eight feet nine inches long. Their ends, instead of being

a truncated cone, have nine teeth of iron, bound closely together. Each tooth

is a double' 













        Miscellaneous Papers     195







pyramid, joined at the base. When put together, they stand with the upper ends

placed in contact, so as to form them into one great cone, and the lower ends

diverging. The upper are socketed into the end of the pestle, and the lower,

when a little blunted by use, are not unlike the jaw teeth of the mammoth, with

their studs: They say here, that pestles armed with these teeth, clean the rice

faster, and break it less. The mortar, too, is of stone, which is supposed as

good as wood, and more durable. One half of these pestles are always up. They

rise about twenty-one inches, and each makes thirty-eight strokes in a minute;

one hundred pounds of rough rice is put into the six mortars, and beaten

somewhat less than a quarter of an hour. It is then taken out, put into a

sifter of four feet diameter, suspended horizontally ; sifted there ; shifted

into another of the same size ;. sifted there ; returned to the mortars; beaten

little more than a quarter of an hour ; sifted again ; and it is finished. The

six pestles will clear four thousand pounds in twentyfour hours. The pound here

is twenty-eight ounces ; the ounce equal to that of Paris. The best rice

requires half an hour 's boiling ;. a more indifferent kind, somewhat less. To

sow the rice, they first plough the ground; then level it with a drag harrow,

and let on the water; when the earth has become soft, they smooth it with a

shovel under the water, and then sow the rice in the water.







  Rozzano. Parmesan cheese. It is supposed this 













196        Jefferson's Works







was formerly made' at Parma, and took its name thence, but none is made there

now. It .is made through all the € country extending from Milan for one hundred

and fifty miles. The most is made about Lodi. The making of butter being

connected with that of making cheese, both must be described together. There

are, in the stables I saw, eighty-five cows, fed on hay and grass, not on

grain. They are milked twice in twenty-four hours, ten cows yielding at the two

milkings a brenta of milk, which is twenty-four of our gallons. The night's

milk is scummed in the morning at daybreak, when the cows are milked again, and

the new milk mixed with the old. In three hours, the whole mass is scummed a

second time, the milk remaining in a kettle for cheese, and the cream being

put' into a cylindrical churn, shaped like a grindstone, eighteen inches

radius, and fourteen inches thick. In this churn there are three staves

pointing inwardly, endwise, to break the current of the milk: Through its

centre passes an iron axis, with a handle at each end. It is turned about an

hour and a half by two men till the butter is produced. Then they pour off the

buttermilk, and put in some water which they agitate backwards and forwards

about a minute, and pour it off. They take out the butter, press it with their

hands into loaves, and stamp it. It has no other washing. Sixteen American

gallons of milk yield fifteen pounds of butter, which sell at twenty-four sous

the pound. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    197







 The milk, which, after being scummed as before, had been put into a copper

kettle, receives its due quantity of rennet, and is gently warmed, if the

season requires it. In about four hours it becomes a slip. Then the whey begins

to separate. A little of it is taken out. The curd is then thoroughly broken by

a machine like a chocolate mill. A quarter of an ounce of saffron is put to

seven brenta of milk, to give color to the cheese. The kettle is then moved

over the hearth, and heated by a quick fire till the curd is hard enough, being

broken into small lumps by continued stirring. It is moved off the fire, most

of the whey taken out, the curd compressed into a globe by the hand, a linen

cloth slipped under it, and it is drawn out in that. A loose hoop is then laid

on a bench, and the curd, as wrapped in the linen, is put into the hoop; it is

a little pressed by the hand, the hoop drawn tight and made fast. A board two

inches thick is laid on it, and a stone on that of about twenty pounds weight.

In an hour, the whey is run off, and the cheese finished. They sprinkle a

little salt on it every other day in summer, and every .day in winter, for six

weeks. Seven brentas of milk make a cheese of fifty pounds, which requires six

months to ripen, and is then dried to forty-five pounds. It sells on the spot

for eighty-eight livres the one hundred pounds. There are now one hundred and

fifty cheeses in this dairy. They are nineteen inches diameter, and six inches

thick. They make a cheese a day in 













198        Jefferson 's Works







summer, and two in three days, or one in two days, in winter.







  The whey is put back into the kettle, the buttermilk poured into it, and of

this, they make a poor cheese for the country people. The whey of this is given

to the hogs. Eight men suffice to keep the cows, and to do all the business of

this dairy.  Mascarponi, a kind of curd, is made by pouring some buttermilk

into cream, which is thereby curdled, and is then pressed into a linen cloth.







  The ice-houses at Rozzano are dug about fifteen feet deep, and twenty feet

diameter, and poles are driven down all round. A conical thatched roof is then

€ put over them, fifteen feet high, and pieces of wood are laid at the bottom,

to keep the ice out of the water which drips from it, and goes off by a sink.

Straw is laid on this wood, and then the house filled with ice, always putting

straw between the ice and the walls, and covering ultimately with straw. About

a third is lost by melting. Snow gives the most delicate flavor to creams; but

ice is the most powerful congealer, and lasts longest. A tuft of trees

surrounds these ice-houses.







  Round Milan, to the distance of five miles, are corn, pasture, gardens,

mulberries, willows, and vines. For in this State, rice ponds are not permitted

within five miles of the cities.







 Binasco. Pavia. Near Cassino the rice ponds begin, and continue to within five

miles of Pavia, the whole ground being in rice, pasture; and willows. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       199







The pasture is in the rice grounds which are resting. In the neighborhood of

Pavia, again, are corn, pasture, etc., as round Milan. They gave me green peas

at Pavia.







  April 24th. Voghera. Tortona. Novi. From Pavia to Novi, corn, pasture, vines,

mulberries, willows; but no rice. The country continues plain, except that the

Apennines are approaching on the left. The soil, always good, is dark till we

approach Novi, and then red. We cross the Po where it is three hundred yards

wide, in a pendulum boat. The rope is fastened in one side of the river, three

hundred yards above; and supported by eight intermediate canoes, with little

masts in them to give a greater elevation to the rope. We pass in eleven

minutes. Women, girls, and boys are working with the hoe, and breaking the

clods with mauls.







  April 25th. Voltaggio. Campo-Marone. Genoa. At Novi, the Apennines begin to

rise. Their growth of timber is oak, tall, small and knotty, and chestnut. We

soon lose the walnut, ascending, and find it again, about one-fourth of the way

down, on the south side. About half way down, we find figs and vines, which

continue fine and in great abundance. The Apennines are mostly covered with

soil, and are in corn, pasture, mulberries, and figs, in the parts before

indicated. About half way from their foot to Genoa,at Campo-Marone, we find

again the olive tree. Hence the produce becomes mixed, of all the kinds before

mentioned. The method of 













200        Jefferson's Works :







sowing the Indian corn at Campo-Marone, is as follows : With a hoe shaped like

the blade of a trowel, two feet long, and six inches broad at its upper end,

pointed below, and a little curved, they make a trench. In that, they drop the

grains six inches apart. Then two feet from that, they make another trench,

throwing the earth they take out of that on the grain of the last one, with a

singular sleight and quickness; and so through the whole piece. The last trench

is filled with the earth adjoining.







 April 26th. Genoa. Strawberries at Genoa. Scaffold poles for the upper parts

of a wall, as for the third story, rest on the window sills of the story below.

Slate is used here for paving, for steps, for stairs, (the rise as well as

tread) and for fixed Venetian blinds. At the Palazzo Marcello Durazzo, benches

with straight legs, and bottoms of cane. At the Palazzo del prencipe Lomellino,

at Sestri, a phaeton with a canopy. At the former, tables fold= ing into one

plane. At Nervi they have peas, strawberries, etc., all the year round. The

gardens of the Count Durazzo at Nervi exhibit as rich a mixture of the utile

dulci, as I ever saw. All the environs in Genoa, are in olives, figs, oranges,

mulberries, corn, and garden stuff. Aloes in many places, but they never

flower.







  April 28th. Noli. The Apennine and Alps appear to me, to be one and the same

continued ridge of mountains, separating everywhere the waters of the Adriatic

Gulf from those of the Mediterranean. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    201







Where it forms an elbow, touching the Mediterranean, as a smaller circle

touches a larger, within which it is inscribed, in the manner of a tangent, the

name changes from Alps to Apennine. It is the beginning of the Apennine which

constitutes the State of Genoa, the mountains there generally falling down in

barren naked precipices into the sea. Wherever there is soil on the lower

parts, it is principally in olives and figs, in vines also, mulberries and

corn. Where there are hollows well protected, there are oranges. This is the

case at Golfo de Laspeze, Sestri, Bugiasco, Nervi, Genoa, Pegli, Savona,

Finale, Oneglia, (where there are abundance,) St. Remo, Ventimiglia, Mantone,

and Monaco. Noli, into which I was obliged to put; by a change of wind, is

forty miles from Genoa. There are twelve hundred inhabitants in the village,

and many separate houses round about. One of the precipices hanging over the

sea is covered with aloes. But neither here, nor anywhere else I have been,

could I procure satisfactory information that they ever flower. The current of

testimony is to the contrary. Noli furnishes many fishermen. Paths penetrate up

into the mountains in several directions, about three-fourths of a mile; but

these are practicable only for asses and mules. I saw no cattle nor sheep in

the settlement. The wine they make, is white and indifferent. Acurious cruet

for oil and vinegar in one piece, I saw here. A bishop resides here, whose

revenue is two thousand livres, 













202        Jefferson's Works







equal to sixty-six guineas. I heard a nightingale here.







  April 29th. Albenga. In walking along the shore from Louano to this place, I

saw no appearance of shells. The tops of the mountains are covered with snow,

while there are olive trees. etc., on the lower parts. I do not remember to

have seen assigned anywhere, the cause of the apparent color of the sea. Its

water is generally clear and colorless, if taken up and viewed in a glass. That

of the Mediterranean is remarkably so. Yet in the mass, it assumes, by

reflection, the color of the sky or atmosphere, black; green, blue, according

to the state of the weather. If any person wished to retire from his

acquaintance, to live absolutely unknown, and yet in the midst of physical

enjoyments, it should be in some of the little villages of this coast, where

air, water and earth concur to offer what each has most precious. Here are

nightingales, beccaficas, ortolans, pheasants, partridges, quails, a superb

climate, and the power of changing it from summer to winter at any moment, by

ascending the mountains. The earth furnishes wine, oil, figs, oranges, and

every production of the garden, in every season. The sea yields lobsters,

crabs, oysters, thunny, sardines, anchovies, etc. Ortolans sell at this time,

at thirty sous, equal to one shilling sterling, the dozen. At this season, they

must be fattened. Through the whole of my route from Marseilles, I observe they

plant a great deal of cane or reed, 













        Miscellaneous Papers    203







which is convenient while growing, as a cover from the cold and boisterous

winds, and when cut, it serves for espaliers to vines, peas, etc. Through

Piedmont, Lombardy, the Milanese, and Genoese, the garden bean is a great

article of culture ; almost as much so as corn. At Albenga, is a rich plain

opening from between two ridges of mountains, triangularly, to the sea, and of

several miles extent. Its growth is olives, figs, mulberries, vines, corn and

beans. There is some pasture. A bishop resides here, whose revenue is forty

thousand livres. This place is said to be rendered unhealthy in summer, by the

river which passes through the valley.







  April 30th. Oneglia. The wind continuing contrary, I took mules at Albenga

for Oneglia. Along this tract are many of the tree called carroubier, being a

species of locust. It is the ceratonia siliqua of Linnaeus. Its pods furnish

food for horses, and also for the poor, in time of scarcity. It abounds in

Naples and Spain. Oneglia and Port Maurice, which are within a mile of each

other; are considerable places, and in a rich country. At St. Remo, are

abundance of oranges and lemons, and some palm trees.







  May 1st. Ventimiglia. Menton. Monaco. Nice. At Bordighera, between

Ventimiglia and Menton, are extensive plantations of palms, on the hill as well

as in the plain. They bring fruit, but it does not ripen. Something is made of

the midrib, which is in great demand at Rome, on the Palm Sunday, 













204        Jefferson's: Works "







and which renders this tree profitable here. From Menton to Monaco, there is

more good land, arid extensive groves of oranges and lemons. ' Orange water

sells here at forty sous, equal to sixteen pence sterling, the American quart.

The distances on this coast, are, from Laspeze, at the eastern end of the

territories of Genoa, to Genoa, fifty-five miles geometrical ; to Savona,

thirty ; Albenga, thirty ; Oneglia, twenty ; Ventimiglia, twenty-five ; Monaco,

ten ; Nice, ten ; in the whole, one hundred and eighty miles. A superb road

might be made along the margin of the sea from Laspeze, where the champaign

country of Italy opens, to Nice, where the Alps go off northwardly, and the

post roads of France begin; and it might even follow the margin of the sea

quite to Cette. By this road, travellers would enter Italy without crossing the

Alps, and all the little insulated villages of the Genoese would communicate

together, and in time form one continued village along that road.







  May 3d. Luc. Brignolles. Tourves. Pourcieux. La Galiniere. Long, small

mountains, very rocky, the soil reddish, from bad to middling; in olives,

grapes, mulberries, vines and corn. Brignolles' is in an extensive plain,

between two ridges of mountains, and along a water-course which continues to

Tourves. Thence to Pourcieux we cross a mountain, low and easy. The country is

rocky and poor. To la Galiniere are waving grounds, bounded by mountains of

rock at a little distance, There are 













        Miscellaneous Papers     205







some inclosures of dry wall from Luc to la Galiniere ; also, sheep and hogs.

There is snow on the high mountains. I see no plums in the vicinities of

Brignolles; which makes me conjecture that the celebrated plum of that name, is

not derived - from this place. '







  May 8. Orgon. Avignon. Vaucluse. Orgon is on the Durance. From thence, its

plain opens till it becomes common with that of the Rhone; so that from Orgon

to Avignon is entirely a plain of rich dark loam, which is in willows;

mulberries, vines, corn and pasture. A very few figs. I see no olives in this

plain. Probably the cold winds have too much power here. From the Bac de Nova

(where we cross the Durance) to Avignon, is about nine American miles ; and

from the same Bac to Vaucluse, eleven miles. In the valley of Vaucluse, and on

the hills impending over it, are olive trees. The stream issuing from the

fountain of Vaucluse is about twenty yards wide, four or five feet deep, and of

such rapidity that it could not be stemmed by a canoe. They are now mowing hay,

and gathering mulberry leaves. The high mountains just back of Vaucluse are

covered with snow. Fine trout in the stream of Vaucluse, and the valley abounds

peculiarly with nightingales. The vin blanc de M. de Rochequde of Avignon,

resembles dry Lisbon. He sells it at six years old for twenty-two sous the

bottle, the price of the bottle, etc., included.







Avignon. Remoulins. Some good plains, but gen













206        Jefferson's Works







erally hills, stony and poor. In olives, mulberries, vines and corn. Where it

is waste, the growth is chene-vert, box, furze, thyme, and rosemary.







May 10. Nismes. Luntel. Hills on the right, plains on the left. The soil

reddish, a; little stony, and of middling quality. The produce, olives,

mulberries, vines, corn, St. foin. No wood and few inclosures. Lunel is famous

for its vin de muscat blanc, thence called Lunel, or vin muscat de Lunel. It is

made from the raisin muscat, without fermenting the grain in the hopper. When

fermented it makes a red muscat, taking the tinge from the dissolution of the

skin of the grape, which injures the quality. When a red muscat is required,

they prefer coloring it with a little Alicant wine. But the white is best. The

piece of two hundred and forty bottles, after being properly drawn off from its

lees, and ready for bottling, costs from one hundred and twenty to two hundred

livres, the first quality and last vintage. It cannot be bought old, the demand

being sufficient to take it all the first year. They are not more than from

fifty to one hundred pieces a year, made of this first quality. A setterie

yields about one piece, and my informer supposes there are about two setteries

in an arpent. Portage to Paris by land is fifteen livres the quintal. The best

recoltec are those of M. Bouquet and M. Tremoulet. The vines are in rows four

feet apart, every way.







 May 11. Montpelier. Snow on the Cevennes, 













        Miscellaneous Papers      207







still visible from here. With respect to the muscat grape, of which the wine is

made, there are two' kinds, the red and the white. The first has a red skin,

but a white juice. If it be fermented in the cuve, the coloring matter which

resides in the skin is imparted to the wine. If not fermented in the cuve, the

wine is white. Of the white grape, only a white wine can be made. The species

of St. foin cultivated here by the name of sparsette, is the hedysarum

onobryches. They cultivate a great deal of madder (garance) rubia tinctorum

here, which is said to be immensely profitable. Monsieur de Gouan tells me that

the pine, of which they use the burs for fuel, is the pinus sativus, being two

leaved. They use for an edging to the borders of their gardens, the santolina,

which they call garderobe. I find the yellow clover here, in a garden; and the

large pigeon succeeding well, confined in a house.







  May 12.  Frontignan. Some tolerably good plains in olives, vines, corn, St.

foin, and lucerne. A great proportion of the hills are waste. There are some

inclosures of stone, and some sheep. The first four years of madder are

unproductive; the fifth and sixth yield the whole value of the land. Then it

must be renewed. The sparsette is the common or true St. foin. It lasts about

five years; in the best land it is cut twice, in May and September, and yields

three thousand pounds of dry hay to the setterie the first cutting, and five

hundred pounds 













208        Jefferson's Works







the second. The setterie is of seventy-five dextres en tout sens, supposed

about two arpents: Lucerne is the best of all forage ; it is sowed here in the

broadcast, and lasts about twelve or fourteen years. It is cut four times a

year, and yields six thousand pounds of dry hay at the four cuttings, to the

setterie. The territory in which the vin muscat de Frontignan is made, is about

a league of three thousand toises long, and one-fourth of a league broad. The

soil is reddish and stony, often as much stone as soil. On the left, it is a

plain ; on the right, hills. There are made about one thousand pieces (of two

hundred and fifty bottles each) annually, of which six hundred are of the first

quality, made on the coteaux. Of these, Madame Soubeinan makes two hundred,

Munsieur Reboulle, ninety, Monsieur Lambert, medicin de la faculte de

Montpelier, sixty, Monsieur Thomas, notaire, fifty, Monsieur Argilliers, fifty,

Monsieur Audibert, forty; equal to four hundred and ninety; and there are some

small proprietors who make small quantities. The first quality is sold, brut,

for one hundred and twenty livres the piece ; but it is then thick, and must

have a winter and the fouet to render it potable and brilliant. The fouet is

like a chocolate mill, the handle of iron, the brush of stiff hair. In bottles,

this wine costs twenty-four sous, the bottles, etc., included. It is potable

the April after it is made, is best that year, and after ten years begins to

have a pitchy taste, resembling it to Malaga. It is not 













        Miscellaneous Papers     209







permitted to ferment more than half a day, because it would not be so

liquorish. The best color, and its natural one, is the amber. By force of

whipping, it is made white, but loses flavor. There are but two or three pieces

a year of red muscat made; there being but one vineyard of the red grape, which

belongs to a baker called Pascal. This sells in bottles at thirty sous, the

bottle included. Rondelle, negociant en vin, Porte St. Bernard, fauxbourg St.

Germains, Paris, buys three hundred pieces of the first quality every year. The

coteaux yield about half a piece to the setterie, the plains a whole piece. The

inferior quality is not at all esteemed. It is bought by the merchants of

Cette, as is also the wine of Bezieres, and sold by them for Frontignan of the

first quality. They sell thirty thousand pieces a year under that name. The

town of Frontignan marks its casks with a hot iron : an individual of that

place having two casks emptied, was offered forty livres for the empty cask by

a merchant of Cette. The town of Froritignan contains about two thousand

inhabitants ; it is almost on the level of the ocean. Transportation to Paris

is fifteen livres the quintal, and takes fifteen days. The price of packages is

about eight livres eight sous the one hundred bottles. A setterie of good

vineyard sells for from three hundred and fifty to five hundred livres, and

rents for fifty livres. A laboring man hires at one hundred and fifty livres

the year, and is fed and lodged; a woman at half as much. Wheat sells at







   VOL. XVII-14 













210        Jefferson's Works







ten livres the settier,  which weighs one hundred pounds, poids de table. They

make some Indian corn here, which is eaten by the poor. The olives do not

extend northward of this into the country, above twelve or fifteen leagues. In

general, the olive country in Languedoc is about fifteen leagues broad. More of

the waste lands between Frontignan and Mirval are capable of culture ; but it

is a marshy country, very subject to fever and ague, and generally unhealthy.

Thence arises, as is said, a want of hands.







  Cette. There are in this town about ten thousand inhabitants. Its principal

commerce is wine ; it furnishes great quantities of grape pomice for making

verdigrise. They have a very growing commerce; but it is kept under by the

privileges of Marseilles.







  May 13. Agde. On the right of the Etang de Tau, are plains of some width,

then hills, in olives, vines, mulberry, corn and pasture. On the left, a narrow

sand-bar separating the Etang from the sea, along which it is proposed to make

a road from Cette to Agde. In this case, the post would lead from Montpelier,

by Cette and Agde, to Bezieres, being leveller, and an hour, or an hour and a

half nearer. Agde contains six or eight thousand inhabitants.







  May 14.. Bezieres. Rich plains in corn, St. foin and pasture ; hills at a

little distance to the right, in olives ; the soil both of hill and plain is

red, going from Agde to Bezieres. But at Bezieres the country 













        Miscellaneous Papers       211







becomes hilly, and is in olives, St. foin, pasture, some vines and mulberries.







  May 15. Bezieres. Argilies. Le Saumal. From Argilies to Saumal are

considerable plantations of vines. Those on the red hills to the right, are

said to produce good wine. No wood, no inclosures. There are sheep and good

cattle. The Pyrenees are covered with snow. I am told they are so in certain

parts all the year. The canal of Languedoc, along which I now travel, is six

toises wide at bottom, and ten toises at the surface of the water, which is one

toise deep. The barks which navigate it are seventy and eighty feet long, and

seventeen or eighteen feet wide. They are drawn by one horse, and worked by two

hands, one of which is generally a woman. The locks are mostly kept by women,

but the necessary operations are much too laborious for them. The encroachments

by the men, on the offices proper for the women, is a great derangement in the

order of things. Men are shoemakers, tailors, upholsterers, stay-makers,

mantua-makers, cooks, housekeepers, house-cleaners, bed-makers ; they coiffe

the ladies, and bring them to bed: the women, therefore, to live, are obliged

to undertake the offices which they abandon. They become porters, carters,

reapers, sailors, lock-keepers, smiters on the anvil, cultivators of the earth,

etc. Can we wonder, if such of them as have a little beauty, prefer easier

courses to get their livelihood, as long as that beauty lasts? Ladies who

employ men in the offices which 













212        Jefferson's Works







should be reserved for their sex, are they not bawds in effect? For every man

whom they thus employ, some girl, whose place he has thus taken, is driven to

whoredom. The passage of the eight locks at Bezieres, that is, from the opening

of the first to the last gate, took one hour and thirty-three minutes. The bark

in which I go, is about thirty-five feet long, drawn by one horse, and goes

from two to three geographical miles an hour. The canal yields abundance of

carp and eel. I see also small fish resembling our perch and chub. Some plants

of white clover and some of yellow, on the banks of the canal near Capestan;

santolina also, and a great deal of yellow iris. Met a raft of about three

hundred and fifty beams, forty feet long, and twelve or thirteen inches in

diameter, formed into fourteen rafts, tacked together. The extensive and

numerous fields of St. foin in general bloom, are beautiful.







May I 6th. Le Saumal. Marseillette. May 17th. Marseillette. Carcassonne. From

Saumal to Carcassonne, we have always the river Aube close on our left. This

river runs in the valley between the Cevennes and Pyrenees, serving as the

common receptacle for both their waters. It is from fifty to one hundred and

fifty yards wide, always rapid, rocky, and insusceptible of navigation. The

canal passes in the side of hills made by that river, overlooks the river

itself, and its plains, and has its prospect ultimately terminated, on one

side, by mountains of rock overtopped by the Pyrenees, on 













        Miscellaneous Papers      213







the other, by small mountains, sometimes of rock, sometimes of soil, overtopped

by the Cevennes. Marseillette is on a ridge, which separates the river Aube

from the Etang de Marseillette. The canal, in its approach to this village,

passes the ridge and rides along the front,€ overlooking the Etang, and the

plains on its border; and having passed the village, re-crosses the ridge, and

resumes its general ground in front of the Aube. The land is in corn, St. foin,

pasture, vines, mulberries, willows, and olives.







  May 18th. Carcassonne. Castelnaudari. Opposite to Carcassonne, the canal

receives the river Fresquel, about thirty yards wide, which is its substantial

supply of water from hence to Bezieres. From Bezieres to Agde, the river Orb

furnishes it, and the Eraut, from Agde to the Etang de Thau. By means of ecluse

ronde at Agde, the waters of the Eraut can be thrown towards Bezieres, to aid

those of the Orb, as far as the ecluse de Porcaraigne, nine geometrical miles.

Where the Fresquel enters the canal, there is, on the opposite side, a waste,

to let off the superfluous waters. The horseway is continued over this waste,

by a bridge of stone of eighteen arches. I observe them fishing in the canal,

with a skimming net of about fifteen feet diameter, with which they tell me

they catch carp. Flax in blossom. Neither strawberries nor peas yet at

Carcassonne: The Windsor bean just come to table, From t" ecluse de la Lande we

see 













214        Jefferson's Works







the last olive trees near a metairee, or farm house, called la Lande. On a

review of what I have seen and heard of this tree, the following seem to be its

northern limits. Beginning on the Atlantic, at the Pyrenees; and along them to

the meridian of la Lande, or of Carcassonne; up that meridian to the Cevennes,

as they begin just there to raise themselves high enough to afford it shelter.

Along the Cevennes, to the parallel of forty-five degrees of latitude, and

along that parallel (crossing the Rhone near the mouth of the Isere) to the

Alps; thence along the Alps and Apennines, to what parallel of latitude I know

not. Yet here the tracing of the line becomes the most interesting. For from

the Atlantic, so far, we see this production the effect of shelter and latitude

combined. But where does it venture to launch forth unprotected by shelter and

by the mere force of latitude alone ? Where for instance does its northern

limits cross the Adriatic ? I learn that the olive tree resists cold to eight

degrees of Reaumur below the freezing point, which corresponds to fourteen

above zero of Fahrenheit; and that the orange resists to four degrees below

freezing of Reaumur, which is twenty-three degrees above zero of Fahrenheit.







  May 19th: Castelnaudari. St. Feriol. Escamaze. Lampy. Some sheep and cattle.

No inclosures. St. Feriol, Escamaze, and Lampy are in the montagnes noires. The

country almost entirely waste. Some of it in shrubbery. The voute d'Escamaze is















        Miscellaneous Papers       215







of one hundred and thirty-five yards. Round about Castelnaudari, the country is

hilly, as it has been constantly from Bezieres; it is' very rich. Where it is

plain, or nearly plain, the soil is black; in general, however, it is hilly and

reddish, and in corn. They cultivate a great deal of Indian corn here, which

they call millet ; it is planted but not yet up.







  May 20th. Castelnaudari. Naurouze. Villefranche. Baziege. At Naurouze, is the

highest ground which the canal had to pass, between the two seas. It became

necessary then to find water still higher to bring it here. The river Fresquel

heading by its two principal branches in the montagnes nories, a considerable

distance off to the eastward, the springs of the most western one were brought

together, and conducted to Naurouze, where its waters are divided, part

furnishing the canal towards the ocean, the rest towards the Mediterranean, as

far as the ecluse de Fresquel, where as has been before noted, the Lampy

branch, and the Alzau, under the name of the Fresquel, enter.







  May 20th. They have found that a lock of six pieds is best; however, eight

pieds is well enough. Beyond this, it is bad. Monsieur Pin tells me of a lock

of thirty pieds, made in Sweden, of which it is impossible to open the gates.

They therefore divided it into four locks. The small gates of the locks of this

canal, have six square pieds of surface. They tried the machinery of the jack

for opening them. They were more easily opened, but very 













216        Jefferson's Works







subject to be deranged, however strongly made. They returned therefore to the

original wooden screw, which is excessively slow and laborious. I calculate

that five minutes are lost at every basin by the screw, which, on the whole

number of basis, is one eighth of the time necessary to navigate the canal; and

of course, if a method of lifting the gate at one stroke could be found, it

would reduce the passage from eight to seven days, and the freight equally. I

suggested to Monsieur Pin and others, a quadrantal gate, turning on a pivot,

and lifted by a lever like a pump handle, aided by a windlass and cord, if

necessary. He will try it, and inform me of the success. The price of

transportation from Cette to Bourdeaux, through the canal and Garonne is the

quintal ; round by the straits of Gibraltar is.  Two hundred and forty barks,

the largest of twenty-two hundred quintals (or say, in general, of one hundred

tons) suffice to perform the business of this canal, which is stationary,

having neither increased nor diminished for many years. When pressed, they can

pass and repass between Toulouse and Bezieres in fourteen days; but sixteen is

the common period. The canal is navigated ten and a half months of the year;

the other month and a half being necessary to lay it dry, cleanse it and repair

the works. This is done in July and August, when there would perhaps, be a want

of water.







 May 21st. Baziege. Toulouse. The country continues hilly, but very rich. It is

in mulberries, 













        Miscellaneous Papers     217







willows, some vines, corn, maize, pasture, beans, flax. A great number of

chateaux and good houses, in the neighborhood of the canal. The people partly

in farm houses, partly in villages. I suspect the farm houses are occupied by

the farmers, while the laborers (who are mostly by the day) reside in the

villages. Neither strawberries nor peas yet at Baziege or Toulouse. Near the

latter, are some fields of yellow clover.







 At Toulouse the canal ends. It has four communications with the Mediterranean.

1. Through the ponds at Thau, Frontignan, Palavas, Maguelone, and Manjo, the

Canal de la Radela Aiguesmortes, le Canal des Salines de Pecair, and the arm of

the Rhone called Bras de Fer, which ends at Fourgues; opposite to Arles; and

thence down the Rhone. 2. At Cette, by a canal of a few hundred toises, leading

out of the Etang de Thau into the sea. The vessels pass the Etang, through a

length of nine thousand toises, "with sails. 3. At Agde, by the river Eraut,

twenty-five hundred toises. It has but five or six pieds of water at its mouth.

It is joined to the canal at the upper part of this communication, by a branch

of a canal two hundred and seventy toises long. 4. At Narbonne, by a canal they

are now opening, which leads from the great canal near the aqueduct of the

river Cesse, twenty-six hundred toises, into the Aude. This new canal will have

five lock-basins of about twelve pieds fall, each. Then you are to cross the

Aude very obliquely, and 













218        Jefferson's Works







descend a branch of it six thousand toises, through four lock-basins to

Narbonne, and from Narbonne down the same branch, twelve hundred toises into

the Etang de Sigen, across that Etang four thousand toises, issuing at an

inlet, called Grau de la Nouvelle, into the Gulf of Lyons. But only vessels of

thirty or forty tons can enter this inlet. ' Of these ' four communications,

that of Cette only, leads to a deep sea-port, because the exit is there by a

canal, and not a river. Those by the Rhone, Eraut, and Aude, are blocked up by

bars at the mouth of those rivers. It is remarkable that all the rivers running

into the Mediterranean, are obstructed at their entrance by bars and shallows,

which often change their position.







 This is the case with the Nile, Tyber, the Po, the Lez, le Lyoron, the Orbe,

the Gly, the Tech, the Tet, etc. Indeed, the formation of these bars seems not

confined to the mouths of the rivers, though it takes place at them, more

certainly. Along almost the whole of the coast, from Marseilles towards the

Pyrenees, banks of sand are thrown up, parallel with the coast, which have

insulated portions of the sea, that is, formed them into etangs, ponds, or

sounds, through which here and there, narrow and shallow inlets only, are

preserved by the currents of the rivers. These sounds fill up in time, with the

mud and sand deposited in them by the rivers. Thus the Etang de Vendres,

navigated formerly by vessels of sixty tons, is now nearly filled up by the mud

and sand of the Aude. The Vistre and Vidourle 













        Miscellaneous Papers      219







which formerly emptied themselves into the Gulf of Lyons, are now received by

the Etangs de Manjo and Aiguesmortes, that is to say, the part of the Gulf of

Lyons which formerly received, and still receives those rivers, is now cut off

from the sea by a bar of sand, which has been thrown up in it, and has formed

it into sounds. Other proofs that the land gains there on the sea, are, that

the towns of St. Gilles and Notre. Dame d'Aspots, formerly seaports, are now

far from the sea, and that Aiguesmortes, where are still to be seen the iron

rings to which vessels were formerly moored, and where St. Louis embarked for

Palestine, has now in its vicinities, only ponds which cannot be navigated, and

communicates with the sea by an inlet, called Grau du Roy,.through which only

fishing barks can pass. It is pretty well established, that all the Delta of

Egypt has been formed by the depositions of the Nile, and the alluvions of the

sea, and it is probable that that operation is still going on. Has this

peculiarity of the Mediterranean any connection with the scantiness of its

tides, which even at the equinoxes, are of two or three feet only ?







  The communication from the western end of the canal to the ocean is by the

river Garonne. This is navigated by flat boats of eight hundred quintals, when

the water is well ; but when it is scanty, these boats carry only two hundred

quintals till they get to the mouth of the Tarn. It has been proposed to 













220        Jefferson's Works







open a canal that far, from Toulouse, along the right side of the river.







 May 22d. Toulouse. 23d. Agen. 24th. Cast%es. Bordeaux. The Garonne and rivers

emptying into it, make extensive and rich plains, which are in mulberries,

willows, corn, maize, pasture, beans and flax. The hills are in corn, maize,

beans, and a considerable proportion of vines. There seems to be as much maize

as corn in this country. Of the latter, there is more rye than wheat. The maize

is now up, and about three inches high. It is sowed in rows two feet, or two

and a half feet apart, and is pretty thick in the row. Doubtless they mean to

thin it. There is a great deal of forage they call farouche. It is a species of

red trefoil, with few leaves, a very coarse stalk, and a cylindrical blossom of

two inches in length, and three quarters of an inch in diameter, consisting of

floscules, exactly as does that of the red clover. It seems to be a coarse

food, but very plentiful. They say it is for their oxen. These are very fine,

large, and cream-colored. The services of the farm, and of transportation, are

performed chiefly by them. There are a few horses and asses, but no mules. Even

in the city of Bordeaux, we see scarcely any beasts of draught but oxen. When

we cross the Garonne at Langon, we find the plains entirely of sand and gravel,

and they continue so to Bordeaux. Where they are capable of anything, they are

in vines, which are in rows, four, five, or six feet apart, and 













        Miscellaneous Papers      221







sometimes more. Near Langon is_ Saulerne, where the best white wines of

Bordeaux are made. The waste lands are in fern, furze, shrubbery, and dwarf

trees. The farmers live on their farms. At Agen, Castres, Bordeaux,

strawberries and peas are now brought to table, so that the country on the

canal of Languedoc seems to have later seasons than that east and west of it.

What can be the cause? To the eastward, the protection of the Cevennes makes

the warm season advance sooner. Does the neighborhood of the Mediterranean

co-operate? And does that of the ocean mollify and advance the season to the

westward? There are ortolans at Agen, but none at Bordeaux. The buildings on

the canal and the Garonne are mostly of brick, the size of the bricks the same

with that of the ancient Roman brick, as seen in the remains of their buildings

in this country. In those of a circus at Bordeaux, considerable portions of

which are standing, I measured the bricks, and found them nineteen or twenty

inches long, eleven or twelve inches wide, and from one and a half to two

inches thick; their texture as fine, compact, and solid as that of porcelain.

The bricks now made, though of the same dimensions, are not so fine. They are

burnt in a kind of furnace, and make excellent work. The elm tree shows itself

at Bordeaux, peculiarly proper for being spread flat for arbors. Many are done

in this way on the quay des Charterons. Strawberries, peas, and chernes at

Bordeaux, 













222        Jefferson's Works







 May 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th. Bordeaux. The cantons in which the most

celebrated wines of Bordeaux are made, are Medoc down the river, Grave

adjoining the city, and the parishes next above ; all on the same side of the

river. In the first is made red wine principally, in the two last, white. In

Medoc, they plant the vines in cross rows of three and a half pieds. They keep

them so low, that poles extended along the rows one way, horizontally, about

fifteen or eighteen inches above the ground, serve to tie the vines to, and

leave the cross row open to the plough. In Grave, they set the plants in

quincunx, i. e. in equilateral triangles of three and a half pieds every side ;

and they stick a pole of six or eight feet high to every vine, separately. The

vine stock is sometimes three or four feet high. They find these two methods

equal in culture, duration, quantity and quality. The former however, admits

the alternative of tending by hand or with the plough. The grafting of the

vine, though a critical operation, is practised with success. When the graft

has taken, they bend it into the earth, and let it take root above the scar.

They begin to yield an indifferent wine at three years old, but not a good one

till twenty-five years, nor after eighty, when they begin to yield less, and

worse, and must be renewed. They give three or four workings in the year, each

worth seventy, or seventy-five livres the journal, which is of eight hundred

and forty square toises and contains about three thousand 













        Miscellaneous Papers        223







 plants. They dung a little in Medoc and Grave, because of the poverty of the

soil ; but very little, as more would effect the wine. The journal yields,

communibus annis, about three pieces (of two hundred and forty or two hundred

and fifty bottles each). The vineyards of first quality are all worked by their

proprietors. Those of the second rent for three hundred livres the journal,

those of the third at two hundred livres. They employ a kind of overseer at

four or five hundred livres the year, finding him lodging and drink; but he

feeds himself. He superintends and directs, though he is expected to work but

little. If the proprietor has a garden, the overseer tends that. They never

hire laborers by the year. The day wages for a man are thirty sous, a woman's

fifteen sous, feeding themselves. The women make the bundles of sarment, weed,

pull off the snails, tie the vines, and gather the grapes. During the vintage

they are paid high and fed well.







 Of red wines, there are four vineyards of the first quality, viz. , 1.

Chauteau Margau, belonging to the Marquis d'Agicourt, who makes about one

hundred and fifty tons, of one thousand bottles each. He has engaged to Jernon,

a merchant. a. La Tour de Segur, en Saint Lambert, belonging to Monsieur

Miresmenil, who makes one hundred and twenty-five tons. 3. Hautbrion, belonging

twothirds to M. le Comte de Femelle, who has engaged to Barton, a merchant ;

the other third to the Comte 













224        Jefferson's Works







de Toulouse, at Toulouse. The whole is seventyfive tuns. 4. Chateau de la Fite,

belonging to the President Pichard, at Bordeaux, who makes one hundred and

seventy-five tuns. The wines of the three first are not in perfection till four

years old; those of De la Fite, being somewhat lighter, are good at three

years, that is, the crop of 1786 is good in the spring of 1789. These growths

of the year 1783 sell now at two thousand livres the tun ; those of 1784, on

account of the superior quality of that vintage, sell at twenty-four hundred

livres; those of 1785, at eighteen hundred livres ; those of 1786, at eighteen

hundred livres, though they had sold at first for only fifteen hundred livres.

Red wines of the second quality, are Rozan, Dabbadie or Lionville, la Rose,

Quirouen, Durfort; in all eight hundred tuns, which sell at one thousand

livres, new. The third class are, Calons, Mouton, Gassie, Arboete, Pontette, de

Ferme, Candale; in all two thousand tuns, at eight or nine hundred livres.

After these, they are reckoned common wines, and sell from five hundred livres

down to one hundred and twenty livres the tun. All red wines decline after a

certain age, losing color, flavor, and body. Those of Bordeaux begin to decline

at about seven years old.







  Of white wines, those made in the canton of Grave are most esteemed at

Bordeaux. The best crops are, 1. Pontac, which formerly belonged to M. de

Pontac, but now to M. de Lamont. Le makes forty tuns, which sell at four

hundred livres, new. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     225







St. Brise, belonging to M. de Pontac, thirty tuns, at three hundred and fifty

livres. 3. De Carbonius, belonging to the Benedictine monks; who make fifty

tuns, and never selling till three or four years old, get eight hundred livres

the tun. Those made in the three parishes next above Grave, and more esteemed

at Paris, are, I. Sauterne. The best crap belonging tn M. Diquem at Bordeaux,

or to M. de Salus, his son-in-law; one hundred and fifty tuns, at three hundred

livres, new, and six hundred livres, old. The next best crop is M. de

Filotte's; one hundred tuns, sold at the same price. 2. Prignac. The best is

the President du Roy's, at Bordeaux. He makes one hundred and seventy-five

tuns, which sell at three hundred livres, new, and six hundred livres, old.

Those of 1784, for their extraordinary quality, sell at eight hundred livres.

3. Barsac. The best belongs to the President Pichard, who makes one hundred and

fifty tuns, at two hundred and eighty livres, new, and six hundred livres, old.

Sauterne is the pleasantest; next Prignac, and lastly Barsac ; but Barsac is

the strongest ; next Prignac, and lastly Sauterne ; and all stronger than

Grave. There are other good crops made in the same parishes of Sauterne,

Prignac, and Barsac; but none as good as these. There is a virgin wine, which,

though made of a red grape, is of a light rose color, because, being made

without pressure, the coloring matter of the skin does not mix with the juice.

There are other white wines, from the pre-







vol. xvii-15 













226        Jefferson's Works







ceding prices down to seventy-five livres. In general, the white wines keep

longest. They will be i.n perfection till fifteen or twenty years of age. The

best vintage now to be bought, is of 1784 ; both of red and white. There has

been no other good year since 1779.







  The celebrated vineyards before mentioned are plains, as is generally the

canton of Medoc, and that of the Grave. The soil of Hautbrion, particularly,

which I examined, is a sand, in which is near as much round gravel or small

stone, and very little loam; and this is the general soil of Medoc. That of

Pontac,. which I examined also, is a little different. It is clayey, with a

fourth or fifth of 'fine rotten stone ; and at two feet depth it becomes all a

rotten stone. M. de Lamont tells me he has a kind of grape without seeds, which

I did not formerly suppose to exist ; but I saw at Marseilles dried raisins

from Smyrna without seeds. I saw in his farm at Pontac some plants of white

clover, and a good deal of yellow; also some small peach trees in the open

ground. The principal English wine merchants at Bordeaux are, Jemon, Barton,

Johnston, Foster, Skinner, Copinger and McCartey; the chief French wine

merchants are Feger, Nerac, Bruneau, Jauge, and du Verget. Desgrands, a wine

broker, tells me they never mix the wines of first quality; but they mix the

inferior ones to improve them. The smallest wines make the best brandy. They

yield about a fifth or sixth. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      227







  May 28th, 29th. From Bordeaux to Blaye, the country near the river is hilly,

chiefly in vines, some corn, some pasture; further out, are plains, boggy and

waste. The soil, in both cases, clay and grit. Some sheep on the waste. To

Etauliere, we have sometimes boggy plains, sometimes waving grounds and sandy,

always poor, generally waste, in fern and furze, with some corn however,

interspersed.     To Mirambeau and St. Genis, it is hilly, poor, and most,ly

waste. There are some corn and maize however, and better trees than usual.

Towards Pons, it becomes a little red, mostly rotten stone. There are vines,

corn, and maize, which is up. At Pons we approach the Clarenton; the country

becomes better, a blackish mould mixed with a rotten chalky stone ; a great

many vines, corn, maize, and farouche. From Lajart to Saintes and Rochefort,

the soil is reddish; its foundation a chalky rock, at about afoot depth; in

vines, corn, maize, clover, lucerne, and pasture. There are more and better

trees than I have seen in all my journey; a great many apple and cherry trees;

fine cattle and many sheep. May 30th. From Rochefort to le Rochex, it is

sometimes hilly and red, with a chalky foundation middling good ; in corn,

pasture, and some waste ; sometimes it is reclaimed marsh, in clover and corn

except the parts accessible to the tide, which are in wild grass. About

Rochelle, it is a low plain. Towards Usseau, and half way to Marans, level

highlands, red, mixed with an equal quantity of broken 













228        Jefferson's Works







chalk ; mostly in vines, some corn and pasture ; then to Marans and half way to

St. Hermines, it is reclaimed marsh, dark, tolerably good, and all in pasture;

there we rise to plains a little higher, red, with a chalky foundation,

boundless to the eye, and altogether in corn and maize. May 31st. At St.

Hermines, the country becomes very hilly, a red clay mixed with chalky stone,

generally waste; in furze and broom, with some patches of corn and maize; and

so it continues to Chantenay, and St. Fulgent. Through the whole of this road

from Bordeaux are frequent hedge rows, and small patches of forest wood, not

good, yet better than I had seen in the preceding part of my journey. Towards

Montaigu, the soil mends a little; the cultivated parts in corn and pasture,

the uncultivated in broom. It is in very small inclosures of ditch and

quickset. On approaching the Loire to Nantes, the country is leveller; the soil

from Rochelle to this place may be said to have been sometimes red, but oftener

grey, and always on a chalky foundation. The last census, of about 1770, made

one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants at Nantes. They conjecture there

are now one hundred and fifty thousand, which equals it to Bordeaux. June 1st,

2d. The country from Nantes to L'Orient is very hilly, and poor, the soil

grey;. nearly half is waste, in furze and broom, among which is some poor

grass. The cultivated parts are in corn, some maize, a good many apple trees;

no vines, All is in 













        Miscellaneous Papers       229







small inclosures of quick hedge and ditch. There are patches and hedge-rows of

forest wood, not quite deserving the name of timber. The people are mostly in

villages; they eat rye bread, and are ragged. The villages announce a general

poverty, as does every other appearance. Women smite on the anvil, and work

with the hoe, and cows are yoked to labor. There are great numbers of cattle,

insomuch that butter is their staple. Neither asses nor mules ; yet it is said

that the fine mules I have met with on my journey, are raised in Poictou. There

are but few chateaux here. I observe millponds, and hoes with long handles.

Have they not, in common with us, derived these from England, of which Bretagne

is probably a colony? L'Orient is supposed to contain twenty-five thousand

inhabitants. They tell me here, that to make a reasonable profit on potash and

pearl ash, as bought in America, the former should sell at thirty livres, the

latter thirty-six livres the quintal. Of turpentine they make no use in their

vessels. Bayonne furnishes pitch enough ; but tar is in demand, and ours sells

well. The tower of L'Orient is sixty-five pieds above the level of the sea, one

hundred and twenty pieds high, twenty-five pieds in diameter; the stairs four

feet radius, and cost thirty thousand livres, besides the materials of the old

tower.







  June 3d, 4th, 5th. The country and productions from L'Orient to Rennes, and

from Rennes to Nantes are precisely similar to those from Nantes to L'Orient. 













230        Jefferson's Works







About Rennes, it is somewhat leveller, perhaps less poor, and almost entirely

in pasture. The soil always grey. Some small separate houses which seem to be

the residence of laborers, or very small farmers; the walls frequently of mud,

and the roofs generally covered with slate. Great plantations of walnut, and

frequently of pine. Some apple trees and sweet briar still in bloom, and broom

generally so. I have heard no nightingale since the last day of May. There are

gates in this country made in such a manner, that the top rail of the gate

overshoots backwards the hind post, so as to counterpoise the gate, and prevent

its swagging.







  Nantes. Vessels of eight feet draught only can come to Nantes. Those which

are larger lie at Point Boeuf, ten leagues below Nantes, and five leagues above

the mouth of the river. There is a continued navigation from Nantes to Paris,

through the Loire, the Canal de Briare and the Seine. Carolina rice is

preferred to that of Lombardy for the Guinea trade, because it requires less

water to boil it.







  June 6th; 7th, 8th. Nantes. Ancenis, Angers. Tours. Ascending the Loire from

Nantes, the road as far as Angers, leads over the hills, which are grey,

oftener below than above mediocrity, and in corn, pasture, vines, some maize,

flax, and hemp. There ' are no waste lands. About the limits of Bretagne and

Anjou, which are between Loriottiere and St. George, the lands change for the

better. Here and 













        Miscellaneous Papers      231







there, we get views of the plains on the Loire, of some extent, and good

appearance, in corn and pasture. After passing Angers, the road is raised out

of the reach of inundations, so as at the same time, to ward them off from the

interior plains. It passes generally along the river side; but sometimes leads

through the plains, which, after we pass Angers, become extensive and good, in

corn, pasture, some maize, hemp, flax, peas, and beans; many willows, also

poplars and walnuts. The flax is near ripe. Sweet briar in general bloom. Some

broom here still, on which the cattle and sheep browse in winter and spring,

when they have no other green food; and the hogs eat the blossoms and pods, in

spring and summer. This blossom, though disagreeable when smelt in a small

quantity, is of delicious fragrance when there is a whole field of it. There

are some considerable vineyards in the river plains, just before we reach Les

trois volees, (which is at the one hundred and thirty-sixth milestone) and

after that, where the hills on the left come into view, they are mostly in

vines. Their soil is clayey and stony, a little reddish, and of southern

aspect. The hills on the other side of the river, looking to the north, are not

in vines. There is very good wine made on these hills; not equal indeed to the

Bordeaux of best quality, but to that of good quality, and like it. It is a

great article of exportation from Anjou and Touraine, and probably is sold

abroad, under the name of 













232        Jefferson's Works







Bordeaux. They are now mowing the first crop of hay. All along both hills of

the Loire, is a mass of white stone, not durable, growing black with time, and

so soft that the people cut their houses out of the solid, with all the

partitions, chimneys, doors, etc. The hillsides resemble cony burrows, full of

inhabitants. The borders of the Loire, are almost a continued village. There

are many chateaux ; many cattle, sheep, and horses i some asses.







  Tours is at the one hundred and nineteenth milestone. Being desirous of

inquiring here into a fact stated by Voltaire, in his Questions

Encyclopediques, article Coquilles, relative to the growth of shells

unconnected with animal bodies; at the Chateau of Monsieur de la Sauvagiere,

near Tours, I called on Monsieur Gentil, premier secretaire de l'Intendance, to

whom the Intendant had written on my behalf, at the request of the Marquis de

Chastellux. I stated to him the fact as advanced by Voltaire, and found he was,

of all men, the best to whom I could have addressed myself. He told me he had

been in correspondence with Voltaire on that very subject, and was perfectly

acquainted with Monsieur de la Sauvagiere, and the Faluniere where the fact is

said to have taken place. It is at the Chateau de Grillemont, six leagues from

Tours, on the road to Bordeaux, belonging now to Monsieur d'Orcai. He says,

that de la Sauvagiere was a man of truth, and might be relied on for whatever

facts he stated as of his own observations; but that he was over













        Miscellaneous Papers        233







charged with imagination, which, in matters of opinion and theory, often led

him beyond his facts; that this feature in his character had appeared

principally in what he wrote on the antiquities of Touraine ; but that, as to

the fact in question, he believed him. That he himself, indeed, had not watched

the same identical shells, as Sauvagiere had done, growing from small to great

; but that he had often seen such masses of those shells of all sizes, from a

point to a full size, as to carry conviction to his mind that they were in the

act of growing; that he had once made a collection of shells for the Emperor 's

cabinet, reserving duplicates of them for himself ; and that these afforded

proofs of the same fact ; that he 'afterwards gave those duplicates to a

Monsieur du Verget, a physician of Tours; of great science and candor, who was

collecting on a larger scale, and who was perfectly in sentiment with Monsieur

de la Sauvagiere, that not only the Faluniere, but many other places about

Tours, would convince any unbiased observer, that shells are a fruit of the

earth, spontaneously produced; and he gave me a copy of de la Sauvagiere's

Recueil de Dissertations, presented by the author, wherein is one Sur la

vegetation spontanee des coquillesdu Chateau des Places. So far, I repeat from

him. What are we to conclude ? That we have not materials enough yet, to form

any conclusion. The fact stated by Sauvagiere is not against any law of nature,

and is therefore possible ; but it is so little analogous to 













234        Jefferson's Works







her habitual processes, that, if true, it would be extraordinary; that to

command our belief, therefore, there should be such a suite of observations, as

that their untruth would be more extraordinary than the existence of the fact

they affirm. The bark of trees, the skin of fruits and animals, the feathers of

birds, receive their growth and nutriment from the internal circulation of a

juice through the vessels of the individual they cover. We conclude from

analogy, then, that the shells of the testaceous tribe, receive also their

growth from a like internal circulation. If it be urged, that this does not

exclude the possibility of a like shell being produced by the passage of a

fluid through the pores of the circumjacent body, whether of earth, stone, or

water; I answer, that it is not within the usual economy of nature, to use two

processes for one species of production. While I withhold my assent, however,

from this hypothesis, I must deny it to every other I have .ever seen, by which

their authors pretendto account for the origin of shells in high places. Some

of these are against the laws of nature, and therefore impossible; and others

are built on positions more difficult to assent to, than that of de la

Sauvagiere. They all suppose the shells 'to have covered submarine animals, and

have then to answer the question, How came they fifteen thousand feet above the

level of the sea? And they answer it, by demanding what cannot be conceded.

One, therefore, who had rather have no opinion 













        Miscellaneous Papers        235







than a false one, will suppose this question one of those beyond the

investigation of human sagacity; or wait till further and fuller observations

enable him to decide it.







  Chanteloup. I heard a nightingale to-day at Chanteloup. The gardener says, it

is the male who alone sings, while the female sits; and that when the young are

hatched, he also ceases. In the border at Chanteloup, is an ingenious

contrivance to hide the projecting steps of a stair-case. Three steps were of

necessity to project into the boudoir: they are therefore made triangular steps

; and instead of being rested on the floor, as usual, they are made fast at

their broad end to the stair door, swinging out and in, with that. When it

shuts, it runs them under the other steps; when open, it brings them out to

their proper place. In the kitchen garden, are three pumps, worked by one

horse. The pumps are placed in an equilateral triangle, each side of which is

of about thirty-five feet. In the centre is a post, ten or twelve feet high,

and one foot in diameter. In the top of this, enters the bent end of a lever,

of about twelve or fifteen feet long, with a swingle-tree at the other end.

About three feet from the bent end, it receives on a pin, three horizontal bars

of iron, which at their other end lay hold of one corner of a quadrantal crank

(like a bell crank) moving in a vertical plane, to the other corner of which is

hooked the vertical handle of the pump. The crank turns on its point as a

centre, by a pin or 













236        Jefferson's Works







pivot passing through it. The horse moving the lever horizontally in a circle,

every point of the lever describes a horizontal circle. That which receives the

three bars, describes a circle of six feet in diameter. It gives a stroke then

of six feet to the handle of each pump, at each revolution.







  Blois. Orleans. June 9, 10.  At Blois, the road leaves the river, and

traverses the hills, which are mostly reddish, sometimes grey, good enough, in

vines, corn, St. foin. From Orleans to the river Juines, at Estampes, it is a

continued plain of corn and St. foin, tolerably good, sometimes grey, sometimes

red. From Estampes to Estrechy, the country is mountainous and rocky,

resembling that of Fontainebleau. Quere. If it may not be the same vein ?







   A Tour to some of the Gardens of England. (Memorandums made on a tour to

some of the gardens in England, described by Whateley in his book on

gardening.] While his descriptions, in point of style, are models of perfect

elegance and classical correctness, they are as remarkable for their exactness.

I always walked over the gardens with his book in my hand, examined with

attention the particular spots he described, found them so justly characterized

by him as to be easily recognized, and saw with wonder, that his fine

imagination had never been able to seduce him from the 













        Miscellaneous Papers      237







truth. My inquiries were directed chiefly to such practical things as might

enable me to estimate the expense of making and maintaining a garden in that

style. My journey was in the months of March and April, 1786.







  Chiswick.-Belongs to Duke of Devonshire. A garden about six acres; the

octagonal dome has an ill effect, both within and without: the garden shows

still too much of art. An obelisk of very ill effect; another in the middle of

a pond useless.







  Hampton - Court. - Old fashioned. Clipt yews grown wild.







  Twickenham.-Pope's original garden, three and a half acres. Sir Wm. Stanhope

added one and a half acres. This is a long narrow slip, grass and trees in the

middle, walk all round. Now Sir Wellbore Ellis 's. Obelisk at bottom of Pope 's

garden, as monument to his mother. Inscription, "Ah! Editha, matrum optima,

mulierum amantissima, Vale." The house about thirty yards from the Thames : the

ground shelves gently to the water side ; on the back of the house passes the

street, and beyond that the garden. The grotto is under the street, and goes

out level to the water. In the centre of the garden a mourld with a spiral walk

round it. A rookery.







  Esher-Place.-The house in a bottom near the river; on the other side the

ground rises pretty much. The road by which we come to the house forms a

dividing line in the middle of the front; 













238        Jefferson's Works







on the right are heights, rising one beyond and above another, with clumps of

trees ; on the farthest a temple. A hollow filled up with a clump of trees, the

tallest in the bottom, so that the top is quite flat. On the left the ground

descends. Clumps of trees, the clumps on each hand balance finely-a most lovely

mixture of concave and convex. The garden is of about forty-five acres, besides

the park which joins. Belongs to Lady Frances Pelham.







  Claremont.-Lord Clive's. Nothing remarkable.







  Paynshill.-Mr. Hopkins. Three hundred and twenty-three acres, garden and park

all in one. Well described by Whateley. Grotto said to have cost L7,000.

Whateley says one of the bridges is of stone, but both now are of wood, the

lower sixty feet high: there is too much evergreen. The dwelling-house built by

Hopkins, ill-situated: he has not been there in five years. He lived there four

years while building the present house. It is not finished; its architecture is

incorrect. A Doric temple, beautiful.







  Woburn.-Belongs to Lord Peters. Lord Loughborough is the present tenant for

two lives. Four people to the farm, four to the pleasure garden, four to the

kitchen garden. All are intermixed, the pleasure garden being merely a

highly-ornamented walk through and round the divisions of the farm and kitchen

garden:







  Caversham.-Sold by Lord Cadogan to Major Marsac. Twenty-five acres of garden,

four hundred 













        Miscellaneous Papers      239







acres of park, six acres of kitchen garden. A large lawn, separated by a sunk

fence from the garden, appears to be part of it. A straight, broad gravel walk

passes before the front and parallel to it, terminated on the right by a Doric

temple, and opening at the other end on a fine prospect. This straight walk has

an ill effect. The lawn in front, which is pasture, well disposed with clumps

of trees.







  Wotton.=Now belongs to the Marquis of Buckingham, son of George Grenville.

The lake covers fifty acres, the river five acres, the basin fifteen acres, the

little river two acres-equal to seventy-two acres of water. The lake and great

river are on a level ; they fall into the basin five feet below, and that again

into the little river five feet lower. These waters lie in form of an L: the

house is in middle of open side, fronting the angle. A walk goes round the

whole, three miles in circumference, and containing within it about three

hundred acres: sometimes it passes close to the water, sometimes so far off as

'to leave large pasture grounds between it and the water. But two hands to keep

the pleasure grounds in order ; much neglected. The water affords two thousand

brace of carp a year. There is a Palladian bridge, of which, I think, Whateley

does not speak.







  Stowe.-Belongs to the Marquis of Buckingham, son of George Grenville, and who

takes it from Lord Temple. Fifteen men and eighteen boys employed in keeping

pleasure grounds. Within the walk are considerable portions separated by

inclosures and 













240        Jefferson's Works







used for pasture. The Egyptian pyramid is almost entirely taken down by the

late Lord Temple ;  to erect a building there, in commemoration of Mr. Pitt,

but he died before beginning it, and nothing is done to it yet. The grotto and

two rotundas are taken away. There are four levels of water, receiving it one

from the other. The basin contains seven acres, the lake below that ten acres.

Kent's building is called the temple of Venus. The inclosure is entirely by

ha-ha. At each end of the front line there is a recess like the bastion of a

fort. In one of these is the temple of Friendship, in the other the temple of

Venus. They are seen the one from the other, the line of sight passing, not

through the garden, but through the country parallel to the line of the garden.

This has a good effect. In the approach to Stowe, you are brought a mile

through a straight avenue, pointing to the Corinthian arch and to the house,

till you get to the arch, then- you turn short to the right. The straight

approach is very ill. The Corinthian arch has a very useless appearance,

inasmuch as it has no pretension' to any destination. Instead of being an

object from the house, it is an obstacle to a very pleasing distant prospect.

The Grecian valley being clear of trees, while the hill on each side is covered

with them, is much deepened to appearance.







  Leasowes, in Shropshire.-Now the property of Mr. Horne by purchase. One

hundred and fifty acres within the walk. The waters small. This





















        Miscellaneous Papers     241







is not even an ornamented farm-it is only a grazing farm with a path round it,

here and there a seat of board, rarely anything better. Architecture has

contributed nothing. The obelisk is of brick. Shenstone had but three hundred

pounds a year, and ruined himself by what he did to this farm. It is said that

he died of the heart-aches which his debts occasioned him. The part next the

road is of red earth, that on the further part grey. The first and second

cascades are beautiful. The landscape at number eighteen, and prospect at

thirty-two, are fine. The walk through the wood is umbrageous and pleasing. The

whole arch of prospect may be of ninety degrees. Many of the inscriptions are

lost.







  Hagley, now Lord Wescot's.-One thousand acres: no distinction between park

and garden-both blended, but more of the character of garden. Eight or nine

laborers keep it in order. Between two and three hundred deer in it, some of

them red deer. They breed sometimes with the fallow. This garden occupying a

descending hollow between the Clent and Witchbury hills, with the spurs from

those hills, there is no level in it for a spacious water. There are,

therefore, only some small ponds. From one of these there is a fine cascade ;

but it can only be occasionally, by opening the sluice. This is in a small,

dark, deep hollow, with recesses of stone in the banks on every side. In one of

these is a Venus predique, turned half round as if inviting you with her into

the recess. There is another







   VOL. XVII-16 













242        Jefferson's Works







cascade seen from the portico on the bridge. The castle is triangular, with a

round tower at each angle, one only entire ; it seems to be between forty and

fifty feet high. The ponds yield a great deal of trout. The walks are scarcely

gravelled.







  Blenheim.-Twenty-five hundred acres, of which two hundred is garden, one

hundred and fifty water, twelve kitchen garden, and the rest park. Two hundred

people employed to keep it in order, and to make alterations and additions.

About fifty of these employed in pleasure grounds. The turf is mowed once in

ten days. In summer, about two thousand fallow deer in the park, and two or

three thousand sheep. The palace of Henry II. was remaining till taken down by

Sarah, widow of the first Duke of Marlborough. It was on a round spot levelled

by art, near what is now water, and but a little above it. The island was a

part of the high road leading to the palace. Rosamond's bower was near where is

now a little grove, about two hundred yards from the palace. The well is near

where the bower was. The water here is very beautiful, and very grand. The

cascade from the lake, a fine one; except this the garden has no great

beauties. It is not laid out in fine lawns and woods, but the trees are

scattered thinly over the ground, and every here and there small thickets of

shrubs, in oval raised beds, cultivated, and flowers among the shrubs. The

gravelled walks are broad-art appears too much. There are but a few seats in

it, and noth













        Miscellaneous Papers      243







ing of architecture more dignified. There is no one striking position in it.

There has been a great addi- tion to the length of the river since Whateley

wrote.







  Enfield Chase.-One of the four lodges. Garden about sixty acres. Originally

by Lord Chatham, now in the tenure of Dr. Beaver, who married the daughter of

Mr. Sharpe. The lease lately renewednot in good repair. The water very fine;

would admit of great improvement by extending walks, etc. , to the principal

water at the bottom of the lawn.







  Moor Pa%k .-The lawn about thirty acres. A piece of ground up the hill of six

acres. A small lake. Clumps of spruce firs. Surrounded by walk -separately

inclosed=destroys unity. The property of Mr. Rous, who bought of Sir Thomas

Dundas. The building superb; the principal front a Corinthian portico of four

columns ; in front of the wings a colonnade, Ionic, subordinate. Back front a

terrace, four Corinthian pilasters. Pulling down wings of building; removing

deer; wants water.







 Kew.-Archimedes' screw for raising water. A horizontal shaft made to turn the

oblique one of the screw by a patent machinery of this form:















      



                          



                                                    The pieces separate.















 













        Miscellaneous Papers      245







      Manner of fixing a flag staff on the mast of' a vessel : a is the bolt on

which it turns ; b a bolt which is taken in and out to fasten it or to let it

down. When taken out, the lower end of the staff is shoved out of its case, and

the upper end being heaviest brings itself down: a rope must have been

previously fastened to the butt end, to pull it down again when you want to

raise the flag end: Dining tables letting down with single or double leaves, so

as to take the room of their thickness only with a single leaf when open,







thus :           or thus :                       double-leaves open :  







shut, " or thus :             shut: thus.







  Peat costs about one doit each, or twelve and a half stivers the hundred. One

hundred make seven cubic feet, and to keep a tolerably comfortable fire for a

study or chamber, takes about six every hour and a half. .







  A machine for drawing light empty boats over a dam at Amsterdam. It is an

axis in peritrochio fixed on the dam. From the dam each way is a sloping stage,

the boat is presented to this, the rope of the axis made fast to it, and it is

drawn up. The water on one side of the dam is about four feet higher than on

the other. ,







  The camels used for lightening ships over the Pampus will raise the ships

eight feet. There are 













244        Jefferson's Works







A is driven by its shank into the horizontal axis of the wheel which turns the

machine.







 B is an intermediate iron to connect the motion of A and C.







  C is driven by its shank into the axis of the screw.                      '







  D is a cross axis; the ends, a and b, going into the corresponding holes a

and b of the iron A, and the ends, c and d, going into the corresponding holes

c and d of the' iron B.







  E is another cross axis, the ends, e and f, going into the corresponding

holes e and f of the iron B, and the ends, g and h, going into the

corresponding holes g and h of the iron C.















Memorandums on a Tour from Paris to Amsterdam,







    Strasburg, and back to Paris.







                         March 3d, 1788.







 Amsterdam.-Joists of  houses placed, not with their sides horizontally and

perpendicularly, but diamond wise thus:     first, for greater strength;

second, to arch between with brick, thus:          Windows opening so that they

admit air and not rain. The upper sash opens on a horizontal axis, or pins in

the centre of the sides, the lower sash slides up. 













246        Jefferson's Works







beams passing through the ship's sides, projecting to the off side of the camel

and resting on it; of course that alone would keep the camel close to the ship.

Besides this, there are a great number of windlasses on the camels, the ropes

of which are made fast to the gunwale of the ship. The camel is shaped to the

ship on the near side, and straight on the off one. When placed along side,

water is let into it so as nearly to sink it; in this state it receives the

beams, etc., of the ship, and then the water is pumped out.















Wind saw-mills. See the plans detailed in the moolen book which I bought. A

circular foundation of brick is raised about three or four feet high, and

covered with a curb or sill of wood, and has little rollers under its sill

which make it turn easily on the curb. A hanging bridge projects at each end

about fifteen or twenty feet beyond the circular







area, thus :      horizontally, and thus :  







in the profile to increase the play of the timbers on the frame. The wings are

at one side, as at a; there is a shelter over the hanging bridges, but of plank

with scarce any frame, very light.







  A bridge across a canal formed by two scows, which open each to the opposite

shore and let boats pass.







 A lanthern over the street door, which gives light equally into the

antechamber and the street, It 





         Miscellaneous Papers      247







is a hexagon, and occupies the place of the middle pane of glass in the

circular top of the street door.







  A bridge on a canal, turning on a swivel, by which means it is arranged along

the side of the canal so as not to be in the way of boats when not in use. When

used, it is turned across the canal. It is, of course, a little more than

double the width of the canal.







  Hedges of beech, which, not losing the old leaf till the new bud pushes it

off, has the effect of an evergreen as to cover.







  Mr. Ameshoff, merchant at Amsterdam. The distribution of his aviary is worthy

of notice. Each kind of the large birds has its coop eight feet wide and four

feet deep ; the middle of the front is occupied by a broad glass window, on one

side of which is a door for the keeper to enter at, and on the other a little

trap-door for the birds to pass in and out. The .floor strewed with clean hay.

Before each coop is a court of eight by sixteen feet, with wire in front and

netting above, if the fowls be able to fly. For such as require it, there are

bushes of evergreen growing in their court for them to lay their eggs under.

The coops are frequently divided into two stories: the upper for those birds

which perch, such as pigeons, etc., the lower for those which feed on the

ground, as pheasants, partridges, etc. The court is in common for both stories,

because the birds do no injury to each other.. For the waterfowl there is a

pond of water passing through the courts, with a movable separation. While they















248        Jefferson's Works







are breeding they must be separate, afterwards they may come together. The

small birds are some of them in a common aviary, and some in cages.







 The Dutch wheelbarrow is in this form :         which is very convenient for

loading and unloading.







  Mr. Hermen Hend Damen, merchant-broker of Amsterdam, tells me that the

emigrants to America come from the Palatinate down the Rhine, and take shipping

from Amsterdam. Their passage is ten guineas if paid here, and eleven if paid

in America. He says they might be had in any number to go to America, and

settle lands as tenants on half stocks or metairies. Perhaps they would serve

their employer one year as an indemnification for the passage, and then be

bound to remain on his lands seven years. They would come to Amsterdam at their

own expense. He thinks they would employ more than fifty acres each ; but

qurere, especially if they have fifty acres for their wife also ?







Hodson.-The best house. Stadhonderian, his son, in the government. Friendly,

but old and very infirm.







  Hope.-The first house in Amsterdam. His first object England ; but it is

supposed he would like to have the American business also, yet he would

probably make our affairs subordinate to those of England.







  Vollenhoven.-An excellent old house; connected with no party.   







 













        Miscellaneous Papers      249







 Sapportus.-A brother, very honest and ingenuous, well-disposed; acts for Hope,

but will say with truth what he can do for us. The best person to consult with

as to the best house to undertake a piece of business. He has brothers in

London in business. Jacob Van Staphorst tells me there are about fourteen

millions of florins, new money, placed in loans in Holland every year, being

the savings of individuals out of their annual revenue, etc. Besides this,

there are every year reimbursements of old loans from some quarter or other to

be replaced at interest in some new loan.







  1788. March 16th. Baron Steuben has been generally suspected of having

suggested the first idea of the self-styled Order of Cincinnati. But Mr. Adams

tells me, that in the year 1776 he had called at a tavern in the State of New

York, to dine, just at the moment when the British army was landing at Frog's

Neck. Generals Washington, Lee, Knox, and Parsons, came to the same tavern. He

got into conversation with Knox. They talked of ancient history-of Fabius, who

used to raise the Romans from the dust ; of the present contest, etc. ; and

General Knox, in the course of the conversation, said he should wish for some

ribbon to wear in his hat, or in his buttonhole, to be transmitted to his

descendants as a badge and a proof that he had fought in defence of their

liberties. He spoke of it in such precise terms, as showed he had revolved it

in his mind before. Mr. Adams says he and Knox 













250        Jefferson's Works







were standing together in the door of the tavern, and does not recollect

whether General Washington and the others were near enough to hear the

cnnversation, or were even in the room at that moment. Baron Steuben did not

arrive in. America till above a year after that. Mr. Adams is now fifty-three

years old, i. e. nine years more than I am.







  It is said this house will cost four tons of silver,



















 or forty thousand pounds sterling. The separation between the middle building

and wings in the upper story has a capricious appearance, yet a pleasing one.

The right wing of the house (which is the left in the plan) extends back to a

great length, so as to make the ground plan in the form of an L. The parapet

has a panel of wall, and a panel of balusters alternately, which lighten it.

There is no portico, the columns being backed against the wall of the front.







  March 30th, 31st. Amsterdam. Utrecht. Nimeguen. The lower parts of the low

countries seem













         Miscellaneous Papers      251







partly to have been gained from the sea, and partly to be made up of the plains

of the Yssel, the Rhine, . the Maese and the Schelde united. To Utrecht nothing

but plains are seen, a rich black mould, wet, lower than the level of the

waters ' which intersect it ; almost entirely in grass ; few or no farm-houses,

as the business of grazing requires few laborers. The canal is lined with

country houses, which bespeak the wealth and cleanliness of the country; but

generally in an uncouth state, and exhibiting no regular architecture. After

passing Utrecht, the hills northeast of the Rhine come into view, and gather in

towards the river, till at Wyck Dursted they are within three or four miles,

and at Amelengen they join the river. The plains, after passing Utrecht, become

more sandy; the hills are very poor and sandy, generally waste in broom,

sometimes a little corn. The plains are in corn, grass, and willow. The

plantations of the latter are immense, and give it the air of an uncultivated

country. There are now few chateaux; farmhouses abound, built generally of

brick, and covered with tile or. thatch. There are some apple trees, but no

forest; a few inclosures of willow wattling. In the gardens are hedges of

beech, one foot apart, ' which, not losing its old leaves till they are pushed

off in the spring by the young ones, gives the shelter of evergreens. The Rhine

is here about three hundred yards wide, and the road to Nimeguen passing it a

little below Wattelingen, leaves Hetern in sight 













252        Jefferson's Works







on the left. On this side, the plains of the Rhine, the Ling, and the Waal

unite. The Rhine and Waal are crossed on vibrating boats, the rope supported by

a line of seven little barks. The platform by which you go on to the ferry-boat

is supported by boats. The view from the hill at Cress is sublime. It commands

the Waal, and extends far up the Rhine. That also up and down the Waal from the

Bellevue of Nimeguen, is very fine. The chateau here is pretended to have

lodged Julius Caesar. This is giving it an antiquity of at least eighteen

centuries, which must be apocryphal. Some few sheep to-day, which were feeding

in turnip patches.







 April 1st. Cranenburg. Cleves. Santen. Reynberg. Hoogstraat. The transition

from ease and opulence to extreme poverty is remarkable on crossing the line

between the Dutch and Prussian territories. The soil and climate are the same;

the governments alone differ. With  the poverty, the fear also of slaves is

visible in the faces of the Prussian subjects. There is an improvement,

however, in the physiognomy, especially could it be a little brightened up. The

road leads generally over the hills, but sometimes through skirts of the plains

of the Rhine. These are always extensive and good. They want manure, being

visibly worn down. The hills are almost always sandy, barren, uncultivated, and

insusceptible of culture, covered with broom and moss; here and there a little

indifferent forest, 













        Miscellaneous Papers         253







which is sometimes of beech. The plains are principally in corn; some grass and

willow. There are no chateaux, nor houses that bespeak the existence even of a

middle class. Universal and equal poverty overspreads the whole. In the

villages, too, which seem to be falling down, the over-proportion of women is

evident. The cultivators seem to live on their farms. The farm-houses are of

mud, the better sort of brick; all covered over with thatch. Cleves is little

more than a village. If there are shops or magazines of merchandise in it, they

show little. Here and there at a window some small articles are hung up within,

the glass. The gooseberry beginning to leaf.







 April 2d. Fassed the Rhine at Essenberg. It is there about a quarter of a mile

wide, or five hundred yards. It is crossed in a scow with sails. The wind being

on the quarter, we were eight or ten minutes only in the passage. Duysberg is

but a village in fact, walled in; the buildings mostly of brick. No new ones,

which indicate a thriving state. I had understood that near that were remains

of the encampment of Varus; in which he and his legions fell by the arms of

Arminius (in the time of Tiberius I think it was), but there was not a person

to be found in Duysberg who could understand either English, French, Italian,

or Latin. So I could make no inquiry. 







 From Duysberg to Dusseldorf the road leads sometimes over"the hills, sometimes

through the plains 













254        Jefferson's Works







of the Rhine, the quality of which is as before described. On the hills,

however, are considerable groves of oak, of spontaneous growth, which seem to

be of more than a century; but the soil being barren, the trees, though high,

are crooked and knotty. The undergrowth is broom and moss. In the plains is

corn entirely. As they are become rather sandy for grass, there are no

inclosures on the Rhine at all. The houses are poor and ruinous, mostly of

brick, and scantling mixed. A good deal of grape cultivated.







 Dusseldorf.-The gallery of paintings is sublime, particularly the room of

Vanderwerff. The plains from Pusseldorf to Cologne are much more extensive, and

go off in barren downs at some distance from the river. These downs extend far,

according to appearance. They are manuring the plains with lime. A gate at the

Elector's chateau in this road in this form.                                 We

cross at Cologne on a pendulum boat. I observe the hog of this country

(Westphalia), of which the celebrated ham is made, is tall, gaunt, and with

heavy lop ears. Fatted at a year old would weigh one hundred or one hundred and

twenty pounds. At two years old, two hundred pounds.Their principal food is

acorns. The pork, fresh, sells at two and a half pence sterling the pound. The

hams, ready made, at eight and a half pence sterling the pound. One hundred and

six pounds of this country are equal to 





         Miscellaneous Papers       255







one hundred pounds of Holland. About four pounds of fine Holland salt are put

on one hundred pounds of pork. It is smoked in a room which has no chimney.

Well-informed people here tell me there is no other part of the world where the

bacon is smoked. They do not know that we do it. Cologne is the principal

market of exportation. They find that the small hog makes the sweetest meat.







Cologne is a sovereign city, having no territory out of its walls. It contains

about sixty thousand inhabitants; appears to have much commerce, and to abound

with poor. Its commerce is principally in the hands of Protestarits, of whom

there are about sixty houses in the city. They are extremely restricted in

their operations, and otherwise oppressed in every form by the government,

which is Catholic, and excessively intolerant. Their Senate, some time ago, by

a majority of twenty-two to eighteen, ' allowed them to have a church ; but it

is believed this privilege will be revoked. There are about two hundred and

fifty Catholic churches in the city. The Rhine is here about four hundred yards

wide. This city is in 51 degrees latitude, wanting about 6'. Here the vines

begin, and it is the most northern spot on the earth on which wine is made.

Their first grapes came from Orleans, since that from Alsace, Champagne, etc.

It is thirty-two years only since the first vines were sent from Cassel, near

Mayence, to the Cape of Good Hope, of which the Cape wine is now made.

Afterwards 













256        Jefferson's Works







new supplies were sent from the same quarter. That I suppose is the most

southern spot on the globe where wine is made, and it is singular that the same

vine should have furnished two ' wines as much. opposed to each other in

quality as in situation. I was addressed here by Mr. Damen, of Amsterdam, to

Mr. Jean Jaques Peuchen, of this place, merchant.







 April 4th. Cologne. Bonne. Andernach. Coblentz. I saw many walnut trees to=day

in the open fields. It would seem as if this tree and wine required the same

climate. The soil begins now to be reddish, both on the hills and in the

plains. Those from Cologne to Bonne extend about three miles from the river on

each side ; but a little above Bonne they become contracted, and continue from

thence to be from one mile to nothing, comprehending both sides of the river.

They are in corn, some. clover and rape, and many vines. These are planted in

rows three feet apart both "ays. The vine is left about six or eight feet high,

and stuck with poles ten or twelve feet high. To these poles they are tied in

two places, at the height of about two and four feet. They are now performing

this operation. The hills are generally excessively steep, a great proportion

of them barren; the rest in vines principally, sometimes small patches of corn.

In the plains, though rich, I observed they dung their vines plentifully; and

it is observed here, as elsewhere, that the plains yield much wine, but bad. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     257







The good is furnished from the hills: The walnut, willow, and apple tree

beginning to leaf:







Andernach is the port on the Rhine to which the. famous mill-stones of Cologne

are brought ; the quarry, as some say, being at Mendich, three or four leagues

from thence. I suppose they have been called Cologne mill-stones, because the

merchants of that place having the most extensive correspondence, have usually

sent them to all parts of the world. I observed great collections of them at

Cologne. This is one account.







 April 5th. Coblentz. Nassau. Another account is, that these stones are cut at

Triers and brought down the Moselle. I could not learn the price of them at the

quarry ; but I was shown a grind-stone of the same stone, five feet diameter,

which cost at Triers six florins. It was of but half the thickness of a

mill-stone. I supposed, therefore, that two millstones would cost about as much

as three of these grind-stones, i. e., about a guinea and a half. This country

abounds with slate.







 The best Moselle wines are made about fifteen leagues from hence, in an

excessively mountainous country. The first quality (without any comparison) is

that made on the mountain of Brownberg, adjoining to the village of Dusmond ;

and the best crop is that of the Baron Breidbach Burrhesheim, grand Chambellan

et grand Baillif de Coblentz. His Receveur, of the name of Mayer, lives at

Dusmond. The last fine year was 1783, which sells now at







VOL. XVII- 17 













258        Jefferson's Works







fifty louis the foudre; which contains six aumes of one hundred and seventy

bottles each, equal to about one thousand one hundred and ten bottles. This is

about twenty-two sous Tournois the bottle. In general, the Baron Burrhesheim's

crops will sell as soon as made, say at the vintage, for one hundred and

thirty, one hundred and forty, and one hundred and fifty ecus the foudre (the

ecu is one and a half florins of Holland), say two hundred. 2. Vialen is the

second quality, and sells new at one hundred and twenty ecus the foudre. 3.

Crach-Bispost is the third, and sells for about one hundred and five ecus. I

compared Crach of 1783 with Baron Burrhesheim's of the same year. The latter is

quite clear of acid, stronger, and very sensibly the best. 4. Selting, which

sells at one hundred ecus. 5. Kous-Berncastle; the fifth quality, sells at

eighty or ninety. After this there is a gradation of qualities down to thirty

ecus. These wines must be five or six years old before they are quite ripe for

drinking. One thousand plants yield a foudre of wine a year in the most

plentiful vineyards. In other vineyards, it will take two thousand or two

thousand and five hundred plants to yield a foudre. The culture of one thousand

plants costs about one louis a year. A day's labor of a man is paid in winter

twenty kreitzers (i. e. , one-third of a florin), in summer twenty-six; a

woman's is half that. The red wines of this country are very indifferent, and

will not keep. The Moselle is here from one hundred to two 













        Miscellaneous Papers    259







hundred yards wide; the Rhine three hundred to four hundred. A jessamine in the

Count de Moustier's garden in leaf.







  In the Elector of Treves' palace at Coblentz, are large rooms very well

warmed by warm air conveyed from an oven below, through tubes which open into

the rooms. An oil and vinegar cruet in  this form:    At Coblentz we pass the

river on a pendulum boat, and the road to Nassau is over tremendous hills, on

which is here and there a little corn, more vines, but mostly barren. In some

of these barrens are forests of beech and oak, tolerably large, but crooked and

knotty; the undergrowth beech brush, broom, and moss. The soil of the plains,

and of the hills where they are cultivable, is reddish. Nassau is a village the

whole rents of which should not amount to more than a hundred or two guineas.

Yet it gives the title of Prince to the house of Orange to which it belongs.







  April 6th. Nassau. Schwelbach. Wisbaden. Hocheim. Frankfort.. The road from

Nassau to Schwelbach is over hills, or rather mountains, both high and steep;

always poor, and above half of them barren in beech and oak. At Schwelbach

there is some chestnut. The other parts are either in winter grain, or

preparing for that of the spring. Between Schwelbach and Wisbaden we come in

sight of the plains of the Rhine, which are very 













260        Jefferson's Works.







extensive. From hence the lands, both high and low, are very fine, in corn,

vines, and fruit trees. The country has the appearance of wealth, especially in

the approach to Frankfort.







 April 7th. Frankfort. Among the poultry, I have seen no turkeys in Germany

till I arrive at this place. The stork, or crane, is very commonly tame here.

It is a miserable, dirty, ill-looking bird. The Lutheran is the reigning

religion here, and is equally intolerant to the Catholic and Calvinist,

excluding them from the free corps.







 April 8th. Frankfort. Hanau. The road goes through the plains of the Maine,

which are mulatto, and very fine. They are well. cultivated till you pass the

line between the republic and the land graviate of Hesse, when you immediately

see the effect of the difference of government, notwithstanding the tendency

which the neighborhood of such a commercial town as Frankfort has to counteract

the effects of tyranny in its vicinities, and to animate them in spite of

oppression. In Frankfort all is life, bustle, and motion; in Hanau the silence

and quiet of the mansions of the dead. Nobody is seen moving in the streets ;

every door is shut ; no sound of the saw, the hammer, or other utensil of

industry. The drum and fife are all that is heard. The streets are cleaner than

a German floor, because nobody passes them. At Williamsbath, near Hanau, is a

country seat of the Landgrave. There is a ruin which is clever. It presents the

remains of an old castle. The ground plan is 













        Miscellaneous Papers    261







 in this form :           The upper story in this :







A circular room of thirty-one and a half feet diameter within. The four little

square towers at the corners finish at the floor of the upper story, so as to

be only platforms to walk out on. Over the circular room is a platform also,

which is covered by the broken parapet which once crowned the top, but is now

fallen off some parts, whilst the other parts remain. I like better, however,

the form of the ruin at Hagley, in England, which was thus a sentry box here,

covered over with bark, so as to look exactly like the trunk of an old tree.

This is a good idea; and may be of much avail in a garden. There is a hermitage

in which is a good figure of a hermit in plaster, colored to the life, with a

table and book before him, in the attitude of reading and contemplation. In a

little cell is his bed ; in another his books, some tools, etc. ; in another

his little provision of firewood, etc: There is a monument erected to the son

of the present landgrave, in the form of a pyramid, the base of which is

eighteen and a half feet. The side declines from the perpendicular about

twenty-one and a half degrees. An arch is carried through it both ways so as to

present a door .in each side. In the middle of this, at the crossing of the two

arches, is a marble monument with this inscription : " ante 













 262        Jefferson's Works







tempus. " He died at twelve years of age. Between Hanau and Frankfort, in sight

of the road, is the village of Bergen, where was fought the battle of Bergen in

the war before last. Things worth noting here are : 1. A folding ladder. 2.

Manner of packing china cups and saucers, the former in a circle within the

latter. 3. The marks of different manufactures of china, to wit: Dresden with

two swords. Hecks with a wheel with           Frankendaal with             (for

Charles 







Theodore), and a      over it. Berlin with 4. The top rail of a wagon supported

by the washers on the ends of the axle-trees.







   April  10th. Frankfort. Hocheim. Mayence. The little tyrants round about

having disarmed their people, and made it very criminal to kill game, one knows

when they quit the territory of Frankfort by the quantity of game which is

seen. In the Republic, everybody being allowed to be armed, and to hunt on

their own lands; there is very little game left in its territory. The hog

hereabouts resembles extremely the little hog of Virginia. Round like that, a

small head, and short upright ears. This makes the ham of Mayence so much

esteemed at Paris.







 We c:ross the Rhine at Mayence on a bridge one thousand eight hundred and

forty feet long, supported by forty-seven boats. It is not in a direct line,

but curved up against the stream; which may strengthen it if the difference

between the upper and





















     Miscellaneous Papers      263







lower curve be sensible, if the planks of the floor be thick, well jointed

together, and forming sectors of circles, so as to act on the whole as the

stones of an arch. But it has by no means this appearance. Near one end, one of

the boats has an axis in peritrochio, and a chain, by which it may be let drop

down stream some distance, with the portion of the floor belonging to it, so as

to let a vessel through. Then it is wound up again into place, and to

consolidate it the more with the adjoining parts, the loose section is a little

higher, and has at each end a folding stage, which folds back on it when it

moves down, and when brought up again into place, these stages are folded over

on the bridge. This whole operation takes but four or five minutes. In the

winter the bridge is taken away entirely, on account of the ice. And then

everything passes on the ice, through the whole winter.







  April 11th. Mayence. Rudesheim. Johansberg. Markebronn: The women do

everything here. They dig the earth, plough, saw, cut and split wood, row, tow

the batteaux, etc. In a small but dull :kind of batteau, with two hands rowing

with a kind of large paddle, and a square sail, but scarcely a breath of wind,

we went down the river at the rate of five miles an hour, making it three and a

half hours to Rudesheim. The floats of wood which go with the current only, go

one mile and a half an hour. They go night and day. There are five boat-mills

abreast here. Their floats seem to be about eight feet 













264        Jefferson's Works







broad. The Rhine yields salmon, carp, pike, and perch, and the little rivers

running into it yield speckled trout. The plains from Maintz to Rudesheim are

good and in corn; the hills mostly in vines. The banks of the river are so I

low that, standing up in the batteau, I could generally see what was in the

plains. Yet they are seldom overflowed.







  Though they begin to make wine, as has been said, at Cologne, and continue it

up the river indefinitely ; yet it is only from Rudesheim to Hocheim that wines

of the very first quality are made. The river happens there to run due east and

west, so as to give its hills on that side a southern aspect.  And even in this

canton, it is only Hocheim, Johansberg, and Rudesheim, that are considered as

of the very first quality. Johansberg is a little mountain (berg signifies

mountain), whereon is a religious house, about fifteen miles below Mayence, and

near the village of Vingel. It has a .southern aspect, the soil a barren

mulatto clay, mixed with a good deal of stone, and some slate. This wine used

to be but on a par with Hocheim and Rudesheim; but the place having come to the

Bishop of Fulda, he improved its culture so as to' render it stronger ; and

since the year 1775, it sells at double the price of the other two. It has none

of the acid of the Hocheim and other Rhenish wines. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     265







There are about sixty tuns made in a good year, which sell, as soon as of a

drinkable age, at one thousand franks each. The tun here contains seven and a

half aumes of one hundred and seventy bottles each. Rudesheim is a village of

about eighteen or twenty miles below Mayence. Its fine wines are made on the

hills about a mile below the village, which look to the south, and on the

middle and lower parts of them. They are terraced. The soil is grey, about

one-half of slate and rotten stone, the other half of barren clay, excessively

steep. Just behind the village also is a little spot, called Hinder House,

belonging. to the Counts of Sicken and Oschstein, whereon .each makes about a

tun of wine of the very first quality. This spot extends from the bottom to the

top of the hill. The vignerons of Rudesheim dung their wines about once in five

or six years, putting a one-horse tumbrel load of dung on every twelve feet

square. One thousand plants yield about four aumes in a good year. The best

crops are, 



 The Chanoines of Mayence, who        ł



make.............................................................        ł15

pieces of 7.5 aumes



..........        ł6   pieces of 7.5 aumes



Le Comte de        ł9        "            "



Sicken...............................................        ł6        "       

    "



Le Conte        ł6        "            "



d'Oschstein.............................................        ł5        "    

       "



L' Electeur de        ł



Mayence..........................................        ł8        "           

"



Le Comte de        ł



meternisch........................................        ł5        "          

 "



Monsieur de        ł5        "            "



Boze..................................................        ł7        "      

     "



M. Ackerman, Baliff et aubergists        ł



des Trois        ł



Couronnes............................................        ł



M. Ackerman le fils aubergiste a        ł



la        ł



couronne......................................................        ł



......        ł



M. Lynn, aubergiste de        ł



l'ange................................        ł



Baron de        ł



Wetzel....................................................        ł

















 266        Jefferson's Works







 Convent de Mariahousen des religieuses        ł  



Benedictines........        ł  7 pieces of 7.5 aumes 



M. Johan Yung....................        ł  8 pieces of 7.5 aumes 



M. de Rieden.....................        ł  5 pieces of 7.5 aumes



        ł



        ł  92











 These wines begin to be drinkable at about five years old. The proprietors

sell them old or young, according to the prices offered, and according to their

own want of money. There is always a little difference between different casks,

and therefore when you choose and buy a single cask, you pay three, four, five

or six hundred florins for it. They are not at all acid;and to my-taste much

preferable to hocheim, though but of the same price. Hocheim is a village about

three miles above Mayence, on the Maine, where it empties into the Rhine. :The

spot whereon the good wine is made is the hillside from the church down to the

plain, a gentle slope of about a quarter of a mile wide; and extending. half a

mile towards Mayence. It is of southwestern aspect, very poor, sometimes grey,

sometimes mulatto, with a moderate mixture of small broken stone. The vines are

planted ' three feet apart, and stuck with sticks about six feet high. The

vine; too, is cut at that height. They are dunged once in three or four years.

One thousand plants yield from one to two aumes a year: they begin to yield a

little at three years old, and continue to one hundred years, unless sooner

killed by a cold winter. Dick, keeper of the Rothen-house tavern at Frank 













        Miscellaneous Papers     267







fort, a great wine merchant, who has between three and four hundred tuns of

wine in. his cellars, tells me that Hocheim of the year 1783, sold, as soon as

it was made, at ninety florins the aume, Rudesheim of the same year, as soon as

made, at one hundred and fifteen florin s, and Markebronn. seventy florins. But

a peasant of Hocheim tells me that the best crops of Hocheim in the good years,

when sold new, sell but for about thirty-two or thirty-three florins the aume;

but that it is only the poorer proprietors who sell new. The fine crops are,







Count Ingleheim about.................................10        ł All of these

keep till about



tuns         łfifteen years old before they



Baron        łsell, unless they are offered  



d'Alberg................................................8  "         ła very

good price sooner



Count Schimbon...........................................14         ł



"         ł



The Chanoines of Mayence..........................18         ł



"         łWho only sell by the bottle



Counsellor Schik de        łin their own tavern in



Vetsler.........................15  "        łFrankfort



 Convent of        ł



Jacobsberg..................................8  "         ł



The Chanoine of Fechbach...........................10         ł



"        łWho sells at three of four



        łyears old.



 The Carmelites of        ł These being poor, sellnew.



Frankfort..........................8  "        ł



        ł



        ł



        ł



The Bailiff of Hocheim ................................11         ł



"        ł



        ł



 Zimmerman, a bourgeois...............................4         ł



"         ł



Feldman, a        ł



carpenter......................................2  "         ł











 Markebronn (bronn signifies a spring, and is probably of affinity with €the

Scotch word, burn) is a little canton in the same range of hills, adjoining to

the village of Hagenheim, about three miles above Johansberg, subject to the

elector of Mayence. It is a sloping hillside of southern aspect, mulatto, poor,

and mixed with some stone. This yields wine ef the second quantity. 













268        Jefferson's Works.







 April 12th. Mayence. Oppenheim. Dorms. Manheim. On the road between Mayence

and. Oppenheim are three cantons, which are also esteemed as yielding wines of

the second quality. These are Laudenheim, Bodenheim; and Nierstein. Laudenheim

is a village about four or five miles from Mayence. Its wines are made on a

steep hillside, the soil of which is grey, poor and mixed with some stone. The

river there happens to make a short turn to the southwest, so as to present its

hills to the southeast. Bodenheim is a village nine miles, and Nierstein

another about ten or eleven miles from Mayence. Here, too, the river is

northeast and southwest, so as to give the hills between these villages a

southeast aspect; and at Thierstein, a valley making off, brings the face of

the hill round to the south. The hills between these villages are almost

perpendicular, of a vermilion red, very poor, and having as much rotten stone

as earth. It is to be observed that these are the only cantonson the south side

of the river which yield good wine, the hills on this side being generally

exposed to the cold winds, and turned from the. sun. The annexed bill of prices

current, will give an idea of the estimation of these wines respectively.







  With respect to the grapes in this country, there are three kinds in use for

making white wine, (for I take no notice of the red wines, as being absolutely

worthless). 1. The Klemperien, of which the inferior qualities of Rhenish wines

are made, and is 













        Miscellaneous Papers     269







cultivated because of its hardness. The wines of this grape descend as low as

one hundred florins the tun of eight aumes. 2. The Rhysslin grape, which grows

only from Hocheim down to Rudesheim. This is small and delicate, and therefore

succeeds only in this chosen spot. Even at Rudesheim it yields a fine wine only

in the little spot called Hinder House, before mentioned; the mass of good

wines made at Rudesheim, below the village, being of the third kind of grape,

which is called the Orleans grape.







  To Oppenheim the plains :of the Rhine and Maine are united. From that place

we see the commencement of the Berg-strasse, or mountains which separate at

first the plains of the Rhine and Maine, then cross the Neckar at Heidelberg,

and from thence forms the separation between the plains of the Neckar and

Rhine, leaving those of the Rhine about ten or twelve miles wide. These plains

are sometimes black; sometimes mulatto, always rich. They are in corn,

potatoes, and some willow. On the other side again, that is, on the west side,

the hills keep at first close to the river. They are about one hundred and

fifty or two hundred feet high, sloping, red, good, and mostly in vines. Above

Oppenheim they begin to go off till they join the mountains of Lorraine and

Alsace, which separate the waters of the Moselle. and Rhine, leaving to the

whole valley of the Rhine about twenty or. twenty-five miles breadth. About

Worms these plains are sandy, poor, and often covered only with small pine. 













270        Jefferson's Works







  April 13th. Manheim. There is a bridge over the Rhine here, supported on

thirty-nine boats, and one over the Neckar on eleven boats. . The bridge over

the Rhine is twenty-one and a half feet wide from rail to rail. The boats are

four feet deep; fifty-two feet long, and nine feet eight inches broad. The

space between boat and boat is eighteen feet ten inches. From these data the

length : of the bridge should be 9ft. 8in. + 18ft. 10in. x 40 = 1140 feet. In

order to let vessels pass through, two boats well framed together, with their

flooring, are made to fall down stream together. Here, too, they make good ham.

It is fattened on round potatoes and Indian corn. The farmers smoke what is for

their own use in their chimneys. When it is made for sale, and in greater

quantities' than the chimney will hold, they make the smoke of the chimney pass

into an adjoining loft, or apartment; from which it has no issue; and here they

hang their hams.







   An economical curtain bedstead. The bedstead is seven feet by four feet two

inches. From each leg there goes up an iron rod three-eighths of an inch in

diameter. Those from the legs at the foot of the bed meeting at top as in the

margin, and those from the head meeting in like manner, so that the two at the

foot form one point, and the two at the head another. . On ' these points lays

an. , oval iron rod. whose 













        Miscellaneous Papers    271







long diameter is five feet, and short one three feet one inch. There is a hole

through this rod at each end, by which it goes on firm on the point of the

upright rods. Then a nut screws it down. firmly. Ten breadths of stuff two feet

ten inches wide, and eight feet six inches long, form the curtains. There is no

top nor vallons. The rings are fastened within two and a half or three inches

of the top on the inside, which two and a half or three inches stand up and are

an ornament somewhat like a ruffle.







  I have observed all along the Rhine that they make the oxen draw by the

horns. A pair of very handsome chariot horses, large, bay, and seven, years

old, sell for fifty louis. One pound of€ beef sells for eight kreitzers, (i. e.

eight sixtieths of a florin ;) one pound of mutton or veal, six kreitzers ; one

pound of pork, seven and a half .kreitzers; one pound €of ham, twelve kreitzers

; one pound of fine, wheat bread, two kreitzers ; one pound of butter; twenty,

kreitzers ; one hundred and sixty pounds of wheat, six francs ; one hundred and

sixty pounds of maize, five francs ; one hundred and sixty pounds of potatoes,

one franc; one hundred pounds of hay, one franc ; a cord of wood (which is 44.

and 6 feet), seven francs ; a laborer by the day receives twentyfour kreitzers,

and feeds himself. A journee ar arpent of land (which is eight by two hundred

steps), such as the middling plains of the Rhine, will sell fox two hundred

francs. There are more soldiers here than other inhabitants, to wit: six

thousand 













272        Jefferson's Works







soldiers and four thousand males of full age of the citizens, the whole number

of whom is reckoned at twenty thousand.







 April 14th. Manheim. Dossencheim. Heidelberg: Schwetzingen Mahheim. The

elector placed, in 1768, two males and five females of the Angora goat at

Dossenheim, which is at the foot of the Bergstrasse mountains. He sold

twenty-five last year, and has now seventy. They are removed into the mountains

four leagues beyond Dossenheim: Heidelberg is on the Neckar just where it

issues from the Bergstrasse mountains, occupying the first skirt of plain which

it forms. The chateau is up the hill a considerable height. The gardens lie

above the chateau, climbing up the mountain in terraces. This chateau is the

most noble ruin I have ever seen, having been reduced to that state by the

French in the time of Louis XIV. , 1693. Nothing remains under cove" but the

chapel. The situation is romantic and pleasing beyond expression. It is on a

great scale much like the situation of Petrarch's chateau, at Vaucluse, on a

small one. The climate, too, is like that of Italy. The apple, the pear,

cherry, peach, apricot, and almond, are all in bloom. There is a station in the

garden to which the chateaure-echoes distinctly four syllables. The famous tun

of Heidelberg was new built in 1751, and made to contain thirty foudres more

than the ancient one. It is said to contain two hundred and thirty-six foudres

of one thousand two hundred bottles each. I 













        Miscellaneous Papers    273







measured it, and found its length external to be twenty-eight feet ten inches ;

its diameter at the end twenty feet three inches; the thickness of the staves

seven and a half inches ; thickness of the hoops seven and a half inches;

besides a great deal of external framing. There is no wine in it now. The

gardens at Schwetzingen show how much money may be laid out to make an ugly

thing. What is called the English quarter, however, relieves the eye from the

straight rows of trees, round and square basins, which constitute the great

mass of the garden. There are some tolerable morsels of Grecian architecture,

and a good ruin. The Aviary, too, is clever. It consists of cells of about

eight feet wide,,arranged round, and looking into a circular area of about

forty or fifty feet diameter. The cells have doors both of wire and glass, and

have small shrubs in them. The plains of the Rhine on this side are twelve

miles wide, bounded by the Bergstrasse mountains. These appear to be eight

hundred or a thousand feet high ; the lower part in vines, from which is made

what is called the vin de Nichar; the upper in chestnut. There are some

cultivated spots however, quite to the top. The plains are generally mulatto,

in corn principally; they are planting potatoes in some parts, and leaving

others open for maize and tobacco. Many peach and other fruit trees on the

lower part of the mountain. The paths on some parts







VOL, XVII-IS 













274        Jefferson's Works







of these mountains are somewhat in the style represented in the margin.







 Manheim. Kaeferthal. Manheim. Just beyond Kaeferthal .is an extensive, sandy

waste, planted in pine, in which the elector has about two hundred sangliers,

tamed. I saw about fifty; the heaviest I am told, would weigh about three

hundred pounds. They are found on round potatoes, and range in the forest of

pines. At the village of Kaeferthal is a plantation of rhubarb, begun in 1769,

by a private company. It contains twenty arpens or journes, and its culture

costs about four or five hundred francs a year; it some times employs forty or

fifty laborers at a time. The best age to sell the rhubarb at is the fifth or

sixth year, but the sale being dull, they keep it sometimes to the tenth year ;

they find it best to let it remain in the ground. They sell about two hundred

kentals a year at two or three francs a pound, and could sell double that

quantity from the, ground if they could find a market. The apothecaries of

Frankfort and of England are the principal buyers. It is in beds, resembling

lettucebeds ; the plants four, five or six feet apart. When dug, a thread is

passed through every piece of root, and it is hung separate in a kind of rack;

when dry it is rasped; what comes off is given to the cattle.







  April 15. Manheim. Spire. Carlsruhe. The valley preserves its width,

extending on each side of the river about ten or twelve miles, but the soil 













        Miscellaneous Papers    275







loses much in its quality, becoming sandy and lean, often barren and overgrown

with pine thicket. At Spire is nothing remarkable. Between that and Carlsruhe

we pass the Rhine in a common scow with oars, where it is between three and

four hundred yards wide. Carlsruhe is the residence of the Margrave of Baden, a

sovereign prince. His chateau is built in the midst of a natural forest of

several leagues diameter, and of the best trees I have seen in these countries

: they are mostly oak, and would be deemed but indifferent in America. A great

deal of money has been spent to do more harm than good to the ground-cutting a

number of straight alleys through the forest. He has a pheasantry of the gold

and silver kind, the latter very tame, but the former excessively shy. A little

inclosure of stone, two and a half feet high and thirty feet diameter, in which

are two tamed beavers. There is a pond of fifteen feet diameter in the centre,

and at each end a little cell for them to retire into, which is stowed with

boughs and twigs with leaves on them, which is their principal food. They eat

bread also; twice a week the water is changed. They cannot get over this wall.

Some cerfs of a peculiar kind, spotted like fawns, the horns remarkably long,

small and sharp, with few points: I am not sure there were more than two to

each main beam, and if I saw distinctly, there came out a separate and

subordinate beam from the root of each. Eight Angora goats-beautiful

animals--all white. This town is 













276        Jefferson's Works







only an appendage of the chateau, and but a moderate one. It is a league from

Durlach, half way between that and the river.       I observe they twist the

flues of their stoves in any form for ornament merely, without smoking, as

thus, e. g.







 April 16. Carlsruhe. Rastadt. Scholhoven. Bischofheim. Kehl. Strasburg. The

valley of the Rhine still preserves its breadth, but varies in quality;

sometimes a rich mulatto loam, sometimes a poor sand, covered with small pine.

The culture is generally corn. It is to be noted, that through the whole of my

route through the Netherlands and the valley of the Rhine, there is a little

red clover every here and there, and a great deal of grape cultivated. The seed

of this is sold to be made into oil. The grape is now in blossom. No

inclosures. The fruit trees are generally blossoming through the whole valley.

The high mountains of the Bergstrasse, as also of Alsace, are covered with

snow. Within this day or two, the every-day dress of the country women here is

black. Rastadt is a seat also of the Margrave of Baden. Scholhoven and Kehl are

in his territory, but not Bischofheim. I see no beggars since I entered his

government, nor is the traveller obliged to ransom himself every moment by a

chausiee gold. The roads are excellent, and made so; I presume, out of the

coffers of the prince. From Cleves till I enter the Margravate of Baden, the

roads have been strung with beggars-













        Miscellaneous Papers     277







in :Hesse the most, and the road tax very heavy. We pay it cheerfully, however,

through the territory of Frankfort and thence up the Rhine, because fine

gravelled roads are kept up; but through the Prussian, and other parts of the

road below Frankfort, the roads are only as made by the carriages, there not

appearing to have been ever a day's work employed on them. At Strasburg we pass

the Rhine on a wooden bridge. '







  At Brussels and Antwerp, the fuel is pit-coal, dug in Brabant. Through all

Holland it is turf. From Cleves to Cologne it is pit-coal brought from England.

They burn it in open stoves. From thence it is wood, burnt in close stoves,

till you get to Strasburg, where the open chimney comes again into use.







   April 16th, 17th, 18th. Strasburg. The vin de paille is made in the

neighborhood of Colmar, in Alsace, about - from this place. It takes its name

from the circumstance of spreading the grapes on straw, where they are

preserved till spring, and then made into wine. The little juice then remaining

in them makes a rich sweet wine, but the dearest in the world, without being

the best by any means. They charge nine florins the bottle for it in the

taverns of Strasburg. It is the caprice of wealth alone which continues so

losing an operation. This wine is sought because dear; while the better wine of

Frontignan is rarely seen at a good table because it is cheap.







   Strasburg.. Saverne. Phalsbourg. As far as 













278        Jefferson's Works







                                  . Saverne the country is in waving hills and

hollows; red, rich enough; mostly in small grain, but some vines ; a little.

stone. From Saverne to Phalsbourg we cross a considerable mountain, which takes

an hour to rise it.







  April 19th. Phalsbourg. Fenestrange. Moyenvic. Nancy. Asparagus to-day at

Moyenvic. The country is always either mountainous or hilly ; red; tolerably'

good, and in small grain. On the hills about Fenestrange, Moyenvic, and Nancy,

are some smail vineyards where a bad wine is made. No inclosures. Some good

sheep, indifferent cattle, and small horses. The most forest I have seen in

France, principally of beech ; pretty large. The houses, as in Germany, are of

scantling, filled in with wicker and mortar, and covered either with thatch or

tiles. The people, too, here as there, are gathered in villages. Oxen plough

here with collars and hames. The awkward figure of their mouldboard leads one

to consider what should be its form. The offices of the mould-board are to

receive the sod after the share has cut under it, to raise it gradually, .and

to reverse it. The fore-end of it, then, should be horizontal to enter under

the sod, and the hind end perpendicular to throw it over ; the intermediate

surface changing gradually from the horizontal to the perpendicular. It should

be as wide as the furrow, and of a length suited to the construction of the

plough. The following would seem a. good .method of making it : Take a block,

whose 













        Miscellaneous Papers   279







length, breadth and thickness, are that of your intended mould-board, suppose.

two. and a half feet long and eight inches broad and thick. Draw the lines a d

and c d, figure 1, with a saw, the toothed edge of which is straight, enter at

a and cut on, 1guiding the       hind part of the saw on the line a b, and the

fore part on the line a d,'  till the saw reaches the points c and d, then

enter it at c and cut .on, guiding it by the lines c b and c d till it reaches

the points b and d. The quarter, a b c d; will then be completely cut out, and

the diagonal from d to b laid bare: The piece may now be represented as in

figure 2. Then saw in transversely at every two inches till the saw reaches the

line c e, and the diagonal b d, and cut out the pieces with an adze. The upper

surface will thus be€ formed. With a gauge opened to eight inches, and guided

by the lines c e, scribe ' the upper edge of the board from d b, cut that edge

perpen- dicular to the face of the board, and scribe it. of the proper

thickness. Then form the underside by the upper, by cutting transversely with

the saw and taking out the piece with an adze. As the upper edge of the wing of

the share rises a little, the fore end of the board, b c, will rise as much

from a strict horizontal position, and will throw the hind end, e d, exactly as

much beyond the perpendicular, so as to promote the reversing of the sod. The

women here, as in Germany, do all sorts of work. While one 













     280        Jefferson"s Works







considers them as useful and rational companions, one cannot forget that they

are also objects of our pleasures; nor can they ever forget it. While employed

in dirt and drudgery,. some tag of a ribbon, some ring, or bit of bracelet,

earbob or necklace, or something of that kind, will show that the desire of

pleasing is never suspended in them. It is an honorable circumstance for man,

that the first moment he is at his ease, he allots the internal employments to

his female partner, and takes the external on himself. And this circumstance,

or its reverse, is a pretty good indication that a people are, or are not at

their ease. Among the Indians, this indication fails from a particular cause:

every Indian man is a soldier or warrior, and the whole body of warriors

constitute a standing army, always employed in war or hunting. To support that

army, there remain no laborers but the women. Here, then, is so heavy a

military establishment, that the civil part of the nation is reduced to

women€only. But this is a barbarous perversion of the natural destination of

the two sexes. Women are formed by nature for attentions, not for hard labor. A

woman never forgets one of the numerous train of little offices which belong to

her. A man forgets often.







      April 20th. Nancy. Toule. Void. Ligny en Barrois. Bar le Duc. St. Dizier.

Nancy itself is a neat little tovvn, and its environs very agreeable. The

valley of the little branch of the Moselle, on which













         Miscellaneous Papers       281







it is, is about a mile wide: the road then crossing the head-waters of the

Moselle, the Maese, and the Marne, the country is very hilly, and perhaps a

third of it poor and in forests of beech: the other two-thirds from poor up to

middling, red, and stony. Almost entirely in corn, now and then only some vines

on the hills. The Moselle at Toule is thirty or forty yards wide: the Maese

near Void about half that : the Marne at St. Dizier about forty yards. They all

make good plains of from a quarter of a mile to a. mile wide. The hills of the

Maese abound with chalk. The rocks coming down from the tops of the hills, on

all the road of this day, at regular intervals like the ribs of an animal, have

a very irregular appearance.' Considerable flocks of sheep and asses, and, in

the approach to St. Dizier, great plantations of apple and cherry trees; here

and there a peach tree, all in general bloom. The roads through Lorraine are

strung with beggars.







  April 21st. St. Dizier. Vitry le Francais. Chalons sur Marne. Epernay. The

plains of the Marne and Sault uniting, appear boundless to the eye till we

approach their confluence at Vitry, where the hills come in on the right; after

that the plains are generally about a mile, mulatto, of middling quality,

sometimes stony. Sometimes the ground goes off from the river so sloping, that

one does not know whether to call it high or low land. The hills are mulatto

also, but whitish, occasioned by the quantity of chalk which seems to

constitute their universal 













282        Jefferson's Works







base, They are poor, and principally in vines. The streams of water are of the

color of milk, occasioned by the chalk also. No inclosures, some flocks of

sheep; children gathering dung in the roads. Here and there a chateau; but none

considerable.







  April 22d. Epernay. The hills abound with chalk. Of this they make lime, not

so strong as stone lime, and therefore to be used in greater proportion. They

cut the blocks into regular forms also, like stone, and build houses of it. The

common earth, too, well impregnated with this, is made into mortar, moulded in

the form of brick, dried in the sun, and houses built of them which last one

hundred or two hundred years. The plains here are a mile wide, red, good, in

corn, clover, lucerne, St: foin. The hills are in vines, and this being

precisely the canton where the most celebrated wines of Champagne are made,

details must be entered into. Remember, however, that they will always relate

to the white wines, unless where the red are expressly mentioned. The reason is

that their red wines, though much esteemed on the spot, are by no means

esteemed elsewhere equally with their white; nor do they merit equal esteem.







  A topographical sketch of the position of the wine villages, the course of

the hills, and consequently the aspect of the vineyards.







  Soil, meagre, mulatto clay, mixed with small broken stone, and a little hue

of chalk. Very dry. 













        Miscellaneous Papers        283







  Aspect, may be better seen by the annexed diagram. The wine of Aij is made

from a to b, those of Dizij 



























from b to c, Auvillij d to e, Cumieres e to f, Epernay gto h, Perij i to k. The

hills are generally about two hundred and fifty feet high. The good wine is

made only in the middle region. The lower region, however, is better than the

upper; because this last is exposed to cold winds, and a colder atmosphere.







  Culture. The vines are planted two feet apart. Afterwards they are multiplied

(provignes). When a stock puts out two shoots they lay them down, spread them

open and cover them with earth, so as to have in the end about  a plant for

every square foot. For performing this operation they have a hook, of this

shape,  and nine inches long, which, being stuck in the ground, holds down the

main stock, while the laborer separates and covers 













284        Jefferson's Works







the new shoot. They leave two buds above the ground. When the vine has shot up

high enough, they stick it with split sticks of oak, from an inch to an inch

and a half square, and four feet long, and tie the vine to its stick with

straw. These sticks cost two florins the hundred, and will last forty years. An

arpent, one year with another, in the fine vineyards, gives twelve pieces, and

in the inferior vineyards twenty-five pieces, of two hundred bottles each. An

arpent of the first quality sells for three thousand florins, and there have

been instances of seven thousand two hundred florins. The arpent contains one

hundred verges, of twentytwo pieds square. The arpent of inferior quality sells

at one thousand florins. They plant the vines in a hole about a foot deep, and

fill that hole with good mould, to make the plant take. Otherwise it would

perish. Afterwards, if ever they put dung, it is very little. During wheat

harvest there is a month or six weeks that nothing is done in the vineyard,

that is to say, from the 1st of August to the beginning of vintage. The vintage

commences early in September, and lasts a month. A day's work of a laborer in

the busiest season is twenty sous, and he feeds himself: in the least busy

season it is fifteen sous. Corn lands are rented from four florins to

twenty-four ;. but vine lands are never rented. The three facons (or workings)

of an arpent cost fifteen florins. The whole year's expense of an arpent is

worth one hundred florins. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      285







  Grapes.-The bulk of their grapes are purple, which they prefer for making

even white wine. They press them very lightly, without treading or permitting

them to ferment at all, for about an hour; so that it is the beginning of the

running only which makes the bright wine. What follows the beginning is of a

straw color, and therefore not placed on a level with the first. The last part

of the juice, produced by strong pressure, is red and ordinary. They choose the

bunches with as much care, to make wine of the very first quality, as if to

eat. Not above one-eighth of the whole grapes will do for this purpose. The

white grape, though not so fine for wine as the red, when the red can be

produced, and more liable to rot in a moist season, yet grows better if the

soil be excessively poor, and therefore in such a soil is preferred, or rather,

is used of necessity, because there the red would not grow at all.







  Wine.-The white wines are either mousseux, sparkling, or non-mousseux, still.

The sparkling are little drunk in France, but are almost alone known and drunk

in foreign countries. This makes so great a demand, and so certain a one, that

it is the dearest by about an eighth, and therefore they endeavor to make all

sparkling if they can. This is done by bottling in the spring, from the

beginning of March till June. If it succeeds, they lose abundance of bottles,

from one-tenth to one-third. This is another cause for increasing the price. .

To make the 













286        Jefferson's Works







still wine, they bottle in September. This is only done when they know from.

some circumstance that the wine will not be sparkling. So if the spring

bottling fails to make a sparkling wine; they decant it into other bottles in

the fall, and it then makes the very best still wine. In this operation, it

loses from one-tenth to one-twentieth by sediment. They let it stand in the

bottles in this case forty-eight hours, with only a napkin spread over their

mouths, but no cork. The best sparkling wine, decanted in this manner, makes

the best still wine, and which will keep much longer than that originally made

still by being bottled in September. The sparkling wines lose their briskness

the older they are, but they gain in quality with age to a certain length.

These wines are in perfection from two to ten years old, and will even be very

good to fifteen. 1766 was the best year ever known. 1775 and 1776 next to that.

1783 is the last good year, and that not to be compared with those. These wines

stand icing very well.-







  Aij. M. Dorsay makes one thousand and one hundred pieces, which sell, as soon

as made, at three hundred florins, and in good years four hundred florins, in

the cask. I paid in his cellar, to M. Louis, his homme d'affaires, for the

remains of the year 1783; three florins ten sous the bottle. Sparkling

Champagne, of the same degree of. excellence, would have cost four florins,

(the piece and demiqueue are the same ; the feuillette is one hun













        Miscellaneous Papers      287







dred bottles). M. le Duc makes four hundred to five hundred pieces. M. de

Villermont, three hundred pieces. M.. Janson, two hundred and fifty pieces. All

of the first quality, red and white in equal quantities.







  A uvillaij. The Benedictine monks make one thousand pieces, red and white,

but three-fourths red, both of the first quality. The king's table is supplied

by them. This enables them to sell at five hundred and fifty florins the piece.

Though their white is hardly as good as Dorsay's, their red is the best.

L'Abbatiale, belonging to the bishop of the place, makes one thousand to twelve

hundred pieces, red and white, three-fourths red, at four hundred to five

hundred and fifty florins, because neighbors to the monks.







  Cumieres is all of the second quality, both red and white, at one hundred and

fifty to two hundred florins the piece.







  Epernay. Madame Jermont makes two hundred pieces at three hundred florins. M.

Patelaine, one hundred and fifty pieces. M. Mare, two hundred pieces. M.

Chertems, sixty pieces. M. Lsuchay, fifty pieces. M. Cousin (AubergisÇc de

l'hotel de Rohan Ç, Epernay), one hundred pieces. M. Pierrot, one hundred

pieces. Les Chanoines regulieres d'Epernay, two hundred pieces. Mesdames les

Ursulines religieuses, one hundred pieces. M. Gilette, two hundred pieces. All

of the first quality; red and white in equal quantities. 













288        Jefferson's Works







 Pierrij. M. Casotte makes five hundred pieces. M. de la Motte, three hundred

pieces. M. de Failli, three hundred pieces. I tasted his wine of 1779, one of

the good years. It was fine, though not equal to that of M. Dorsay, of 1793. He

sells it at two florins ten sous to merchants, and three florins to

individuals. Les Seminaristes, one hundred and fifty pieces. M. Hoquart, two

hundred pieces. All of the first quality; white and red in equal quantities.







 At Cramont, also, there are some wines of the first quality made. At Avisi

also, and Aucy, Le Meni, Mareuil, Verzis-Verzenni. This last place belongs to

the Marquis de Sillery. The wines are carried to Sillery, and there stored,

whence they are called Vins de Sillery, though not made at Sillery.







  All these wines of Epernay and Pierrij sell almost as dear as M. Dorsay's,

their quality being nearly the same. There are many small proprietors who might

make wine of the first quality, if they would cull their grapes, but they are

too poor for this. Therefore, the proprietors before named, whose names are

established, buy of the poorer ones the right to cull their  vaseyards, by

which means they increase their quant", , as they find about one-third of the

grapes will make wines of the first quality.







  The lowest-priced wiries of all are thirty florins the piece, red or white.

They make brandy of the pumice. In very bad years, when their wines become

vinegar, they are sold for six florins the 













        Miscellaneous Papers     289







piece, and made into brandy. They yield one-tenth brandy.







  White Champagne is deemed good in proportion as it is silky and still. Many

circumstances derange the scale of wines. The proprietor of the best vineyard,

in the best year, having bad weather come upon him while he is gathering his

grapes, makes a bad wine, while his neighbor; holding a more indifferent

vineyard, which happens to be in gathering while the weather is good, makes

abetter. The M. de Casotte at Pierrij formerly was the first house. His

successors, by some imperceptible change of culture, have degraded the quality

of their wines. Their cellars are admirably made, being about six, eight or ten

feet wide, vaulted, and extending into the ground, in a kind of labyrinth, to a

prodigious distance, with an air-hole of two feet diameter every fifty feet.

From the top of the vault to the surface of the earth, is from fifteen to

thirty feet. I have nowhere seen cellars comparable to these. In packing their

bottles, they lay on their side; then cross them at each end, they lay laths,

and on these another row of bottles, heads and points ; and so on. By this

means, they can take out a bottle from the top, or where they will.







 April 23d. Eperhay. Chateau Thieray. St. Jean. Meaux. Vergalant. Paris. From

Epernay to St. Jean the road leads over hills, which in the beginning a,re

indifferent, but get better towards the last. The plains, wherever seen, are

inconsiderable.







  vol.. xvii-19 













290        Jefferson's Works







After passing St. Jean, the hills become good, and the plains increase. The

country about Vergalant is pretty. A skirt of a low ridge which runs in on the

extensive plains of the Marne and Seine, is very picturesque. The general bloom

of fruit trees proves there are more of them than I had imagined from

travelling in other seasons, when they are less distinguishable at a distance

from the forest trees.







 Travelling Notes for Mr. Rutledge and Mr. Shippen,







          June 3, 1788.







 General Observations.-On arriving at a town, the first thing is to buy the

plan of the town, and the book noting its curiosities. Walk round the ramparts

when there are any, go to the top of a steeple to have a view of the town and

its environs.







  When you are doubting whether a thing is worth the trouble of going to see,

recollect that you will never again be so near it, that you may repent the not

having seen it, but can never repent having seen it. But there is an opposite

extreme too, that is, the seeing too much. A judicious selection is to be aimed

at, taking care that the indolence of the moment have no influence in the

decision. Take care particularly not to let the porters of churches, cabinets,

etc., lead you through all the little details of their profession, which will

load the memory with trifles, fatigue the attention, and waste that and your

time. It is difficult to confine these 













        Miscellaneous Papers      291







people to the few objects worth seeing and remembering. They wish for your

money, and suppose you give it the more willingly the more they detail to you.







  When one calls in the taverns for the vin du pays, they give what is natural

and unadulterated and cheap : when vin etrangere is called for, it only gives a

pretext for charging an extravagant price for an unwholesome stuff, very often

of their own brewery. The people you will naturally see the most of will be

tavern keepers, valets de place, and postilions. These are the hackneyed

rascals of every country. Of course they must never be considered when we

calculate the national character.







  Objects of attention for an American.-1. Agriculture. Everything belonging to

this art, and whatever has a near relation to it. Useful or agreeable animals

which might be transported to America. Species of plants for the farmer's

garden, according to the climate of the different States.







  2. Mechanical arts, so far as they respect things necessary in America, and

inconvenient to be transported thither ready-made, such as forges, stone

quarries, boats, bridges, (very especially,) etc., etc.







  3. Lighter mechanical arts, and manufactures. Some of these will be worth a

superficial view; but circumstances rendering it impossible that America should

become a manufacturing country during the time of any man now living, it would

be a waste of attention to examine these minutely. 













292        Jefferson's Works







 4. Gardens peculiarly worth the attention of an. American, because it is the

country of all others where the noblest gardens may be made without expense. We

have only to cut out the super abundant plants.







  5. Architecture worth great attention. As we double our numbers every twenty

years, we must double our houses. Besides, we build of such perishable

materials, that one half of our houses must be rebuilt in every space of twenty

years, so that in that time, houses are to be built for three-fourths of our

inhabitants. It is, then, among the most important arts; and it is desirable to

introduce taste into an art which shows so much.







  6. Painting. Statuary. Too expensive for the state of wealth among us.. It

would be useless, therefore, and preposterous, for us to make ourselves

connoisseurs in those arts. They are worth seeing, but not studying.







  7. Politics of each country, well worth studying so far as respects internal

affairs. Examine their influence on the happiness of the people. Take every

possible occasion for entering into the houses of the laborers, and especially

at the moments of their repast; see what they eat, how they are clothed,

whether they are obliged to work too hard; whether the government or their

landlord takes from them an unjust proportion of their labor; on what footing

stands the property they call their own, their personal liberty, etc, , etc, 













        Miscellaneous  Papers    293







  8. Courts. To be seen as you would see the tower of London or menagerie of

Versailles with ' their lions, tigers, hyenas, and other beast of prey,

standing in the same relation to their fellows. A slight acquaintance with them

will suffice to show you that, under the most imposing exterior, they are the

weakest and worst part of mankind. Their manners, could you ape them, would not

make you beloved in your own country, nor would they improve it could you

introduce them there to the exclusion of that honest simplicity now prevailing

in America, and worthy of being cherished.







Queries as to the Rights and Duties of the United States under her Treaties

with France, and the Laws of Neutrality.







  1st. Do the treaties between the United States and France give to France or

her citizens a right, when at war with a power with whom the United States are

at peace, to fit out originally and from the ports of the United States,

vessels armed for war with or without commission ?







  2d. If they give such a right; does it extend to all manner of armed vessels,

or to particular kinds only? If the latter, to what kinds does it extend?







 3d. Do they give to France or her citizens, in the Case supposed, a right to

refit, or arm anew vessels, which, before their coming within any port of the 













294        Jefferson's Works







United States, were armed for war with or without commission ?







 4th. If they give such a right, does it extend to all manner of armed vessels,

or to particular kinds only ? If the latter, to what kinds does it extend? Does

it include an augmentation:of force, or does it only extend to placing the

vessel in statu quo?







  5th. Does the twenty-second article of the treaty of commerce, in the case

supposed, extend to vessels armed for war on account of the government. of a

power at war with France, or to merchant-armed vessels belonging to the

subjects or citizens of that power, (viz.) of the description of those which,

by the English, are called letters of marque ships; by the French, "batiments

armes en marchandize et en guerre " ?







  6th. Do the treaties aforesaid prohibit the United States from permitting in

the case supposed, the armed vessels belonging to a power at war with France,

or to the citizens or subjects of such power to come within the ports of the

United States, there to remain as long as they may think fit, except in the

case of their coming in with prizes made of the subjects or property of France?







  7th. Do they prohibit the United States from permitting in the case supposed,

vessels armed on account of the government of a power at war with France, or

vessels armed for merchandise and war, with or without commission, on account

of the subjects or citizens of such power, or any vessels, other 













        Miscellaneous Papers       295







than those commonly called privateers, to sell freely whatever they may bring

into the ports of the United States, and freely to purchase in and carry from

the ports of the United States, goods, merchandise, and commodities, except as

excepted in the last question ?







  8th. Do they oblige the United States to permit France in the case supposed,

to sell in their ports the prizes which she or her citizens may have made, of

any power at war with her, the citizens or subjects of such powers, or exempt

from the payment of the usual duties on ships and merchandise, the prizes so

made, in the case of their being to be sold within the ports of the United

States.







  9th. Do those treaties, particularly the Consular Convention, authorize

France, as of right, to erect courts within the jurisdiction of the United

States, for the trial and condemnation of prizes made by armed vessels in her

service?







  10th. Do the laws and usages of nations authorize her, as of right, to erect

such courts for such purposes?







  11th. Do the laws of neutrality, considered relatively to the treaties of the

United States with foreign powers, or independently of those treaties, permit

the United States in the case supposed, to allow to France or her citizens, the

privilege of fitting out originally in and from the ports of the United States,

vessels armed and commissioned for war, either on account of the government, or

of private persons, or bath ? 













296        Jefferson's Works







  12th. Do those laws permit the United States to extend the like privilege to

a power at war with France?







  13th. Do the laws of neutrality, considered as aforesaid, permit the United

States, in the case supposed, to allow to France or her citizens the privilege

of refitting, or arming anew, vessels which, before their coming within the

United States, were armed and commissioned for war? May such privilege include

an augmentation of the force of such vessels ?







  14th. Do those laws permit the United States to extend the like privilege to

a power at war with France?







  15th. Do those laws in the case supposed, permit merchant vessels of either

of the powers at war to arm in the ports of the United States without being

commissioned ? May this privilege be rightfully refused ?







  16th. Does it make any difference in point of principle, whether a vessel be

armed for war, or the force of an armed vessel be augmented in the ports of the

United States with means procured in the United States, or with means brought

into them by the party who shall so arm or augment the force of such vessels?

If the first be unlawful, is the last lawful ?







  17th. Do the laws of neutrality, considered as aforesaid, authorize the

United States to permit France, her subjects, or citizens, the sale within 













        Miscellaneous Papers    297







their ports of prizes made of the subjects or property of a power at war with

France; before they have been carried into some port of France and there

condemned, refusing the privilege to her enemy?







  18th. Do those laws authorize the United States to permit to France the

erection of courts within their territory and jurisdiction, for the trial and

condemnations of prizes refusing that privilege to a power at war with France?







  19th. If any armed vessel of foreign power at war with another, with whom the

United States are at peace; shall make prize of the subjects or property of its

enemy within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States, have not the

United States a right to cause restitution of such prize? Are they bound or not

by the principles of neutrality so to do; if such prize shall be within their

power?







  20th. To what distance, by the laws and usages of nations, may the United

States exercise the right of prohibiting the hostilities of foreign powers at

war with each other, within rivers, bays, and arms of the sea, and upon the sea

along the coast of the United States ?







  21st. Have vessels armed for war, under commission from a foreign power, a

right without the consent of the United States, to engage within their

jurisdiction seamen or soldiers, for the service of such vessels, being

citizens of that power or of another foreign power, or citizens of the United

States ? 













298        Jefferson's Works







 22d. What are the articles by name to be prohibited to both or either party? .







 23d. To what extent does the reparation permitted in the nineteenth article of

the treaty with France, go ?







 24th. What may be done as to vessels armed in our ports before the President's

proclamation? And what as to the prizes they made before and after?







 25th. May we within our own ports sell ships to both parties prepared merely

for merchandise? May they be pierced for guns ?







 26th. May we carry either or both kinds to the ports of the belligerent powers

for sale?







 27th. Is the principle that free bottoms make free goods, and enemies '

bottoms make enemies ' goods, to be considered as now an established part of

the law of nations?







 28th. If it is not, are nations with whom we have no treaties, authorized by

the law of nations to take out of our vessels enemy passengers, not being

soldiers, and their baggage?







 29th. May an armed vessel belonging to any of the belligerent powers, follow

immediately merchant vessels, enemies departing from our ports, for the purpose

of making prizes of them? If not, how long ought the former to remain after the

latter has sailed? And what shall be considered as the place of departure, from

which the time is to be counted? And how are the facts to be ascertained ? 













        Miscellaneous Papers    299







 The first twenty-one questions by Alexander Hamilton.







 Twenty-two to twenty-eight, by Thomas Jefferson.







 Twenty-ninth, by the President.







 Heads of Consideration on the Conduct we are to Observe in the War between

Spain and Great Britain, and Particularly should the Latter attempt the

Conquest of Louisiana and the Floridas.







The dangers to us, should Great Britain possess herself of those countries :She

will possess a territory equal to half ours beyond the Mississippi.







She will reduce that half of ours which is on this side of the Mississippi;-by

her language, laws, religion, manners, government, commerce, capital; -by the

possession of New Orleans, which draws to it the dependence of all the waters

of the Mississippi;-by the markets she can offer them in the Gulf of Mexico and

elsewhere.







  She will take from the remaining part of our States the markets they now have

for their produce ; -by furnishing those markets cheaper with the same

articles, tobacco, rice,  indigo, bread, lumber, arms, naval stores, furs.







  She will have then possessions double the size of ours, as good in soil and

climate.







She will encircle us completely, by these posses













300        Jefferson's Works







sions on our land-board, and her fleets on our seaboard. Instead of two

neighbors balancing each other, we shall have one with more than the strength

of both.







  Would the prevention of this be worth a war ? Consider our abilities to take

part in a war. Our operations would be by land only. How many men should we

need to employ ?-their cost ? Our resources of taxation and credit equal to

this.







  Weigh the evil of this new accumulation of debt against the loss of markets,

.and eternal expense and danger from so overgrown a neighbor.







  But this is on supposition that France, as well as Spain, shall be engaged in

the war; for, with Spain alone, the war would be unsuccessful, and our

situation rendered worse.







  No need to take a part in the war as yet. We may choose our own time. Delay

gives us many chances to avoid it altogether.







  In such a choice of objects, Great Britain may not single out Louisiana and

the Floridas. She may fail in her attempt on them. France and Spain may recover

them.







  If all these chances fail, we should have to re-take them. The difference

between re-taking and preventing, overbalanced by the benefits of delay. Delay

enables us to be better prepared to obtain from the allies a price for our

assistance.







  Suppose these our ultimate views, what is to be done at this time 













        Miscellaneous Papers       301







I. As to Spain :-







If she be as sensible as we are, that she cannot save Louisiana and the

Floridas, might she not prefer their independence to their subjection to Great

Britain? Does not the proposition of the Count d'Estaing furnish' us an opening

to communicate our ideas on this subject to the court of France, and through

them to that of Madrid? and our readiness to join them in guaranteeing the

independence of those countries ? This might save us from a war, if Great

Britain respected our weight in a war ; and if she does not, the object would

place the war on popular ground with us.







2. As to England?-say to Beckwith,That as to a treaty of commerce, we would

prefer amicable to adversary arrangements, though the latter would be

infallible, and in our own power: that our ideas are, that such a treaty should

be found in perfect reciprocity, and would, therefore, be its own price: that

as to an alliance, we can say nothing till its object be shown, and that it is

not to be inconsistent with existing engagements: that in the event of a war

between Great Britain and Spain, we are disposed to be strictly neutral: that,

however, we should view with extreme uneasiness any attempts of either power to

seize 













302        Jefferson's Works







the possessions of the other on our frontier, as we consider our own safety

interested in a due balance between our neighbors. (It might be deemed

advantageous to express this latter sentiment, because, if there be any

difference of opinion in their councils, whether to bend their force against

North or South America, or the islands (and certainly there is room for

difference), and if these opinions be nearly balanced, that balance ought to be

determined by the prospect of having an enemy the more or less, according to

the object they should select.)







    July 12th, 1790.







 Heads of Consideration on the Navigation of the Mississippi, for Mr.

Carmichael, Aug. 22d, 1790. We have a right to the navigation of the

Mississippi-1, by Nature; 2, by Treaty. It is necessary to us. More than half

the territory of the United States is on the waters of that river. Two hundred

thousand of our citizens are settled on them, of whom forty thousand bear arms.

These have no other outlet for their tobacco, rice, corn, hemp, lumber, house

timber, ship timber. We have hitherto respected the indecision of Spain,

because we wish peace ; because our western citizens have had vent at home for

their productions. A surplus of production begins now to demand 













          Miscellaneous Papers      303







foreign markets. Whenever they shall say, "We







                      cannot, we will not, be longer shut up," the United

States will be reduced to the following dilemma: I. To force them to

acquiescence. 2. To separate from them, rather than take part in a war against

Spain. 3. Or to preserve them in our Union, by joining them in the war.







 The 1st is neither in our principles, nor in our power. 2d. A multitude of

reasons decide against the second. It may suffice to speak out one: were we to

give up half our territory rather than engage in a just war to preserve it, we

should not keep the other half long. 3d. The third is the alternative we must

adopt.







 How are we to obtain that navigation?







(A.) By Force.







 I. Acting separately. That we can effect this







with certainty and promptitude, circum-







stances decide.







   Objection. We cannot retain New Orleans, for







instance, were we to take it.







 Answer. A moderate force may be so secured, as to hold out till succored. Our

succors can be prompt and effectual. Suppose, after taking it, we withdraw our

force. If Spain retakes it by an expedition, we can recover it by a

counter-expedition, and so as often as the case shall happen. Their expedition

will be slow, expensive, and lead to catastrophes. Ours sudden, economical, and

a check 













304        Jefferson's Works







can have no consequences. We should associate the country to our Union.

Theinhabitants wish this. They are not disposed to be of the Spanish

government. It is idle in Spain to suppose our Western inhabitants will unite

with them. They could be quiet but a short time under a government so repugnant

to their feelings. Were they to come under it for present purposes, it would be

with a view to throw it off soon. Should they remain, they would communicate a

spirit of independence to those with whom they should be mixed.







 II. Acting in conjunction with Great Britain, and with a view to partition.

The Floridas (including New Orleans) would be assigned to us. Louisiana (or all

the Western waters of the Mississippi) to them. We confess that such an

alliance is not what we would wish. Because it may eventually lead us into

embarrassing situations with our best friend, and put the power of two

neighbors into the hands of one. L. Lansdowne has declared he gave the Floridas

to Spain rather than the United States as a bone of discord with the House of

Bourbon; and of re-union with Great Britain.. Connolly's attempt (as well as

other facts) proves they keep it in view.







(B.) By Negotiation.







I. What must Spain do of necessity? The con













        Miscellaneous Papers      305







duct of Spain has proved that the occlusion of the Mississippi is system with

her. If she opens it now, it will be because forced by imperious circumstances.

She will consequently shut it again when these circumstances cease. Treaty will

be no obstacle. Irregularities, real or pretended, in our navigators, will

furnish color enough. Perpetual broils, and finally war will ensue. Prudence,

and even necessity, imposes on us the law of settling the matter now, finally,

and not by halves. With experience of the past and prospect of the future, it

would be imbecility in us to accept the naked navigation. With that, we must

have what is necessary to its use, and without which it would be useless to

secure its continuance; that is, a port near the mouth to receive our vessels

and protect the navigation. But even this will not secure the Floridas and

Louisiana against Great Britain. If we are neutral, she will wrest those

possessions from Spain. The inhabitants (French, English, Scotch, American)

would prefer England to Spain.







 II. What then had Spain better do of choice? Cede to us all territory on our

side of the Mississippi: on condition that we guarantee all her possessions on

the Western waters of that river, she agreeing further, to subsidize us if the

guarantee brings us into the war.







vol. xvii-20 













306        Jefferson's Works







Should Great Britain possess herself of the Floridas and Louisiana, her

governing principles are conquest, colonization, commerce, monopoly. She will

establish powerful colonies in them. These can be poured into the Gulf of

Mexico for any sudden enterprise there, or invade Mexico, their next neighbor,

by land. Whilst a fleet co-operates along shore, and cuts off relief. And

proceed successively from colony to colony.







  With respect to us, if Great Britain establishes herself on our whole

land-board our lot will be bloody and eternal war, or indissoluble confederacy.

Which ought we to choose? What will be the lot of the Spanish colonies in the

jaws of such a confederacy? What will secure the ocean against the monopoly?







  Safer for Spain that we should be her neighbor, than England. Conquest not in

our principles: inconsistent with our government. Not our interest to cross the

Mississippi for ages. And will never be our interest to remain united with

those who do. Intermediate chances save the trouble of calculating so far

forward.







  Consequences of this cession, and guarantee : 1. Every subject of difference

will be removed from between Spain and the United States. 2. Our interest will

be strongly engaged in her retaining her American pos













        Miscellaneous Papers    307







sessions. 3. Spain will be quieted as to Louisiana, and her territories west of

that. 4. She may employ her whole force in defence of her islands and Southern

possessions. 5. If we preserve our neutrality, it will be a very partial one to

her. 6. If we are forced into the war, it will be, as we wish, on the side of

the House of Bourbon. 7. Her privateers will commit formidable depredation on

the British trade, and occupy much of their force. 8. By withholding supplies

of provision, as well as by concurring in expeditions, the British islands will

be in imminent danger. 9. Their expenses of precaution, both for their

continental and insular possessions, will be so augmented as to give a hope of

running their credit down. In fine, for a narrow slip of barren, detached, and

expensive country, Spain secures the rest of her territory, and makes an ally

where she might have a dangerous enemy.







    Questions to be Considered of.







  I. As to France. Shall it be proposed to M. de Ternant to form a treaty ad

referendum to this effect: The citizens of the United States and of France,

their vessels, productions and manufactures, shall be received and considered

each in all the dominions of the other 













308        Jefferson's Works







as if they were the native citizens, or the ships, productions, or manufactures

of the other; and the productions of the sea shall be received in all the

dominions of each, as if they were the productions of the country by the

industry of whose citizens they have been taken or produced from the sea.

Saving only as to the persons of their citizens, that they shall continue under

those in capacities for office, each with the other, which the constitution of

France, or of the United States, or any of them, have or shall establish

against foreigners of all nations, without exception?







  If not, shall a treaty be proposed to him ad referendum, in which the

conditions shall be detailed on which the persons, ships, productions, and

manufactures of each shall be received with the other, and the imports to which

they shall be liable be formed into a tariff?







  Shall the Senate be consulted in the beginning, in the middle, or only at the

close of this transaction?







  II. As to England.







  Shall Mr. Hammond be now asked whether he is instructed to give us any

explanations of the intentions of his court, as to the detention of our Western

posts, and other infringements of our treaty with them ?







  Shall he be now asked whether he is authorized to conclude, or to negotiate

any commercial arrangements with us?







November 26, 1791. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       309















 Plan of a Bill concerning Consuls.







 The matter of the bill will naturally divide as follows :







 I. Foreign consuls residing within the United States under a convention.







 II. Consuls of the United States residing in foreign countries under a

convention.







 III. Provision for future conventions, and cases where there is no convention.







 Preliminary observations.-Nothing should be inserted in the bill which is

fully and adequately provided for by the convention with France, because weak

magistrates may infer from thence, that the parts omitted were not meant by the

legislature to be enforced.







 Are not the first, second and third sections of the printed bill objectionable

in this view? The instructions of the Executive to their consuls will of course

provide for the notification directed in the second clause.







  I. For carrying into full effect the convention between his most Christian

Majesty and the United States of America, entered into for the purpose of

defining and establishing the functions and privileges of their respective

consuls and vice-consuls, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of

Representatives of the United States of America, that where, in the seventh

article of the said convention; it is agreedÇ when there shall be no consul or

vice













310        Jefferson's Works







consul of his most Christian King to attend to the saving of the wreck of any

French vessel stranded on the coast of the United States, or that the residence

of the said consul or vice-consul (he not being at the place of the wreck)

shall be more distant from the same place than that of the competent judge of

the country, the latter shall immediately proceed to perform the office therein

prescribed, the nearest (here name the officer) shall be the competent judge

designated in the said article, and it shall be incumbent on him to perform the

office prescribed in the said article, and according to the tenor thereof. Go

on to direct who, in conjunction with the consul or vice-consul, (if there be

one,) shall ascertain the abatement of duties on the damaged goods stipulated

in this article.







  Article 9th allows the consuls of the most Christian King to arrest and

imprison deserted captains, officers, mariners, seamen, and all others being

part of a ship's crew. For which purpose they are to address themselves to the

courts, judges, and officers competent, who are to aid in arresting the

deserter, and to confine him in the prisons of the country. Say who are the

competent courts, judges, and officers to whom he is to apply, and what prisons

they shall use.







 This clause confines the terms of imprisonment to three months. The French

consuls represent that in many ports of the United States, no opportunity of

re-conveying by a French ship occurs within that 













        Miscellaneous Papers       311







term, and they ask a longer. Suppose it be referred to the Federal district

judge on application by the French consul, and on his showing good cause, to

prolong the term from time to time, not exceeding three months additional in

the whole.







  Article 12th. It is necessary to authorize some officer to execute the

sentences of the consul, not extending to life, limb or liberty Will it be best

to require the marshal residing at the port to do it, (and make it the duty,

where none resides, to appoint a deputy residing there,) or to allow the consul

to constitute some person of his nation an officer for the purpose? If it

should be thought indifferent to us, it might be well to pay the French the

compliment of asking their minister here which he would prefer, and it would

shield us from complaints of delinquencies in the executing officer.







  II. Article 12th. Say by what law the consul of the United States, residing

in the French dominion, shall decide the cases whereof he has jurisdiction,

viz.: by the same law by which the proper Federal court would decide the same

case.







  Direct appeals from consular sentences to the proper Federal court, and save

defects of formality in proceedings, where the matter is substantially stated.







  Article 4th. Declare what validity the authentication under the consular

seal, of any instrument executed in foreign countries, shall have in the courts

of the United States. 













312        Jefferson's Works







(Duties not prescribed in the Convention.) To subsist shipwrecked or wandering

seamen till an opportunity offers of sending them back to some port of the

United States, and to oblige every master of an American vessel homeward bound,

to receive and bring them back in a certain proportion ; they working, if able.







  Where a ship is sold in a foreign port, oblige the master to send back the

crew, or furnish wherewithal to do it, on pain of an arrest by the consul on

his ship, his goods, a.nd his person, (if the laws of the land permit it,)

until he does it.







  Oblige all American masters (on pain of arrest, till compliance, of their

vessel, cargo, or person, or such other pain as shall be thought effectual) on

their arrival in any foreign port within the jurisdiction of a consul or

vice-consul of the United States, to report to him or his agent in the port,

their ship's name, and owners, burden, crew, .cargo and its owners, from what

port of the United States they cleared; and at what ports they have touched.

Also to report to the consul the cargo they take in and the port or ports of

destination; and to take his certificate that such report has been made, on

like pain.







 Allow certain fees to consuls where none are already allowed, for the same

services, by the laws of the countries in which they reside.







  Allow salaries not exceeding three thousand dollars to one consul in each of

the Barbary States. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    313







  III. Where there are consuls of the United States residing in foreign

countries, with which -we have no convention, but whose governments indulge our

consuls in the exercise of functions, extend the provisions of this bill, or

such of them as such government permits, to such consuls of the United States

residing with them.







  Also where any consular convention shall hereafter be removed with the same,

or entered into with any other nation, with stipulations corresponding to those

provided for in this bill, extend the provisions of the bill respectively to

the consuls on both sides.







Matters to be arranged between the Governments of England and United States.

December 12th, 1791.







  The discussions which are opening between Mr. Hammond and our government,

have as yet looked towards no objects but those which depend on the treaty of

peace. There are, however, other matters to be arranged between the two

governments, some of which do not rest on that treaty. The following is a

statement of the whole of them :







  1st. The Western ports.







  2d. The negroes carried away.







  3d. The debt of their bank to Maryland, and perhaps Rhode Island.







 4th: Goods taken from the inhabitants of Boston, 













314        Jefferson's Works







while the town was in their possession, and compensation promised.            

.







  5th. Prizes taken after the dates at which hostilities were to cease.







 6th. Subsistence of prisoners.







 7th. The Eastern boundary. Which of these shall be taken into the present

discussion ?







Which of them shall be left to arrangement through the ordinary channels of our

ministers, in order to avoid embarrassing the more important points with

matters of less consequence?







  On the subject of commerce shall Mr. Hammond be desired to produce his powers

to treat, as is usual, before conferences are held on that subject?







Memorandum of Communications made to a Committee of the Senate on the Subject

of the Diplomatic Nominations to Paris, London, and the Hague. January 4th,

1792.







The Secretary of State having yesterday received a note from Mr. Strong, as

chairman of a committee of the Senate, asking a conference with him on the

subject of the late diplomatic nominations to Paris, London, and the Hague, he

met them in the Senate chamber in the evening of the same day, and stated to

them in substance what follows:







  That he should on all occasions be ready to give to the Senate, or to any

other branch of the govern













        Miscellaneous Papers       315







ment, whatever information might properly be communicated, and might be

necessary to enable them to proceed in the line of their respective offices :

that on the present occasion, particularly, as the Senate had to decide on the

fitness of certain persons to act for the United States at certain courts, they

would be the better enabled to decide, if they were informed of the state of

our affairs at those courts, and what we had to do there: that when the bill

for providing the means of intercourse with foreign nations was before the

legislature, he had met the committees of each House, and had given them the

ideas of the Executive as to the courts with which we should keep diplomatic

characters, and the grades we should employ : that there were two principles,

which decided on the courts, viz., 1, vicinage; and 2, commerce: that the first

operated in the cases of London and Madrid, and the second in the same cases,

and also in those of France and Portugal ; perhaps, too, of Holland : that as

to all other countries, our commerce and connections - were too unimportant '

to call for the exchange of diplomatic residents : that he thought we should

adopt the lowest grades admissible, to wit, at Paris that of minister

plenipotentiary, because that grade was already established there; the same at

London, because of the pride of that court, and perhaps the sense of our

country and its interests, would require a sort of equality of treatment to be

observed towards them; and for Spain and Lisbon, that of charge des affaires

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316        Jefferson's Works







the Hague uncertain : that at the moment of this. bill, there was a complete

vacancy of appointments between us and France and England, by the accidental

translations of the ministers of France and the United States to other offices,

and none as yet appointed to, or from England: that in this state of things,

the legislature had provided for the grade of minister plenipotentiary, as one

that was to be continued, and showed they had their eye on that grade only, and

that of charge des affaires; and that by the sum allowed, they approved of the

views then communicated : that circumstances had obliged us to change the grade

at Lisbon to minister resident, and this of course would force a change at

Madrid and the Hague, as had been communicated at the time to the Senate ; but

that no change was made in the salary, that of resident being made the same as

had been established for a charge des affaires. -He then added, the new

circumstances which had supervened on those general ones. in favor of these

establishments; to wit, with Paris, the proposal on their part to make a

liberal treaty, the present situation of their colonies which might lead to a

freer commerce with them, and the arrival of a minister plenipotentiary here ;

with London, their sending a minister here in consequence of notorious and

repeated applications from us, the powers given. him to arrange the differences

which had arisen about the execution of the treaty, to wit, the posts, negroes,

etc., which was now in train, and perhaps 













        Miscellaneous Papers      317







some authority to talk on the subject of arrangements of commerce, and also the

circumstances which had induced that minister to produce his commission; with

Madrid, the communication from the king, that he was ready to resume the

negotiations on the navigation of the Mississippi, and to arrange that, and a

port' of deposit on the most friendly footing, if we would send a proper person

to Madrid for that purpose: he explained the idea of joining one of the

ministers in Europe to Mr. Carmichael for that purpose; with Lisbon, that we

had to try to obtain a right of sending flour there, and mentioned Del Pinta's

former favorable opinion on that subject: he stated, also, the interesting

situation of Brazil, and the dispositions of the court of Portugal with respect

to our warfare with the Algerines; with Holland, the negotiating loans for the

transfer of the whole French debt there, an operation which must be of some

years, because there is but a given sum of new money to be lent to any one

nation. He then particularly recapitulated the circumstances which justified

the President's having continued the grade of minister plenipotentiary; but

added, that whenever the biennial bill should come on, each House would have a

constitutional right to review the establishment again, and whenever it should

appear that either House thought any part of it might be reduced, on giving to

the executive time to avail themselves of the first convenient occasion to

reduce it, the 













318        Jefferson's Works







executive could not but do it; but that it would be extremely injurious now, or

at any other time, to do it so abruptly as to occasion the recall of ministers,

or unfriendly sensations in any of those countries with which our commerce is

interesting.







  That a circumstance, recalled to the recollection of the Secretary of State

this morning, induced him immediately to add to the preceding verbal

communication a letter addressed to Mr. Strong in the following words :-







           PHILADELPHIA, January 4th, 1792.







  " SIR,-I am just now made to recollect a mistake in one of the answers I gave

last night in the committee of the Senate, and which, therefore, I beg leave to

correct. After calling to their minds the footing on which Mr. Morris had left

matters at the court of London, and informing them of what had passed between

the British minister here and myself, I was asked whether this was all that had

taken place? Whether there had been no other or further engagement? I paused,

you may remember, to recollect. I knew nothing more had passed on the other

side the water, because Mr. Morris' powers there had been determined, and I

endeavored to recollect whether anything else had passed with Mr. Hammond and

myself. I answered that this was all, and added in proof, that I was sure

nothing had passed between the President and Mr. Hammond, personally, and so I

might safely say this 













        Miscellaneous Papers      319







was all. It escaped me that there had been an informal agent here (Colonel

Beckwith), and so informal that it was thought proper that I should never speak

on business with him, and that on a particular occasion, the question having

been asked whether if a British minister should be sent here, we would send one

in exchange? It was said, through another channel, that one would doubtless be

sent. Having only been present when it was concluded to give the answer, and

not having been myself the person who communicated it, nor having otherwise had

any conversation with Colonel Beckwith on the subject, it absolutely escaped my

recollection at the moment the committee put the question, and I now correct

the error I committed in my answer, with the same good faith with which I

committed the error in the first moment. Permit me to ask the favor of you,

Sir, to communicate this to the other members of the committee, and to consider

this as a part of the information I have had the honor of giving the committee

on the subject.







  I am with the most perfect esteem, Sir, your most obedient and most humble

servant.







  Which letter, with the preceding statement, contains the substance of what

the Secretary of State has communicated to the committee, as far as his memory

enables him to recollect. 













320       Jefferson's Works







Considerations on the Subjects of Ransom, and Peace with the Algerines. April

1st, 1792.







 I. The ransom of our captive citizens, being fourteen in number.







 For facts on this subject refer to the Reports of December 28th, 1790, on the

same ransom, and on the Mediterranean trade, and to Mr. Short's letter of

August 21st, 1791, sent to the Senate.







 The probable cost will be one thousand five hundred dollars for the common

men, and half as much more for officers: adding presents, duties, and other

expenses, it will be little short of forty thousand dollars. This must be ready

money, and consequently requires a joint, but secret vote of both Houses. An

agent must be sent for the purpose.







  II. Peace, how best to be obtained?







1st. By war; that is to say, by constant cruises in the Mediterranean. This

proved practicable by the experiment of M. de Massiac, by the Portuguese

cruise. The co-operation of Portugal, Naples, Genoa, and Malta, could possibly

be obtained, but the expense would be considerable. Vessels mounting one

hundred guns in the whole, would probably be wanting on our part. These would

cost in the outset four hundred thousand dollars, and annually afterwards one

hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.  It may be doubted if this expense

could be met during the present Indian war. If it could, it is the most

honorable and efficacious way of having peace.





















320        Miscellaneous Papers







  2d. By paying a gross sum for a peace of fifty years. Respectable opinions

vary from three hundred thousand to one million dollars, as to the first cost.

Then are to follow frequent occasional presents ; and with all this, the peace

will not be respected unless we appear able to enforce it ; and if able to

enforce it, why not rely on that solely ? The same question arises here, to

wit: are we able to meet this expense at present?







 3. By tribute annually.







 The Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and Venetians, pay about twenty-four thousand

dollars a year. We might, perhaps, obtain it for something less. If for ten or

fifteen thousand dollars, it might be eligible. And by a tariff for the ransom

of the captives they shall take from us. If low, this might do for the present.

The agent to be sent for the purpose of ransom might be authorized to treat;

but should also make himself acquainted with their coast, harbor, vessels,

manner of fighting, etc. On either of these plans a vote of the Senate will be

requisite.







On the 1st or a d the Representatives should be consulted, and perhaps on the

3d or 4th. It will be best to bring it on by a message from the President.























  vol  xvii-













        Jefferson's Works







        Notes of a Conversation with George Hammond. June 3d, 1792.







  Having received Mr. Hammond's letter of June 2d, informing me that my letter

of May 29th should be sent to his court for their instructions, I immediately

went to his house. He was not at home. I wrote him a note, inviting him to come

and dine with me alone, that we might confer together in a familiar way on the

subject of our letters, and consider what was to be done. He was engaged, but

said he would call on me any hour the next day. I invited him to take a solo

dinner the next day. He accepted and came. After the cloth was taken off, and

the servants retired, I introduced the conversation by adverting to that part

of his letter wherein he disavowed any intentional deception, if he had been

misinformed, and had misstated any facts, assuring him that I acquitted him of

every suspicion of that kind : that he had been here too short a time to be

acquainted with facts himself, or to know the best sources for getting at them:

that I had found great difficulty myself .in the investigation of facts, and

with respect to the proceedings of the courts particularly, had been indebted

to the circumstance of Congress being in session, so that I could apply to the

members of the different States for information respecting their States. I told

him that each party having now stated the matters between the two nations in

the point of view in which they 













        Miscellaneous Papers     323







appeared to each, had hoped that we might by the way of free conversation

abridge what remained: that I expected we were to take for our basis, that the

treaty was to be fully executed: that, on our part, we had pronounced our

demands explicitly, to have the upper posts delivered up, and the negroes paid

for : that they objected infractions on our part, which we denied : that we

ought to proceed to investigate the facts on which we differed : that this was

the country in which they could alone be investigated ; and if it should be

found we had unjustifiably broken the treaty, the case was of a nature to admit

of a proper compromise.







  He said that he believed the question had never been understood by his

court;-admitted they had as yet heard only one side of it, and that. from a

party which entertained strong feelings against us (I think he said the

Refugees) : that the idea would be quite new to his court, of their having

committed the first infraction; and of the proceedings on the subject of their

debts here being on the ground of retaliation: that this gave the case a

complexion so entirely new and different from what had been contemplated, that 

he should not be justified in taking a single step : that he should send my

letter to the ministers-that they would be able to consider facts and dates,

see ii they had really been the first infractors, and say what ground they

would take on this new state of the case : that the matter was now for the

first time carried into mutual dis













324        Jefferson's Works







cussion : that the close of my letter contained specific propositions, to which

they would. of course give specific answers adapted to the new statement of

things brought forward. I replied, that as to the fact of their committing the

first infraction, it could not be questioned: confessed that I believe the

ministers which signed the treaty, meant to execute it : that Lord Shelburne's

plan was to produce a new coalescence by a liberal conduct towards us: that the

ministry which succeeded thought the treaty too liberal, and wished to curtail

its effect in the course of executing it ; but that if every move and

counter-move was to cross the Atlantic, it would be a long game indeed. He

said, no : that he thought they could take their ultimate ground at once, on

having before them a full view of the facts, and he thought it fortunate that

Mr. Bord, from whom he got most of his information, and Lord Dorchester, would

be on the spot to bring things to rights, and he imagined he could receive his

instructions before November.







 I told him that I apprehended that Lord Dorchester would not feel a

disposition to promote conciliation, seeing himself marked personally as an

infractor; and mentioned to him the opinions entertained here of the

unfriendliness of Mr. Bord's mind towards us. He justified Mr. Bord. He had

received information from their other consuls, and the factors of the

merchants, who assured him that they could furnish proofs of the facts they com













        Miscellaneous Papers      325







municated to him, and which he had advanced on their authority, and that he

should now write to them to produce their authority. He admitted that the debt

to British subjects might be considered as liquidated from the Potomac

northward: that , South Carolina was making a laudable effort to pay hers; and

that the only important object now was, that of Virginia, amounting by his list

to two millions sterling: that the attention of the British ' merchants from

North to South was turned to the decision of the case of Jones and Walker,

which he hoped would take place at the present session, and let them see what

they had to depend on. I told him that I was sorry to learn that but two judges

had arrived in Richmond, and that unless the third arrived they would not take

it up. I desired him to observe that the question in that case related only to

that description of debts which had been paid into the treasury: that without

pretending to know with any accuracy what proportion of the , whole debt of

Virginia had been paid into the treasury, I believed it was a small one; but

the case of Jones and Walker would be a precedent for those debts only: that as

to the great residuary mass, there were precedents enough, as it appeared they

were in a full course of recovery, and that there was no obstacle, real or

apparent. He did not appear to have adverted to the distinction, and showed

marks of satisfaction on understanding that the question was confined to the

other portion of the 













326        Jefferson's Works







debts only. He thought that the collection, there being one under a hopeful

way, would of itself change the ground on which our difference stands. He

observed that the treaty was of itself so vague and inconsistent in many of its

parts, as to require an explanatory convention. He instanced the two articles,

one of which gave them the navigation of the Mississippi, and the other bounded

them by a due west line from the Lake of the Woods, which being 'now understood

to pass beyond the most northern sources of the Mississippi, intercepted all

access to that river: that to reconcile these articles, that line should be so

run as to give them access to the navigable waters of the Mississippi, and that

it would even be for our interest to introduce a third power between us and the

Spaniards. He asked my idea of the line from the Lake of the Woods, and of now

settling it. I told him I knew of no objection to the settlement of it : that

my idea of it was, that if it was an impassable line, as proposed in the

treaty, it should be rendered passable by as small and unimportant an

alteration as might be, which I thought would be to throw in a line running due

north from the northernmost source of the Mississippi, till it should strike

the western line from the Lake of the Woods : that the article giving them a

navigation in the Mississippi did not relate at all to this northern boundary,

but to the southern one, and to the secret article respecting that: that he

knew that our Provisional Treaty was made seven 













        Miscellaneous Papers     327







weeks before that with Spain: that at the date of ours, their ministers had

still a hope of retaining Florida, in which case they were to come up to the

thirty-second degree, and in which case also the navigation of the Mississippi

would have been important; but that they had not been able, in event, to retain

the country to which the navigation was to be an appendage. (It was evident to

me that they had it in view to claim a slice on our northwestern quarter, that

they may get into the Mississippi; indeed, I thought it presented as a sort of

make-weight with the posts to compensate the great losses their citizens had

sustained by the infractions charged on us.)







  I had hinted that I had not been without a hope, that an early possession of

the posts might have been given us as a commencement of full execution of the

treaty.







  He asked me if I had conceived that he was authorized to write to the

Governor of Canada to deliver us the posts ? I said I had. He smiled at that

idea, and assured me he had by no means any such authority. I mentioned what I

had understood to have passed between him and General Dickinson, which was

related to me by Mr. Hawkins, to wit: that the posts might be delivered upon

the assurance of the recovery of their debts in Virginia. He said, that if any

such thing as that had dropped from him, it must have been merely as a private

and unauthorized opinion, for that the opinion of his 













328        Jefferson's Works







court was, that the retention of the posts was but a short compensation for the

losses which their citizens had sustained, and would sustain by the delay of

their admission into our courts. . (Putting together this expression and his

frequent declarations that the face of the controversy was now so totally

changed from what it was understood to be at his court, that no instructions of

his could be applicable to it, I concluded that his court had entertained no

thought of ever giving up the posts, and had framed their instructions to him

on a totally different hypothesis.) He asked what we understood to be the

boundary between us and the Indians ? I told him he would see by recurring to

my report on the North Western Territory, and by tracing the line there

described on Hutchins' map. What did I understand to be our right in the Indian

soil? 1st. A right of preemption of their lands; that is to say, the sole and

exclusive right of purchasing from them whenever they should be willing to

sell. 2d. A right of regulating the commerce between them and the whites. Did I

suppose that the right of preemption prohibited any individual of another

nation from purchasing lands which the Indians should be willing to sell?

Certainly. We consider it as established by the usage of different nations into

a kind of jus gentium for America, that a white nation settling down and

declaring that such and such are their limits, makes an invasion of those

limits by any other white nation an 













        Miscellaneous Papers     329







act of war, but gives no right of soil against the native possessors. Did I

think the right of regulating the commerce went to prohibit the British traders

from coming into the Indian territory? That has been the idea. He said this

would be hard on the Indians. I observed that whichever way the principle was

established, it would work equally on both sides the line. I did not know

whether we would gain or lose by mutual admission or exclusion. He said they

apprehended our intention was to exterminate the Indians and take the lands. I

assured him that, on the contrary, our system was to protect them, even against

our own citizens: that we wish to get lines established with all of them, and

have no views even of purchasing any more lands of them for a long time. We

consider them as a maze chaussee, or police, for scouring the woods on our

borders, and preventing their being a cover for rovers and robbers.







  He wished the treaty had established an independent nation between us to keep

us apart. He was under great apprehensions that it would become a matter of

bidding as it were, between the British and us, who should have the greatest

army there, and who should have the greatest force on the lakes :. that we,

holding posts on this side the water, and they on the other, soldiers looking

constantly at one another, would get into broils and commit the two nations in

war. I told him we might perhaps regulate by agreement the force to be kept on

each side. 













330        Jefferson's Works







 He asked what was our view in keeping a force there : that he apprehended if

we had these posts, we should be able to hinder vessels from passing. I

answered that I did not know whether the position of the present posts was such

as that no vessel could pass but within their gun-shot ; but that each party

must have a plenty of such positions on the opposite sides, exclusively of the

present posts: that our view in possessing these posts was to awe the Indians,

to participate in the fur trade, to protect that trade. Protect it against whom

? Against the Indians. He asked what I imagined to be their motives for keeping

the posts ? To influence the Indians, to keep off a rival nation and the

appearance of having a rival nation, to monopolize the fur trade. He said he

was not afraid of rivals if the traders would have fair play. He thought it

would be better that neither party should have any military posts, but only

trading houses. I told him that the idea of having no military posts on either

side was new to me: that it had never been mentioned among the members of the

executive : that therefore I could only speak for myself and say that, prima

facie, it accorded well with two favorite ideas of mine, of leaving commerce

free, and never keeping an unnecessary soldier ; but when he spoke of having no

military posts on either side, there might be difficulty in fixing the distance

of the nearest posts. He said that though his opinion on this subject was only

a private one, and he under













        Miscellaneous Papers     331







stood mine to be so also, yet he was much pleased that we two seemed to think

nearly alike, as it might lead to something. He said that their principal

object in the fur trade was the consumption of the goods they gave in exchange

for the furs. I answered that whether the trade was carried on by English or

Americans, it would be with English goods, and the route would be, not through

Canada,, but by the shorter channels of the Hudson or Potomac.







  It is not pretended that the above is in the exact order, or the exact words

of the conversation. This was often desultory, and I can only answer for having

given generally the expression, and always the substance of what passed.







 Extempore Thoughts and Doubts, on very Super-







ficially Running over the Bankrupt Bill.







  The British statute excepts expressly farmers, graziers, drovers, as such,

though they buy to sell again. This bill has no exception.







  The British adjudications exempt the buyers and sellers of bank-stock,

government papers, etc. What feelings guided the draughtsman in adhering to his

original in this case, and departing from it in the other?







  The British courts adjudge that any artists may be bankrupts if the materials

of their art are bought, such as shoemakers, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc. 













332        Jefferson's Works







Will the body of our artists desire to be brought within the vortex of this

law? It will follow as a consequence that the master who has an artist of this

kind in his family, whether hired, indentured, or a slave, to serve the

purposes of his farm or family, but who may at leisure times do something for

his neighbors also, may be a bankrupt.







  The British law makes a departure from the realm, i. e. out of the mediation

of British law, an act of bankruptcy. This bill makes a departure from the

State wherein he resides, (though into a neighboring one where the laws of the

United States run equally,) an act of bankruptcy.







  The commissioners may open houses, break open doors,  chests, etc. Are we

really ripe for this ? Is that spirit of independence and sovereignty which a

man feels in his own house, and which Englishmen felt when they denominated

their houses their castles, to be absolutely subdued? and is it expedient that

it should be subdued ?







 The lands of the bankrupt are to be taken, sold, etc. Is not this a

predominant question between the general and State legislatures?







  Is commerce so much the basis of the existence of the United States as to

call for a bankrupt law? On the contrary, are we not almost merely

agricultural? Should not all laws be made with a view essentially to the poor

husbandmen? When laws are wanting for particular descriptions of other

callings, should not the husbandmen be carefully 













        Miscellaneous Papers        333







excused from their operation, and preserved under that of the general system

only; which general system is fitted to the condition of husbandment















Heads of Conversation with Mr. Hammond.







  That I communicated to the President his information of the consent of the

Western Indians to hold conferences of peace with us, in the presence of

Governor Simcoe :-took care to apprize him of the informality of the

conversation;-that it was acci- dental ;-private ; the present to be considered

equally so:-unnecessary to note to him that nothing like a mediation was

suggested. 1st. Because so informal a conversation could not include so formal

a thing as a mediation. 2d. Because, an established principle of public law

among the white nations of America, that while the Indians included within

their limits retain all other national rights, no other white nations can

become their patrons, protectors, or mediators, nor in any shape intermeddle

between then and those within whose limits they are. That Great Britain would

not propose an example which would authorize us to cross our boundary, and take

under our protection the Indians within her limits. 3d. Because, should the

treaty prove ineffectual, it would singularly commit the friendship of the two

nations.







That the idea of Governor Simcoe's attendance was presented only as a thing

desired by the Indians : 













334        Jefferson's Works







that the consequences of this had been considered. It is not necessary in order

to effect a peace. Our views so just, so moderate, that we have no fear of

effecting peace if left to ourselves. If it cannot be effected, it is much

better that nobody on the part of England should have been present; for however

our government is persuaded of the sincerity of your assurances that you have

not excited the Indians, yet our citizens in general are not so. It will be

impossible to persuade them the negotiations were not defeated by British

agents: that, therefore, we do not pretend to make the exclusion of Governor

Simcoe a sine qua non, provided he be there as a spectator, not as a party; yet

we should consider his declining to attend; either by himself or any other

person, as an€ instance of their friendship, and as an evidence of it

particularly calculated to make due impression on the minds of our citizens.

That the place fixed on by the Indians is extremely inconvenient to us, because

of the distance and difficulty of transporting provisions there. Three hundred

thousand rations will probably be requisite, if three thousand Indians attend.

That if we had time, we would have proposed some other place, for example the

Maumee tawns; but there not being time, we shall do our best to make provision.

1st. We shall collect and carry as much as possible through the Miami channel.

2d. We shall hope for their permission to have purchases made in Upper Canada,

and brought along the lake. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      335







 Instructions to Andrew Michaud for Exploring the







 Western Boundary. January, 1793 €







  Sundry persons having subscribed certain sums of money for your encouragement

to explore the country along the Missouri, and thence westwardly to the Pacific

Ocean, having submitted the plan of the enterprise to the directors of the

American Philosophical Society, and the society having accepted of the trust,

they proceed to give you the following instructions :







  They observe to you that the chief objects of your journey are to find the

shortest and most con- venient route of communication between the United States

and the Pacific Ocean, within the temperate latitudes, and to learn such

particulars as can be obtained of the country through which it passes, its

productions, inhabitants, and other interesting circumstances. As a channel of

communication between these States and the Pacific Ocean, the Missouri, so far

as it extends, presents itself under circumstances of unquestioned preference.

It has, therefore, been declared as a fundamental object of the subscription

(not to be dispensed with) that this river shall be considered and explored as

a part of the communication sought for. To the neighborhood of this river,

therefore, that is to say, to the town of Kaskaskia, the society will procure

you a conveyance in company with the Indians of that town now in Philadelphia. 













336        Jefferson's Works







   From thence you will cross the Mississippi and pass by land to the nearest

part of the Missouri above the Spanish settlements, that you may avoid the risk

of being stopped.







 You will then pursue such of the largest streams of that river as shall lead

by the shortest way and the lowest latitudes to the Pacific Ocean. When,

pursuing those streams, you shall find yourself at the point from whence you

may get by the shortest and most convenient route to some principal river of

the Pacific Ocean; you are to proceed to such river, and pursue its course to

the ocean. It would seem by the latest maps as if a river called Oregon,

interlocked with the Missouri for a considerable distance, and entered the

Pacific Ocean not far southward of Nootka Sound. But the society are aware that

these maps are not to be trusted so far as to be the ground of any positive

instruction to you. They therefore only mention the fact, leaving to yourself

to verify it, or to follow such other as you shall find to be the real truth.







 You will in the course of your journey, take notice of the country you pass

through, its general face, soil, rivers, mountains, its productions-animal,

vegetable, and mineral-so far as they may be new to us, and may also be useful

or very curious ; the latitudes of places or material for calculating it by

such simple methods as your situation may admit you to practice, the names,

numbers, and dwellings of the inhabitants, and such particulars as you can 













        Miscellaneous Papers     337







learn of their history, connection with each other, languages, manners, state

of society, and of the arts and commerce among them.







  Under the head of animal history, that of the mammoth is particularly

recommended to your inquiries, as it is also to learn whether the Lama or Paca

of Peru, is found in those parts of this continent, or how far north they come.







 The method of preserving your observations is left to yourself, according to

the means which shall be in your power. It is only suggested that the noting

them on the skin might be best for such as may be the most important, and that

further details may be committed to the bark of the paper-birch, a substance

which may not excite suspicions among the Indians, and little liable to injury

from wet or other common accidents. By the means of the same substance you may

perhaps find opportunities, from time to time, of communicating " the society

information of your progress, and of the particulars you shall have noted.







 When you shall have reached the Pacific Ocean, if you find yourself within

convenient distance of any settlement of Europeans, go to them, commit to

writing a narrative of your journey and observations, and take the best measure

you can for con- veying it thence to the society by sea.







  Return by the same, or some other route, as you shall think likely to fulfil

with most satisfaction and certainty the objects of your mission; furnish~







   VOL. XVII-22 













338        Jefferson's Works







ing yourself with the best proofs the nature of the case will admit of the

reality and extent of your progress. Whether this shall be by certificates from

Europeans settled on the western coast of America, or by what other means, must

depend on circumstances. Ignorance of the country through which you are to

pass, and confidence in your judgment, zeal, and discretion, prevent the

society from attempting more minute instructions, and even from exacting

rigorous observance of those, already given, except, indeed, what is the first

of all objects, that you seek for and pursue that route which shall form the

shortest and most convenient communication between the higher parts of the

Missouri and the Pacific Ocean.







  It is strongly recommended to you to expose yourself in no case to

unnecessary dangers, whether such as might affect your health or your personal

safety, and to consider this not merely as your personal concern, but as the

injunction of science in general, which expects its enlargement from your

inquiries, and of the inhabitants of the United States in particular, to whom

your report will open new fields and subjects of commerce, intercourse, and

observation.







  If you reach the Pacific Ocean and return, the society assign to you all the

benefits of the subscription before mentioned. If you reach the waters only

which run into that ocean, the society reserve to themselves the apportionment

of the reward 













        Miscellaneous Papers      339







according to the conditions expressed in the subscription. If you do not reach

even those waters they refuse all reward, and reclaim the money you may have

received here under the subscription.







 They will expect you to return to the city of Philadelphia to give in to them

a full narrative of your journey and observations, and to answer the inquiries

they shall make of you, still reserving to yourself the benefit arising from

the publication of such parts of them as are in the said subscription reserved

to you.







Memorandum relative to Commissioners for laying off







 the Federal City. , March 11th, 1793 €







  Question 1st.-What sacrifice may be made to retain Mr. Johnson in the office

of commissioner for the federal territory?







  Answer,-For such an object, it is worth while to give up the plan of an

allowance per diem; to give, instead of that, a sum in gross, and to extend

that sum to five hundred dollars per annum, and expenses ; the latter to be

rendered in account.







  If Mr. Johnson persists in resigning, as it is evident Dr. Stewart will not

continue even for the above allowance, and Mr. Carroll does not appear to make

any conditions, the President will be free as to Mr. Carroll and two new

associates, to adhere to the allowance per diem already proposed, or to

substitute a sum in gross. 













340        Jefferson's Works







  Question 2d.---May new commissioners be chosen in the town?







  Answer.-It is strongly desirable that the commissioners should not be of the

town, nor interested in it ; and this objection is thought a counterpoise for a

sensible difference in talents; but if persons of adequate talents and

qualifications cannot be found in the country, it will be better to take them

from the town, than to appoint men of inadequate talents from the country.







  Question 3d.-How compensate them?







  Answer.-If they come from the country, the per diem allowance is thought

best; if from the town, a sum in gross will be best, and this might be as far

as three hundred dollars a year; and no allowance for expenses. If partly from

the town, and partly from the country, then three hundred dollars a year to the

former, and the same, with allowance of expenses, to the latter.







  Mr. Madison, Mr. Randolph and Thomas Jefferson having consulted together on

the preceding questions, with some shades of difference of opinion in the

beginning, concurred ultimately and unanimously in the above answers.







  Note given to the President relative to Genet. Mr. Genet's declaration to the

President at his reception, that France did not wish to engage the United

States in the present war by the clause of 













        Miscellaneous Papers      341







guarantee, but left her free to pursue her own happiness in peace, has been

repeated to myself in conversation, and to others, and even in a public answer,

so as to place it beyond question.







  Some days after the reception of Mr. Genet (which was May 17th), I went to

his house on business. The Attorney General went with me to pay his first

visit. After he withdrew, Mr. Genet told me Mr. Fornant had delivered him my

letter of May 15th on the four memorials of Mr. Hammond. He said something

first of the case of the 'Grange, and then of the vessels armed at Charleston.

He said that on his arrival there, he was surrounded suddenly by Frenchmen full

of zeal for their country, pressing for authority to arm with their own means

for. its assistance : that they would fit out their own vessels, provide

everything, man them, and only ask a commission from him: that he asked the

opinion of Governor Moultrie on the subject, who said he knew no law to the

contrary, but begged that whatever was to be done, might be done without

consulting him: that he must know nothing of it, etc.: that hereupon he gave

commission to the vessels: that he was of opinion that he was justified, not

only by the opinions at Charleston, but by our treaties. I told him the

President had taken full advice on the subject, had very maturely considered

it, and had come to the decision expressed in my letter. He said he hoped the

President had not so absolutely decided it, but that he would hear what was to

be 













342        Jefferson's Works







said against it. I told him I had no doubt but that the President, out of

respect to him and his country, would receive whatever he should have to urge

on the subject; and would reconsider it with candor. He said he would make it

his business to write me a letter on the subject : that he thought the arming

the privateers was justifiable ; but that if the President should finally

decide otherwise (though he could not think it would be right), yet he must

submit; for that assuredly his instructions were to do whatever would be

agreeable to us. He showed; indeed, by his countenance, his manner, and words,

that such an acquiescence would be with reluctance; but I was and am persuaded

he then meant it.







  Mr. Genet called at my office on Tuesday sennight, or fortnight, say (July

16th or 9th), but I think it was Tuesday sennight ; and knew it was on a

Tuesday, because he went from thence to the President's. He was summing up to

me the strength of the French naval force now arrived. I took that occasion to

observe to him, that having such great means in his hands, I thought he ought

not to hesitate in abandoning to the orders of the government the little

pickeroons which had been armed here unauthorized by them, and which occasioned

so much embarrassment and uneasiness: that certainly their good dispositions

must be worth more than the trifling services these little vessels could

render. He immediately declared, that having 













        Miscellaneous Papers      343







such a force in his hands, he had abandoned every idea of further armament in

our ports: that these small objects were now beneath his notice, and he had

accordingly written to the consuls to stop everything further of that kind; but

that as to those which had been fitted out before, their honor would not permit

them to give them up, but he wished an oblivion of everything which had passed,

and that in future the measure so disagreeable to the government should not be

pursued, though he thought it clearly justifiable by the treaty. I told him the

government was of a different opinion : that both parties indeed had equal

right to construe the treaty: that, consequently, he had done his duty in

remonstrating against our construction, but that since the government remained

finally persuaded of the solidity of its own construction, and had a right to

act accordingly within their own limits, it was now his duty, as a diplomatic

man, to state the matter to his government, to ask and await their orders, and

in the meantime to acquiesce, and by no means to proceed in opposition within

our limits.







   It was at the same time he informed me that he had sent out the Little

Democrat, July 26th, 1793, to obtain intelligence of the state of the coast,

and whether it was safe for the fleet to proceed round from Norfolk to New

York. 













344        Jefferson's Works







Rules for the Regulation of our Conduct towards the







Belligerent Powers recommended to the President







for his Adoption.







   1st. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the United

States by any of the belligerent powers for military service, offensive or

defensive, is deemed unlawful.







  2d. Equipments of merchant vessels by either of the belligerent parties in

the ports of the United States, purely for the accommodation of them as such,

is deemed lawful.







  3d. Equipments in the ports of the United States of vessels of war in the

immediate service of the government of any of the belligerent parties, which,

if done to other vessels, would be of a doubtful nature, as being applicable

either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful, except those which shall have

made prize of the subjects, people or property of France, coming with their

prizes into the ports of the United States, pursuant to the seventeenth article

of our treaty of amity and commerce with France.







 4th. Equipments. in the ports of the United States by any of the parties at

war with France, of vessels fitted for merchandise and war, whether with or

without commissions, which are doubtful in their nature, as being applicable

either to commerce or war, are deemed lawful, except those which shall have

made prize, etc.







 5th. Equipments of any of the vessels of France 













        Miscellaneous Papers     345







in the ports of the United States, which are doubtful in their nature, as being

applicable to commerce or war, are deemed lawful.







  6th. Equipments of every kind in the ports of the United States of privateers

of the powers at war with France, are deemed unlawful.







  7th. Equipments of vessels in the ports of the United States which are of a

nature solely adapted to war, are deemed unlawful; except those stranded or

wrecked, as mentioned in the eighteenth article of our treaty with France, the

sixteenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands, the ninth of our treaty

with Prussia, and except those mentioned in the nineteenth article of our

treaty with France, the seventeenth of our treaty with the United Netherlands,

the eighteenth of our treaty with Prussia.







  8th. Vessels of either of the parties not armed, or armed previous to their

coming into the ports of the United States, which shall not have infringed any

of the foregoing rules, may lawfully engage or enlist therein their own

subjects, or aliens not being inhabitants of the United States, except

privateers of the powers at war with France; and except those vessels which

shall have made prize, etc.







 August 3, 1793. The foregoing rules having been considered by us at several

meetings, and being now unanimously approved, they are submitted to the

President of the United States.







     TH : JEFFERSON. ALEXANDER HAMILTON.







     H. KNOX.     EDW ; RANDOLPH. 













346        Jefferson's Works







Opinion relative to the Propriety of Convening the Legislature at an earlier

period than that fixed by law. August 4th,  1793.







 The President having been pleased to propose for consideration, the question

whether it be proper or not to convene the legislature at an earlier period

than that at which it is to meet by law, and at what time ? I am of opinion it

will be proper.







  1st. Because the protection of our southern frontiers seems to render

indispensable a war with the Creeks, which cannot be declared nor provided for

but by the legislature, nor prudently undertaken by the Executive on account of

the consequences it may involve with respect to Spain.







  2d: Because several legislative provisions are wanting to enable the

government to steer steadily through the difficulties daily produced by the war

of Europe, and to prevent our being involved in it by the incidents and

perplexities to which it is constantly giving birth.







  3d. Because, should we be involved in it, which is every day possible,

however anxiously we endeavor to avoid it, the legislature, meeting a month

earlier, will place them a month forwarder in their provisions for that state

of things.







  I think the first Monday in November would be a proper time for convening

them, because, while it would gain a month in making provisions to prevent or

prepare for war, it leaves such a space of time for 













        Miscellaneous Papers       347







their assembling as will avoid exciting alarm either at home or abroad.







Communication Relative to our French Relations.







             August 22d, 1793.







 Thomas Jefferson has the honor to enclose to the President the letter of the

National Assembly to him, of December 22d, 1792. Its most distinct object seems

to have been to thank the United States for their measures to St. Domingo. It

glances blindly, however, at commercial arrangements, and on the 19th of

February, the same Assembly passed the decree putting our commerce in their

dominions on the footing of natives, and directing their executive council to

treat with us on the subject. On this the following questions arise :







  1st. Would the President choose to answer the letter, acknowledging its

receipt, thanking them in turn for the favors to our commerce, and promising to

consult the constitutional powers (the Senate) on the subject of the treaty

proposed?







 2d. Would he rather choose to make no reply to the letter, but that Mr. Morris

be instructed to negotiate a renewal of Mr. Genet's powers to treat, to his

successor?







 3d. Or would he choose that nothing be said on the subject to anybody?







 If the President would in his judgment be for a 













348        Jefferson's Works







treaty on the principles of the decree, or any modification of them, the 1st or

2d measure will be well to be. adopted.







  If he is against a treaty on those principles or any modification of them,

the 3d measure seems to be the proper one.







Explanation of the Origin of the Principle that "Free bottoms make free goods."

December 20th, 1793.







 A doubt being entertained whether the use of the word modern as applied to the

law of nations in the President's proclamation, be not inconsistent with ground

afterwards taken in a letter to Genet, I will state the matter while it is

fresh in my mind,beginning it from an early period.







  It cannot be denied that according to the general law of nations, the goods

of an enemy are lawful prize in the bottom of a friend, and the goods of a

friend privileged in the bottom of an enemy; or in other words, that the goods

follow the owner. The inconvenience of this principle in subjecting neutral

vessels to vexatious searches at sea, has for more than a century rendered it

usual for nations to substitute a conventional principle that the goods shall

follow the bottom, instead of the natural one before mentioned. France has done

it in all her treaties ; so I believe had Spain, before the American

Revolution. Britain had not done it. When that war had involved those powers,

Russia, foreseeing 













        Miscellaneous Papers     349







that her commerce would be much harassed by the British ships, engaged Denmark,

Sweden, and Portugal to arm, and to declare that the conventional principle

should be observed by the powers at war, towards neutrals, and that they would

make common cause against the party who should violate it; declaring expressly,

at the same time, that that convention should be in force only during the war

then existing. Holland acceded to the convention, and Britain instantly

attacked her. But the other neutral powers did riot think proper to comply with

their stipulation of making common cause. France declared at once that she

would conform to the conventional principle. This in fact imposed no new

obligation on her, for she was already bound by her treaties with all those

powers to observe that principle. Spain made the same declaration. Congress

gave similar orders to their vessels; but Congress afterwards gave instructions

to their ministers abroad not to engage them in any future combination of

powers for the general enforcement of the conventional principle that goods

should follow the bottom, as this might at some time or other engage them in a

war for other. nations ; but to introduce the principle separately with every

nation by the treaties they were authorized to make with each. It had been

already done with France and Holland, and it was afterwards done with Prussia,

and made a regular part in every treaty they proposed to others, After" the

war, Great Britain 













350        Jefferson's Works







established it between herself and France. When she engaged in the present war

with France, it was thought extremely desirable for us to get this principle

admitted by her, and hoping that as she had acceded to it in one instance, she

might be induced to admit it as a principle now settled by the common consent

of nations; (for every nation, belligerent or neutral, had stipulated it on one

or more occasions,) that she might be induced to consider it as now become a

conventional law of nations, I proposed to insert the word modern in the

proclamation, to open upon her the idea that we should require the acquiescence

in that principle as the condition of. our remaining in peace. It was thought

desirable by the other gentlemen; but having no expectation of any effect from

it, they acquiesced in the insertion of the word, merely to gratify me. I had

another view, which I did not mention to them, because I apprehended it would

occasion the loss of the word.







  By the ancient law of nations, e. g. in the time of the Romans, the

furnishing a limited aid of troops, though stipulated, was deemed a cause of

war. In latter times, it is admitted not to be a cause of war. This is one of

the improvements in the law of nations. I thought we might conclude, by parity

of reasoning, that the guaranteeing a limited portion of territory, in a

stipulated case, might not, by the modern law of nations, be a cause of war. I

therefore meant by the introduction of that word, to lay' the foundation of the

execution of our guar













        Miscellaneous Papers       351







antee, by way of negotiation with England. The word was, therefore, introduced,

and a strong letter was written to Mr. Pinckney to observe to Great Britain

that we were bound by our treaties with the other belligerent powers to observe

certain principles during this war: that we were willing to observe the same

principles towards her; and indeed, that we considered it as essential to

proceed by the same rule to all, and to propose to her to select those articles

concerning our conduct in a case of our neutrality from any one of our treaties

which she pleased; or that we would take those from her own treaty with France,

and make a temporary convention of them for the term of the present war; and he

was instructed to press this strongly. I told Genet that we had done this; but

instead of giving us time to work our principles into effect by negotiation, he

immediately took occasion in a letter, to threaten that if we did not resent

the conduct of the British in taking French property in American bottoms, and

protect their goods by effectual measures (meaning by arms), he would give

direction that the principle of our treaty of goods following the bottom,

should be disregarded. He was, at the same time, in the habit of keeping our

goods taken in British bottoms ; so that they were to take the gaining

alternative of each principle, and give us the losing one. It became necessary

to oppose this in the answer to his letter, and it was impossible to do it

soundly,







 













352        Jefferson's Works







but 'by placing it on its ' true ground, to wit : that the law of nations

established as a general rule that goods should follow the owner, and that the

making them follow the vessel was an exception depending on special conventions

only in those cases where the convention had been made : that the exception had

been established by us in our treaties with France, Holland and Prussia, and

that we should endeavor to extend it to England, Spain, and other powers; but

that till it was done, we had no right to make war for the enforcement of it.

He thus obliged us to abandon in the first moment the ground we were

endeavoring to gain, that is to say, his ground against England and Spain, and

to take the very ground of England and Spain against him. This was my private

reason for proposing the term modern in the proclamation; that it might reserve

us a ground to obtain the very things he wanted. But the world, who knew

nothing of these private reasons, were to understand by the expression the

modern law of nations, that law with all the improvements and mollifications of

it which an advancement of civilization in modern times had introduced. It does

not mean strictly anything which is not a part of the law of nations in modern

times, and therefore could not be inconsistent with the ground taken in the

letter to Genet, which was that of the law of nations, and by no means could be

equivalent to a declaration by the President of the specific principle, that

goods should follow the bottom. 













        Miscellaneous Papers        353















An Account of the Capitol in Virginia.







  The Capitol in the city of Richmond, in Virginia, is the model of the Temples

of Erectheus at Athens, of Balbec, and of the Maison quarree of Nismes. All of

which are nearly of the same form and proportions, and are considered as the

most perfect examples of cubic architecture, as the Pantheon of Rome is of the

spherical. Their dimensions not being sufficient for the purposes of the

capitol, they were enlarged, but their proportions rigorously observed. The

capitol is of brick, one hundred thirty-four feet long, seventy feet wide, and

fortyfive feet high, exclusive of the basement. Twentyeight feet of its length

is occupied by a portico of the whole breadth of the house, showing six columns

in front, and two intercolonnations in flank. It is of a single order, which is

Ionic; its columns four feet two inches diameter, and their entablature running

round the whole building. The portico is crowned by a pediment, the height of

which is two ninths of its span.







 Within the body of the building, which is one hundred and six feet long, are

two tiers. of rooms twenty-one feet high each. In the lower, at one end, is the

room in which the Supreme Court sits, thirty feet by sixty-four feet with a

vestibule fourteen feet by twenty-two feet, and an office for their clerk,

fourteen feet by thirteen feet. In the other end is the room for the House of

Delegates, thirty







vol. xvii-23 













354        Jefferson's Works







feet by sixty-four feet, with a lobby fourteen feet by thirty-six feet. In the

middle is a room thirtysix feet square, of the whole height of the building,

and receiving its light from above. In the centre of this room is a marble

statue of General Washington, made at Paris, by Houdon, who came over to

Virginia for the express purpose of taking his form. The statue is made

accurately of the size of life. A peristile of columns in the same room, six

feet from the wall, and twenty-two and a half feet high with their entablature,

support a corridor above, serving as a communication for all the upper

apartments, the stairs landing in it. In the upper tier is a Senate chamber,

thirty feet square, an office for their clerk, five rooms for committees and

juries, an office for the clerk of the House of Delegates, a chamber for the

Governor and Council, and a room for their clerk. In the basement of the

building are the Land Office, Auditor's office, and Treasury.







 The drawings of the facade and other elevations, were done by Clarissault, one

of the most correct architects of France, and author of the Antiquities of

Nismes, among which was the Maison quarree. The model in stucco was made under

his direction, by an artist who had been employed many years in Greece, by the

Count de Choiseul, ambassador of France at Constantinople, in making models of

the most celebrated remains of ancient architecture in that country. 













        Miscellaneous Papers       355







 To the Speaker and House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, being a

Protest against interference of Judiciary between Representative and

Constituent. - 1797.







 The petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of the counties of Amherst,

Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Goochland, sheweth :







 That by the Constitution of this State, established from its earliest

settlement, the people thereof have professed the right of being governed by

laws to which they have consented by representatives chosen by themselves

immediately : that in order to give to the will of the people the influence it

ought to have, and the information which may enable them to exercise it

usefully, it was a part of the common law, adopted as the law of this land,

that their representatives, in the discharge of their functions, should be free

from the cognizance or coercion of the co-ordinate branches, Judiciary and

Executive; and that their communications with their constituents should of

right, as of duty also, be free, full, and unawed by any: that so necessary has

this intercourse been deemed in the country from which they derive principally

their descent and laws, that the correspondence between the representative and

constituent is privileged there to pass free of expense through the channel of

the public post, and that the proceedings of the legislature have been known to

be arrested and suspended at times 













356        Jefferson's Works







until the representatives could go home to their several counties and confer

with their constituents. That when, at the .epoch of Independence, the

Constitution was formed under which we are now governed as a commonwealth, so

high were the principles of representative government esteemed, that the

legislature was made to consist of two branches, both of them chosen

immediately by the citizens; and that general system of laws was continued

which protected the relations between the representative and constituent, and

guarded the functions of the former from the control of the judiciary and

executive branches.







   That when circumstances required that the ancient confederation of this with

the sister States, for the government of their common concerns, should be

improved into a more regular and effective form of general government, the same

representative principle was preserved in the new legislature, one branch of

which was to be chosen directly by the citizens of each State, and the laws and

principles remained unaltered which privilege the representative functions,

whether to be exercised in the State or General Government, against the

cognizance and notice of the co-ordinate branches, executive and judiciary; and

for its safe and convenient exercise, the inter-communication of the

representative and constituent has been sanctioned and provided for through the

channel of the public post, at the public expense 













         Miscellaneous papers    357







  That at the general partition of this commonwealth into districts, each of

which was to choose a representative to Congress, the counties of Amherst,

Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Goochland, were laid off into one district; that at

the elections held for the said district, in the month of April, in the years

1795 and 1797, the electors thereof made choice of Samuel Jordan Cabell, of the

county of Amherst, to be their representative in the legislature of the General

Government ; that the said Samuel Jordan Cabell accepted the office, repaired

at the due periods to the legislature of the General Government, exercised his

functions there as became a worthy member, and as a good and dutiful

representative was in the habit of corresponding with many of his constituents,

and communicating to us, by way of letter, information of the public

proceedings, of asking and receiving our opinions and advice and of

contributing, as far as might be with right, to preserve the transactions of

the General Government in unison with the principles and sentiments of his

constituents: that while the said Samuel J. Cabell was in the exercise of his

functions as a representative from this district, and was in the course of that

correspondence which his duty and the will of his constituents imposed on him,

the right of thus communicating with them, deemed sacred under all the forms in

which our government has hitherto existed, never questioned or infringed even

by royal judges or governors, was openly and 













358        Jefferson's Works







directly violated at a Circuit Court of the General Government, held at the

city of Richmond, for the district of Virginia, in the month of May of this

present year, 1790 : that at the said court, A, B, etc. , some of whom were

foreigners, having been called upon to serve in the office of grand jurors

before the said court, were sworn to the duties of said office in the usual

forms of the law, the known limits of which duties are to make presentment of

those acts of individuals which the laws have declared to be crimes or

misdemeanors: that departing out of the legal limits of their said office, and

availing themselves of the sanction of its cover, wickedly and contrary to

their fidelity to destroy the rights of the people of this commonwealth, and

the fundamental principles of representative government, they made a

presentment of the act of the said Samuel J. Cabell, in writing letters to his

constituents in the following words, to wit : " We, of the grand jury of the

United States, for the district of Virginia, present as a real evil, the

circular letters of several members of the late Congress, and particularly

letters with the signature of Samuel J. Cabell, endeavoring, at a time of real

public danger, to disseminate unfounded calumnies against the happy government

of the United States, and thereby to separate the people therefrom; and to

increase or produce a foreign influence, ruinous to the peace, happiness, and

independence of these United States. "







That the grand jury is a part of the judiciary; 













        Miscellaneous PaperS       359







not permanent indeed, but in office, pro hac vice and responsible as other

judges are for their actings and doings while in office: that for the judiciary

to interpose in the legislative department between the constituent and his

representative, to control them in the exercise of their functions or duties

towards each other, to overawe the free correspondence which exists and ought

to exist between them, to dictate what communications may pass between them,

and to punish all others, to put the representative into jeopardy of criminal

prosecution, of vexation, expense, and punishment before the judiciary, if his

communications, public or private, do not exactly square with their ideas of

fact or right, or with their designs of wrong, is to put the legislative

department under the feet of the judiciary, is to leave us, indeed, the shadow,

but to take away the substance of representation, which requires essentially

that the representative be as free as his constituents would be, that the same

interchange of sentiment be lawful between him and them as would be lawful

among themselves were they in the personal transaction of their own business;

is to do away the influence of the people over the proceedings of their

representatives by excluding from their knowledge, by the terror of punishment

all but such information or misinformation as may suit their own views; and is

the more vitally dangerous when it is considered that grand jurors arc selected

by officers nominated and holding their 













360        Jefferson's Works







places at the will of the executive: that they are exposed to influence from

the judges who are nominated immediately by the Executive, and who, although

holding permanently their commissions as judges, yet from the career of

additional office and emolument actually opened to them of late, whether

constitutionally or not, are under all those motives which interest or ambition

inspire, of courting the favor of that branch from which appointments flow :

that grand juries are frequently composed in part of bystanders, often

foreigners, of foreign attachments and interests, and little knowledge of the

laws they are most improperly called to decide on; and finally, is to give to

the judiciary, and through the"n to the Executive, a complete preponderance

over the legislature, rendering ineffectual that wise and cautious distribution

of powers made by the Constitution between the three branches, and

subordinating to the other two that branch which most immediately depends on

the people themselves, and is responsible to them at short periods.







That independently of these considerations of a constitutional nature, the

right of free correspondence between citizen and citizen on their joint

interests, public or private, and under whatsoever laws these interests arise,

is a natural right of every individual citizen, not the gift of municipal law,

but among the objects for the protection of which municipal laws are

instituted: that so far as the attempt to take away' this natural right of free

cor- 













        Miscellaneous Papers    361







respondence is an offence against the privileges of the legislative House, of

which the said Samuel J. Cabell is a member, it is left to that House,

entrusted with the preservation of its own privileges, to vindicate its

immunities. against the encroachments and usurpations of a co-ordinate branch;

but so far as it is an infraction of our individual rights as citizens by other

citizens of our own State, the judicature of this commonwealth is solely

competent to its cognizance, no other possessing any powers of redress: that

the commonwealth retains all its judiciary cognizances not expressly alienated

in the grant of powers to the United States as expressed in their Constitution

: that that Constitution 'alienates only those enumerated in itself, or arising

under laws or treaties of the United States made in conformity with its own

tenor; but the right of free correspondence is not claimed under that

Constitution, nox the laws or treaties derived from it, but as a natural right,

placed originally under the protection of our municipal laws, and retained

under the cognizance of our own courts.







  Your petitioners further observe that though this crime may not be

specifically defined and denominated by any particular statute, yet it is a

crime, and of the highest and most alarming nature ; that the Constitution of

this commonwealth, aware it would sometimes happen that deep and dangerous

crimes, pronounced as such in the heart of every friend to his country and its

free Constitution, 













362        Jefferson's Works







would often escape the definitions of the law, and yet ought not to escape its

punishments, fearing at the same time to entrust such undescribed offences to

the discretion of ordinary juries and judges, has reserved the same to the

cognizance of the body of the commonwealth acting by their representatives in

general assembly, for which purpose provision is made by the Constitution in

the following words, to wit : " The Governor, when he is out of office, and

others offending against the State, either by mal-administration, corruption,

or other means by which the safety of the State may be endangered, shall be

impeachable by the House of Delegates. Such impeachment to be prosecuted by the

Attorney General or such other person or persons as the House may appoint in

the general court, according to the laws of the land. If found guilty, he or

they shall be either forever disabled to hold any office under government, or

removed from such offices pro tempore, or subjected to such pains or penalties

as the law shall direct. "







  Considering then the House of Delegates as the standing inquest of the whole

commonwealth so established by the Constitution, that its jurisdiction as such

extends over all persons. within its limits, and that no pale, no sanctuary has

been erected against their jurisdiction to protect offenders who have committed

crimes against the la"s of the commonwealth and rights of its citizens: that

the crime committed by the said grand jurors is of 













        Miscellaneous Papers        363







that high and extraordinary character for which the Constitution has provided

extraordinary procedure: that though the violation of right falls in the first

instance on us, your petitioners and the representative chosen immediately by

us, yet in principle and consequence it extends to all our fellow-citizens,

whose safety is passed away whenever their representatives are placed, in the

exercise of their functions, under the direction and coercion of either of the

other departments of government, and one of their most interesting rights is

lost when that of a free communication of sentiment by speaking or writing is

suppressed : We, your petitioners, therefore pray that you will be pleased to

take your constitutional cognizance of the premises, and institute such

proceedings for impeaching and punishing the said A, B, etc., as may secure to

the citizens of this commonwealth their constitutional right: that their

representatives shall in the exercise of their functions be free and

independent of the other departments of government, may guard that full

intercourse between them and their constituents which the nature of their

relations and the laws of the land establish, may save to them the natural

right of communicating their sentiments to one another by speaking and writing,

and may serve as a terror to others attempting hereafter to subvert those

rights and the fundamental principles of our Constitution, to exclude the

people from all direct influence over the government they have 













364        Jefferson's Works







established by reducing that branch of the legislature which they choose

directly, to a subordination under those over whom they have but an indirect,

distant, and feeble control.







  And your petitioners further submit to the wisdom of the two Houses of

Assembly whether. the safety of the citizens of this commonwealth in their

persons, their property, their laws, and government, does not require that the

capacity to act in the important office of a juror, grand or petty, civil or

criminal, should be restrained in future to native citizens of the United

States, or such as were citizens at the date of the treaty of peace which

closed our Revolutionary War, and whether the ignorance of our laws and natural

partiality to the countries of their birth are not reasonable causes for

declaring this to be one of the rights incommunicable in future to adoptive

citizens.







  We, therefore, your petitioners, relying with entire confidence on the wisdom

and patriotism of our representatives in General Assembly, clothed preeminently

with all the powers of the people which have not been reserved to themselves,

or enumerated in the grant to the General Government delegated to maintain all

their rights and relations.. not expressly and exclusively transferred to other

jurisdictions, and stationed as sentinels to observe with watchfulness and

oppose with firmness all movements tending to destroy the equilibrium of our

excellent but complicated machine of government, invoke 













        Miscellaneous Papers      365







from you that redress of our violated rights which the freedom and safety of

our common country calls for. We denounce to you a great crime, wicked in its

purpose, and mortal in its consequences unless prevented, committed by citizens

of this commonwealth against the body of their country. If we have erred in

conceiving the redress provided by the law, we commit the subject to the

superior wisdom of this house to devise and pursue such proceedings as they

shall think best ; and we, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc.















           Etiquette.(1)







 I. In order to bring the, members of society together in the first instance,

the custom of the country has established that residents shall p the first

visit to .strangers, and, among strangers, first comers to later comers,

foreign and domestic; the character of stranger ceasing after the first visits.

To this rule there is a single exception. Foreign ministers, from the necessity

of making themselves known, pay the first visit to the ministers







of the nation, which is returned.







  II. When brought together in society, all are perfectly equal, whether

foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of office.







 All other observances are but exemplifications of these two principles.















        _______________







(1) Endorsed in Mr. Jefferson's hand: "This rough paper contains what was

agreed upon.  







        _______________







 













366         Jefferson's Works







 I. 1st. The families of foreign ministers, arriving at the seat of government,

receive the first visit from those of the national ministers, as from all other

residents.







  2d. Members of the legislature and of the judiciary, independent of their

offices, have a right as strangers to receive the first visit.







  II. 1st. No title being admitted here, those of foreigners give no

precedence.







  2d. Differences of grade among the diplomatic members, give no precedence.







  3d. At public ceremonies, to which the government invites the presence of

foreign ministers and their families, a convenient seat or station will be

provided for them, with any other strangers invited and the families of the

national ministers, each taking place as they arrive, and without any

precedence.







  4th. To maintain the principle of equality, or of pele mela, and prevent the

growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of the Executive will

practice at their own houses, and recommend an adherence to the ancient usage

of the country, of gentlemen in mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass,

in passing from one apartment where they are assembled into another. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      367







 Charges exhibited to the President of the United States against the Honorable

Arthur Sinclair, as Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of

the river Ohio.







   1st. He has usurped legislative powers by the erection of counties and

location of the seats of justice, by proclamation, on his own sole authority.







  2d. He has misused the power of negativing legislative acts, by putting his

negative on laws useful and necessary for the territory.







  3d. He has refused to perform the duties of his office but on the payment of

arbitrary fees not established by any lawful authority.







  4th. He has negatived an act of the legislature abolishing those fees, and

passed their act giving him five hundred dollars-meant as a compensation for

that abolition, thereby holding both the fees and the compensation.







  5th. He has attempted to effect the dismemberment of the territory, and to

destroy its constitutional boundaries, in order to prevent its advancement to

those rights of self-government to which its numbers would entitle it.







  6th. He has granted commissions generally during pleasure; but that of

Attorney General to his own son during good behavior.







  7th. He has endeavored arbitrarily to influence and control the proceedings

of the Judiciary, and has revoked or effected a surrender of the commis













368        Jefferson's Works







sions of those who have refused to bend to his will, (acknowledged, p. 22 ;

revoked three commissions, p. 2.)







 8th. He has appointed persons residing out of a county to offices, the duties

of which were to be habitually performed within them. (Acknowledged, p. 20, in

the case of Robb, his son-in-law, made recorder of Clermont though living in

Hamilton-executed by deputy.)







  9th. He has obstructed the organization and disciplining of a militia for the

defence of the territory, by withholding the appointment of officers years

after a law had passed establishing them.







  10th. He has avowed his hostility to the form and substance of republican

government.







  1st. The ordinance in the paragraph respecting counties, speaks of laws

adopted or made, which must refer both to the first and second stage of

government; it then gives the Governor power to lay out counties from time to

time, reserving a right to the legislature thereafter to alter them. This may

mean that the Governor is always to lay out first, and the legislature

thereafter to alter; or it may mean that the Governor is to lay out during the

first stage of government, and the legislature to do it in the second, reddendo

singula singulis. The first construction renders the power reserved the

legislature null, because the Governor having a negative will not permit the

other branches to act against his opinion manifested in the original laying 













        Miscellaneous Papers      369







out. The second construction gives it full effect, and must therefore be

understood to be that intended by Congress, who certainly meant to reserve a

practicable right to the legislature-nota nugatory one, and the rather as the

forming counties is an act of law-making, not of the execution of a law. The

place of dispensing justice may not seem essentially legislative at first view,

but to rest naturally with those who are to dispense it ; yet when we cons ider

it in all its relations to public convenience as well as justice, at how early

a date it was deemed a grievance in England, and fixed by law, and how

universally so in these States, this gives a sure practical construction of

what Congress must have intended.







  2d. The policy of giving a negative on laws to the Executive seems to be:

1st, to provide protection against the legislature for the other independent

departments. 2d. To protect such portions of the citizens as might be oppressed

by a local or partial interest happening to predominate in the legislature at

the moment. But not to set up the judgment of a single individual in cases of

ordinary legislation against the collected wisdom of the nation. If these ideas

be just, Governor Sinclair is guilty on the second charge.







  5th. The ordinance permits the whole territory northwest of the Ohio to be

divided by Congress into three or five States, and says, whenever any of the

said States shall have sixty thousand inhabi-







   vol. xvii-24 













370        Jefferson's Works







tants it shall be received in Congress. The change of boundary proposed by the

late act of the northwest legislature did divide the population into two parts,

so that both would have been much longer reaching sixty thousand than if the

boundaries remained fixed by the ordinance. That the act dismembered that

portion of territory which claimed to be a State, is certain. That Governor

Sinclair assented to it at least is certain. That he promoted it by his

influence, 'and with a view to continue himself and friends the longer in place

and power, is suggested by many, and will be judged of by every one according

to the opinion entertained of his attachment to his office, or his power of

preserving his mind unbiased by that attachment or any other particular views.

See Sinclair's letter to Harrison, printed State papers, March 14th, 1800.







  6th. The censure implied in this charge seems to be not so much in the

Governor's giving commissions during pleasure in the judiciary line, though a

tenure for life there is familiar, as the making the Attorney General an

officer for life, a thing unprecedented, and its being in the case of his own

son. The reason assigned by the Governor that he gave him this fixed tenure,

because he at that time proposed himself to retire from office, and meant thus

to protect his son against his successor, admits the fact charged, and is far

from justifying it.







  7th. Admitting the tenure of every commission, without any special

limitation, to be during the 













        Miscellaneous Papers      371







will of him who grants it, the conduct of the three justices whose commission

was revoked, and that of Mr. Finlay whose resignation was not accepted, is not

sufficiently clear of blame to fix the charge of arbitrarily influencing and

controlling the judiciary.







  8th. This charge is admitted to be true by Governor Sinclair, in the case of

his son-in-law, made Recorder of Clermont, while he lived in Hamilton. See page

20. He urges some matters in justification. Several other instances are stated

by Worthington and Meigs. Will's case, p. 46.







  9th. This cannot be decided but on a view of the laws.







  4th. That one of these acts was meant as a compensation for the other, is not

proved. See PP. 24, 43.







  3d. The real charge here is that the Governor and judges selected laws from

the codes of the States to give themselves fees. I was a member of Congress,

and I believe of the committee which prepared the first plan for the

organization of the new States. A legislature to be composed of the Governor

and judges was a measure of necessity in the earliest stages of those

territorial governments; yet we were sensible it was fundamentally wrong to

submit freemen to laws made by officers of the Executive. It was determined,

then, they should not make laws themselves, but adopt from the codes of the

States, which being passed by freemen for their own government, it was supposed

would never 













372        Jefferson's Works -







be oppressive. But no one dreamt of their selecting laws to give themselves

fees. For to what a length might not this be carried by entitling themselves to

fees for every set which was allowed a fee in any single State? Their salaries

were certainly understood to be in lieu of all emoluments ; yet they early

began this abuse. Governor Sinclair and his associates set the example. It was

not unnoticed. But as every one had rather another should pass personal

censures than himself, the first laws for this purpose were laid by myself

before Congress with the other laws, without comment, the power of repealing

being in them. Partly from much business, partly from no individual member

being willing to come forward as the denunciator, the thing went on till the

arbitrary and intolerable temper of Governor Sarjeant urged it on the notice of

Congress. On the 12th of February, 1795, this. among other legislative

practices, had been disapproved by the House of Representatives, (report, p. 8,

g, February 19, 1801, ) and lost in the Senate. But February 19, 1801, a

committee of friends to Sarjeant, appointed by his friend Sedgwick, reported it

an abuse, but not proceeding from criminal intentions, and therefore resolved

that there ought to be no further proceedings for mal-administration against

him, to which resolution the House dis-. agreed by a vote of fifty against

thirty-eight, though a federal House ; but this being late in the day of the 3d

of March, 1801, on which day they were to rise, 













        Miscellaneous Papers      373







nothing further could be done. But Governor Sarjeant's time expiring soon

after, his commission was not renewed for this among other reasons.







 Hints on the Subject of Indian Boundaries, suggested







for Consideration. December 29th, 1802.







  An object, becoming one of great importance, is the establishment of a strong

'front on our western boundary, the Mississippi, securing us on that side, as

our front on the Atlantic does towards the East. Our proceedings with the

Indians should tend systematically to that object, leaving the extinguishment

of title in the interior country to fall in as occasions may arise. The Indians

being once closed in between strong settled countries on the Mississippi and

Atlantic, will, for want of game, be forced to agriculture, will find that

small portions of land, well improved, will be worth more to them than

extensive forests unemployed, and will continually be parting with portions of

them for money to buy stock, utensils, and necessaries for their farms and

families.







  On the Mississippi, we hold at present from our southern boundary to the

Yazoo. From the Yazoo to the Ohio is the property of the Chickasaw, a tribe the

most friendly to us, and at the same time the most adverse to the diminution of

their lands. The portion of their territory of first importance to us, would be

the slip between the Mississippi on 













374        Jefferson's Works 







the west, and on the east the Yazoo and the ridge dividing the waters of the

Mississippi and Tennessee. Their main settlements are eastward of this. I

believe they have few within this and towards the Mississippi. The method by

which we may advance towards our object will be, 1, to press the encouragements

to agriculture, by which they may see how little land will maintain them much

better, and the advantage of exchanging useless deserts to improve their farms.

a. To establish among them a factory or factories for furnishing them with all

the necessaries and comforts they may wish (spirituous liquors excepted),

encouraging these and especially their leading men, to run in debt for these

beyond their individual means of paying; and whenever in that situation, they

will always cede lands to rid themselves of debt. A factory about the Chickasaw

bluffs, would be tolerably central, and they might admit us to tend corn for

feeding the factory and themselves when at it" and even to fix some persons for

the protection of the factory from the Indians west of the Mississippi, and

others. After awhile we might purchase these, and add to it from time to time.

3. We should continue to increase and nourish their friendship and confidence

by every act of justice and of favor which we can possibly render them. What we

know in favor of the other Indians, should not constitute the measure of what

we do for these, our views as to these being so much more important. This tribe

is very poor, 













        Miscellaneous Papers      375







and they want necessaries with which we abound. We want lands with which they

abound; and these natural wants seem to €offer fair ground of mutual supply.







 The country between the Mississippi and Illinois on one side, and the Ohio and

Wabash on the other, is also peculiarly desirable to us, and is in a situation

this moment which renders it particularly easy for us to acquire a considerable

portion of it. It has belonged to the Kaskaskias, Cahokias and Piorias. ' The

Cahokias (of whom the Michiganris were a part) have been anticipated by the

Sacs, the Piorias driven off, and the Kaskaskias decreased to a few families.

Governor Harrison, in his letter of November 28th, 1802, says the Pioria chief

has offered the right of his nation to these lands for a trifle. We should not

fail to purchase it immediately. The Cahokias being extirpated, we have a right

to their lands in preference to any Indian tribe, in virtue of our permanent

sovereignty over it. He also says that De Coigne, the Kaskaskia chief, would

make easy terms with us. I think we should be liberal in our offers to the

Kaskaskians. They are now but a few families, exposed to numerous enemies, and

unable to defend themselves, and would cede lands in exchange for protection.

We might agree to their laying off one hundred acres of the best soil for every

person, young and old, of their tribe, we might enclose it well for them in one

general inclosure, give to every family utensils and 













376        Jefferson's Works







stock sufficient for their portion of it, and give. them an, annuity in

necessaries, on their ceding to us their whole country, on retaining for

themselves only a moderate range around their farms for their stock to range

in; and we might undertake to protect them from their enemies. Having thus

established ourselves in the rights of the Kaskaskias, Cahokias and Piorias, we

should have to settle the boundaries between them and the Kickapoos,

Powtawatamies and Weaws. We should press again the good will of these tribes by

friendly acts, and of their chiefs by largesses, and then propose to run the

line between us,. to claim whatever can be said to be doubtful, offering them a

liberal price for their pretensions, and even endeavoring to obtain from them a

cession of so much of their acknowledged territory as they can be induced to

part with.







 As to the country on the Mississippi above the mouth of the Illinois, its

acquisition is not pressing in the present state of things. It might be well to

be inquiring into titles, and to claim whatever may have been abandoned or lost

by its native owners, so as to prevent usurpation by tribes having no right; as

also to purchase such portions as may be found in the occupation of small

remnants of tribes. nearly extinct and disposed to emigrate.







 For the present, it is submitted to the consideration of the Secretary of War,

whether instructions should not be immediately given to Governor Harrison to

treat with the Piorias and Kaskaskias 













        Miscellaneous Papers     377







chiefs; as to the latter, which is most important, it would be easy to solicit

and bring over by presents every individual of mature age.







 Notes on the Subject of the Consular Convention between the United States and

France. May 3d, 1803.







  In 1784 a convention was entered into between Dr. Franklin and the Count de

Vergennes concerning consuls. It contained many things absolutely inadmissible

by the laws of the several States, and inconsistent with their genius and

character. Dr. Franklin, not being a lawyer, and the project offered by the

Count de Vergennes being a copy of the conventions which were established

between France and the despotic States on the continent (for with England they

never had one), he seems to have supposed it a formula established by universal

experience, and not to have suspected that it might contain matters

inconsistent with the principles of 'a free people. He returned to America soon

after the signature of it. Congress received it with the deepest concern. They

honored Dr. Franklin, they were attached to the French nation ; but they could

not relinquish fundamental principles. They declined ratifying it, and sent it

back with new powers and instructions to Mr. Jefferson, who succeeded Dr.

Franklin at Paris. The most objectionable matters. were the privileges and

exemptions given to the 













378        Jefferson's Works







consuls, and their powers over persons of the nation, establishing a

jurisdiction independent of that of the nation in which it was exercised, and

uncontrollable by it. The French government valued these, because they then

apprehended a very extensive emigration from France to the United States, which

this convention enabled them to control. It was, therefore, with the utmost

reluctance, and inch by inch, that they could be induced to relinquish these

conditions. The following changes, however, were effected by the convention of

1788 :







  The clauses of the convention of 1784, clothing consuls with the privileges

of the laws of nations, were struck out, and they were expressly subjected, in

their persons and property, to the laws of the land.







  The giving the right of sanctuary to their houses, was reduced to a

protection of their chancery room and its papers.







  Their coercive powers over passengers were taken away; and those whom they

might have termed deserters of their nation, were restrained to deserted seamen

only.







  The clause allowing them to arrest and send back vessels, was struck out, and

instead of it they were allowed to exercise a police over the ships of their

nation generally.







  So was that which declared the indelibility of the character of subject, and

the explanation and extension of the eleventh article of the treaty of amity. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    379







 The innovations in the laws of evidence were done away; and the convention,

from being perpetual, was limited to twelve years.







 Although strong endeavors were made to do away some other disagreeable

articles, yet it was found that more could not be done without disturbing the

good humor which Congress wished so much to preserve, and the limitation

obtained for the continuance of the convention insured our getting finally rid

of the whole. Congress, therefore, satisfied with having so far amended their

situation, ratified the convention of 1788 without hesitation.







 To Mr. Wingate.







 Resolutions Relative to the Alien and Sedition laws.(1)







  1. Resolved, That the several States composing the United States of America,

are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General

Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution

for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General

Government for special purposes,-delegated to that government certain definite

powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass















        _______________







(1) Two copies of these resolutions are preserved among the manuscripts of the

author, both in his own handwriting. ,One is a rough draught, and the other

very neatly and carefully prepared. The probability is, that they are the

original of the celebrated Kentucky Resolutions on the same subject.-En.  







        _______________







 













380        Jefferson's Works







of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General

Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and

of no force: that to this compact each State acceded as a State and is an

integral party, its coStates forming, as to itself, the other party: that the

government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of

the extent of the powers delegated to itself;. since that would have made its

discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as

in all other cases of' compact among powers having no common judge, each party

has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode

and measure of redress.







  2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to

Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current

coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas,

and offences against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever ; and

it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the

Constitution having also declared, that "the powers not delegated to the United

States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to

the States respectively, or to the people, " therefore the act of Congress,

passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, and intituled "An Act in addition to the

act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain 













        Miscellaneous Papers    381







crimes against the United States, " as also the act passed by them on the - day

of June, 1798, intituled "An Act to punish frauds committed on the bank of the

United States," (and all their other acts which assume to create, define, or

punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution,) are

altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and

punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and

exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory.







  3. Resolved, that it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly

declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that "the powers not

delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the

States, are reserved to the States respectively, ox to the people ; " and that

no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the

press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited

by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain,

and were reserved to the States or the people: that thus was manifested their

determination to retain to themselves the right of' judging how far the

licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening

their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from

their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also

they guarded against all abridgment 













382        Jefferson's Works







by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and

retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this State, by a

law passed on the general demand of its citizens, had already protected them

from all human restraint or interference. And that in addition to this general

principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been

made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares,

that " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or

prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of

the press : " thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words,

the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever

violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that

libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are

withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, the act of

Congress of the United States, passed on the 14th day of July, 1798, intituled

" An Act in addition to the act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain

crimes against the United States," which does abridge the freedom of the press,

is not law, but is altogether void, and of no force.







 4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction and protection of

the laws of the State wherein they are : that no power over them has been

delegated to the United States, nor prohibited to 













        Miscellaneous Papers      383







the individual States, distinct from their power over citizens. And it being

true as a general principle; and one of the amendments to the Constitution

having also declared, that " the powers not delegated to the United States by

the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the

States respectively, or to the people," the act of the Congress of the United

States, passed on the - day of July, 1798, intituled "An Act concerning

aliens," which assumes powers over alien friends, not delegated by the

Constitution, is not law, but is altogether void, and of no force.







  5. Resolved, That in addition to the general principle, as well as the

express declaration, that powers not delegated are reserved, another and more

special provision, inserted in the Constitution from abundant caution, has

declared that "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the

States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the

Congress prior to the year 1808 ; " that this commonwealth does admit the

migration of alien friends, described as the subject of the said act concerning

aliens: that a provision against prohibiting their migration, is a provision

against all acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory: that to remove

them when migrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their migration, and is,

therefore, contrary to the said provision of the Constitution, and void.







  6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person 













384        Jefferson's Works







under the protection of the laws of this commonwealth, on his failure to obey

the simple order of the President to depart out of the United States, as is

undertaken by said act intituled "An Act concerning aliens," is contrary to the

Constitution, one amendment to which has provided that " no person shall be

deprived of liberty without due process of law; " and that another having

provided that "in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right

to public trial by an impartial jury, to be informed of the nature and cause of

the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have

compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the

assistance of counsel for his defence," the same act, undertaking to authorize

the President to remove a person out of the United States, who is under the

protection of the law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury,

without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him,

without hearing witnesses in his favor, without defence, without counsel, is

contrary to the provision also of the Constitution, is therefore not law, but

utterly void, and of no force: that transferring the power of judging any

person, who is under the protection of the laws, from the courts to the

President of the United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning

aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which provides that "the

judicial power of the United States shall be vested in courts, the judges of

which shall 













        Miscellaneous Papers      385







hold their offices during good behavior ; " and that the said act is void for

that reason also. And it is further to be noted, that this transfer of

judiciary power is to that magistrate of the General Government who already

possesses all the Executive, and a negative on all legislative powers.







  7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the General Government (as is

evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of

the United States which delegate to Congress a power " to lay and collect

taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the

common defence and general welfare of the United States," and "to make all laws

which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers

vested by the Constitution in the governmont of the United States, or in any

department or officer thereof, " goes to the destruction of all limits

prescribed to their power by the Constitution : that words meant by the

instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not

to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers; nor a part to be so

taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument : that the proceedings

of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and

necessary subject of revisal and correction, at a time of greater tranquillity,

while those specified in the preceding resolutions call for immediate redress.







  8th. Resolved, That 'a committee of conference







VOL. XVII-25 













386        Jefferson's Works







and correspondence be appointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the

preceding resolutions to the legislatures of the several States; to assure them

that this commonwealth continues in the same esteem of their friendship and

union which it has manifested from that moment at 'which a common danger first

suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national

purposes, and particularly to those specified in their late fed. eral compact,

to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that

faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it

was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious

for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States

all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and

consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and

reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace,

happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore 'this commonwealth

is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated,

and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in

cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General

Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the

constitutional remedy ; but, where powers are assumed which have not been

delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful 













        Miscellaneous Papers      387







remedy : that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact,

(casus non foederis,) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of

power by others within their limits : that without this right, they would be

under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this

right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this commonwealth, from motives

of regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on

the subject : that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone

being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last,

resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not a party, but merely

the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the

final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were

all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these

conclusions would flow from them; that the General Government may place any act

they think proper on the list of crimes, and punish it themselves whether

enumerated or not enumerated by the Constitution as cognizable by them: that

they may transfer its cognizance to the President, or any other person, who may

himself be the accuser, counsel, judge and jury, whose suspicions may be the

evidence, his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast

the sole record of the transaction : that a very numerous and valuable

description of 













388        Jefferson's Works







the inhabitants of these States being, by this precedent, reduced, as outlaws,

to the absolute dominion of one man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus

swept away from us all, no rampart now remains against the passions and the.

powers of a majority in Congress to protect from a like exportation, or other

more grievous punishment, the minority of the same body, the legislatures,

judges, governors, and counsellors of the States, nor their other peaceable

inhabitants, who may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights and liberties

of the States and people, or who for other causes, good or bad, may be

obnoxious to the views, or marked by the suspicions of the President, or be

thought dangerous to his or their election, or other interests, public or

personal: that the friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest

subject of a first experiment; but the citizen will soon follow, or rather, has

already followed, for already has a sedition act marked him as its prey : that

these and successive acts of the same character, unless arrested at the

threshold, necessarily drive these States into revolution and blood, and will

furnish new calumnies ,against republican government, and new pretexts for

those who wish it to be believed that man cannot be governed but by a rod of

iron: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our

choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights : that confidence is

everywhere the parent of despotism free government is founded in jealousy, 













        Miscellaneous Papers     389







and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes

limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with

power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no

further, our confidence may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence read

the alien and sedition acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in

fixing limits to the government it created, and whether we should be wise in

destroying those limits. Let him say what the government is, if it be not a

tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred on our President, and the

President of our choice has assented to, and accepted over the friendly

strangers to whom the mild spirit of our country and its laws have pledged

hospitality and protection: that the men of our choice have more respected the

bare suspicions of the President, than the solid right of innocence, the claims

of justification, the sacred force of truth, and the forms and substance of law

and justice. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in

man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That

this commonwealth does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of

their sentiments on the acts concerning aliens, and for the punishment of

certain crimes herein before specified, plainly declaring whether these acts

are or are not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their

sense will be so announced as to prove 













390        Jefferson's Works







their attachment unaltered to limited government, whether general or

particular.  And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be

exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common bot- tom with their

own. That they will concur with this commonwealth in considering the said acts

as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised

declaration that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of

the General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these

States, of all powers what- soever : that they will view this as seizing the

rights of the States; and consolidating them in the hands of the General

Government; with a power assumed to bind the States, (not merely as the cases

made federal, (casus foederis,) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not

with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this would be to

surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving

its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the

co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will

concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will each take

measures of its own for providing that neither these acts; nor any others of

the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Consti-

tution, shall be exercised within their respective territories.  .







 9th. Resolved, That the said committee be author













        Miscellaneous Papers     391







ized to communicate by writing or personal conferences, at any times or places

whatever, with any person or persons who may be appointed by any one or more

co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their

proceedings before the next session of Assembly. .







      Dr. Stevens' Case.' June 12th, 1804.







  I consider the annual act which appropriates a given sum to the expenses of

intercourse with foreign nations, as a sufficient authority to the President

(the constitutional organ of foreign intercourse) to expend that sum for the

purposes of foreign intercourse at his discretion. If he abuses that

discretion, he is responsible for it in a constitutional way. The legal

restrictions on this power are, That for outfit or compensation for personal

services and expenses to certain specified grades (which are those chiefly used

by the United States), not more than specified sums shall be allowed. 2. That

the







                            June 12th, 1804.















        _______________







  MR. GALLATIN; On the subject of Dr. Stevens' case, I had, before receiving

your letter, endeavored to form as correct a judgment as I could; and had made

some notes, keeping them open till I might see whether anything further should

be added.     I have this morning put them into some form. Of the purity of the

motives of your objections, it was impossible I should ever entertain a

moment's doubt. Of my opinion of their solidity, you will see a proof in the

conclusions I have drawn, and which will probably condemn more than the half of

Dr. Stevens' claims. I enclose you a copy of my opinion on the subject, which

may serve as the direction of the Department of State to the comptroller,

Accept my affectionate salutations. 







        _______________







 













392        Jefferson's Works







whole expenses shall not exceed the sum appropriated. 3. That an account of the

expenditure shall be rendered. The sum on which these restrictions leave the

Executive discretion to act, is too small to excite any rations I jealousy, or

to render it useful to restrict it further: by rigorous and unusual

constructions. The Executive, therefore, is believed to be free to make

allowance to the specified grades for any object than those (for personal

services and expenses), and to employ any unspecified grade on such salary and

allowance as he thinks proper within the limits of the whole appropriation. Nor

is any law, or principle of law known, which would forbid the super adding

these agencies and allowances for them to the ordinary functions of a court

minister, etc. I consider the appointment, therefore, and allowance to Dr.

Stevens to have been within the limits of the Executive authority.







 Whenever it is agreed between two parties that certain services shall be

performed by the one for the other, and no special compensation is stipulated,

the law understands their intention to be that a quantum meruit, or a

reasonable compensation shall be allowed. Such an agreement will therefore be

implied by law in the case of Dr. Stevens. What is that reasonable

compensation? Not his expenses, however extravagant, even if a contract could

be proved that his expenses were to be paid. The law understands such a promise

to mean his reasonable expenses only. His functions were in a certain 













        Miscellaneous Papers    393







degree of a diplomatic nature. Yet the government to which he was sent, not

being independent, he could not be invested formally with any diplomatic grade.

 If we place him, therefore, on the level of the lowest grade, that of a charge

des affaires, and make that the measure of his quantum meruit, we shall do him

full justice. No circumstance justifles his assuming a higher place.







  But shall he be considered as a permanent agent, and therefore entitled ,to

an outfit, or only as an occasional one to be allowed the reasonable expenses

of his passage, which is the rule with occasional diplomatic agents ? His € not

having been nominated to the Senate clearly excludes him from the character of

a permanent agent, if it does not take from him all legal character after their

first session following his appointment. To draw such a line as will admit the

Executive, during the recess of the Senate; to despatch a special agent for a

particular purpose without awaiting their approbation, and yet not enable him,

by continuing that agent permanently, to evade the constitutional approbation

of the Senate, and to keep up a separate corps of diplomacy of his own, will

require great consideration, caution and candor, and until it be done, great

attention in the Executive to keep within unquestionable bounds. I do not

think, however, that the right of Dr. Stevens ought to depend on that

definition. An individual who is employed by the highest public functionary to

do a public service 













394        Jefferson's Works







within the line of his authority, is bound to consider him as acting with legal

powers, and as alone charged with all the responsibility if he transcends his

powers. Dr. Stevens had a right to expect the Executive would nominate him to

the Senate for approbation, if that nomination was necessary. He proceeds in

his duty, and supposes the Executive does the same, and ought not to lose his

right by the failure of the latter. The public in such case should pay the

individual; and take on themselves the measures necessary to prevent similar

infractions of the Constitution in future.







  Questions meriting great consideration, have been made as to the sufficiency

of the evidence offered in support of Dr. Stevens' claims. The settling by a

quantum meruit, the claim (for personal services and expenses) gets rid of this

question so far. For that the services were performed is notorious, and that it

was by public authority, results from the whole correspondence. It has been

suspected, indeed, that there was no contract, nor any other reward intended

than certain privileges of commerce. But this is not the way the United States

pay their servants. Monopolizing compensations are among the most fatal abuses

which some govern- ments practice from false economy. They are not the usage

here, and if suggested, the onus probandi is thrown on the party suggesting it.

The law will presume a fair and usual contract, but not one which is improper

and unusual. 













        Miscellaneous Papers        395







 The claim for travelling expenses within the limits of his agency, would

require proof of positive contract. When an agent for a limited district, is

sent into another, his expenses have been usually allowed ; but never those of

travelling to and from places within his regular care, and for the regular

purposes of that care. His general allowance compensates his general

superintendence over the whole, and to pay him for visiting each particular

part also, would be a double payment. This would lead to endless claims and

difficulties.







  The hire of despatch vessels has been attended with such singular

circumstances as excite almost invincible suspicion that they came on the

ordinary business of the mercantile house. This means of conveying information

is so expensive, that it is not allowed even to diplomatic agencies, but. on

great and important emergencies, on each of which as it arises, the Department

of State will decide, at the risk of the agent venturing on it. Whether these

despatch vessels came purely on public account, and whether the matter they

were charged with justified the expense, should be strictly inquired into.







  Inquiry will doubtless also be made, I, whether Mr. Yard's connection in

interest with Dr. Stevens will admit him to be a witness in this case ; and z,

if it does, his testimony will be estimated, as every other man's is which is

given under circumstances af bias of which he is not sensible himself. 













396        Jefferson's Works. 







  In deciding on these questions of evidence, we are bound to proceed by the

same laws of evidence which govern the courts of justice. These are the laws of

the land, admitting no exceptions of person; public or private. The laws in

refusing an appeal to the ordinary tribunals in questions between an individual

and the public, and leaving the decision in the Executive department, has

changed the judge in this instance, but not the law. It has given judiciary but

not legislative powers ; and the laws of the land are the inheritance and the

right of every man, before whatever tribunal he is brought. For instance, that

a contract need not be on record; that it may be by parol as well as in

writing, that a written contract may be controlled by verbal agreement or other

intrinsic matter, are principles of law to which Dr. Stevens is entitled on the

one hand, as it is our duty, on the other, to bring his claims to the test of

law, to sift the facts on which they rest by the common rules of evidence, and

to decide according to these on every item of his accounts, not weakly to

relieve an individual by giving him the public money, nor arbitrarily to

withhold by public power what is justly due to an individual. This

investigation cannot be better trusted than to the.justice and judgment of the

comptroller, to whom therefore it is referred. 













        Miscellaneous Papers    397







 Notes on a Draught for a Second Inaugural Address:







 The former one was an exposition of the principles on which I thought it my

duty to administer the government. The second, then, should naturally be a

compte, rendu, or a. statement of facts showing that I have conformed to those

principles. The former was promise: this is performance. Yet the nature of the

occasion requires that detail should be avoided ; that the most prominent heads

only should be selected, and these placed in a strong light, but in as few

words as possible. These heads are foreign affairs, domestic ditto, viz. :

Taxes, Debts, Louisiana, Religion, Indians, the Press. None of' these heads

need any commentary but that of Indians. This is a proper topic, not only to

promote the work of humanizing our citizens towards these people, but to

conciliate to us the good opinion of Europe on the subject of the Indians.

This, however, might have been done in half the compass it here occupies: But

every respecter of science, every friend to political reformation, must have

observed with indignation the hue and cry raised against philosophy and the

rights of man ; and it really seems as if they would, be overborne, and

barbarism, bigotry, and despotism, would recover the ground they have lost by

the advance of the public understanding. I have thought the occasion justified

some discountenance of these antisocial doctrines, some testimony against them.















398        Jefferson's Works







But not to commit myself in direct warfare an them, I have thought it best to

say what is directly applied to the Indians only, but admits by inference a

more general extension.







Farewell Address to Thomas Jefferson, President of







        the United States.







        [Agreed to by both Houses, Feb. 7, 1809.]







 SIR,-The General Assembly of your native State cannot close their session,

without acknowledging your services in the office which you are just about to

lay down, ,and bidding you a respectful and affectionate farewell.







 We have to thank you for the model of an administration conducted on the

purest principles of republicanism ; for pomp and state laid aside ; patronage

discarded ; internal taxes abolished ; a host of superfluous officers disbanded

; the monarchic maxim " that a national debt is a national blessing "

renounced, and more than thirty-three millions of our debt discharged; the

native right to nearly one hundred millions of acres of our national domain

extinguished; and, without the guilt or calamities of conquest, a vast and

fertile region added to our country, far more extensive than her original pos-

sessions, bringing along with it the Mississippi and the port of Orleans, the

trade of the west to the Pacific ocean, and in the intrinsic value of the land

itself, a source of permanent and almost inexhaust













        Miscellaneous Papers       399







ible revenue. These are points in your administration which the historian will

not fail to seize, to expand, and teach  posterity to dwell upon with delight.

. Nor will he forget our peace with the civilized world, preserved through a

season of uncommon difficulty and trial ; the good will cultivated with the

unfortunate aborigines of our country, and the civilization humanely extended

among them; the lesson taught the inhabitants of the coast of Barbary, that we

have the means of chastising their piratical encroachments, and awing them into

justice ; and that theme, on which, above all others, the historic genius will

hang with rapture, the liberty of speech and of the press preserved inviolate,

without which genius and science are given to man in vain.







  In the principles on which you have administered the government, we see only

the continuation and maturity of the same virtues and abilities; which drew

upon you in your youth the resentment of Dunmore. From the first brilliant and

happy moment of your resistance to foreign tyranny, until the present day, we

mark with pleasure and with gratitude the same uniform, consistent character,

the same warm and devoted attachment to liberty and the republic, the same

Roman love of your country, her rights; her peace, her honor, her prosperity.







  How blessed will be the retirement into which you are about to go! How

'deservedly blessed will 













400        Jefferson's Works







it be! For you carry with you the richest of all rewards; the recollection of a

life well spent in the service of your country, and proofs the most decisive,

of the love, the gratitude, the veneration of your countrymen.







 That your retirement may be as happy as your life has been virtuous and

useful; that our youth may see in the blissful close of your days, an

additional inducement to form themselves on your model, is the devout and

earnest prayer of your fellow citizens who compose the General Assembly of

Virginia.







Notes on Fifth Volume of Marshall's Life of Wash-







            ington.







  Page 2. " The practicability of perpetuating his authority, etc. " I am

satisfied that General Washington had not a wish to perpetuate his authority;

but he who supposes it was practicable, had he wished. it, knows nothing of the

spirit of America, either of the people or of those who possessed their

confidence. There was indeed a cabal of the officers of the army who proposed

to establish a monarchy and to propose it to General Washington. He frowned

indignantly at the proposition (according to the information which got abroad,)

and Rufus King and some few civil characters, chiefly [indeed, I believe to a

man] north of Maryland, who joined in this intrigue. But they never dared

openly to





















        Miscellaneous Papers    401







avow it, knowing that the spirit which had produced a change in the form of

government was alive to the preservation of it.







 Page 28. The member of Congress here alluded to was myself, and the extracts

quoted, was part of a letter from myself in answer to one General Washington

wrote. (See both.) General Washington called on me at Annapolis (where I then

was as a member of Congress), on his way to the meeting of the Cincinnati in

Philadelphia. We had much conversation on the institution, which was chiefly an

amplification of the sentiments in our letters, and, in conclusion, after I had

stated to him the modifications which I thought might remove all jealousies, as

well as dangers, and the parts which might still be retained, he appeared to

make up his mind, and said : ' ` No ! not a fibre of it must be retained-no

half-way reformation will suffice. If the thing be bad, it must be totally

abolished. " And he declared his determination to use his utmost endeavors to

have it entirely abolished. On his return from Philadelphia he called on me

again at Annapolis, and sat with me until a very late hour in the night, giving

me an account of what passed in their convention. The sum of it was that he had

exerted his whole influence in every way in his power to procure an abolition;

that the opposition to it was extreme, and especially from some of the younger

members; but that after several days of struggle within doors and without, a

general senti-







vol. xvii-26 













402        Jefferson's Works







ment was obtained for its entire abolition. Whether any vote had been taken on

it or not, I do not remember; but his affirmation to me was, that within a few

days (I think he said two or three) it ,would have been formally abolished.

Just in that moment arrived Major L'Enfant, who had been sent to France to

procure the Eagles, and to offer the order to the French officers who had

served in America. He brought the King's permission to his officers to accept

it, the letters of thanks of these officers accepting it, letters of

solicitation from other officers to obtain it, and the Eagles themselves. The

effect of all this on the minds of the members was to undo much of what had

been done; to rekindle all the passion€s which had produced the institution,

and silence all the dictates of prudence, which had been operating for its

abolition. After this, the General said, the utmost that could be effected was

the modification which took place, and which provided for its extinction with

the death of the existing members. He declined the presidency, and, I think,

Baron Steuben was appointed. I went soon after to France. While there, M. de

Meunier, charged with that part of the Encyclopedie Methodique which relates to

economy politique and diplomatique, called on me with the article of that

dictionary, " Etats Unis, " which he had prepared ready for the press, and

begged I would revise it and make any notes on it which I should think

necessary towards rendering it correct. I furnished 













        Miscellaneous Papers    403







him most of the matter of his fifth, sixth, .eighth, ninth, and tenth sections

of the article " Etats Unis," with which, however, he intermixed some of l€s

own. The ninth is that which relates to the Cincinnati. On this subject, the

section, as prepared by him, was an unjust and incorrect philippic against

General Washington and the American officers in general. I wrote a substitute

for it, which he adopted, ,but still retaining considerable of his own matter,

and interspersing it in various parts.







  Page 33. "In a government constituted," etc. Here begins the artful

complexion he has given to the two parties, Federal and Republican: In

describing the first by their views and motives, he implies an opposition to

those motives in their opponents which is totally untrue. The real difference

consisted in their different degrees of inclination to Monarchy or

Republicanism. The Federalists wished for everything which would approach our

new government to a monarchy. The Republicans to preserve it essentially

republican. This was the true origin of the division, and remains still the

essential principle of difference between the two parties. 













404        Jefferson's Works







   Scheme for a System of Agricultural Societies.







               March, 1811.







  Several persons, farmers and planters of the county of Albemarle, having,

during their visits and occasional meetings together, in conversations on the

subjects of their agricultural pursuits, received considerable benefits from an

intercommunication of their plans and processes in husbandry, they have

imagined that these benefits might be usefully extended by enlarging the field

of communication so as to embrace the whole dimensions of the State. Were

practical .and observing husbandmen in each county to form themselves into a

society, commit to writing themselves, or state in conversations at their

meetings to be written down by others, their practices and observations, their

experiences and ideas,. selections from these might be made from time to time

by every one for his own use, or by the society or a committee of it, for more

general purposes. By an interchange of these selections among the societies of

the different counties, each might thus become possessed of the useful ideas

and processes of the whole; and every one adopt such of them as he should deem

suitable to his own situation. Or to abridge the labor of such multiplied

correspondences, a central society might be agreed on to which, as a common

deposit, all the others should send their communications. The society thus

honored by the general confidence, would 













        Miscellaneous Papers      405







doubtless feel and fulfil the duty of selecting such papers as should be worthy

of entire communication, of extracting and digesting from others whatever might

be useful, and of condensing their matter within such compass as might

reconcile it to the reading, as well as to the purchase of the great mass of

practical men. Many circumstances would recommend, for the central society,

that which should be established in the county of the seat of government. The

necessary relations of every county with that would afford facilities for all

the transmissions which should take place between them. The annual meeting of

the legislature at that place, the individuals of which would most frequently

be members of their county societies, would give opportunities of informal

conferences which might promote a general and useful understanding among all

the societies; and presses established there offer conveniences entirely

peculiar to that situation.







  In a country, of whose interests agriculture forms the basis, wherein the sum

of productions is limited by the quantity of the labor it possesses, and not of

its lands, a more judicious employment of that labor would be a ,clear addition

of gain to individuals as well as to the nation, now lost to both by a want of

skill and information in its direction. Every one must have seen farms

otherwise equal, the one producing the double of the other by the superior

culture and management of its possesss or; and every one must have under his

eye numerous examples 













406        Jefferson's Works







of persons setting out in life with no other possession than skill in

agriculture, and speedily, by its sole exercise, acquire wealth and

independence. To promote, therefore, the diffusion of this skill, and thereby

to procure, with the same labor now employed, greater means of subsistence and

of happiness to our fellow citizens, is the ultimate object of this

association; and towards effecting it, we consider the following particulars

among those most worthy of the attention of the societies proposed.







  1st. And principally the cultivation of our primary staples of wheat,

tobacco, and hemp, for market.







  2d. All subsidiary articles for the support of the farm, the food, the

clothing and the comfort of the household, as Indian corn, rye, oats, barley,

buck:wheat, millet, the family of peas and beans, the whole family of grasses,

turnips, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, and other useful roots, cotton and

flax, the garden and orchard.







  3d: The care and services of useful animals for the saddle or draught, for

food or clothing, and the destruction of noxious quadrupeds, fowls, insects,

and reptiles. .                     







 4th. Rotations of crops, and the circumstances which should govern or vary

them, according to the varieties of soil, climate, and markets, of our

different counties.







  5th. Implements of husbandry and operations with them, among which the plough

and all its kindred instruments fox dividing the soil, holds the













         Miscellaneous Papers    407







first place, and the threshing machine an important one, the simplification of

which is a 'great desideratum. Successful examples, too, of improvement in the

operations of these instruments would be an excitement to correct the slovenly

and unproductive practices too generally prevalent.







  6th. Farm buildings and conveniences, inclosures, roads, fuel, timber.







  7th. Manures, plaster, green-dressings, follows, and other means of

ameliorating the soil.







  8th. Calendars of works, showing how a given number of laborers and a draught

of animals are to be employed every day in the year so as to perform within

themselves, and in their due time, according to the usual course of seasons,

all the operations of a farm of given size. This being essential to the

proportioning the labor to the size of the farm







  9th. A succinct report of the different practices of husbandry in the county;

including the bad as well as the good, that those who follow the former may

read and see their own condemnation in the same page which offers better

examples for their adoption. It is believed that a judicious execution of this

article alone, might nearly supersede every other duty of the society, inasmuch

as it would present every good practice which has occurred to the mind of any

cultivator of the State for imitation, and every bad one for avoidance. And the

choices_t processes culled from every farm, would compose a course probably

near perfection. 













408        Jefferson's Works







10th. The county communications being first digested in their respective

societies, a methodical and compact digest and publication of these would be

the duty of the central society; and on the judicious performance of this,

would in a great degree depend the utility of the institutions, and extent of

improvement flowing from them.







 11th. That we may not deter from becoming members, those practical and

observing husbandmen whose knowledge is the most valuable, and who are mostly

to be found in that portion of citizens with whom the observance of economy is

necessary, all duties of every kind should be performed gratis; and to defray

the expenses of the central publication alone, each member should pay at the

first stated meeting of his society in every .year,dollars, for which he should

be entitled to receive a copy of the publication bound in boards.







 12th. The first association of - persons in any county notifying themselves as

constituted to the central society, should be received as the society of the

county making a part of the general establishment here proposed; but every

county society should be free to adopt associate members, although residents of

other counties, and to receive and avail the institution of communications from

persons not members, whether in or out of their county.







 We are far from presuming to offer this organization and these principles of

constitution as complete and worthy the implicit adoption of other societies. 













        Miscellaneous Papers     409







They are suggested only as propositions for consideration and amendment, and we

shall readily accede to any others more likely to effect the purposes we have

in view. We know that agricultural societies are already established in some

counties ; but we are not informed of -their particular constitutions. We

request these to be admitted into their brotherhood, and to make with them

parts of one great whole : We have  learned that such a society is formed or

forming at the seat of our government. We ask their affiliation, and give them

our suffrage for the station of central society. We promise to all our zealous

co-operation in promoting the objects of the institution, and to contribute our

mite in exchange for the more abundant information we. shall receive from

others.







  For these. purposes we now constitute ourselves an agricultural society of

the county of Albemarle, and adopt as rules for present observance, the

principles before stated.







 Our further organization shall be a president, secretary and treasurer, to be

chosen at the first stated meeting to be held in every year, by a majority of

the members present, provided those present be a majority of the existing

members, and to continue in office until another election shall be made.







 There shall be four stated meetings in every year, to wit : on the first

Mondays in January, April, July and October.







 The place of meeting, and rules of the society, 













410        Jefferson's Works







shall be established, revoked or altered, and new members admitted, at any of

the stated meetings, by a majority of the attending members, if they be a

majority of those present, not being less than one-fourth of the whole. And,

lest the powers given to the greater quorum of a: majority of the whole, should

at any time remain unexercised from insufficient attendance, the same may be

exercised by a resolution of the lesser quorum of one-fourth, passed at a

stated meeting: provided it be confirmed at the next stated meeting, by either

a greater or lesser quorum, and in the meantime have no force.







  Those who for two whole years shall not have attended any stated meeting

shall, ipso facto, cease to be members. And to ascertain at all times who are

the existing members, the names of those attending every meeting shall be

regularly entered in the journals of the society. .







  The president shall preside at all meetings when present, and when absent, a

president pro tempore may be appointed for that purpose by those present.







 Observations on the Force and Obligation of the Common Law in the United

States, on the occasion of Hardin 's Case, in Kentucky. November 11th, 1812.







 The common law of England is that system of law which was established in that

country anterior to the Magna Charta, 9 H. 3, before which period no statutes

are extant of record. It is used in contra













        Miscellaneous Papers     411







distinction to the term statute law, which comprehends all the laws passed by

their Parliament from the Magna Charta down to this day.







  The term common law is used also in contradistinction to the chancery, as

when we speak of the doctrines or courts of the common law, the doctrines or

courts of chancery, and then include the statute law also. In which sense the

term is used, must always depend on the subject matter. .







  On the settlement of the colonies now composing the United States, and the

establishment of a legis- lature in each of them, that legislature, in some

cases, finding that the enacting a complete code of laws, which should reach

every transaction needing legislative regulation, would be far beyond their

time and abilities, adopted, by an express act of their own, the laws of

England as they stood at that date, comprehending the common law, statutes to

that period, and the chancery law. In other cases, instead of adopting them by

an express statute of their own, they considered themselves as having brought

with them, and been, even on their passage, under the constant obligation of

the laws of the another country, and on their arrival they con- tinued to

practice them without any act of adoption, which practice or usage is evidence

that there was an adoption by general consent. In the case of Connecticut, they

did not adopt the common law of England at all as their basis, but declared by

an act of their own, that the law of God, as it stood 













412        Jefferson's Works







revealed in the Old and New Testament, should be the basis of their laws, to be

subject to such alterations as they should make. In all the cases where the

common law, or laws of England, were adopted either expressly or tacitly, the

legislatures held of course, and exercised the power of making additions and

alterations.







  As the different States were settled at very different periods, and the

adoption for each State was the laws of England as they stood at the moment of

the adoption by the State, it is evident that the system was adopted in 1607 by

Virginia, was one thing, as by Pennsylvania was another thing, as by Georgia,

in 1759, was still a different one. And when to this is added the very

diversified modifications of the adoptive code, produced by the subsequent laws

passed by the legislatures of the different States, the system of common law in

force in any one State on the 24th of September, 1789 when Congress assumed the

jurisdiction given them by the Constitution, was very different from the

systems in force at the same moment in the several other States: that in all of

these the common law was in force by virtue of the adoption of the State,

express or tacit, and that it was not in force in Connecticut, because they had

never adopted it.







  Having settled, by way of preliminary, to what extent, and by what authority,

the common law of England is the law of each of the States, we will proceed to

consider how far, and .by what authority; 













        Miscellaneous Papers    413







it is the law of the United States as a national government.







 By the Constitution, the General Government has jurisdiction in all cases

arising under the Constitution, under the (constitutional) laws of the United

States, and under treaties; in all cases, too, of ambassadors, of admiralty

jurisdiction, where the United States is a party, between a State or its

citizens, or another State or its citizens, or a foreign State or its citizens.







 The General Government, then, had a right to take under their cognizance all

these cases, and no others. This might have been done by Congress, by passing a

complete code, assuming the whole field of their jurisdiction, and applying

uniformly to every State, without any respect to the laws of that State. But,

like the State legislatures, who had been placed before in a similar situation,

they felt that it was a work of too much time and difficulty to be undertaken.

Observing, therefore, that (except cases of piracy and murder on the high seas)

all the cases within their jurisdiction must arise in some of the States, they

declared by the act Sept. 24, 1789, c. 20, ş 34, "That the laws of the several

States, except where the Constitution, treaties, or statutes of the United

States shall otherwise provide, shall be regarded as rules of decision in

trials at common law in the courts of the United States in cases where they

apply. "







 Here, then, Congress adopt for each State the 













414           Jefferson's Works







laws of that State; and among the laws so adopted were portions of the common

law, greater or less in different States, and in force, not by any innate

authority of its own, but by the adoption or enacting of it by the State

authority.







 Now what was the opinion to which this was opposed? Several judges of the

General Government declared that "the common law of England is the unwritten

law of the United States in their national and federal capacity. " A State

judge in a printed work, lays it down as " certainly wrong to say that the

judiciary power of the nation can exercise no authority but what depends for

its principle on acts of the national legislature. ", And then quoting the

preamble to the Constitution of the United States, which says that its object

is "to insure domestic tranquillity, promote the general welfare, " etc. , he

adds, that " what is here expressed is the common law of the whole country, "

and that "whatever is in opposition to it, whether treason, insurrection,

sedition, murder, riot, assaults, batteries, thefts or robberies, may be

punished as crimes, independent of any act of Congress. " And opinions

equivalent to this were declared by one party on the floor of Congress. This is

the doctrine which the republicans declared heretical. They deny that Congress

can pass any law not authorized by the Constitution, and that the judges can

act on any law not authorized by Congress, or by the Constitution in very

direct terms. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      415







  If the true doctrine then be, that certain portions of the common and statute

law of England be in force in the different States by virtue of the adoption of

that State, and in the federal courts of the same State by virtue of the

adoption by Congress of the laws of that State within its limits, then whenever

a case is presented to a federal court, they are to ask themselves the

following questions :







  1. Is this case within any of the definitions of jurisdiction given by the

Constitution to the General Government? If it be decided that it is, then







  2. Has Congress by any positive statute assumed cognizance of this case as

permitted them by the Constitution? To determine this question, the judge must

first look into the statutes of Congress generally; if he finds it not there,

he must look into the laws of the State, as well as that portion of the English

code which the State may have adopted, as the acts passed specially by the

legislature. If the case be actually found provided for in these laws, €

another question still remains, viz. :







 3. Is the law of the State applicable to the analogous case of the General

Government ? for it may happen that a law of the State, adapted perfectly to

its own organization and local circumstances, may not tally with the different

organization or circumstances of the federal government: If the difference be

such as to defeat the application, it must be considered as a case unprovided

for by Congress, and not cognizable in their 'courts. Just







 













416        Jefferson's Works







so parts of the common or statute law of England are found by the State judges

inapplicable to their State from a difference of circumstance. These

differences of circumstance will be shaded off from nothing to direct

inconsistence, and it will be only by many decisions on a great variety of

cases that the line will at length be drawn.







  Let us apply these questions to Hardin's case which is simply this: Congress,

by an express statute, 1802, c. 13, ş 6, have made the murder of an Indian

within the territory of the United States punishable by death. A murder is

committed on an Indian in that territory. The murderers fly to Kentucky. They

are demanded by the Governor of ' Indiana of the Governor of Kentucky ; under

whose authority our officer attempting €to take them, they are protected by

Hardin and others in arms.







  1. Is this case within the jurisdiction of Congress ? Answer. Congress having

a right " to make all rules and regulations respecting the territory of the

United States, " have declared this to be a case of murder. As they can "make

all laws necessary and proper for carrying their powers into execution, " they

can make the protecting a murderer criminal in any part of the United States.







  2. Has Congress assumed cognizance of the offence of Hardin? We must first

examine whether the act of Congress, 1790, c. 9, ş 22, takes in this offence.

Then whether the laws of Kentucky, common, 













        Miscellaneous Papers      417







statute, or State law, as adopted by Congress, comprehend this offence.







  3. Whether any difference of organization or other circumstance renders the

law of Kentucky inapplicable to this offence, can be decided 'by those only who

are particularly acquainted with that law.







         Plan for Elementary Schools.







           Popular Forest, Sept. 9th, 1817.







  DEAR SIR,-I promised you that I would put into the form of a bill my plan of

establishing the Elementary Schools, without taking a cent from the Literary

fund. I have had leisure at this place, to do this, and now send you the

result. If twelve or fifteen hundred schools are to be placed under one general

administration, an attention so divided will amount to a dereliction of them to

themselves. It is surely better, then, to place each school at once under the

care of those most interested in its conduct. In this way the Literary fund is

left untouched to complete at once the whole system of education, by

establishing a college in every district of about eighty miles square, for the

second grade of education, to wit: languages, ancient and modern, and for the

third grade a single University, in which the sciences shall be taught in their

highest degree.







  I should apologize, perhaps, for the style of this bill. I dislike the

verbose and intricate style of the English statutes, and in our revised code I

endeavored to restore it to the simple one of the ancient







  vol. xvii- 27 













418        Jefferson's Works







statutes, in such original bills as I drew in that work. I suppose the

reformation has not been acceptable, as it has been little followed. You,

however, can easily correct this bill to the taste of my brother lawyers, by

making every other word a " said " or " aforesaid, " and saying everything over

two or three times, so that nobody but we of the craft can untwist the diction,

and find out what it means; and that, too, not so plainly but that we may

conscientiously divide one half on each side. Mend it, therefore, in form and

substance to the orthodox taste, . and make it what it should be ; or, if you

think it radically wrong, try something else, and let us make a beginning in

some way. No matter how wrong, experience will amend it as we go along, and

make it effectual in the end.







  I shall see you of course at our stated visitation, and hope all the

gentlemen will consider Monticello as the rendezvous of the preceding day or

evening.







  I salute you with friendship and respect.







TO JOSEPH C. CABELL.















An Act for Establishing Elementary Schools.







  1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, that at the first

session of the Superior Court in every county within this commonwealth, next

ensuing the passage of this act, the judge thereof shall appoint three discreet

and well-informed persons, residents of the county, and not being minis













        Miscellaneous Papers      419







ters of the gospel (1) of any denomination, to serve as Visitors of the

Elementary Schools in the said county; of which appointment the sheriff shall,

within fifteen days thereafter, deliver a certificate, under the hand of the

clerk of the said court, to each of the persons so appointed.







  2. The said Visitors shall meet €at the court-house of their county on the

first county court day after they shall have received notice of their

appointment, and afterwards at such times and places as they, or any two of

them, with reasonable notice to the third, shall have agreed; and shall proceed

to divide their county into wards,(2) by metes. and bounds so designated as to

comprehend each, about the number of militia sufficient for a company, and so

also as not to divide, and throw into different wards(3)















        _______________







(1) Ministers of the Gospel are excluded to avoid jealousy from the other

sects, were the public education committed to the ministers of a particular

one; and with more reason than in the case of their exclusion from the

legislative and executive functions.^







 (2)  2. This designation of€ the size of a ward is founded on these

considerations :. 1st. That the population which furnishes a company of militia

will generally about furnish children enough for a school. 2d. That in most

instances, at present, the militia captaincies being laid off compactly by

known and convenient metes and bounds, many will be adopted without change, and

others will furnish a canvass to work on and to reform. 3d. That these wards

once established, will be found convenient and salutary aids in the

administration of government, of which they will constitute the organic

elements, and the first integral members in the composition of the military.







 (3) Ç 3. The prohibition to place among different wards the lands of a single

individual, held in a body, is, 1st. To save the proprietor from the perplexity

of multiplied responsibilities; and z. To prevent arbitrary and inconsistent

apportionments, by different wardens, of the comparative values of the

different portions of his lands in their respective wards. 







        _______________





















420        Jefferson's Works







the lands of any one person held in one body ; which division into wards shall,

within six months from the date of their appointment;. be completely

designated, published, and reported, by their metes and bounds, to the office

of the clerk of the Superior Court, there 'to be recorded, subject, however, to

such alterations, from time to time afterwards, as changes of circumstances

shall, in the opinion of the said Visitors or their successors, with the

approbation of the said court, render expedient.







  3. The original division into wards being made, the Visitors shall appoint

days for the first meeting of every ward, at such place as they shall name

within .the same, of which appointment notice shall be given at least two weeks

before the day of meeting, by advertisement at some public place within the.

ward, requiring every free, white male citizen, of full age, resident within

the ward, to meet at the place, and by the hour of twelve of the day so

appointed, at which meeting some one of the Visitors shall also attend, and a

majority of the said warders being in attendance, the Visitor present shall

propose to them to decide by a majority of their votes, -I. The location of a

school-house for the ward, and a dwelling-house for the teacher, (the owner of

the ground consenting thereto). 2. The size and structure of the said houses ;

and 3. Whether the same shall be built by the joint labor of the warders, or by

their pecuniary contributions; and also 4.. To elect by a plurality of their

votes a 













        Miscellaneous Papers    421







warden, resident, who shall direct and superintend the said buildings, and be

charged with their future care.







  4. And if they decide that the said buildings' shall be erected by the joint

labor of the warders, then all persons within the said ward liable to work in

the highways, shall attend at the order of the warden, and, under his

direction, shall labor thereon until completed, under the same penalties as

provided by law to enforce labor on the highways. And if they decide on

erection by pecuniary contributions, the residents and owners of property

within the ward shall contribute toward the cost, each in proportion to the

taxes they last paid tu the State for their persons. and for the same property

: of which the sheriff or commissioners shall furnish a statement to the

warden, who, according to the ratio of that statement, shall apportion and

assess the quota of contribution for each, and be authorized to demand,

receive, and apply the same to the purposes of the contribution, and to render

account thereof, as in all other his pecuniary transactions for the school, to

the Visitors ; and on failure of payment by any contributor, the sheriff, on

the















        _______________







      It is presumed that the wards will generally build such loghouses for the

school and teacher as they now do, and will join force and build them

themselves, experience proving them to be as comfortable as they are cheap. Nor

would it be advisable to build expensive houses in the country wards, which,

from changes in their population; will be liable to changes of their boundaries

and consequent displacemerits of their centre, drawing with it a removal of

their school-house. In towns, better houses may be more safely built, or rented

for both Purposes. 







        _______________







 













422        Jefferson's Works







order of the warden, shall collect and render the same under like powers and

regulations as provided for the collection of the public taxes. And in every

case it shall be the duty of the warden to have the buildings completed within

six months from the date of his election.







  5. It shall be the duty of the said Visitors to seek and to employ for every

ward,' whenever the number and ages' of its children require it, a person of















        _______________







  (1) Ç (5). Estimating eight hundred militia to a county, there will be twelve

captaincies or wards in a county on an average. Suppose each of these, three

years in every six, to have children enough for a school, who have not yet had

three years' schooling ; such a county will employ six teachers, each serving

two wards by alternate terms. These teachers will be taken from the laboring

classes, as they are now, to wit : from that which furnishes mechanics,

overseers and tillers of the earth ; and they will chiefly be the cripples, the

weakly and the old, of that class, who will have been qualified for these

functions by the ward schools themselves. If put on a footing then, for wages

and subsistence, with the young and the able of their class, they will be

liberally compensated ; say with one hundred and fifty dollars wages and the

usual allowance of meat and bread. The subsistence will probably be contributed

in kind by the warders, 'out of their family stock. The wages alone will be a

pecuniary tax of about nine hundred dollars. To a county, this addition would

be of about one-fifth of the taxes we now pay to the State, or about one-fifth

of one per cent. on every man's taxable property ; if tax can be called that

which we give to our children in the most valuable of all forms; that of

instruction. Were those schools to be established on the public funds, .and to

be managed by the Governor and Council, or the commissioners of the Literary

fund, brick.houses to be built for the schools and teachers,.high wages and

subsistence given them, they would be badly managed, depraved by abuses, and

would exhaust the whole Literary fund. While under the eye and animadversion of

the wards, and the control of the wardens and Visitors, economy, diligence; and

correctness of conduct, will be enforced, the whole Literary fund will be

spared to complete the general system of education, by colleges in every

district for instruction in the languages, and an university for the whole of

the higher sciences ; 







        _______________







 













        Miscellaneous Papers   423







good moral character, qualified to teach reading, writing, numeral arithmetic

and geography, whose subsistence shall be furnished by the residents and

proprietors of the ward, either in money or in kind, at the choice of each

contributor, and in the ratio of their public taxes, to be apportioned and

levied as on the failures before provided for. The teacher shall also have the

use of the house and accommodations provided for him, and shall moreover

receive annually such standing wages as the Visitors shall have determined to

be proportioned on the residents and proprietors of the ward, and to be paid,

levied and applied as before provided in other cases of pecuniary contribution.















        _______________







and this, by an addition to our contributions almost insensible, and which, in

fact, will not be felt as a burden, because applied immediately and visibly to

the good of our children.







  A question of some doubt might be raised on the latter part of this section,

as to the rights and duties of society towards its members, infant and adult.

Is it a right or a duty in society to take care of their infant members in

opposition to the will of the parent ? How far does this right and duty

extend?-to guard the life of the infant, his property, his instruction, his

morals ? The Roman father was supreme in all these : we draw a line, but where

?-public sentiment does not seem to have traced it precisely. Nor is it

necessary in the present case. It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a

parent refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings

and ideas by the forcible asportation and education of the infant against the

will of the father. What is proposed here is to remove the objection of

expense, by offering education gratis, and to strengthen parental excitement by

the disfranchisement of his child while uneducated. Society has certainly a

right to disavow him whom they offer, and are not permitted to qualify for the

duties of a citizen. . If we do not force instruction, let us at least

strengthen the motives to receive it when offered.







        _______________







 













424        Jefferson's Works







  6. At this school shall be received and instructed gratis, every infant of

competent age who has not already had three years ' schooling. And it is

declared and enacted, that no person unborn or under the age of twelve years at

the passing of this act, and who is compos mentis, shall, after the age of

fifteen years, be a citizen of this commonwealth until he or she can read

readily in some tongue, native or acquired.







  7. To keep up a constant succession of Visitors, the judge of the Superior

Court of every county shall at his first session in every. bissextile year,

appoint Visitors as before characterized, either the same or others, at his

discretion. And in case of the death or resignation of any Visitor during the

term of his appointment, or of his removal by the said judge for good cause,

moral or physical, he shall appoint another to serve until the next bissextile

appointment. Which Visitors shall have their first meeting at their court-house

on the county court day next ensuing their appointment, and afterwards at such

times and places as themselves or any two of them with reasonable notice to the

third shall agree. But the election of. wardens shall be annually, at the first

meeting of the ward after the month of March, until which election the warden

last elected shall continue in office.







  8. All ward meetings shall be at their schoolhouse, and on a failure of the

meeting of a majority of the wardens on the call of a Visitor, or of their 













        Miscellaneous Papers      425







warden, such Visitor or warden may call another meeting.







   g. At ali times when repairs or alterations of the buildings before provided

for shall be wanting, it shall be the duty of the warden or of a Visitor, to

call a ward meeting and to take the same measures towards such repairs or

alterations as are herein before authorized for the original buildings.







  10. When, on the application of any warden, authorized thereto by the vote of

his ward, the judge of the Superior Court shall be of opinion that the

contributors of any particular ward are disproportionably and oppressively

overburdened with an unusual number of children of non-contributors of their

ward, he may direct an order to the county court to assess in their next county

levy the whole or such part of the extra burden as he shall think excessive and

unreasonable, to be paid to the warden for its proper use, to which order the

said county court is required to conform.







  11. The said teachers shall, in all things relating to the education and

government of their pupils, be under the direction and control of the Visitors;

but no religious reading, instruction. or exercise, shall be prescribed or

practiced inconsistent with the tenets of any religious sect or denomination.







  12. Some one of the Visitors, once in every year at least, shall visit the

several schools: shall inquire into the proceedings and practices thereat:

shall examine the progress of the pupils, and give to





















426        Jefferson's Works







those who excel in reading, in writing, in arithmetic, or in geography, such

honorary marks and testimonies of approbation, as may encourage and excite to

industry and emulation.







  13 .1 All decisions and proceedings of the Visitors relative to the original

designation of wards at any time before the buildings are begun, or changes of

wards at any time after, to the quantum of subsistence, or wages allowed to the

teacher, and to the rules prescribed to him for the education and government of

his pupils, shall be subject to be controlled and corrected by the judge of the

Superior Court of the county, on the complaint of any individual aggrieved or

interested.







  And for the establishment of colleges whereat the youth of the commonwealth

may, within convenient distances from their homes, receive a higher grade of

education,







  14. Be it further enacted as follows: The several counties of this

commonwealth shall be distributed into nine collegiate districts, whereof one

shall be composed of the counties of Accomac, Northampton, Lancaster, Richmond,

Westmoreland, Middle- sex, Essex, Matthews, Gloucester; King and Queen, King

William, Elizabeth City, Warwick, York, James City, New Kent, and Charles City;

one other of the counties of Princess Anne, Norfolk, Norfolk borough,

Nansemond, Isle of Wight, Southampton,







 1 Sections 14 to 42 inclusive were omitted from the Congressional Edition of

Jefferson's writings. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      427







Surry, Prince George; Sussex, and Greeneville; one other of the counties of

Fairfax, Loudon, King George, Stafford, Prince. William, Fauquier, Culpeper,

Madison, Caroline, and Spotsylvania; one other of the counties of Hanover, City

of Richmond, Goochland, Louisa, Fluvanna, Powhatan, Cumberland, Buckingham,

Orange, Albemarle, Nelson, Amherst, Augusta, and Rockbridge ; one other of the

counties of Chesterfield, town of Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Brunswick, Amelia,

Nottoway, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Prince Edward, Charlotte, and Halifax; one

other of the counties of Campbell, Pittsylvania, Bedford, Franklin, Henry;

Patrick, Botetourt, and Montgomery; one other of the counties of Frederick;

Jefferson, Berkeley, Hampshire, Shenandoah, Hardy, Rockingham, and Pendleton;

one other of the counties of Monongalia, Brooke, Ohio, Randolph, Harrison,

Wood, and Mason; and one other of the counties of Bath, Greenbriar, Kanawha,

Cabell, Giles, Monroe, Tazewell, Wythe, Grayson, Washington, Russell, and Lee.







  15. Within three months after the passing of this act, the president and

directors of the literary fund, who shall henceforth be called the Board of

Public Instruction, shall appoint- one fit person in every county, in each of

the districts, who, with those appointed in the other counties in the same

district, shall compose the Board of Visitors for the college of that district

; and shall, within four months 













428        Jefferson's Works







after passing this act, cause notice to be given to each individual so

appointed, prescribing to them a day, within one month thereafter, and a place

within their district, for their first meeting, with supplementary instructions

for procuring a meeting subsequently, in the event of failure at the time first

appointed.







  16. The said Visitors, or so many of them as, being a majority, shall attend,

shall appoint a rector, of their own body, who shall preside at their meetings,

and a secretary to record and preserve their proceedings; and shall proceed to

consider of the site for a college most convenient for their district, having

regard to the extent, population and other circumstances, and within the term

of six months from the passing of this act shall report the same to the Board

of Public Instruction, with the reasons on which each site is preferred; and if

any minority of two or more members prefer any other place, the same shall be

reported, with the reasons. for and against the same.







  17. Within seven months after the passing of this act the said Board of

Public Instruction shall determine on such of the sites reported as they shall

think most eligible for the college of each district, shall notify the same to

the said Visitors, and shall charge them with the office of obtaining from the

proprietor with his consent, the proper grounds for the building, and its

appurtenances, either by donation or purchase; or if his consent, on reason













        Miscellaneous Papers      429







able terms, cannot be obtained, the clerk of the county, wherein the site is,

shall, on their request, issue and direct to the sheriff of the same county a

writ ,of ad quod damnum, to ascertain by a jury the value of the grounds

selected, and to fix their extent by metes and bounds, so, however, as not to

include the dwelling house, or buildings appurtenant, the curtilege; gardens or

orchards of the owner ; which writ shall be executed according to the ordinary

forms prescribed by law in such cases; and shall be returned to the same clerk

to be recorded: Provided, that in no case, either of purchase or valuation by a

jury, more grounds be located than of the value of $500 ; which grounds, if by

donation or purchase, by the deed of the owner, or if by valuation of a jury,

shall, by their inquest, become vested in the said Board of Public Instruction,

as trustees for the commonwealth, and for the uses and purposes of a college of

instruction.







 18. On each of the sites so located shall be erected one or more substantial

buildings-the walls of which shall be of brick or stone, with two school rooms,

and four rooms for the accommodation of the professors, and with sixteen

dormitories in or adjacent to the same, each sufficient for two pupils, and in

which no more than two shall be permitted to lodge, with a fire place in each,

.and the whole in a comfortable and decent style, suitable to their purpose.







 19. The plan of the said buildings, and their 













430        Jefferson's Works







appurtenances, shall be furnished or approved by the said Board of Public

Instruction, and that of the dormitories shall be such as may conveniently

receive additions from time to time. The Visitors shall have all the powers

which are necessary and proper for carrying them into execution, and shall

proceed in their execution accordingly. Provided, that in no case shall the

whole cost of the said buildings and appurtenances of any one college exceed

the sum of $7,500.







  20. The college of the district first in this act described, to wit : of

Accomac, etc. , shall be called the Wythe College, or the College of the

District of Wythe ; that of the second description, to wit : Princess Anne,

etc. , shall be called the -- ; that of the third description, to wit :

Fairfax, etc. , shall be called the -- - - ; that of the fourth description, to

wit : Hanover, etc. , shall be called the - -; that of the fifth description,

to wit : Chesterfield, etc. , shall be called the --- ; that of the sixth

description, to wit : Campbell, etc. , shall be called - -; that of the seventh

description, to wit: Frederick, etc., shall be called the ---; that of the

eighth description, to wit : Monongalia, etc. , shall be called the -- ; and

that of the ninth description, to wit : Bath, etc. , shall be called the

-------.







  21. In the said colleges shall be taught the Greek, Latin, French, Spanish,

Italian and German languages, English grammar, geography, ancient and 













        Miscellaneous Papers      431







modern, the higher branches of numerical arithmetic, the mensuration of land,

the use of the globes; and the ordinary elements of navigation.







  22. To each of the said colleges shall be appointed two professors, the one

for teaching Greek, Latin, and such other branches of learning, before

described, as he may be qualified to teach, and the other for the remaining

branches thereof, who shall each be allowed the use of the apartments provided

for him, and a standing salary of $500 yearly, to be drawn from the literary

fund, with such tuition fee from each pupil as the Visitors shall establish.







  23. The said Visitors shall be charged with the preservation and repair. of

the buildings, the care of the ground and appurtenances for which, and other

necessary purposes, they may employ a steward and competent laborers; they

shall have power to appoint and remove the professors, to prescribe their

duties, and the course of education to be pursued; they shall establish rules

for the government and discipline of the pupils, for their sustenance and

board, if boarded in the college, and for their accommodations, and the charges

to which they shall be subject for the same, as well as the rent for the

dormitories they occupy. They may draw from the literary fund such moneys as

are hereby charged on it for their institution. And, in general, they shall

direct and do all matters and things which, not being inconsistent with the

laws of the land, to them shall seem most expedient for 













432        Jefferson's Works







promoting the purposes of the said institution ; which several functions may be

exercised by them in the form of by-laws, resolutions, orders, instructions, or

otherwise, as they shall deem proper.







  24. The rents of the dormitories, the profits of boarding the pupils,

donations and other occasional resources shall constitute the fund, and shall

be at their disposal for the necessary purposes of the said institution, and

not otherwise provided for; and they shall have authority to draw on the said

Board of Public Instruction for the purchase or valuation money of the site of

their college, for the cost of the buildings and improvements authorized by

law, and for the standing salaries of the professors herein allowed-for the

administration of all which they may appoint a bursar.







  25. They shall have two stated meetings in the year, at their college, on the

first Mondays of April and October, and occasional meetings at the same place,

and at such other times, as they shall appoint ; giving due notice thereof to

every individual of their board.







  26. A majority of them shall constitute a quorum for business, and on the

death or resignation of a member or on his removal by the Board of Public

Instruction, or out of the county from which he was appointed, the said Board

shall appoint a successor, resident in the same county.







  27. The Visitors of every collegiate district shall be a body politic and

corporate, to be called the 













        Miscellaneous Papers      433







Visitors of the College, by name, for which they are appointed, with capacity

to plead, or be impleaded, in all courts of justice, and in all cases

interesting to their college, which ma,y be subject of legal cognizance and

jurisdiction, which pleas shall not abate by the determination of their office

of all or any of them, but shall stand revived in the name of their successors;

and they shall be capable in law, and in trust for their college, of receiving

subscriptions and donations, real and personal, as well from bodies corporate,

or persons associated, as from private individuals.







  28. Some member, or members, of the Board of Visitors, to be nominated by the

said Board, or such other persons as they shall nominate, shall, once in every

year, at least, visit the college of their district, enquire into the

proceedings and practices thereat, examine the progress of the pupils, and give

to those who excel in any branch of learning prescribed for the college, such

honorary marks and testimonies of approbation as may encourage or excite to

industry and emulation.







  29. The decisions and proceedings of the said Board of Visitors shall be

subject to control and correction by the Board of Public Instruction, either on

the complaint of any individual, aggrieved or interested, or on the proper

motion of the said Board.







  30. On every 29th day of February, or, if that be Sunday, then on the next or

earliest day there-







vol, xvii-28 













434        Jefferson's Works







after, on which a meeting can be effected; the Board of Public Instruction

shall be in session, -and shall appoint, in every county of each district, a

Visitor, resident therein, either the same before appointed, or another, at

their discretion, to serve until the next ensuing 29th of day February, duly

and timely notifying to them their appointment, and prescribing a day for their

first meeting at the college of their district, after which, their stated

meetings shall be at their college, on the first Mondays of April and October,

annually ; and their occasional meetings at the same place, and at such times

as themselves shall appoint, due notice thereof being given to every member of

their board.







Utrum horum?







  And for establishing in a central and healthy part of the State an University

wherein all the branches of useful science may be taught, Be it enacted as

follows :







  . Within the limits of the county of -- there shall be established an

University, to be called the University of Virginia; and so soon as may be

after the passage of this act the Board of Public Instruction shall appoint

eight fit persons to constitute the Board of Visitors for the said University ;

and shall forthwith give notice to each individual so appointed, prescribing to

them a day for their first meeting at the court-house of the said







  And for establishing in a central and healthy part of the State an University

wherein all the branches of useful science may be taught, Be it further enacted

as follows:







  31. Whensoever the Visitors of the Central College in Albemarle, authorized

thereto by the consent in writing of the subscribers of the major part of the

amount subscribed to that institution, shall convey or cause to be conveyed to

the Board of Public Instruction, for the use of this commonwealth, all the

lands, buildings, property and rights of the said college in possession, in

interest, or in action, (save only so much as may dis













        Miscellaneous Papers    435







 county, with supplementary instructions for procuring a meeting subsequently

in the event of failure at the first time appointed.







  The said Visitors, or so many of them as, being a majority, shall attend,

shall appoint a rector of their own body; who shall preside at their meetings,

and a secretary to record and preserve their proceedings, and shall proceed to

enquire into and select the most eligible site for the University, and to

obtain from the proprietor, with his consent, the proper grounds for the

buildings and appurtenances, either by donation or purchase, or, if his consent

on reasonable terms cannot be obtained, the clerk of the county shall, on their

request, issue and direct to the sheriff of the county a writ of ad quod damnum

to ascertain by a jury the value.o: the grounds charge their engagements then

existing,) the same shall be thereupon vested in this common wealth, and shall

be appropriated to the institution of an University to be called the University

of Virginia, which shall be established on the said lands. The said Board of

Public Instruction shall thereupon forthwith appoint eight fit persons who

shall compose the Board of Visitors for the government of the University,

notifying thereof the persons so appointed, and prescribing to them a day for

their first meeting at Charlottesville, with supplementary instructions for

procuring a meeting subsequently in the event of failure at the time first

appointed.







  32. The said Visitors, or so many of them, as, being a majority, shall

attend, shall appoint a rector of their own body to preside at their meetings,

and a secretary to record and preserve their proceedings, and shall proceed to

examine into the state of the property conveyed as aforesaid, shall make an

inventory of the same, specifying the items whereof it consists, shall notice

the buildings and other improvements already made, and those which are in

progress, shall take measures for their completion, shall consider what others

may be necessary in addition, and of the best plan for effecting the same, with

estimates of the probable cost, and shall make report 













436        Jefferson's Works







selected, and to fix their extent by metes and bounds, so however as not to

include the dwelling house or buildings appurtenant, the curtilage, gardens or

orchards of the owner; which writ shall be executed according to the ordinary

forms prescribed by the law in such cases, and shall be returned to the same

clerk to be recorded: Provided, That in no case, either of purchase or

valuation by a jury, shall more grounds be located than of the value of $z,000;

which grounds, if by donation or purchase, shall, by the deed of the owner, or

if by valuation of a jury, shall by their inquest, become vested in the Board

of Public Instruction aforesaid, as trustees for the commonwealth for the uses

and purposes of an University.







  33 A plan of the buildings and appurtenances necessary and proper for an

University being furnished or approved by the Board of Public Instruction, in

which that of the dormitories shall be such as may conveniently admit additions

from time to time, the Visitors shall have all the powers which shall be

necessary and proper for carrying them into execution, and shall proceed in

their execution accordingly.







of the whole to the said Board of Public Instruction, which is authorized to

approve, negative or modify any of the measures so proposed by the said

Visitors.























  33. The said measures being approved or modified, the Visitors shall have all

the powers relative thereto which shall be necessary or proper for carrying

them into execution and shall proceed in their execution accordingly.







 34 In the said University shall be taught history and geography, ancient and

modern; natural philosophy, agriculture, chemistry and the theories of 













        Miscellaneous Papers      437







medicine; anatomy, zoology, botany, mineralogy and geology ; mathematics, pure

and mixed ; mili- tary and naval science; ideology, ethics, the law of nature

and of nations; law, municipal and foreign ; the science of civil government

and political economy; languages, rhetoric, belles lettres, and the fine arts

generally; which branches of science shall be so distributed and under so many

professorships, not exceeding ten, as the Visitors shall think most proper.







  35. Each professor shall be allowed the use of the apartments and

accommodations provided for him, and such standing salary, not exceeding $1,000

yearly, as the Visitors shall think proper, to be drawn from the literary fund,

with such tuition fees from the students as the Visitors shall establish.







  36. The said Visitors shall be charged with the erection, preservation and

repair of the buildings, the care of the grounds and appurtenances, and of the

interests of the University generally ; they shall have power to appoint a

bursar, employ a steward and all other necessary agents; to appoint and remove

professors; to prescribe their duties, and the course of education to be

pursued; to establish rules for the government and discipline of the students,

for their subsistence, board and accommodations, if boarded by the University,

and the charges to which they shall be subject for the same, as well as for the

dormitories they occupy ; to provide and control the duties and proceedings 













438        Jefferson's Works







of all officers, servants and others, with respect to the buildings, land,

appurtenances, and other property and interests of the University ; to draw

from the literary fund such moneys as are hereby charged on it for this

institution; and in general to direct and do all matters and things which, not

being inconsistent with the ' laws of the land, to them shall seem most

expedient for promoting the purposes of the said institution ; which several

functions may be exercised by them in the form of by-laws, rules, resolutions,

orders, instructions, or otherwise, as they shall deem proper.







  37. They shall have two stated meetings in the year, to wit: on the first

Mondays in April and October, and occasional meetings at such other times as

they shall appoint, due notice thereof being given to every individual of their

Board, which meetings shall be held at the said University; and on the death or

resignation of a member, or on his removal by the Board of Public Instruction,

or change of habitation to a greater than his former distance from the

University, the said Board shall appoint a successor.







  38. The Visitors of the said University shall be a body politic and corporate

under the style and title of the Visitors of the University of Virginia with

capacity to plead or be impleaded in all courts of justice, and in all cases

interesting to their college, (sic) which may be the subjects of legal

cognizance and jurisdiction, which pleas shall not abate by the 













        Miscellaneous Papers     439







determination of their office, but shall stand revived in the name of their

successors; and they shall be capable in law, and in trust for their college,

of receiving subscriptions and donations, real and personal, as well from

bodies corporate or persons associated, as from private individuals.







  39. Some member or members of the Board of Visitors, to be nominated by the

said Board, or such other person as they shall nominate, shall, once in every

year at least, visit the said University, enquire into the proceedings and

practices thereat, examine the progress of the students, and give to those who

excel in any branch of science there taught such honorary marks and testimonies

of approbation as may encourage and excite to industry and emulation.







 40. All decisions and proceedings of the Visitors shall be subject to control

and direction by the Board of Public Instruction; either on the complaint of

any individual aggrieved or interested, or on the proper motion of the said

Board.







 41. On every 29th day of February, or, if that be Sunday, then on the next or

earliest day thereafter on which a meeting can be effected, the said Board of

Public Instruction shall in be session, and shall appoint Visitors for the said

University, either the same or others, at their discretion, to serve until the

29th day of February next ensuing, duly and timely notifying to them their

appointment; and prescribing a day for their first meeting at the 













440        Jefferson's Works







University, after which their stated meetings shall be on the first Mondays of

April and October annually, and their occasional meetings at the same place,

and at such .times as themselves shall appoint, due notice thereof being given

to every member of their Board.







    (NoTE.-If the Central College be adopted for the University, the following

section may be added: " Provided, that nothing in this act contained shall

suspend the proceedings of the Visitors of the said Central College of

Albemarle; but, for the purpose of expediting the objects of the said

institution, they shall be authorized, under the control of the Board of Public

Instruction, to continue the exercise of their functions until the first

meeting of the Visitors of the University.")







     And to avail the commonwealth of those talents and virtues which nature

has sown as liberally among the poor as rich, and which are lost to their

country by the want of means for their cultivation,







Be it further enacted as follows:







     42. On the 29th day of February, or, if that be Sunday, then on the next

day, the Visitors of the ward-schools in every county shall meet at the

courthouse of their county, and after the most diligent and impartial

observation and enquiry of the boys who have been three years at the

ward-schools, and whose parents are too poor to give them a collegiate

education, shall select from among them some one of the most promising and

sound under-





















           Miscellaneous Papers      441







standing, who shall be sent to the first meeting of ' the Visitors of their

collegiate district, with such proofs as the case requires and admits, for the 

 1 examination and information of that Board; who,   , from among the

candidates so offered from the several counties of their district, shall select

two of the most sound and promising understanding,      ; who shall be admitted

to their college, and there be maintained and educated five years at the public

expense, under, such rules and limitations as the Board of Public Instruction

shall prescribe; and at the end of the said five years the said Collegiate

Visitors shall select that one of the two who shall, on their most diligent and

impartial enquiry and best information, be adjudged by them to be of the, most

sound and promising understanding and character, and most improved by their

course of education, who shall be sent on immediately thereafter to. the

University, there to be maintained and educated in such branches of the

sciences taught there as are most proper to qualify him for the calling to

which his parents or guardians may destine him; and to continue at the said

University three years at the public expense, under such rules , and

limitations as the Board of Public Instruction shall prescribe. And the

expenses of the persons   . so to be publicly maintained and educated at the

colleges and University shall be drawn by their respective Visitors from the

literary fund. 













442        Jefferson's Works







The solemn Declaration and Protest of the Commonwealth of Virginia, on the

Principles of the Constitution of the United States of America, and on the

Violations of them.







 We, the General Assembly of Virginia, on behalf, and in the name of the people

thereof, do declare as follows :







 The States in North America which confederated to establish their independence

of the government of Great Britain, of which Virginia was one, became, on that

acquisition, free and independent States, and as such, authorized to constitute

governments, each for itself, in such form as it thought best.







 They entered into a compact, (which is called the Constitution of the United

States of America,) by which they agreed to unite in a single government as to

their relations with each other, and with foreign nations, and as to certain

other articles particularly specified. They retained at the same time, each to

itself, the other rights of independent government, comprehending mainly their

domestic interests.







 For the administration of their federal branch, they agreed to appoint, in

conjunction, a distinct set of functionaries, legislative executive and

judiciary, in the manner settled in that compact: while to each, severally, and

of course, remained its original right of appointing, each for itself, a

separate set of functionaries, legislative, executive, and judiciary, also, for

administering the domestic branch of their respective governments. 













        Miscellaneous PaperS      443







 These two sets of officers, each independent of the other, constitute 'thus a

whole of government; for each State separately; the powers ascribed to the one,

as specifically made federal, exercised over the whole, the residuary powers,

retained to the other, exercisable exclusively over its particular State,

foreign herein, each to the others, as they were before the original compact.







 To this construction of government and distribution of its powers, the

Commonwealth of Virginia does religiously and affectionately adhere,. opposing,

with equal fidelity and firmness, the usurpation of either set of functionaries

on the rightful powers of the other.







  But the federal branch has assumed in some cases, and claimed in others, a

right of enlarging its own powers by constructions, inferences, and indefinite

deductions from those directly given ,which this assembly does declare to be

usurpations of the powers retained to the independent branches, mere

interpolations into the compact, and direct :infractions of it.







  They claim, for example, and have commenced the exercise of a right to

construct roads, open canals, and effect other internal improvements within the

territories and jurisdictions exclusively belonging to the several States,

which this assembly does declare has not been given to that branch by the

constitutional compact, but remains to each State among its domestic and

unalienated powers, exercisable within itself and by its domestic authorities

alone. 













444        Jefferson's Works







  This assembly does further disavow and declare to be most false and

unfounded, the doctrine that the compact, in authorizing its federal branch to

lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay the debts and provide

for the common defence and general welfare of the United States, has given them

thereby a power to do whatever they may think, or pretend, would promote the

general welfare, which construction would make that, of itself, a complete

government, without limitation of powers; but that the plain sense and obvious

meaning were, that they might levy the taxes necessary to provide for the

general welfare, by the various acts of power therein specified and delegated

to them, and by no others.







  Nor is it admitted, as has been said, that the people of these States, by not

investing their federal branch with all the means of bettering their condition,

have denied to themselves any which may effect that purpose; since, in the

distribution of these means they have given to that branch those which belong

to its department, and to the States have reserved separately the residue which

belong to them separately. And thus by the organization of the two branches

taken together, have completely secured the first object of human association,

the full improvement of their condition, and reserved to themselves all the

faculties of multiplying their own blessings.







 Whilst the General Assembly thus declares the 













        Miscellaneous  Papers     445







rights retained by the States, rights which they have never yielded, and which

this State will never voluntarily yield, they do not mean to raise the banner

of disaffection, or of separation from their sister, States, co-parties with

themselves to this compact. They know and value too highly the blessings of

their Union as to foreign nations and questions arising among themselves, to

consider every infraction as to be met by actual resistance. They respect too

affectionately the opinions of those possessing the same rights under the same

instrument, to make every difference of construction a ground of immediate

rupture. They would, indeed, consider such a rupture as among the greatest

calamities which could befall them; but not the greatest. There is yet one

greater, submission to a government of unlimited powers. It is only when the

hope of avoiding this shall become absolutely desperate, that further

forebearance could not be indulged. Should a majority of the co-parties,

therefore, contrary to the expectation and hope of this assembly, prefer, at

this time, acquiescence in these assumptions of power by the federal member of

the government, we will be patient and suffer much, under the confidence that

time, ere it be too late, will prove to them also the bitter consequences in

which that usurpation will involve us all. In .the meanwhile, we will breast

with them, rather than separate from them; every misfortune, save that only of

living under a government of unlimited 













446        Jefferson's Works







powers. We owe every other sacrifice to ourselves, to our federal brethren, and

to the world at large, to pursue with temper and perseverance the great

experiment which shall prove that man is capable of living in society,

governing itself by laws selfimposed, and securing to its members the enjoyment

of life, liberty, property, and peace; and further to show, that even when the

government of its choice shall manifest a tendency to degeneracy, we are not at

once to despair but that the will and the watchfulness of its sounder parts

will reform its aberrations, recall it to original and legitimate principles,

and restrain it within the rightful limits of self-government. And these are

the objects of this Declaration and Protest.







  Supposing then, that it might be for the good of the whole; as some of its

co-States seem to think, that the power of making roads and canals should be

added to those directly given to the federal branch, as more likely to be

systematically and beneficially directed, than by the independent action of the

several States, this commonwealth, from respect to these opinions, and a desire

of conciliation with its co-States, will consent, in concurrence with them, to

make this addition, provided it be done regularly by an amendment of the

compact, in the way established by that instrument, and provided also, it be

sufficiently guarded against abuses, compromises, and corrupt practices, not

only of possible, but of probable occurrence, 













        Miscellaneous Papers      447







 And as a further pledge of the sincere and cordial attachment of this

commonwealth to the union of the whole, so far as has been consented to by the

compact called "The Constitution of the United States of America, "

(constructed according to the plain and ordinary meaning of its language, to

the common intendment of the time, and of those who framed it;) to give also to

all parties and authorities, time for reflection and for consideration,

whether, under a temperate view of the possible consequences, and especially of

the constant obstructions which an equivocal majority must ever expect to meet,

they will still prefer the assumption of this power rather than its acceptance

from the free will of their constituents ; and to preserve peace in the

meanwhile, we proceed to make it the duty of our citizens, until the

legislature shall otherwise and ultimately decide, to acquiesce under those

acts of the federal branch of our government which we have declared to be

usurpations, and against which, in point of right, we do protest as null and

void, and never to be quoted as precedents of right.







 We therefore do enact, and be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia,

that all citizens of this commonwealth, and persons and authorities within the

same, shall pay full obedience at all times to the acts which may be passed by

the Congress of the United States, the object of which shall be the

construction of post roads, making canals of navigation, and maintaining the

same in any 













448        Jefferson's Works







part of the United States, in like manner as if said acts were, totidem verbis,

passed by the legislature of this commonwealth.















Thoughts on Lotteries. February, 1826.







  It is a common idea that games of chance are immoral. But what is chance?

Nothing happens in this world without a cause. if we know the cause, we do not

call it chance; but if we do not know it, we say it was produced by chance. If

we see a loaded die turn its lightest side up, we know the cause, and that it

is not an effect of chance; but whatever side an unloaded die turns up, not

knowing the cause, we say it is the effect of chance. Yet the morality of a

thing cannot depend on our knowledge or ignorance of its cause. Not knowing,

why a particular side of an unloaded die turns up, cannot make the act of

throwing it, or of betting on it, immoral. If we consider games of chance

immoral, then every pursuit of human industry is immoral; for there is not a

single one that is not subject to chance, not one wherein you do not risk a

loss for the chance of some gain. The navigator, for example, risks his ship in

the hope (if she is not lost in the voyage) of gaining an advantageous freight.

The merchant risks his cargo to gain a better price for it. A landholder builds

a house on the risk of indemnifying himself by a rent. The hunter hazards his

time and trouble in the hope of killing game. In all these pursuits, you take

some 













        Miscellaneous Papers       449







one thing against another which you hope to win. But the greatest of all

gamblers is the farmer. He risks the seed he puts into the ground, the rent he

pays for the ground itself, the year's labor on it, and the wear and tear of

his cattle and gear, to win a crop, which the chances of too much or too little

rain, and general uncertainties of weather, insects, waste, etc., often make a

total or partial loss. These, then, are games of chance. Yet so far from being

immoral, they are indispensable to the existence of man, and every one has a

natural right to choose for his pursuit such one of them as he thanks most

likely to furnish him subsistance. Almost all these pursuits of chance produce

something useful to society. But there are some which produce nothing, and

endanger the well-being of the individuals engaged in them, or of others

depending on them. Such are games with cards, dice, billiards, etc. And

although the pursuit of them is a matter of natural right, yet society,

perceiving the irresistible bent of some of its members to pursue them, and the

ruin produced by them to the families depending on these individuals, consider

it as a case of insanity, quoad hoc, step in to protect the family and the

party himself, as in other cases of insanity, infancy, imbecility, etc., and

suppress the pursuit altogether, and the natural right of following it. There

are some other games of chance, useful on certain occasions, and injurious only

when carried beyond their useful bounds. Such are







   vol. xvii--29 













450        Jefferson's Works







insurances, lotteries, raffles, etc. These they do not suppress, but take their

regulation under their own discretion. The insurance of ships on voyages is a

vocation of chance, yet useful, and the right to exercise it therefore is left

free. So of houses against fire, doubtful debts, the continuance of a

particular life, and similar cases. Money is wanting for a useful undertaking,

as a school, etc., for which a direct tax would be disapproved. It is raised

therefore by a lottery, wherein the tax is laid on the willing only, that is to

say, on those who can risk the price of a ticket without sensible injury for

the possibility of a higher prize. An article of property; insusceptible of

division at all, or not without great diminution of its worth, is sometimes of

so large value as that no purchaser can be found while the owner owes debts,

has no other means of payment, and his creditors no other chance of obtaining

it but by its sale at a full and fair price. The lottery is here a salutary

instrument for disposing of it, where many run small risks for the chance of

obtaining a high prize. In this way the great estate of the late Colonel Byrd

(in 1756) was made competent to pay his debts, which, had the whole been

brought into the market at once, would have overdone the demand, would have

sold at half or quarter the value, and sacrificed the creditors, half or

three-fourths of whom would have lost their debts. This method of selling was

formerly very much resorted to, until it was thought to nourish 













        Miscellaneous Papers      451







 too much a spirit of hazard. The legislature were therefore induced not to

suppress it altogether, but to take it under their own special regulation. This

they did for the first time by their act of 1769,c. 17, before which time every

person exercised the right freely ; and since which time, it is made unlawful

but when approved and authorized by a special act of the legislature. 







  Since then this right of sale, by way of lottery, has been exercised only

under the jurisdiction of the legislature. Let us examine the purposes for

which they have allowed it in practice, not looking beyond the date of our

independence.







  I. It was for a long time an item of the standing revenue of the State. '







1813. c. 1,  3. An act imposing taxes for the sup-







         port of government, and c. 2,  10. 1814. Dec. C. I,  3.      1814.

Feb. C. I,  3.  1818. C. 1, 1. 1819. C. I.         1820. C. 1.







 This, then, is a declaration by the nation, that an act was not immoral, of

which they were in the habitual use themselves as a part of the regular means

of supporting the government ; the tax on the vender of tickets was their share

of the profits, and if their share was innocent, his could not be criminal;







  2. It has been abundantly permitted to raise money by lottery for the

purposes of schools ; and 













452        Jefferson's Works







        







in this, as in many other cases, the lottery has been permitted to retain a

part of the money (generally from ten to fifteen per cent.) for the use to

which the lottery has been applied. So that while the adventurers paid one

hundred dollars for tickets, they received back eighty-five or ninety dollars

only in the form of prizes, the remaining ten or fifteen being the tax levied

on them, with their own consent. Examples are,







1784. c. 34. Authorizing the city of Williamsburg







       to raise L2,000 for a grammar school: 1789. c. 68. For Randolph Academy,

L1,000. 1789. c. 73. For Fauquier Academy, L500.







      c. 74. For the Fredericksburg Academy,







            L4,000. 1790. c. 46. For the Transylvanian Seminary, L500







    46. For the Southampton Academy, L300. 1796. c. 82. For the New London

Academy. 1803. c. 49. For the Fredericksburg Charity







       School.







     c. 50. For finishing the Strasburg Seminary.







     c. 58. For William and Mary College.







     c. 62. For the Bannister Academy.







     c. 79. For the Belfield Academy.







     c. 82. For the Petersburg Academy. 1804 c. 40. For the Hot Springs

Seminary.







     c. 76. For the Stevensburg Academy.







     c. 100. For William and Mary College. 1805 c. 24. For the Rumford Academy.















        Miscellaneous Papers      453







1812. C. 10. For the Literary Fund. To sell the







        privilege for 30,000 annually, for







        seven years.







1816. C. 80. For Norfolk Academy, $12,000.







             Norfolk Female Society, $2,000.







             Lancastrian School, $6,000.







        3. The next object of lotteries has been rivers.







1790. c.  46. For a bridge between Gosport and







         Portsmouth, $400.







1796. c.. 83. For clearing Roanoke River.







1804. c.  62. Fox clearing Quantico Creek.







1805. c.  42. For a toll bridge over Cheat River.







1816. c.  49. For the Dismal Swamp, $50,000.







        4. For roads.







1790. c. 46. For a road to Warminster, L200.







             For cutting a road from Rockfish gap







        to Scott's and Nicholas's landing







        L400. 1796  c. 85. To repair certain roads. (1)







1803. c. 60. For improving roads to Snigger's and







        Ashby's gaps.







      c. 61. For opening a.road to Brock's gap.







      c. 65. For opening a road from the town of







        Monroe to Sweet Springs and Lewis-







        burg.















 c. 71. For improving the road to Brock's gap.







  







        _______________



(1) The acts not being at hand, the sums allowed are not known. 







        _______________







 













454        Jefferson's Works







1805. c. 5. For improving the road to Clarksburg.







      c. 26. For openings road from Monongalia







        Glades to Fishing Creek.







1813. c. 44. For opening a road from Thornton 's







        gap.







        5. Lotteries for the benefit of counties.







1796. c. 78. To authorize a lottery in the county







        of Shenandoah.







      c. 84. To authorize a lottery in the county







        of Gloucester.







        6. Lotteries for the benefit of towns.







1782. c. 31. Richmond, for a bridge over Shockoe,







        amount not limited.







1789. c. 75. Alexandria, to pave its streets, L1,500.







1790. c. 46. do. do. L5,000.







1796. c. 79. Norfolk, one or more lotteries author-







        ized. 







      c. 81. Petersburg, a lottery authorized.







1803. c. 12. Woodstock,  do.







      c. 48. Fredericksburg, for improving its main







        street.







      c. 73. Harrisonburg, for improving its streets.







        7. Lotteries for religious congregations.







1785. c. 111. Completing a church in Winchester.







              For rebuilding a church in the parish







         of Elizabeth River.







1791. c. 69.  For the benefit of the Episcopal society. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      455







1790. c. 46. For building a church in Warminster,     L200.







                                   in Halifax,        L200.







                                   in Alexandria,     L500.







                                   in Petersburg,     L750.







                                   in Shepherdstown,  L250.







        8. Lotteries for private societies.







1790. c.46. For the Amicable Society in Richmond,  L1000.







1791. c.70. For building a Freemason's Hall in Charlotte, L750.







        9. Lotteries for the benefit of private individuals. (To raise money

for them.)







1796. c. 80. For the sufferers by fire in the town of







        Lexington.







1781. c. 6. For completing titles under Byrd's







       lottery.







1790. c. 46. To erect a paper mill in Staunton, L300.







             To raise L2,000 for Nathaniel Twining.







1791. c. 73. To raise L4, 000 for William Tatham,







        to enable him to complete his geo-







        graphical work.







             To enable - to complete a literary







        work.(1)















        _______________







(1) found such an act, but not noting it at the time, I have not been able to

find it again. But there is such an one, 







        _______________







 













456        Jefferson's Works







 We have seen, then, that every vocation in life is subject to the influence of

chance ; that so far from being rendered immoral by the admixture of that

ingredient, were they abandoned on that account, man could no longer subsist;

that, among them, every one has a natural right to choose that which he thinks

most likely to give him comfortable subsistence; but that while the greater

number of these pursuits are productive of something which adds to the

necessaries and comforts of life, others again, such as cards, dice, etc., are.

entirely unproductive; doing good to none, injury to many, yet so easy, and so

seducing in practice to men of a certain constitution of mind, that they cannot

resist the temptation, be the consequences what they may; that in this case, as

in those of insanity, idiocy, infancy, etc. , it is the duty of society. to

take them under its protection; even against their own acts, and to restrain

their right of choice of these pursuits, by suppressing them entirely; that

there are others, as lotteries particularly, which, although liable to chance

also, are useful for many purposes, and are therefore retained and placed under

the discretion of the legislature, to be permitted or refused according to the

circumstances of every special case, of which they are to judge; that between

the years 1782 and 1820, a space of thirtyeight years only, we have observed

seventy cases, where the permission of them has been found useful, by the

legislature, some of which are " progress at 













        Miscellaneous Papers      457







this time. These cases relate to the emolument of the whole State, to local

benefits of education, of navigation, of roads, of counties, towns, religious

assemblies, private societies, and of individuals under particular

circumstances which may claim indulgence or favor. The latter is the case now

submitted to the legislature, and the question is, whether the individual

soliciting their attention, or his situation, may merit that degree of

consideration which will justify the legislature in permitting him to avail

himself of the mode of selling by lottery, for the purpose of paying his debts.







  That a fair price cannot be obtained by sale in the ordinary way, and in the

present depressed state of agricultural industry, is well known. Lands in this

State will now sell for more than a third or fourth of what they would have

brought€a few years ago, perhaps at the very time of the contraction of the

debts for which they are now to be sold. The low price in foreign markets, for

a series of years past, of agricultural produce, of wheat generally, of tobacco

most commonly, and the accumulation of duties on the articles of consumption

not produced within our State, not only disable the farmer or planter from

adding to his farm by purchase, but reduces him to sell his own, and remove to

the western country, glutting the market he leaves; . while he lessens the

number of bidders. To be protected against this sacrifice is the object of the

present application, and whether the applicant has any 













458        Jefferson's Works







particular claim to this protection, is the present question.







  Here the answer must be left to others. It is not for me to give it. I may,

however, more readily than others, suggest the offices in which I have served.

I came of age in 1764, and was soon put into the nomination of justice of the

county in which I live, and at the first election following I became one of its

representatives in the legislature.







 I was thence sent to the old Congress.







 Then employed two years with Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Wythe, on the revisal and

reduction to a single code of the whole body of the British statutes, the acts

of our Assembly, and certain parts of the common law.







 Then elected Governor.







  Next to the Legislature, and to Congress again. Sent to Europe as Minister

Plenipotentiary.







Appointed Secretary of State to the new government.







  Elected Vice-President, and







  President. And lastly, a Visitor and Rector of the University. In these

different offices, with scarcely any interval between them, I have been. in the

public service now sixty-one years; and during the far greater part of the

time, in foreign countries or in other States. Every one knows how inevitably a

Virginia estate goes to ruin, when the owner is so far distant as to be unable

to pay attention to it himself; and the more especially, when the line of 













        Miscellaneous Papers      459







his employment is of a character to abstract and alienate his mind entirely

from the knowledge necessary to good, and even to saving management.







  If it were thought worth while to specify any particular services rendered, I

would refer to the specification of them made by the legislature itself in

their Farewell Address, on my retiring from the Presidency, February, 1809.

[This will be found in 2 Pleasant's Collection, page 144.] There is one

however, not therein specified, the most important in its consequences, of any

transaction in any portion of my life; to wit, the head I personally made

against the federal principles and proceedings, during the administration of

Mr., Adams. Their usurpations and violations of the Constitution at that

period, and their majority in both Houses of Congress, were so great, so

decided, and so- daring, that after combating their aggressions, inch by inch,

without being able in the least to check their career, the republican leaders

thought it would be best for them to give up their useless efforts there, go

home, get into their respective legislatures, embody whatever of resistance

they could be formed into, and if ineffectual, to perish there as in the last

ditch. All, therefore, retired, leaving Mr. Gallatin alone in ,the House of

Representatives, and myself in the Senate, where I then presided as

Vice-President. Remaining at our posts, and bidding defiance to the

brow-beatings and insults by which they endeavored to drive us off also, we

kept the mass of republicans 













460        Jefferson's Works







in phalanx together, until the legislature could be brought up to the charge ;

and nothing on earth is more certain, than that if myself particularly, placed

by my office of Vice-President at the head of the republicans, had given way

and withdrawn from my post, the republicans throughout the Union would have

given up in despair; and the cause would have been lost forever. By holding on,

we obtained time for the legislature to come up with their weight; and those of

Virginia and Kentucky particularly, but more especially the former, by their

celebrated resolutions, saved the Constitution at its last gasp. No person who

was not a witness of the scenes of€that gloomy. period, can form any idea of

the afflicting persecutions and personal indignities we had to brook. They

saved our country however. The spirits of the people were so much subdued and

reduced to despair by the X " Z imposture, and other stratagems and

machinations, that they would have sunk into apathy and monarchy, as the only

form of government which could maintain itself.







  If legislative services are worth mentioning, and the stamp of liberality and

equality, which was necessary to be imposed on our laws in the first crisis of

our birth as a nation, was of any value, they will find that the leading and

most important laws of that day were prepared by myself, and carried chiefly by

€ my efforts ; supported, indeed, by able and faithful coadjutors from the

ranks of 













        Miscellaneous Papers.     461







the House, very effective as seconds, but who would not have taken the field as

leaders.







The prohibition of the further importation of slaves was the first of these

measures in time.







This was followed by the abolition of entails, which broke up the hereditary

and high-handed aristocracy, which, by accumulating immense masses of property

in single lines of families, had divided our country into two distinct orders,

of nobles and plebeians.







 But further to complete the equality among our citizens so essential to the

maintenance of republican government, it was necessary to abolish the principle

of primogeniture. I drew the law of descents, giving equal inheritance to sons

and daughters, which made a part of the revised code.







 The attack on the establishment of a dominant religion, was first made by

myself. It could be carried at first only by a suspension of salaries for one

year, by battling it again at the next session for another year, and so from

year to year, until the public mind was ripened for the bill for establishing

religious freedom, which I had prepared for the revised code also. This was at

length established permanently, and by the efforts chiefly. of  Mr.  Madison,

being myself in Europe at the time thatwork was brought forward:







 To these particular services, I think I might add the establishment of our

University, as principally my work, acknowledging at the same time, as I do,





















462        Jefferson's Works







the great assistance received from my able colleagues of the Visitation. But

any residence in the vicinity threw, of course, on me the chief burden of the

enterprise, as well of the buildings as of the general organization and care of

the whole. The effect of this institution on the future fame, fortune and

prosperity of our country, can as yet be seen but. at a distance. But an

hundred well-educated youths, which it will turn out annually, and ere long,

will fill all its offices with men of superior qualifications, and raise it

from its humble state to an eminence among its associates which it has never

yet known ; no, not in its brightest days. That institution is now qualified to

raise its youth to an order of science unequalled in any other State ; and this

superiority will be the greater from the free range of mind encouraged there,

and the restraint imposed at other seminaries by the shackles of a domineering

hierarchy, and a bigoted adhesion to ancient habits. Those now on the theatre

of affairs will enjoy the ineffable happiness of seeing themselves succeeded by

sons of a grade of science beyond their own ken. Our sister States will also be

repairing to the same fountains of instruction, will bring hither their genius

to be kindled at our fire, and will carry back the fraternal affections which,

nourished by the same alma mater, will knit us to them by the indissoluble

bonds of early personal friendships. The good Old Dominion, the blessed mother

of us all, will then raise her head with pride 













        Miscellaneous Papers     463







among the nations, will present to them that splendor of genius which she has

ever possessed, but has too long suffered to rest uncultivated and unknown, and

will become a centre of ralliance to the States whose youth she has instructed,

and, as it were, adopted.







 I claim some share in the merits of this great work of regeneration. My whole

labors, now for many years, have been devoted to it, and I stand pledged to

follow it up through the remnant of life remaining to me. And what remuneration

do I ask ? Money from the treasury ? Not a cent. I ask nothing from the

earnings or labors of my fellow citizens. I wish no man's comforts to be

abridged for the enlargement of mine. For the services rendered on all

occasions, I have been always paid to my full satisfaction. I never wished a

dollar more than what the law had fixed on. My request is, only to be permitted

to sell my own property freely to pay my own debts. To sell it; I say, and not

to sacrifice it; not to have it gobbled up by speculators to make fortunes for

themselves, leaving unpaid those who have trusted to my good faith, and myself

without resource in the last and most helpless stage  of life. If permitted to

sell it in  a way which will bring me a fair price, all will be honestly and

honorably paid, and a competence left for myself, and for those who look to me

for subsistence. To sell it in a way which will offend no moral principle, and

expose none to risk but the willing, and those wishing to be permitted to take 













464        Jefferson's Works







the chance of gain. To give me, in short, that permission which you often allow

to others for purposes not more moral.







    Will it be objected, that although not evil in itself, it may, as a

precedent, lead to evil ? But let those who shall quote the precedent bring

their case within the same measure. Have they, as in this case, devoted

three-score years and one of their lives, uninterruptedly, to the service of

their country? Have the times of those services been as trying as those which

have embraced our Revolution, our transition from a colonial to a free

structure of government? Have the stations of their trial been of equal

importance ? Has the share they have borne in holding their new government to

its genuine principles, been equally marked ? And has the cause of the

distress, against which they seek a remedy, proceeded, not merely from

themselves, but from errors of the public authorities, disordering the

circulating medium, over which they had no control, and which have, in fact,

doubled and trebled debts, by reducing, in that proportion, the value of the

property which was to pay them? If all these circumstances, which characterize

the present case, have taken place in theirs also, then follow the precedent.

Be assured, the cases will be so rare as to produce no embarrassment, as never

to settle into an injurious habit. The single feature of a sixty years'

service, as no other instance of it has yet occurred in our country, so it

probably never













         Miscellaneous Papers    465







may again. And should it occur, even once and again, it will not impoverish

your treasury, as it takes nothing from that, and asks but a simple permission,

by an act of natural right, to do one of moral justice.







          Thomas jefferson's Will.







 I, Thomas Jefferson, of' Monticello, in Albemarle, being of sound mind, and in

my ordinary state of health, make my last will and testament in manner and form

as follows :







 I give to my grandson Francis Eppes, son of my dear deceased daughter Mary

Eppes, in fee simple, all that part of my lands at Poplar Forest lying west of

the following lines, to wit: beginning at Radford's upper corner, near the

double branches of. Bear Creek, and the public road, and running thence in a

straight line to .the fork of my private road, near the barn; thence along that

private road, (as it was changed in 1817, ) to its crossing of the main branch

of North Tomahawk Creek; and from that crossing, in a direct line over the main

ridge which divides the North and South Tomahawk, to the South Tomahawk, at the

confluence of two branches where the old road to the Waterlick crossed it, and

from that confluence up the northernmost branch, (which separate M'Daniels' and

Perry 's fields, ) to its source ; and thence by the shortest line to my

western boundary, And having,







vol, xvii-30 













466        Jefferson's Works







in a former correspondence with my deceased sonin-law John W. Eppes,

contemplated laying off for him, with remainder to my grandson Francis, a

certain portion in the southern part of my lands in Bedford and Campbell, which

I afterwards found to be generally more indifferent than I had supposed, and

therefore determined to change its location for the better ; now to remove all

doubt, if any could arise on a purpose merely voluntary and unexecuted, I

hereby declare that what I have herein given to my said grandson Francis, is

instead of, and not additional to, what I had formerly contemplated. I subject

all my other property to the payment of my debts in the first place.

Considering the insolvent state of the affairs of my friend and son-in-law

Thomas Mann Randolph, and that what will remain of my property will be the only

resource against the want in which his family would otherwise be left, it must

be his wish, as it is my duty, to guard that resource against all liability for

his debts, engagements or purposes whatsoever, and to preclude the rights,

powers, and authorities over it, which might result to him by operation of law,

and which might, independently of his will, bring it within the power of his

creditors, I do hereby devise and bequeath all the residue of my property, real

and personal, in possession or in action, whether held in my own right, or in

that of my dear deceased wife, according to the powers vested in me by deed of

settlement for that purpose, to my grandson Thomas J. Ran













        Miscellaneous Papers    467







dolph, and my friends Nicholas P. Trist and Alexander Garrett, and their heirs,

during the life of my said son-in-law Thomas M. Randolph, to be held and

administered by them, in trust, for the sole and separate use and behoof of my

dear daughter Martha Randolph, and her heirs; and aware of the nice and

difficult distinction of the law in these cases, I will further explain by

saying, that I understand and intend the effect of these limitations to be,

that the legal estate and actual occupation shall be vested in my said'

trustees, and held by them in base fee, determinable on the death of my said

son-in-law, and the remainder during the same time be vested in my said

daughter and her heirs; and of course disposable by her last will, and that at

the death of my said son-in-law, the particular estate of the trustees shall be

determined, and the remainder, in legal estate, possession, and use, become

vested in my said daughter and her heirs, in absolute property forever. In

consequence of the variety and indescribableness of the articles of property

within the house at Monticello, and the difficulty of inventorying and

appraising them separately and specifically, and its inutility; I dispense with

having them inventoried and appraised; and it is my will that my executors be

not held to give any security for the administration of my estate. I appoint my

grandson Thomas Jefferson Randolph, my sole executor during his life, and after

his death I constitute executors my friends Nicholas P. Trist 













468        Jefferson's Works







and Alexander Garrett, joining to them my daughter Martha Randolph, after the

death of my said son-inlaw Thomas M. Randolph. Lastly, I revoke all former

wills by me heretofore made; and in witness that this is my will, I have

written the whole with my own hand on two pages, and have subscribed my name €

to each of them this sixteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and

twentysix.







 I, Thomas Jefferson, of Monticello, in Albemarle, make and add the following

codicil to my will, controlling the same so far as its provisions go :







 I recommend to my daughter Martha Randolph, the maintenance and. care of my

well beloved sister Anne Scott, and trust confidently that from affection to

her, as well as for my sake, she will never let € her want a comfort. I have

made no specific provision for the comfortable maintenance of my sonin-law

Thomas M. Randolph, because of the difficulty and uncertainty of devising terms

which shall vest any beneficial interest in him, which the law will not

transfer to the benefit of his creditors, to the destitution of my daughter and

her family, and disablement of her to supply him whereas, property placed under

the exclusive control of my daughter and her independent will, as if she were a

feme sole, considering the relation in which she stands both to him and his

children, will be a certain resource against want for all. 













        Miscellaneous Papers      469







  I give to my friend James Madison, of Montpellier, my gold-mounted walking

staff of animal horn, as a token of the cordial and affectionate friendship'

which for nearly now an half century, has united us in the same principles and

pursuits of what we have deemed for the greatest good of our country:







  I give to the University of Virginia my library, except such particular books

only, and of the same edition, as it may already possess, when this legacy

shall take effect ; the rest of my said library, remaining after those given to

the University shall have been taken out, I give to my two grandsons-in-law

Nicholas P. Trist and Joseph Coolidge. To my grandson Thomas Jefferson

Randolph, I give my silverwatch in preference of the golden one, because of its

superior excellence. My papers of business going of course to him, as my

executor, all others of a .literary or other character I give to him as of his

own property.







 I give a gold watch to each of my grandchildren, who shall not have already

received one from me, to be purchased and delivered by my executor to my

grandsons, at the age of twenty-one, and granddaughters at that of sixteen.







 I give to my good, affectionate, and faithful servant Burwell, his freedom,

and the sum of three hundred' dollars, to buy necessaries to commence his trade

of glazier, or to use otherwise, as he pleases.







 I give also to my good servants John Hemings and Joe Fosset, their freedom at

the end of one year 













470        Jefferson's Works







after my death; and to each of them respectively, all the tools of their

respective shops or callings; and it is my will that a comfortable log-house be

built for each of the three servants so emancipated on some part of my lands

convenient to them with respect to the residence of their wives, and to

Charlottesville and the University, where they will be mostly employed, and

reasonably convenient also. to the interests of the proprietor of the lands,

of. which houses I give the use of one, with a curtilage of an acre to each,

during his life or personal occupation thereof.







  I give also to John Hemings the service of his two apprentices Madison and

Eston Hemings; until their respective ages of twenty-one years, at .which

period respectively, I give them their freedom; and I humbly and earnestly

request of the legislature of Virginia a confirmation of the bequest of freedom

to these servants, with permission to remain in this State, where their

families and connections are, as an additional instance of the favor, of which

,I have received so many other manifestations in the course of my life, and for

which I now give them my last, solemn, and dutiful thanks.







 In testimony that this is a codicil to my will of yesterday's date, and that

it is to modify so far the provisions of that will, I have written it all with

my own hand in two pages, to each of which I subscribe my name, this

seventeenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.