TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
Monticello, August 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—On the death of Imlay, loan officer of Connecticut, Jonathan Bull (Judge Bull) is well recommended as his successor by a number of republicans, and by Mr. Wolcott, in a special letter. A Ralph Pomeroy, of Hartford, solicits it for himself, but sends no recommendations. Those of Bull would leave me with little doubt of the propriety of his nomination; but as you can so conveniently make inquiry respecting him, I will pray you to do it, and to communicate the result to me with as little delay as convenient, in order to preclude other solicitations.
All my information from the Capes of Chesapeake, confirms the opinion that the present quiet train of things there is to be continued till further orders. The interdicted officers are extremely averse to our mode of communication by flag. But being considered as enemies rather than rebels, while here in defiance, no other communication will be allowed. Burr's trial goes on to the astonishment of all, as to the manner of conducting it. I salute you with affection and respect.
TO J. MADISON.
Monticello, August 20, 1807.
Your letter to Dayton I think perfectly right, unless, perhaps, the expression of personal sympathy in the first page might be misconstrued, and, coupled with the circumstance that we had not yet instituted a prosecution against him, although possessed of evidence. Poor Yznardi seems to have been worked up into distraction by the persecutions of Meade. I enclose you a letter I have received from him. Also one from Warden, attested by Armstrong, by which you will see that the feuds there are not subsiding.
By yesterday's, or this day's mails, you will have received the information that Bonaparte has annihilated the allied armies. The result will doubtless be peace on the continent, an army despatched through Persia to India, and the main army brought back to their former position on the channel. This will oblige England to withdraw everything home, and leave us an open field. An account, apparently worthy of credit, in the Albany paper, is, that the British are withdrawing all their cannon and magazines from Upper Canada to Quebec, considering the former not tenable, and the latter their only fast-hold.
I salute you with sincere affection.
P. S. I had forgotten to express my opinion that deserters ought never to be enlisted; but I think you may go further and say to Erskine, that if ever such a practise has prevailed, it has been without the knowledge of the Government, and would have been forbidden, if known, and if any examples of it have existed, (which is doubted,) they must have been few, or they would have become known. The case presented from the Chichester, if true, does not prove the contrary, as the persons there said to have been enlisted are believed to have been American citizens, who, whether impressed or enlisted into the British service, were equally right in returning to the duties they owed to their own country.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Monticello, August 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Colonel Newton's inquiries are easily solved, I think, by application of the principles we have assumed. 1. The interdicted ships are enemies. Should they be forced, by stress of weather, to run up into safer harbors, we are to act towards them as we would towards enemies in regular war, in like case. Permit no intercourse, no supplies; and if they land, kill or capture them as enemies. If they lie still, Decatur has orders not to attack them without stating the case to me, and awaiting instructions. But if they attempt to enter Elizabeth river, he is to attack them without waiting for instructions. 2. Other armed vessels, putting in from sea in distress, are friends. They must report themselves to the collector, he assigns them their station, and regulates their repairs, supplies, intercourse and stay. Not needing flags, they are under the direction of the collector alone, who should be reasonably liberal as to their repairs and supplies, furnishing them for a voyage to any of their American ports; but I think with him their crews should be kept on board, and that they should not enter Elizabeth river.
I remember Mr. Gallatin expressed an opinion that our negotiations with England should not be laid before Congress at their meeting, but reserved to be communicated all together with the answer they should send us, whenever received. I am not of this opinion. I think, on the meeting of Congress, we should lay before them everything that has passed to that day, and place them on the same ground of information we are on ourselves. They will then have time to bring their minds to the same state of things with ours, and when the answer arrives, we shall all view it from the same position. I think, therefore, you should order the whole of the negotiation to be prepared in two copies. I salute you affectionately.
TO GEORGE HAY.
Monticello, August 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I received yesterday your favor of the 11th. An error of the post office had occasioned the delay. Before an impartial jury, Burr's conduct would convict himself, were not one word of testimony to be offered against him. But to what a state will our law be reduced by party feelings in those who administer it? Why do not Blannerhassett, Dayton, &c., demand private and comfortable lodgings? In a country where an equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental, how could it be denied to them? How can it ever be denied to the most degraded malefactor? The enclosed letter of James Morrison, covering a copy of one from Alston to Blannerhassett, came to hand yesterday. I enclose them, because it is proper all these papers should be in one deposit, and because you should know the case and all its bearings, that you may understand whatever turns up in the cause. Whether the opinion of the letter writer is sound, may be doubted. For, however these, and other circumstances which have come to us, may induce us to believe that the bouncing letter he published, and the insolent one he wrote to me, were intended as blinds, yet they are not sufficient for legal conviction. Blannerhassett and his wife could possibly tell us enough. I commiserate the suffering you have to go through in such a season, and salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
Monticello, August 28, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I had had the letter of Mr. Jouett of July 6th from Chicago, and that from Governor Hull, of July 14th, from Detroit, under consideration some days, when the day before yesterday I received that of the Governor of July 25th.
While it appeared that the workings among the Indians of that neighborhood proceeded from their prophet chiefly, and that his endeavors were directed to the restoring them to their ancient mode of life, to the feeding and clothing themselves with the produce of the chase, and refusing all those articles of meat, drink, and clothing, which they can only obtain from the whites, and are now rendered necessary by habit, I thought it a transient enthusiasm, which, if let alone, would evaporate innocently of itself; although visibly tinctured with a partiality against the United States. But the letters and documents now enclosed give to the state of things there a more serious aspect; and the visit of the Governor of Upper Canada, and assembling of the Indians by him, indicate the object to which these movements are to point. I think, therefore, we can no longer leave them to their own course, but that we should immediately prepare for war in that quarter, and at the same time redouble our efforts for peace.
I propose, therefore, that the Governors of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, be instructed immediately to have designated, according to law, such proportions of their militia as you shall think advisable, to be ready for service at a moment's warning, recommending to them to prefer volunteers as far as they can be obtained, and of that description fitted for Indian service.
That sufficient stores of arms, ammunition and provision, be deposited in convenient places for any expedition which it may be necessary to undertake in that quarter, and for the defence of the posts and settlements there; and that the object of these preparations be openly declared, as well to let the Indians understand the danger they are bringing on themselves, as to lull the suspicion of any other object.
That at the same time, and while these preparations for war are openly going on, Governors Hull and Harrison be instructed to have interviews by themselves or well-chosen agents, with the chiefs of the several tribes in that quarter, to recall to their minds the paternal policy pursued towards them by the United States, and still meant to be pursued. That we never wished to do them an injury, but on the contrary, to give them all the assistance in our power towards improving their condition, and enabling them to support themselves and their families; that a misunderstanding having arisen between the United States and the English, war may possibly ensue. That in this war it is our wish the Indians should be quiet spectators, not wasting their blood in quarrels which do not concern them; that we are strong enough to fight our own battles, and therefore ask no help; and if the English should ask theirs, it should convince them that it proceeds from a sense of their own weakness which would not augur success in the end; that at the same time, as we have learnt that some tribes are already expressing intentions hostile to the United States, we think it proper to apprize them of the ground on which they now stand; for which purpose we make to them this solemn declaration of our unalterable determination, that we wish them to live in peace with all nations as well as with us, and we have no intention ever to strike them or to do them an injury of any sort, unless first attacked or threatened; but that learning that some of them meditate war on us, we too are preparing for war against those, and those only who shall seek it; and that if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi. Adjuring them, therefore, if they wish to remain on the land which covers the bones of their fathers, to keep the peace with a people who ask their friendship without needing it, who wish to avoid war without fearing it. In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them. Let them then continue quiet at home, take care of their women and children, and remove from among them the agents of any nation persuading them to war, and let them declare to us explicitly and categorically that they will do this: in which case, they will have nothing to fear from the preparations we are now unwillingly making to secure our own safety?
These ideas may form the substance of speeches to be made to them, only varying therein according to the particular circumstances and dispositions of particular tribes; softening them to some, and strengthening them as to others. I presume, too, that such presents as would show a friendly liberality should at the same time be made to those who unequivocally manifest intentions to remain friends; and as to those who indicate contrary intentions, the preparations made should immediately look towards them; and it will be a subject for consideration whether, on satisfactory evidence that any tribe means to strike us, we shall not anticipate by giving them the first blow, before matters between us and England are so far advanced as that their troops or subjects should dare to join the Indians against us. It will make a powerful impression on the Indians, if those who spur them on to war, see them destroyed without yielding them any aid. To decide on this, the Governors of Michigan and Indiana should give us weekly information, and the Postmaster General should immediately put the line of posts to Detroit into the most rapid motion. Attention, too, is requisite to the safety of the post at Michillimacinac.
I send this letter open to the Secretary of State, with a desire that, with the documents, it may be forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy, at Baltimore, the Attorney General, at Wilmington, the Secretary of the Treasury, at New York, and finally to yourself; that it may be considered only as the origination of a proposition to which I wish each of them to propose such amendments as their judgment shall approve, to be addressed to yourself; and that from all our opinions you will make up a general one, and act on it without waiting to refer it back to me.
I salute you with great affection and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Monticello, August 30, 1807.
Dear Sir,—There can be no doubt that Fronda's claim for the money advanced to Lieutenant Pike should be repaid, and while his application to yourself is the proper one, we must attend to the moneys being drawn from the proper fund, which is that of the war department. I presume, therefore, it will be necessary for you to apply to General Dearborne to furnish the money. Will it not be proper to rebut Fronda's charge of this government sending a spy to Santa Fé, by saying that this government has never employed a spy in any case, and that Pike's mission was to ascend the Arkansas and descend the Red river for the purpose of ascertaining their geography; that, as far as we are yet informed, he entered the waters of the North river, believing them to be those of the Red river; and that, however certain we are of a right extending to the North river, and participating of its navigation with Spain, yet Pike's voyage was not intended as an exercise of that right, which we notice here, merely because he had chosen to deny it; a question to be settled in another way.
From the present state of the tranquillity in the Chesapeake, and the probability of its continuance, I begin to think the daily mail may soon be discontinued, and an extra mail once a week substituted, to leave Fredericksburg Sunday morning, and Milton Wednesday morning. This will give us two mails a week. I should propose this change for September 9th, which is the day I set out for Bedford, and will exactly close one month of daily mail. What do you think of it? Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
Monticello, August 31, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Mr. Madison will have written to you on the subject of a demand of $1,000 furnished to Lieut Pike, to be repaid to Fronda, which of course must come out of the military fund.
I enclose you an application from Mr. Graham for a commission in the army for a Mr. Lithgow, relation of Mr. Henderson, who solicits it, and who, I think, has a just claim for the gratification.
I enclose you also a letter from Captain Brent to Mr. Coles on the subject of their commissions. They presented to me a list of names engaged, and of the officers they had chosen. I do not remember the words of my answer; but the idea meant to be expressed was only that the officers should be commissioned. I had no idea of fixing a date for them before they should have raised what could be accepted as a troop. They seem to have understood the date of my acceptance as the proper date of their commissions. I told Mr. Coles I would consult you; and that my own idea was to inquire what was the smallest number ever admitted as a troop or company, and let their commissions have the date of the day on which they had engaged that number. This may be the subject of conversation when we meet.
I send you a paper on the defence of the mouth of the Chesapeake. We never expect from the writer a detailed, well-digested and practicable plan; but good ideas and susceptible of improvement sometimes escape from him. The first question is, whether works on the shore of Lynhaven may not be constructed for dislodging an enemy from that bay by throwing bombs? and whether they can lie there in safety out of the reach of bombs? There is no other place where they can lie in safety so near the Capes, not to be in danger of being intercepted by gun-boats, and attacked with the advantage of weather. 2d. May not artificial harbors be made on the middle grounds and Horseshoe for the reception of gun boats, with cavaliers for the discharge of bombs? and will not these two points and Lynhaven thus command all the mouth of the bay? To answer these questions will require an accurate survey of the whole field, which, if we have not, we should direct to be made. It is an important fact that the middle grounds have been seen bare; and that both these and the Horseshoe are always shoal. Cannot cassoons filled with stone, and of the shape of truncated wedges, be sunk there in close order so as to enclose a harbor for gun-boats, of such a height as that the sea shall not go over it in the highest tides, and of base proportioned to the height and sufficient to resist the force of the water? The nearest stone is up James river above the Hundred, and up York river above West Point, from whence however it can be brought in ships of size. At New York, they calculate on depositing their stone for from 4 to 5 cents the cubic foot. If it costs the double here, the amount would not be disproportioned to the object, if we consider what a vast extent of coast on the Chesapeake and its waters will otherwise be depredated or secured by works and troops in detail. I throw out these thoughts now that they may be under your consideration, while making up the general statement of defensive works for the sea coast. Present my respects to Mrs. Dearborne, and accept my affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Monticello, September 1, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I think with you we had better send to Algiers some of the losing articles in order to secure peace there while it is uncertain elsewhere. While war with England is probable, everything leading to it with every other nation should be avoided, except with Spain. As to her, I think it the precise moment when we should declare to the French government that we will instantly seize on the Floridas as reprisal for the spoliations denied us, and, that if by a given day they are paid to us, we will restore all east of the Perdido, and hold the rest subject to amicable discussion. Otherwise, we will hold them forever as compensation for the spoliations. This to be a subject of consideration when we assemble.
One reason for suggesting the discontinuance of the daily post was, that it is not kept up by contract, but at the expense of the United States. But the principal reason was to avoid giving ground for clamor. The general idea is, that those who receive annual compensations should be constantly at their posts. Our constituents might not in the first moment consider 1st, that we all have property to take care of, which we cannot abandon for temporary salaries; 2d, that we have health to take care of, which at this season cannot be preserved at Washington; 3d, that while at our separate homes our public duties are fully executed, and at much greater personal labor than while we are together when a short conference saves a long letter. I am aware that in the present crisis some incident might turn up where a day's delay might infinitely overweigh a month's expense of the daily post. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. COOPER.
Monticello, September 1, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 9th is received, and with it the copy of Dr. Priestley's Memoirs, for which I return you many thanks. I shall read them with great pleasure, as I revered the character of no man living more than his. With another part of your letter I am sensibly affected. I have not here my correspondence with Governor McKean to turn to, but I have no reason to doubt that the particular letter referred to may have been silent on the subject of your appointment as stated. The facts are these: The opinion I have ever entertained, and still entertain as strongly as ever, of your abilities and integrity, was such as made it my wish, from the moment I came to the administration, that you should be employed in some public way. On a review, however, of all circumstances, it appeared to me that the State of Pennsylvania had occasions for your service, which would be more acceptable than any others to yourself because they would leave you in the enjoyment of the society of Dr. Priestley, to which your attachment was known. I therefore expressed my solicitude respecting you to Governor McKean, whose desires to serve yourself and the public by employing you I knew to be great, and of course that you were an object of mutual concern, and I received his information of having found employment for your talents with the sincerest pleasure. But pressed as I am perpetually by an overflow of business, and adopting from necessity the rule of never answering any letter, or part of a letter, which can do without answer, in replying to his which related to other subjects, I probably said nothing on that, because my former letter had sufficiently manifested how pleasing the circumstance must be to me, and my time and practice did not permit me to be repeating things already said. This is a candid statement of that incident, and I hope you will see in it a silence accounted for on grounds far different from that of a continuance of my estimation and good wishes, which have experienced no change. With respect to the schism among the republicans in your State, I have ever declared to both parties that I consider the general government as bound to take no part in it, and I have carefully kept both my judgment, my affections, and my conduct, clear of all bias to either. It is true, as you have heard, that a distance has taken place between Mr. Clay and myself. The cause I never could learn nor imagine. I had always known him to be an able man, and I believed him an honest one. I had looked to his coming into Congress with an entire belief that he would be cordial with the administration, and even before that I had always had him in my mind for a high and important vacancy which had been from time to time expected, but is only now about to take place. I feel his loss therefore with real concern, but it is irremediable from the necessity of harmony and cordiality between those who are to manage together the public concerns. Not only his withdrawing from the usual civilities of intercourse with me, (which even the federalists with two or three exceptions keep up,) but his open hostility in Congress to the administration, leave no doubt of the state of his mind as a fact, although the cause be unknown. Be so good as to communicate my respects to Mr. Priestley, and to accept yourself my friendly salutations, and assurances of unaltered esteem.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
Monticello, September 2, 1807.
Dear Sir,—My letter of August 28th, on the dispositions of the Indians, was to go the rounds of all our brethren, and to be finally sent to you with their separate opinions. I think it probable, therefore, that the enclosed extract of a letter from a priest at Detroit to Bishop Carroll, may reach you as soon, or sooner, than that. I therefore forward it, because it throws rather a different light on the dispositions of the Indians from that given by Hull and Dunham. I do not think, however, that it ought to slacken our operations, because those proposed are all precautionary. But it ought absolutely to stop our negotiations for land otherwise the Indians will think that these preparations are meant to intimidate them into a sale of their lands, an idea which would be most pernicious, and would poison all our professions of friendship to them. The immediate acquisition of the land is of less consequence to us than their friendship and a thorough confidence in our justice. We had better let the purchase lie till they are in better temper. I salute you with affection and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Monticello, September 3.
Dear Sir,—Your letters of August 23d, 27th, 29th, and 30th, have all been received; the two last came yesterday. I observe that the merchants of New York and Philadelphia think that notice of our present crisis with England should be sent to the Straits of Sunda by a public ship, but that such a vessel going to Calcutta, or into the Bay of Bengal, would give injurious alarm; while those of Baltimore think such a vessel going to the Straits of Sunda would have the same effect. Your proposition, very happily in my opinion, avoids the objections of all parties; will do what some think useful and none think injurious. I therefore approve of it. To wit, that by some of the private vessels now going, instruction from the department of State be sent to our Consul at the Isle of France, to take proper measures to advise all our returning vessels, as far as he can, to be on their guard against the English, and that we now appoint and send a Consul to Batavia, to give the same notice to our vessels returning through the Straits of Sunda. For this purpose I sign a blank sheet of paper, over which signature the Secretary of State will have a consular commission written, leaving a blank for the name to be filled up by yourself with the name of such discreet and proper person as shall be willing to go. If he does not mean to reside there as Consul, we must bear his expenses out and in, and compensate his time. I presume you will receive this commission, and the papers you sent me through the Secretary of State, on the 8th.
I approve of the orders you gave for intercepting the pirates, and that they were given as the occasion required, without waiting to consult me, which would have defeated the object. I am very glad indeed that the piratical vessel and some of the crew have been taken, and hope the whole will be taken; and that this has been done by the militia. It will contribute to show the expediency of an organized naval militia.
I send you the extract of a letter I lately wrote to General Dearborne on the defence of the Chesapeake. Your situation will better enable you to make inquiries into the practicability of the plan than he can. If practicable, it is all-important.
I do not see the probability of receiving from Great Britain reparation for the wrong committed on the Chesapeake, and future security for our seamen, in the same favorable light with Mr. Gallatin and yourself. If indeed the consequence of the battle of Friedland can be to exclude her from the Baltic, she may temporize with us. But if peace among the continental powers of Europe should leave her free in her intercourse with the powers who will then be neutral, the present ministry, perhaps no ministry which can now be formed, will not in my opinion give us the necessary assurance respecting our flag. In that case, it must bring on a war soon, and if so, it can never be in a better time for us. I look to this, therefore, as most probably now to take place, although I do most sincerely wish that a just and sufficient security may be given us, and such an interruption of our property avoided. I salute you with affection and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Monticello, September 3, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Mr. Smith's letter of August 29th and the papers it enclosed, and which are now re-enclosed, will explain to you the necessity of my confirming his proposition as to the means of apprizing our East India commerce of their danger, without waiting for further opinions on the subject. You will see that it throws on you the immediate burden of giving the necessary instructions with as little delay as possible, lest the occasion by the vessels now sailing should be lost. Be so good as to return me his two letters, and to seal and forward on to him mine, and the other papers. Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Monticello, September 3, 1807.
Dear Sir,—After writing to Mr. Smith my letter of yesterday, by the post of that day, I received one from him now enclosed, and covering a letter from Mr. Crownenshield on the subject of notifying our East India trade. To this I have written the answer herein, which I have left open for your perusal, with Crownenshield's letter, praying that you will seal and forward them immediately, with any considerations of your own, addressed to Mr. Smith, which may aid him in the decision I refer to him. I do not give to the newspaper and parliamentary scraps the same importance you do. I think they all refer to the convention of limits sent us in the form of a project, brought forward only as a sop of the moment for Parliament and the public. Nothing but an exclusion of Great Britain from the Baltic will dispose her to peace with us, and to defer her policy of subsisting her navy by the general plunder of nations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Washington, September 4, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I had written to you yesterday on the subject of notifying our East India trade, in answer to yours of the 29th of August, and approving your proposition of giving the notice to our trade beyond the Straits of Sunda, by a consul specially sent to Batavia, and to that on this side by our consul at the Isle of France. Since writing that letter, I have received yours of the 31st, covering Mr. Crownenshield's. This letter shows a great and intimate knowledge of the subject, and points out so many various circumstances which may require a variation in the course to be pursued, that it confirms me in the opinion that it must be confided to the discretion of a well-chosen agent, governing himself by circumstances as they may occur. I think it possible, however, from Mr. Crownenshield's letter, that we may not have done the best in our power for notifying Madras, and the other ports in the bay of Bengal. I refer it to yourself, therefore, to decide on the advice you can so readily get at Baltimore, whether we should not despatch a third person, with instructions to procure himself a passage in any private vessel which may be going from this country to any port in the bay of Bengal, or to any other port from which he can probably get a passage to some port in the bay of Bengal, and from whence he can notify the other ports in the same bay, either by personally visiting them or by writing. Such a person should carry with him your commission as an agent of the navy, to obtain credence by secretly exhibiting that to those he should notify. I return you Mr. Crownenshield's and Mr. Gallatin's letters. I shall be absent from this place from the 9th to the 16th inst. Mr. Madison will be with me to-morrow, on a visit of some days. I salute you with affection and respect.
TO GEORGE HAY.
Monticello, September 4, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 1st came to hand yesterday. The event has been * * * * * that is to say, not only to clear Burr, but to prevent the evidence from ever going before the world. But this latter case must not take place. It is now, therefore, more than ever indispensable, that not a single witness be paid or permitted to depart until his testimony has been committed to writing, either as delivered in court, or as taken by yourself in the presence of any of Burr's counsel, who may choose to attend to cross-examine. These whole proceedings will be laid before Congress, that they may decide, whether the defect has been in the evidence of guilt, or in the law, or in the application of the law, and that they may provide the proper remedy for the past and the future. I must pray you also to have an authentic copy of the record made out (without saying for what) and to send it to me; if the Judge's opinions make out a part of it, then I must ask a copy of them, either under his hand, if he delivers one signed, or duly proved by affidavit.
The criminal is preserved to become the rallying point of all the disaffected and the worthless of the United States, and to be the pivot on which all the intrigues and the conspiracies which foreign governments may wish to disturb us with, are to turn. If he is convicted of the misdemeanor, the Judge must in decency give us respite by some short confinement of him; but we must expect it to be very short. Be assured yourself, and communicate the same assurance to your colleagues, that your and their zeal and abilities have been displayed in this affair to my entire satisfaction and your own honor.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
Monticello, September 6, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I enclose you the letters of Mr. Granger and Mr. J. Nicholas, by the latter of which you will see that an Indian rupture in the neighborhood of Detroit becomes more probable, if it has not already taken place. I see in it no cause for changing the opinion given in mine of August 28, but on the contrary, strong reason for hastening the measures therein recommended. We must make ever memorable examples of the tribe or tribes which shall have taken up the hatchet.
I salute you with affection and respect.
TO THOMAS PAINE.
Monticello, September 6, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I received last night your favor of August 29, and with it a model of a contrivance for making one gun-boat do nearly double execution. It has all the ingenuity and simplicity which generally mark your inventions. I am not nautical enough to judge whether two guns may be too heavy for the bow of a gun-boat, or whether any other objection will countervail the advantage it offers, and which I see visibly enough. I send it this day to the Secretary of the Navy, within whose department it lies to try and to judge it. Believing, myself, that gun-boats are the only water defence which can be useful to us, and protect us from the ruinous folly of a navy, I am pleased with everything which promises to improve them.
The battle of Friedland, armistice with Russia, conquest of Prussia, will be working on the British stomach when they will receive information of the outrage they have committed on us. Yet, having entered on the policy proposed by their champion "war in disguise," of making the property of all nations lawful plunder to support a navy which their own resources cannot support, I doubt if they will readily relinquish it. That war with us had been predetermined may be fairly inferred from the diction of Berkley's order, the Jesuitism of which proves it ministerial from its being so timed as to find us in the midst of Burr's rebellion as they expected, from the contemporaneousness of the Indian excitements, and of the wide and sudden spread of their maritime spoliations. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GEORGE HAY, ESQ., ATTORNEY FOR THE U. S., BEFORE THE DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA.
Monticello, September 7, 1807.
Sir,—Understanding that it is thought important that a letter of November 12, 1806, from General Wilkinson to myself, should be produced in evidence on the charges against Burr, depending in the District Court now sitting in Richmond, I send you a copy of it, omitting only certain passages, the nature of which is explained in the certificate subjoined to the letter. As the Attorney for the United States, be pleased to submit the copy and certificate to the uses of the Court. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
P. S. On re-examination of a letter of November 12, 1806, from General Wilkinson to myself, (which having been for a considerable time out of my possession, and now returned to me,) I find in it some passages entirely confidential, given for my information in the discharge of my executive functions, and which my duties and the public interest forbid me to make public. I have therefore given above a correct copy of all those parts which I ought to permit to be made public. Those not communicated are in nowise material for the purposes of justice on the charges of treason or misdemeanor depending against Aaron Burr; they are on subjects irrelevant to any issues which can arise out of those charges, and could contribute nothing towards his acquittal or conviction. The papers mentioned in the 1st and 3d paragraphs, as enclosed in the letters, being separated therefrom, and not in my possession, I am unable, from memory, to say what they were. I presume they are in the hands of the attorney for the United States. Given under my hand this 7th day of September, 1807.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
Monticello, September 7, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I now return you Major Newton's letters. The intention of the squadron in the bay is so manifestly pacific, that your instructions to him are perfectly proper, not to molest their boats merely for approaching the shore. While they are giving up slaves and citizen seamen, and attempting nothing ashore, it would not be well to stop this by any new restriction. If they come ashore indeed, they must be captured, or destroyed if they cannot be captured, because we mean to enforce the proclamation rigorously in preventing supplies. So the instructions already given as to intercourse by flag, as to sealed and unsealed letters, must be strictly adhered to. It is so material that the seaport towns should have artillery militia duly trained, that I think you have done well to permit Captain Nestell's company to have powder and ball to exercise. With respect to gun-carriages, furnaces and clothes, I am so little familiar with the details of the War department that I must beg those subjects to lie till the return of the Secretary at War, which will be in three weeks. Proposing to be absent from this place from the 9th to the 16th instant, our daily post will be suspended during that interval. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GEORGE HAY.
Monticello, September 7, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I received, late last night, your favor of the day before, and now re-enclose you the subpœna. As I do not believe that the district courts have a power of commanding the executive government to abandon superior duties and attend on them, at whatever distance, I am unwilling, by any notice of the subpœna, to set a precedent which might sanction a proceeding so preposterous. I enclose you, therefore, a letter, public and for the court, covering substantially all they ought to desire. If the papers which were enclosed in Wilkinson's letter may, in your judgment, be communicated without injury, you will be pleased to communicate them. I return you the original letter.
I am happy in having the benefit of Mr. Madison's counsel on this occasion, he happening to be now with me. We are both strongly of opinion, that the prosecution against Burr for misdemeanor should proceed at Richmond. If defeated, it will heap coals of fire on the head of the Judge; if successful, it will give time to see whether a prosecution for treason against him can be instituted in any, and what other court. But we incline to think, it may be best to send Blennerhasset and Smith (Israel) to Kentucky, to be tried both for the treason and misdemeanor. The trial of Dayton for misdemeanor may as well go on at Richmond.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Monticello, September 8, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Mr. Madison, who is with me, suggests the expediency of immediately taking up the case of Captain Porter, against whom you know Mr. Erskine lodged a very serious complaint, for an act of violence committed on a British seaman in the Mediterranean. While Mr. Erskine was reminded of the mass of complaints we had against his government for similar violences, he was assured that contending against such irregularities ourselves, and requiring satisfaction for them, we did not mean to follow the example, and that on Captain Porter's return, it should be properly inquired into. The sooner this is done the better; because if Great Britain settles with us satisfactorily all our subsisting differences, and should require in return, (to have an appearance of reciprocity of wrong as well as redress,) a marked condemnation of Captain Porter, it would be embarrassing were that the only obstacle to a peaceable settlement, and the more so as we cannot but disavow his act. On the contrary, if we immediately look into it, we shall be more at liberty to be moderate in the censure of it, on the very ground of British example; and the case being once passed upon, we can more easily avoid the passing on it a second time, as against a settled principle. It is therefore to put it in our power to let Captain Porter off as easily as possible, as a valuable officer whom we all wish to favor, that I suggest to you the earliest attention to the inquiry, and the promptest settlement of it. I set out to-morrow on a journey of 100 miles, and shall be absent eight or nine days. I salute you affectionately.
TO MR. CRAWFORD.
Monticello, September 8, 1807.
Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to Mr. Crawford, and his thanks for his Observations on Quarantines, which he has read with great pleasure. Not himself a friend to quarantines, nor having confidence in their efficacy, even if they are necessary, he sees with pleasure every effort to lessen their credit. But the theory which derives all infection, and ascribes to unseen animals the effects hitherto believed to be produced by it, is as yet too new and unreceived to justify the public servants in resting thereon the public health, until time and further investigation shall have sanctioned it by a more general confidence. He salutes Mr. Crawford with great respect.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
Monticello, September 8, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 2d is received, and I have this day directed commissions for Bull, Hubbell, and for Benajah Nicholls of North Carolina, as Surveyor of the port of Windsor, v. Simeon Turner, resigned. This last is on the recommendation of Alston.
You know that the merchants of New York and Philadelphia were of opinion that a public vessel sent into the Bay of Bengal to notify our trade there, would in fact increase the danger of our vessels. The most intelligent merchants of Baltimore, consulted by Mr. Smith, were of the same opinion as to the Straits of Sunda. It was therefore concluded between Mr. Smith, Mr. Madison, and myself, (time not admitting further consultation,) that it would be best to make a Consul for Batavia, (there being none,) and send him to his post by a private vessel, with instructions to take the best measures he could for notifying all our trade beyond the Straits, to instruct our Consul at the Isle of France to do the same to all on this side, and moreover to send a special agent by any private conveyance to be obtained, to go from port to port in the Bay of Bengal, to give private notice to the vessels there. As several vessels were on their departure for those seas from Philadelphia and Baltimore, it is trusted that this arrangement will effect all the good proposed, and avoid all the evil apprehended at the different places which were consulted.
I set out to-morrow to Bedford, and shall be absent eight days. I shall leave this on the 30th, and be in Washington the 3d of October, ready for our meeting on the 5th. I salute you affectionately.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
Monticello, September 18, 1807.
Sir,—On my return to this place yesterday I found your favor of the 15th, and now return the papers it covered. I am glad to see the temperate complexion of Lowrie's correspondence. I presume the intelligence from England since the arrival there of the information respecting the Chesapeake, will produce a moderate deportment in their officers. Your instructions to Major Newton on the opening of letters, are perfectly consonant with the rules laid down. With respect to the mode of furnishing the troops with provisions through any other channel than that of the public contractor, I am unable to say anything, being not at all acquainted with the arrangements of the war department on that subject. I enclose you a letter I have received from a Mr. Belcher, of Gloster, giving reason to believe there have been some contraventions of the Proclamation there which ought to be punished if they can be detected. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO MR. MADISON.
Monticello, September 18, 1807.
I returned here yesterday afternoon and found, as I might expect, an immense mass of business. With the papers received from you, I enclose you some others which will need no explanation. I am desired by the Secretary of the Navy to say what must be the conduct of Commodore Rodgers, at New York, on the late or any similar entry of that harbor by the British armed vessels. I refer him to the orders to Decatur as to what he was to do if the vessels in the Chesapeake. 1. Remain quiet in the Bay. 2. Come to Hampton road. 3. Enter Elizabeth river, and recommend an application of the same rules to New York, accommodated to the localities of the place. Should the British government give us reparation of the past, and security for the future, yet the continuance of their vessels in our harbors in defiance constitutes a new injury, which will not be included in any settlement with our ministers, and will furnish good ground for declaring their future exclusion from our waters, in addition with the other reasonable ground before existing. Our Indian affairs in the northwest on the Missouri, and at the Natchitoches, wear a very unpleasant aspect. As to the first all I think is done which is necessary. But for this and other causes, I am anxious to be again assembled. I have a letter from Connecticut. The prosecution there will be dismissed this term on the ground that the case is not cognisable by the courts of the United States. Perhaps you can intimate this where it will give tranquillity. Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
Monticello, September 18, 1807
Dear Sir,—On my return yesterday I found yours of the 10th, and now re-enclose you Commodore Rodgers' letter. You remember that the orders to Decatur were to leave the British ships unmolested so long as they laid quiet in the Bay; but if they should attempt to enter Elizabeth river to attack them with all his force. The spirit of these orders should, I think, be applied to New York. So long as the British vessels merely enter the Hook, or remain quiet there, I would not precipitate hostilities. I do not sufficiently know the geography of the harbor to draw the line which they should not pass. Perhaps the narrows, perhaps some other place which yourself or Commodore Rogers can fix with the aid of the advice he can get in New York. But a line should be drawn which if they attempt to pass, he should attack them with all his force. Perhaps he would do well to have his boats ordinarily a little without the line to let them see they are not to approach it; but whether he can lay there in safety, ordinarily, he must judge. But if the British vessels continue at the Hook, great attention should be paid to prevent their receiving supplies or their landing, or having any intercourse with the shore or other vessels. I left Mr. Nicholas's yesterday morning: he is indisposed with his annual influenza. Mrs. Nicholas is well. I shall be at Washington on the 3d proximo. Affectionate salutations.
TO ROBERT BRENT, ESQ.
Monticello, September 19, 1807.
Sir,—I have just received your favor of the 8th, informing me that the Board of Trustees for the public school in Washington had unanimously re-appointed me their President. I pray you to present to them my thanks for the mark of their confidence, with assurances that I shall at all times be ready to render to the Institution any services which shall be in my power. Accept yourself my salutations, and assurances of great respect and esteem.
TO J. MADISON.
September 20, 1807.
I return all the papers received in yours of the 18th and 19th, except one soliciting office, Judge Woodward's letters, to be communicated to the Secretary of War. Should not Claiborne be instructed to say at once to Governor Folch, that as we never did prohibit any articles (except slaves) from being carried up the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, so we do not mean to prohibit them, and that we only ask a perfect and equal reciprocity to be observed on the rivers which pass through the territories of both nations. Must we not denounce to Congress the Spanish decree as well as the British regulation pretending to be the countervail of the French? One of our first consultations, on meeting, must be on the question whether we shall not order all the militia and volunteers destined for the Canadas to be embodied on the 26th of October, and to march immediately to such points on the way to their destination as shall be pointed out, there to await the decision of Congress? I approve of the letter to Erskine. In answering his last, should he not be reminded how strange it is he should consider as a hostility our refusing to receive but under a flag, persons from vessels remaining and acting in our waters in defiance of the authority of the country? The post-rider of the day before yesterday has behaved much amiss in not calling on you. When I found your mail in the valise and that they had not called on you, I replaced the mail in it and expressly directed him to return by you. Affectionate salutations.
TO MR. HAY.
Monticello, September 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—General Wilkinson has asked permission to make use, in the statement of Burr's affair which he is about to publish, of the documents placed in your hands by Mr. Rodney. To this, consent is freely given with one reservation. Some of these papers are expressed to be confidential. Others containing censures on particular individuals, are such as I always deem confidential, and therefore cannot communicate, but for regularly official purposes, without a breach of trust. I must therefore ask the exercise of your discretion in selecting all of this character, and of giving to the General the free use of the others. It will be necessary that the whole be returned to the Attorney General by the first week in the next month, as a selection will be made from them to make part of the whole evidence in the case, which I shall have printed and communicated to Congress. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GENERAL WILKINSON.
Monticello, September 20, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I received your favors of the 13th and 15th on my return to this place on the 17th, and such was the mass of business accumulated in my absence, that I have not till now been able to take up your letters. You are certainly free to make use of any of the papers we put into Mr. Hay's hands, with a single reservation: to wit, some of them are expressed to be confidential, and others are of that kind which I always consider as confidential, conveying censure on particular individuals, and therefore never communicate them beyond the immediate executive circle. I accordingly write to this effect to Mr. Hay. The scenes which have been acted at Richmond are such as have never before been exhibited in any country where all regard to public character has not yet been thrown off. They are equivalent to a proclamation of impunity to every traitorous combination which may be formed to destroy the Union; and they preserve a head for all such combinations as may be formed within, and a centre for all the intrigues and machinations which foreign governments may nourish to disturb us. However, they will produce an amendment to the Constitution which, keeping the judges independent of the Executive, will not leave them so, of the nation.
I shall leave this place on the 30th for Washington. It is with pleasure that I perceive from all the expressions of public sentiment, that the virulence of those whose treasons you have defeated only place you on higher ground in the opinion of the nation. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO MR. COXE.
Monticello, September 21, 1807.
Sir,—I have read with great satisfaction your observations on the principles for equalizing the power of the different nations on the sea, and think them perfectly sound. Certainly it will be better to produce a balance on that element, by reducing the means of its great monopolizer, than by endeavoring to raise our own to an equality with theirs. I have ever wished that all nations would adopt a navigation law against those who have one, which perhaps would be better than against all indiscriminately, and while in France I proposed it there. Probably that country is now ripe for it. I see no reason why your paper should not be published, as it would have effect towards bringing the public mind to proper principles. I do not know whether you kept a copy; if you did not, I will return it. Otherwise I retain it for the perusal of my coadjutors, and perhaps to suggest the measure abroad. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Washington, October 8, 1807.
Dear Sir,— * * * * * The approaching convention of Congress would render your assistance here desirable. Besides the varieties of general matter we have to lay before them, on which we should be glad of your aid and counsel, there are two subjects of magnitude in which your agency will be peculiarly necessary. 1st. The selection and digestion of the documents respecting Burr's treason, which must be laid before Congress in two copies, (or perhaps printed, which would take ten days.) 2d. A statement of the conduct of Great Britain towards this country, so far as respects the violations of the Maritime Law of nations. Here it would be necessary to state each distinct principle violated, and to quote the cases of violation, and to conclude with a view of her vice-admiralty courts, their venality and rascality, in order to show that however for conveniences, (and not of right) the court of the captor is admitted to exercise the jurisdiction, yet that in so palpable an abuse of that trust, some remedy must be applied. Everything we see and hear leads in my opinion to war; we have therefore much to consult and determine on, preparatory to that event. I salute you with affectionate respect.
TO MR. PAINE.
Washington, October 9, 1807.
Dear Sir,—Your second letter on the subject of gun-boats, came to hand just before my departure from Monticello. In the meantime, the inquiry into the proposition had been referred, agreeably to our usage, or to reason, to the practical persons of the department to which it belonged, deemed most skilful. On my arrival here, I found the answers of the persons to whom it was referred, the substance of which I now enclose you. I am not a judge of their solidity, but I presume they are founded, and the rather as they are from officers entirely favorable to the use of gun-boats.
We have as yet no knowledge of the arrival of the Revenge in England, but we may daily expect to hear of it; and as we expected she would be detained there and in France about a month, it will be a month hence before we can expect her back here. In the meantime, all the little circumstances coming to our knowledge are unfavorable to our wishes for peace. If they would but settle the question of impressment from our bottoms, I should be well contented to drop all attempts at a treaty. The other rights of neutral powers will be taken care of by Bonaparte and Alexander; and for commercial arrangements we can sufficiently provide by legislative regulations. But as the practice of impressment has taken place only against us, we shall be left to settle that for ourselves; and to do this we shall never again have so favorable a conjuncture of circumstances. Accept my friendly salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CABELL.
Washington, October 12, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I now return you several of Major Newton's letters, some of which have been kept awhile for consideration. It is determined that there shall be no relaxation in the conditions of the proclamations, or any change in the rules of intercourse by flag. If the British officers set the example of refusing to receive a flag, let ours then follow it by never sending or receiving another. The interval cannot now be long in which matters will remain at their present point. I salute you with great friendship and respect.
TO MR. GALLATIN.
Washington, October 14, 1807
I think the proper instructions for Mr. Christie's revenue cutter may be drawn from those given to Captain Decatur. The authority of the proclamation is to be maintained, no supplies to be permitted to be carried to the British vessels, nor their vessels permitted to land. For these purposes force, and to any extent, is to be applied, if necessary, but not unless necessary, nor, considering how short a time the present state of things has to continue, would I recommend any extraordinary vigilance or great industry in seeking even just occasions for collision. It will suffice to do what is right when the occasion comes into their way. I cannot doubt the expediency of getting the instruments recommended by Mr. Patterson, and of the best kind, if they can be got in England, because I almost know they cannot be made in any other country equally good, and I should be quite averse to getting those which should not be perfect.
May we not at once appoint the republican candidate for the collectorship of Snow-hill? Affectionate salutations.
TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.
Washington, October 17, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I forwarded to Mr. Smith, Secretary of the Navy, an extract of so much of my letter to you of August 31st, as suggested the idea of artificial harbors for gun-boats, on the horse-shoe and middle grounds, with a view to his having their formation examined, to know if they would support works, and their distance ascertained, to know what would be their effect. The objects were, 1, to provide an asylum on the shoals for gun-boats against weather and ships of war, and 2, to prevent ships lying within the capes. I enclose you the opinion of Captain Porter, according to which, without thinking of attempting works so difficult and doubtful, both ends will be answered by a work at Lynhaven river, where the shoals are extensive enough to keep off ships of war, and the river sufficiently capacious to receive all the gun-boats. He thinks a work at Point Comfort might also be useful. I send you his draught, which, being merely an enlargement from More's map on a very minute scale, is not to be much depended on; and considering the extent of country that point is to defend, I recommend it to your consideration, as one of our important objects. Affectionate salutations.
TO GOVERNOR SULLIVAN.
Washington, October 18, 1807.
Sir,—I have duly received your favor of the 8th inst., covering, at the request of the general court of Massachusetts, a memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, on behalf of Benjamin Hichborn and others, with a desire that I would communicate and recommend the same to both Houses of Congress. I should avail myself with particular pleasure of every occasion of doing what would be acceptable to the legislative and executive authorities of Massachusetts, and which should be within the limits of my functions. The Executive of the Union is, indeed, by the Constitution, made the channel of communication between foreign powers and the United States. But citizens, whether individually, or in bodies corporate, or associated, have a right to apply directly to any department of their government, whether legislative, executive, or judiciary, the exercise of whose powers they have a right to claim; and neither of these can regularly offer its intervention in a case belonging to the other. The communication and recommendation by me to Congress of the memorial you have been pleased to enclose me, would be an innovation, not authorized by the practice of our government, and therefore the less likely to add to its weight or effect. Thus restrained from serving you in the exact way desired, I have thought I could not better do it than by a prompt return of the papers, that no time might be lost in transmitting them through the accustomary channels of your Senators and Representatives in Congress; and I avail myself of the occasion of assuring you of my very high respect and consideration.
TO DOCTOR BARTON.
Washington, October 18, 1807.
Dear Sir,—I received last night a diploma from the Linnæan Society of Philadelphia, doing me the honor of associating me to their body. I pray you to do me the favor of assuring the society of my sensibility for this mark of their notice, and of my thanks. Sincerely associated with the friends of science, in spirit and inclination, I regret the constant occupations of a different kind, which put out of my power the proper co-operations with them, had I otherwise the talents for them. I shall gladly embrace any occasion which can be offered of being useful to the society, as a mark of my acknowledgments for their favors, with my thanks for the copy of your discourse, enclosed at the same time. I pray you to receive my friendly salutations, and assurances of great respect and esteem.
TO JAMES GAMBLE, ESQ.
Washington, October 21, 1807.
Sir,—Your favor of the 17th has been duly received. I have long seen, and with very great regret, the schisms which have taken place among the republicans, and principally those of Pennsylvania and New York. As far as I have been able to judge, they have not been produced by any difference of political principle,—at least, any important difference, but by a difference of opinion as to persons. I determined from the first moment to take no part in them, and that the government should know nothing of any such differences. Accordingly, it has never been attended to in any appointment, or refusal of appointment. General Shee's personal merit, universally acknowledged, was the cause of his appointment as Indian Superintendent, and a subsequent discovery that his removal to this place (the indispensable residence of that officer), would be peculiarly unpleasant to him suggested his translation to another office, to solve the double difficulty. Rarely reading the controversial pieces between the different sections of republicans, I have not seen the piece in the Aurora, to which you allude; but I may with truth assure you, that no fact has come to my knowledge which has ever induced any doubt of your continued attachment to the true principles of republican government. I am thankful for the favorable sentiments you are so kind as to express towards me personally, and trust that an uniform pursuit of the principles and conduct which have procured, will continue to me an approbation, which I highly value.
I salute you with great esteem and respect.
TO GOVERNOR CABELL.
Washington, October 25, 1807.
Sir,—Your letters of the 21st and 22d are received, and I now return Captain Read's of the 18th. We conclude it unnecessary to call for another corps of militia, to relieve that now in service at Lynhaven. General Dearborn will write, and give the necessary directions for discharging, paying, &c. I suspect the departure of the British armed vessels from our waters, is in consequence of orders from their government to respect the proclamation. If Congress should approve our ideas of defensive works for the several harbors of the United States, there will be a regular fort at the mouth of Lynhaven river, to protect such a number of gun-boats to be stationed there as will, in case of war, render it too dangerous to any armed vessel to enter the bay; and thus to protect the bay and all its waters at its mouth. I salute you with great esteem and respect.