April 3, 1809.
Returning to the scenes of my birth and early life, to the society of those with whom I was raised, and who have been ever dear to me, I receive, fellow citizens and neighbors, with inexpressible pleasure, the cordial welcome you are so good as to give me. Long absent on duties which the history of a wonderful era made incumbent on those called to them, the pomp, the turmoil, the bustle and splendor of office, have drawn but deeper sighs for the tranquil and irresponsible occupations of private life, for the enjoyment of an affectionate intercourse with you, my neighbors and friends, and the endearments of family love, which nature has given us all, as the sweetener of every hour. For these I gladly lay down the distressing burthen of power, and seek, with my fellow citizens, repose and safety under the watchful cares, the labors and perplexities of younger and abler minds. The anxieties you express to administer to my happiness, do, of themselves, confer that happiness; and the measure will be complete, if my endeavors to fulfil my duties in the several public stations to which I have been called, have obtained for me the approbation of my country. The part which I have acted on the theatre of public life, has been before them; and to their sentence I submit it; but the testimony of my native county, of the individuals who have known me in private life, to my conduct in its various duties and relations, is the more grateful, as proceeding from eye witnesses and observers, from triers of the vicinage. Of you, then, my neighbors, I may ask, in the face of the world, "whose ox have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received a bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?" On your verdict I rest with conscious security. Your wishes for my happiness are received with just sensibility, and I offer sincere prayers for your own welfare and prosperity.
Monticello, April 7, 1809.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of February 27th came to hand on the 3d of March. The occupations of the moment and of those which have followed must be my apology for this late acknowledgment. The plan of civilizing the Indians is undoubtedly a great improvement on the ancient and totally ineffectual one of beginning with religious missionaries. Our experience has shown that this must be the last step of the process. The following is what has been successful: 1st, to raise cattle, &c., and thereby acquire a knowledge of the value of property; 2d, arithmetic, to calculate that value; 3d, writing, to keep accounts, and here they begin to enclose farms, and the men to labor, the women to spin and weave; 4th, to read "Æsop's Fables" and "Robinson Crusoe" are their first delight. The Creeks and Cherokees are advanced thus far, and the Cherokees are now instituting a regular government.
An equilibrium of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, is certainly become essential to our independence. Manufactures, sufficient for our own consumption, of what we raise the raw material, (and no more.) Commerce sufficient to carry the surplus produce of agriculture, beyond our own consumption, to a market for exchanging it for articles we cannot raise, (and no more.) These are the true limits of manufactures and commerce. To go beyond them is to increase our dependence on foreign nations, and our liability to war.
These three important branches of human industry will then grow together, and be really handmaids to each other. I salute you with great respect and esteem.
Monticello, April 15, 1809.
Dear Sir,—I have duly received your very friendly letter of March 28th, and am extremely sensible to the kind spirit it breathes. To be praised by those who themselves deserve all praise, is a gratification of high order. Their approbation who, having been high in office themselves, have information and talents to guide their judgment, is a consolation deeply felt. A conscientious devotion to republican government, like charity in religion, has obtained for me much indulgence from my fellow citizens, and the aid of able counsellors has guided me through many difficulties which have occurred. The troubles in the East have been produced by English agitators, operating on the selfish spirit of commerce, which knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain. The inordinate extent given it among us by our becoming the factors of the whole world, has enabled it to control the agricultural and manufacturing interests. When a change of circumstances shall reduce it to an equilibrium with these, to the carrying our produce only, to be exchanged for our wants, it will return to a wholesome condition for the body politic, and that beyond which it should never more be encouraged to go. The repeal of the drawback system will either effect this, or bring sufficient sums into the treasury to meet the wars we shall bring on by our covering every sea with our vessels. But this must be the work of peace. The correction will be after my day, as the error originated before it. I thank you sincerely for your kind good wishes, and offer my prayers for your health and welfare, with every assurance of my great esteem and respect.
P. S. I thank you for the information of your letter of the 4th, this moment received. I sincerely wish the British orders may be repealed. If they are, it will be because the nation will not otherwise let the ministers keep their places. Their object has unquestionably been fixed to establish the Algerine system, and to maintain their possession of the ocean by a system of piracy against all nations.
Monticello, April 19, 1809.
Dear Sir,—I have to acknowledge your favor of the 9th, and to thank you for the political information it contained. Reading the newspapers but little and that little but as the romance of the day, a word of truth now and then comes like the drop of water on the tongue of Dives. If the British ministry are changing their policy towards us, it is because their nation, or rather the city of London, which is the nation to them, is shaken as usual, by the late reverses in Spain. I have for some time been persuaded that the government of England was systematically decided to claim a dominion of the sea, and to levy contributions on all nations, by their licenses to navigate, in order to maintain that dominion to which their own resources are inadequate. The mobs of their cities are unprincipled enough to support this policy in prosperous times, but change with the tide of fortune, and the ministers, to keep their places, change with them. I wish Mr. Oakley may not embarrass you with his conditions of revoking the orders of council. Enough of the non-importation law should be reserved, 1st, to pinch them into a relinquishment of impressments, and 2d, to support those manufacturing establishments which their orders, and our interests, forced us to make.
I suppose the conquest of Spain will soon force a delicate question on you as to the Floridas and Cuba, which will offer themselves to you. Napoleon will certainly give his consent without difficulty to our receiving the Floridas, and with some difficulty possibly Cuba. And though he will disregard the obligation whenever he thinks he can break it with success, yet it has a great effect on the opinion of our people and the world to have the moral right on our side, of his agreement as well as that of the people of those countries.
Mr. Hackley's affair is really unfortunate. He has been driven into this arrangement by his distresses, which are great. He is a perfectly honest man, as is well known here where he was born, but unaccustomed to political subjects, he has not seen it in that view. But a respect for the innocence of his views cannot authorize the sanction of government to such an example.
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Monticello, April 27, 1809.
Dear Sir,—Yours of the 24th came to hand last night. The correspondence between Mr. Smith and Mr. Erskine had been received three days before. I sincerely congratulate you on the change it has produced in our situation. It is the source of very general joy here, and could it have arrived one month sooner would have had important effects, not only on the elections of other States, but of this also, from which it would seem that wherever there was any considerable portion of federalism it has been so much reinforced by those of whose politics the price of wheat is the sole principle, that federalists will be returned from many districts of this State. The British ministry has been driven from its Algerine system, not by any remaining morality in the people, but by their unsteadiness under severe trial. But whencesoever it comes, I rejoice in it as the triumph of our forbearing and yet persevering system. It will lighten your anxieties, take from Cabal its most fertile ground of war, will give us peace during your time, and by the complete extinguishment of our public debt, open upon us the noblest application of revenue that has ever been exhibited by any nation. I am sorry they are sending a minister to attempt a treaty. They never made an equal commercial treaty with any nation, and we have no right to expect to be the first. It will place you between the injunctions of true patriotism and the clamors of a faction devoted to a foreign interest, in preference to that of their own country. It will confirm the English too in their practice of whipping us into a treaty. They did it in Jay's case, were near it in Monroe's, and on failure of that, have applied the scourge with tenfold vigor, and now come on to try its effect. But it is the moment when we should prove our consistence, by recurring to the principles we dictated to Monroe, the departure from which occasioned our rejection of his treaty, and by protesting against Jay's treaty being ever quoted, or looked at, or even mentioned. That form will forever be a millstone round our necks unless we now rid ourselves of it once for all. The occasion is highly favorable, as we never can have them more in our power.
As to Bonaparte, I should not doubt the revocation of his edicts, were he governed by reason. But his policy is so crooked that it eludes conjecture. I fear his first object now is to dry up the sources of British prosperity by excluding her manufactures from the continent. He may fear that opening the ports of Europe to our vessels will open them to an inundation of British wares. He ought to be satisfied with having forced her to revoke the orders on which he pretended to retaliate, and to be particularly satisfied with us, by whose unyielding adherence to principle she has been forced into the revocation. He ought the more to conciliate our good will, as we can be such an obstacle to the new career opening on him in the Spanish colonies. That he would give us the Floridas to withhold intercourse with the residue of those colonies, cannot be doubted. But that is no price; because they are ours in the first moment of the first war; and until a war they are of no particular necessity to us. But, although with difficulty, he will consent to our receiving Cuba into our Union, to prevent our aid to Mexico and the other provinces. That would be a price, and I would immediately erect a column on the southernmost limit of Cuba, and inscribe on it a ne plus ultra as to us in that direction. We should then have only to include the north in our Confederacy, which would be of course in the first war, and we should have such an empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the creation; and I am persuaded no constitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire and self-government. As the Mentor went away before this change, and will leave France probably while it is still a secret in that hemisphere, I presume the expediency of pursuing her by a swift sailing despatch was considered. It will be objected to our receiving Cuba, that no limit can then be drawn to our future acquisitions. Cuba can be defended by us without a navy, and this develops the principle which ought to limit our views. Nothing should ever be accepted which would require a navy to defend it.
Our Spring continues cold and backward, rarely one growing day without two or three cold ones following. Wheat is of very various complexions from very good to very bad. Fruit has not suffered as much as was expected, except in peculiar situations. Gardens are nearly a month behind their usual state. I thank you for the squashes from Maine; they shall be planted to-day. I salute you with sincere and constant affection.
Monticello, May 14, 1809.
Sir,—I have duly received your favor of April 3d, with the copy of your "General Geography," for which I pray you to accept my thanks. My occupations here have not permitted me to read it through, which alone could justify any judgment expressed on the work. Indeed, as it appears to be an abridgment of several branches of science, the scale of abridgment must enter into that judgment. Different readers require different scales according to the time they can spare, and their views in reading, and no doubt that the view of the sciences which you have brought into the compass of a 12mo volume will be accommodated to the time and object of many who may wish for but a very general view of them.
In passing my eye rapidly over parts of the book, I was struck with two passages, on which I will make observations, not doubting your wish, in any future edition, to render the work as correct as you can. In page 186 you say the potatoe is a native of the United States. I presume you speak of the Irish potatoe. I have inquired much into the question, and think I can assure you that plant is not a native of North America. Zimmerman, in his "Geographical Zoology," says it is a native of Guiana; and Clavigero, that the Mexicans got it from South America, its native country. The most probable account I have been able to collect is, that a vessel of Sir Walter Raleigh's, returning from Guiana, put into the west of Ireland in distress, having on board some potatoes which they called earth-apples. That the season of the year, and circumstance of their being already sprouted, induced them to give them all out there, and they were no more heard or thought of, till they had been spread considerably into that island, whence they were carried over into England, and therefore called the Irish potatoe. From England they came to the United States, bringing their name with them.
The other passage respects the description of the passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge, in the Notes on Virginia. You quote from Volney's account of the United States what his words do not justify. His words are, "on coming from Fredericktown, one does not see the rich perspective mentioned in the Notes of Mr. Jefferson. On observing this to him a few days after, he informed me he had his information from a French engineer who, during the war of Independence, ascended the height of the hills, and I conceive that at that elevation the perspective must be as imposing as a wild country, whose horizon has no obstacles, may present." That the scene described in the "Notes" is not visible from any part of the road from Fredericktown to Harper's ferry is most certain. That road passes along the valley, nor can it be seen from the tavern after crossing the ferry; and we may fairly infer that Mr. Volney did not ascend the height back of the tavern from which alone it can be seen, but that he pursued his journey from the tavern along the high road. Yet he admits, that at the elevation of that height the perspective may be as rich as a wild country can present. But you make him "surprised to find, by a view of the spot, that the description was amazingly exaggerated." But it is evident that Mr. Volney did not ascend the hill to get a view of the spot, and that he supposed that that height may present as imposing a view as such a country admits. But Mr. Volney was mistaken in saying I told him I had received the description from a French engineer. By an error of memory he has misapplied to this scene what I mentioned to him as to the Natural Bridge. I told him I received a drawing of that from a French engineer sent there by the Marquis de Chastellux, and who has published that drawing in his travels. I could not tell him I had the description of the passage of the Potomac from a French engineer, because I never heard any Frenchman say a word about it, much less did I ever receive a description of it from any mortal whatever. I visited the place myself in October 1783, wrote the description some time after, and printed the work in Paris in 1784-5. I wrote the description from my own view of the spot, stated no fact but what I saw, and can now affirm that no fact is exaggerated. It is true that the same scene may excite very different sensations in different spectators, according to their different sensibilities. The sensations of some may be much stronger than those of others. And with respect to the Natural Bridge, it was not a description, but a drawing only, which I received from the French engineer. The description was written before I ever saw him. It is not from any merit which I suppose in either of these descriptions, that I have gone into these observations, but to correct the imputation of having given to the world as my own, ideas, and false ones too, which I had received from another. Nor do I mention the subject to you with a desire that it should be any otherwise noticed before the public than by a more correct statement in any future edition of your work.
You mention having enclosed to me some printed letters announcing a design in which you ask my aid. But no such letters came to me. Any facts which I possess, and which may be useful to your views, shall be freely communicated, and I shall be happy to see you at Monticello, should you come this way as you propose. You will find me engaged entirely in rural occupations, looking into the field of science but occasionally and at vacant moments.
I sowed some of the Benni seed the last year, and distributed some among my neighbors; but the whole was killed by the September frost. I got a little again the last winter, but it was sowed before I received your letter. Colonel Fen of New York receives quantities of it from Georgia, from whom you may probably get some through the Mayor of New York. But I little expect it can succeed with you. It is about as hardy as the cotton plant, from which you may judge of the probability of raising it at Hudson.
I salute you with great respect.
Monticello, May 19, 1809.
Sir,—Your favor of March 19th came to hand but a few days ago, and informs me of the establishment of the Westward Mill Library Society, of its general views and progress. I always hear with pleasure of institutions for the promotion of knowledge among my countrymen. The people of every country are the only safe guardians of their own rights, and are the only instruments which can be used for their destruction. And certainly they would never consent to be so used were they not deceived. To avoid this, they should be instructed to a certain degree. I have often thought that nothing would do more extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a small circulating library in every county, to consist of a few well-chosen books, to be lent to the people of the county, under such regulations as would secure their safe return in due time. These should be such as would give them a general view of other history, and particular view of that of their own country, a tolerable knowledge of Geography, the elements of Natural Philosophy, of Agriculture and Mechanics. Should your example lead to this, it will do great good. Having had more favorable opportunities than fall to every man's lot of becoming acquainted with the best books on such subjects as might be selected, I do not know that I can be otherwise useful to your society than by offering them any information respecting these which they might wish. My services in this way are freely at their command, and I beg leave to tender to yourself my salutations and assurances of respect.
Monticello, May 27, 1809.
Sir,—I have received, very thankfully, the two copies of your pamphlet on the constitution of the U. S., and shall certainly read them with pleasure. I had formerly looked with great interest to the experiment which was going on in France of an executive Directory, while that of a single elective executive was under trial here. I thought the issue of them might fairly decide the question between the two modes. But the untimely fate of that establishment cut short the experiment.
I have not, however, been satisfied whether the dissensions of that Directory (and which I fear are incident to a plurality) were not the most effective cause of the successful usurpations which overthrew them. It is certainly one of the most interesting questions to a republican, and worthy of great consideration. I thank you for the friendly expressions of your letter towards myself personally, and the sincere happiness I enjoy here, satisfies me that nothing personal or self-interested entered into my motives for continuing in the public service. The actual experiment proves to me that these were all in favor of returning to my present situation. I salute you with great esteem and respect.
Monticello, May 28, 1809.
Sir,—Your favor of March 14th was received in due time. The apology for so late an acknowledgment of it must be the multiplied occupations of my new situation after so long an absence from it. Truth requires me to add, also, that after being so long chained to the writing table, I go to it with reluctance, and listen with partiality to every call from any other quarter. I have not, however, been the less sensible of the kind sentiments expressed in your letter, nor the less thankful for them. Indeed I owe infinite acknowledgments to the republican portion of my fellow citizens for the indulgence with which they have viewed my proceedings generally. In the transaction of their affairs I never felt an interested motive. The large share I have enjoyed, and still enjoy of anti-republican hatred and calumny, gives me the satisfaction of supposing that I have been some obstacle to anti-republican designs; and if truth should find its way into history, the object of these falsehoods and calumnies will render them honorable to me. With sincere wishes for your welfare and happiness, I tender you the assurances of my esteem and respect.
Monticello, May 28, 1809.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of Nov. 14th came to me in due time, but much oppressed with business then and to the end of my political term, I put it by as I did the civilities of my other friends, till the leisure I expected here should permit me to acknowledge them without the neglect of any public duty. I am very sensible of the kindness of the sentiments expressed in your letter, and of the general indulgence with which my republican friends generally, and those of Pennsylvania particularly, have received my public proceedings. I hope I may be allowed to say that they were always directed by a single view to the best interests of our country. In the electoral election, Pennsylvania really spoke in a voice of thunder to the monarchists of our country, and while that State continues so firm, with the solid mass of republicanism to the South and West, such efforts as we have lately seen in the anti-republican portion of our country cannot ultimately affect our security. Our enemies may try their cajoleries with my successor. They will find him as immovable in his republican principles as him whom they have honored with their peculiar enmity. The late pacification with England gives us a hope of eight years of peaceable and wise administration, within which time our revenue will be liberated from debt, and be free to commence that splendid course of public improvement and wise application of the public contributions, of which it remains for us to set the first example. I salute you with real esteem and respect.
Monticello, June 10, 1809.
Dear Sir,—I enclose you a letter from Mr. Smith of Erie, one of the members of Pennsylvania, which you will readily perceive ought to have been addressed to you by himself; as it is official and not personal opinion which can answer his views. I am however gratified by his mistake in sending it to me, inasmuch as it gives me an opportunity of abstracting myself from my rural occupations, and of saluting one with whom I have been connected in service and in society so many years, and to whose aid and relief on an important portion of the public cares, I have been so much indebted. I do it with sincere affection and gratitude, and look back with peculiar satisfaction on the harmony and cordial good will which, to ourselves and to our brethren of the cabinet, so much sweetened our toils. From the characters now associated in the administration, I have no doubt of the continuance of the same cordiality so interesting to themselves and to the public; and great as are the difficulties and dangers environing our camp, I sleep with perfect composure, knowing who are watching for us. I pray you to present me respectfully to Mrs. Smith, and to accept my prayers that you may long continue in the enjoyment of health and the public esteem in return for your useful services past and to come.
Monticello, June 13, 1809.
Dear Sir,—I did not know till Mr. Patterson called on us, a few days ago, that you had passed on to Washington. I had recently observed in the debates of Congress, a matter introduced, on which I wished to give explanations more fully in conversation, which I will now do by abridgement in writing. Mr. Randolph has proposed an inquiry into certain prosecutions at common law in Connecticut, for libels on the government, and not only himself but others have stated them with such affected caution, and such hints at the same time, as to leave on every mind the impression that they had been instituted either by my direction, or with my acquiescence, at least. This has not been denied by my friends, because probably the fact is unknown to them. I shall state it for their satisfaction, and leave it to be disposed of as they think best.
I had observed in a newspaper, (some years ago, I do not recollect the time exactly,) some dark hints of a prosecution in Connecticut, but so obscurely hinted that I paid little attention to it. Some considerable time after, it was again mentioned, so that I understood that some prosecution was going on in the federal court there, for calumnies uttered from the pulpit against me by a clergyman. I immediately wrote to Mr. Granger, who, I think, was in Connecticut at the time, stating that I had laid it down as a law to myself, to take no notice of the thousand calumnies issued against me, but to trust my character to my own conduct, and the good sense and candor of my fellow citizens; that I had found no reason to be dissatisfied with that course, and I was unwilling it should be broke through by others as to any matter concerning me; and I therefore requested him to desire the district attorney to dismiss the prosecution. Some time after this, I heard of subpœnas being served on General Lee, David M. Randolph, and others, as witnesses to attend the trial. I then for the first time conjectured the subject of the libel. I immediately wrote to Mr. Granger, to require an immediate dismission of the prosecution. The answer of Mr. Huntington, the district attorney, was, that these subpœnas had been issued by the defendant without his knowledge, that it had been his intention to dismiss all the prosecutions at the first meeting of the court, and to accompany it with an avowal of his opinion, that they could not be maintained, because the federal court had no jurisdiction over libels. This was accordingly done. I did not till then know that there were other prosecutions of the same nature, nor do I now know what were their subjects. But all went off together; and I afterwards saw in the hands of Mr. Granger, a letter written by the clergyman, disavowing any personal ill will towards me, and solemnly declaring he had never uttered the words charged. I think Mr. Granger either showed me, or said there were affidavits of at least half a dozen respectable men, who were present at the sermon and swore no such expressions were uttered, and as many equally respectable who swore the contrary. But the clergyman expressed his gratification at the dismission of the prosecution. I write all this from memory, and after too long an interval of time to be certain of the exactness of all the details; but I am sure there is no variation material, and Mr. Granger, correcting small lapses of memory, can confirm every thing substantial. Certain it is, that the prosecution had been instituted, and had made considerable progress, without my knowledge, that they were disapproved by me as soon as known, and directed to be discontinued. The attorney did it on the same ground on which I had acted myself in the cases of Duane, Callendar, and others; to wit, that the sedition law was unconstitutional and null, and that my obligation to execute what was law, involved that of not suffering rights secured by valid laws, to be prostrated by what was no law. I always understood that these prosecutions had been invited, if not instituted, by Judge Edwards, and the marshal being republican, had summoned a grand jury partly or wholly republican; but that Mr. Huntington declared from the beginning against the jurisdiction of the court, and had determined to enter nolle prosequis before he received my directions.
I trouble you with another subject. The law making my letters post free, goes to those to me only, not those from me. The bill had got to its passage before this was observed (and first I believe by Mr. Dana), and the House under too much pressure of business near the close of the session to bring in another bill. As the privilege of freedom was given to the letters from as well as to both my predecessors, I suppose no reason exists for making a distinction. And in so extensive a correspondence as I am subject to, and still considerably on public matters, it would be a sensible convenience to myself, as well as those who have occasion to receive letters from me. It happens too, as I was told at the time, (for I have never looked into it myself,) that it was done by two distinct acts on both the former occasions. Mr. Eppes, I think, mentioned this to me. I know from the Post Master General, that Mr. Adams franks all his letters. I state this matter to you as being my representative, which must apologize for the trouble of it. We have been seasonable since you left us. Yesterday evening and this morning we have had refreshing showers, which will close and confirm the business of planting. Affectionately yours.
Monticello, June 14, 1809.
Dear General,—So entirely are my habits changed from constant labor at my writing table, to constant active occupation without door, that it is with difficulty I can resolve to take up my pen. I must do it, however, as a matter of duty to thank you for the dumb-fish you have been so kind as to have forwarded, and which are received safely and are found to be excellent. I do it with pleasure also, as it gives me an opportunity of renewing to you the assurances of my esteem, and of the friendship I shall ever bear you as a faithful fellow-laborer in the duties of the Cabinet, the value of whose aid there has been always justly felt and highly estimated by me. I sincerely congratulate you on the late pacification with England, which while it gives facility and remuneration to your labors in your new functions, restores calm in a great degree to the troubles of our country. Our successors have deserved well of their country in meeting so readily the first friendly advance ever made to us by England. I hope it is the harbinger of a return to the exercise of common sense and common good humor, with a country with which mutual interests would urge a mutual and affectionate intercourse. But her conduct hitherto has been towards us so insulting, so tyrannical and so malicious, as to indicate a contempt for our opinions or dispositions respecting her. I hope she is now coming over to a wiser conduct, and becoming sensible how much better it is to cultivate the good will of the government itself, than of a faction hostile to it; to obtain its friendship gratis than to purchase its enmity by nourishing at great expense a faction to embarrass it, to receive the reward of an honest policy rather than of a corrupt and vexatious one. I trust she has at length opened her eyes to federal falsehood and misinformation, and learnt, in the issue of the presidential election, the folly of believing them. Such a reconciliation to the government, if real and permanent, will secure the tranquillity of our country, and render the management of our affairs easy and delightful to our successors, for whom I feel as much interest as if I were still in their place. Certainly all the troubles and difficulties in the government during our time proceeded from England; at least all others were trifling in comparison with them.
Some time before I retired from office, I proposed to Mr. Smith of the War Office, to place your son in the list of some nominations for the new army. He called on me and stated that Pickering had prepared materials for an opposition to his appointment, which he was satisfied would be easily met with proper information, but without it, might embarrass and endanger the appointment. We concluded therefore that it was best to put it off to the ensuing session of Congress, and in the meantime give you notice of it. He promised to write and explain the delay to you, and I stated the matter to Mr. Madison, who would attend to the nomination at the proper time. Perhaps late events may supersede all further proceeding as to that army.
Be so good as to present my affectionate respects to Mrs. Dearborne. I hope that her health, as well as your own, may be improved by a return to native climate; and that you may both enjoy as many years as you desire of health and prosperity, is the prayer of yours sincerely and affectionately.
Monticello, June 28, 1809.
Dear Sir,—The interruption of our commerce with England, produced by our embargo and non-intercourse law, and the general indignation excited by her barefaced attempts to make us accessories and tributaries to her usurpations on the high seas, have generated in this country an universal spirit for manufacturing for ourselves, and of reducing to a minimum the number of articles for which we are dependent on her. The advantages, too, of lessening the occasions of risking our peace on the ocean, and of planting the consumer in our own soil by the side of the grower of produce, are so palpable, that no temporary suspension of injuries on her part, or agreements founded on that, will now prevent our continuing in what we have begun. The spirit of manufacture has taken deep root among us, and its foundations are laid in too great expense to be abandoned. The bearer of this, Mr. Ronaldson, will be able to inform you of the extent and perfection of the works produced here by the late state of things; and to his information, which is greatest as to what is doing in the cities, I can add my own as to the country, where the principal articles wanted in every family are now fabricated within itself. This mass of household manufacture, unseen by the public eye, and so much greater than what is seen, is such at present, that let our intercourse with England be opened when it may, not one half the amount of what we have heretofore taken from her will ever again be demanded. The great call from the country has hitherto been of coarse goods. These are now made in our families, and the advantage is too sensible ever to be relinquished. It is one of those obvious improvements in our condition which needed only to be once forced on our attention, never again to be abandoned.
Among the arts which have made great progress among us is that of printing. Heretofore we imported our books, and with them much political principle from England. We now print a great deal, and shall soon supply ourselves with most of the books of considerable demand. But the foundation of printing, you know, is the type-foundry, and a material essential to that is antimony. Unfortunately that mineral is not among those as yet found in the United States, and the difficulty and dearness of getting it from England, will force us to discontinue our type-founderies, and resort to her again for our books, unless some new source of supply can be found. The bearer, Mr. Ronaldson, is of the concern of Binney & Ronaldson, type-founders of Philadelphia. He goes to France for the purpose of opening some new source of supply, where we learn that this article is abundant; the enhancement of the price in England has taught us the fact, that its exportation thither from France must be interrupted, either by the war or express prohibition. Our relations, however, with France, are too unlike hers with England, to place us under the same interdiction. Regulations for preventing the transportation of the article to England, under the cover of supplies to America, may be thought requisite. The bearer, I am persuaded, will readily give any assurances which may be required for this object, and the wants of his own type-foundry here are a sufficient pledge that what he gets is bonâ fide to supply them. I do not know that there will be any obstacle to his bringing from France any quantity of antimony he may have occasion for; but lest there should be, I have taken the liberty of recommending him to your patronage. I know your enlightened and liberal views on subjects of this kind, and the friendly interest you take in whatever concerns our welfare. I place Mr. Ronaldson, therefore, in your hands, and pray you to advise him, and patronize the object which carries him to Europe, and is so interesting to him and to our country. His knowledge of what is passing among us will be a rich source of information for you, and especially as to the state and progress of our manufactures. Your kindness to him will confer an obligation on me, and will be an additional title to the high and affectionate esteem and respect of an ancient and sincere friend.
Monticello, July 12, 1809.
Dear Sir,—Your two letters of the 4th and 7th, were received by the last mail. I now enclose you the rough draught of the letter to the Emperor of Russia. I think there must be an exact fac simile of it in the office, from which Mr. Short's must have been copied; because, that the one now enclosed has never been out of my hands, appears by there being no fold in the paper till now, and it is evidently a polygraphical copy. I send, for your perusal, letters of W. Short, and of Warden; because, though private, they contain some things and views perhaps not in the public letters. Bonaparte's successes have been what we expected, although Warden appears to have supposed the contrary possible. It is fortunate for Bonaparte, that he has not caught his brother Emperor; that he has left an ostensible head to the government, who may sell it to him to secure a mess of pottage for himself. Had the government devolved on the people, as it did in Spain, they would resist his conquest as those of Spain do. I expect, within a week or ten days, to visit Bedford. My absence will be of about a fortnight. I know too well the pressure of business which will be on you at Montpelier, to count with certainty on the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Madison and yourself here; yet my wishes do not permit me to omit the expression of them. In any event, I shall certainly intrude a flying visit on you during your stay in Orange. With my respectful devoirs to Mrs. Madison, I salute you with constant friendship and respect.
Monticello, July 28, 1809.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of June 19th, did not come to hand till the 29th, and I have not been able to take it up till now. I lent to Mr. Burke, my collection of newspapers from 1741 to 1760, and the further matter which I suggested I might be able to furnish him after my return to Monticello, was the collection of MS. laws of Virginia, which I expected would furnish some proper and authentic materials for history, not extant anywhere else. These I lent the last year to Mr. Hening, who is now in possession of them and is printing them. But though this was within Mr. Burke's period, it is entirely anterior to yours. The collection of newspapers which I lent to Mr. Burke, I have never been able to recover, nor to learn where they are. They were all well bound, and of course have not probably been destroyed. If you can aid me in the recovery, you will oblige me. I consider their preservation as a duty, because I believe certainly there does not exist another collection of the same period. I have examined the sequel of my collection of newspapers, and find that it has but one paper of 1778. That is one of Piordie's of the month of May. But my not having them is no evidence they were not printed; because I was so continually itinerant during the revolution, that I was rarely in a situation to preserve the papers I received. And although there were probably occasional suspensions for want of paper, yet I do not believe there was a total one at any time. I think, however, you might procure a file for that or any other year, in Philadelphia or Boston. These would furnish all the material occurrences of Virginia. You ask, what has the historian to do with the latter part of 1776, the whole of 1777 and 1778, and a part of 1779? This is precisely the period which was occupied in the reformation of the laws to the new organization and principles of our government. The committee was appointed in the latter part of 1776, and reported in the spring or summer of 1779. At the first and only meeting of the whole committee, (of five persons,) the question was discussed whether we would attempt to reduce the whole body of the law into a code, the text of which should become the law of the land? We decided against that, because every word and phrase in that text would become a new subject of criticism and litigation, until its sense should have been settled by numerous decisions, and that, in the meantime, the rights of property would be in the air. We concluded not to meddle with the common law, i. e., the law preceding the existence of the statutes, further than to accommodate it to our new principles and circumstances; but to take up the whole body of statutes and Virginia laws, to leave out everything obsolete or improper, insert what was wanting, and reduce the whole within as moderate a compass as it would bear, and to the plain language of common sense, divested of the verbiage, the barbarous tautologies and redundancies which render the British statutes unintelligible. From this, however, were excepted the ancient statutes, particularly those commented on by Lord Coke, the language of which is simple, and the meaning of every word so well settled by decisions, as so make it safest not to change words where the sense was to be retained. After setting our plan, Col. Mason declined undertaking the execution of any part of it, as not being sufficiently read in the law. Mr. Lee very soon afterwards died, and the work was distributed between Mr. Wythe, Mr. Pendleton and myself. To me was assigned the common law, (so far as we thought of altering it,) and the statutes down to the Reformation, or end of the reign of Elizabeth; to Mr. Wythe, the subsequent body of the statutes, and to Mr. Pendleton the Virginia laws. This distribution threw into my part the laws concerning crimes and punishments, the law of descents, and the laws concerning religion. After completing our work separately, we met, (Mr. W., Mr. P. and myself,) in Williamsburg, and held a long session, in which we went over the first and second parts in the order of time, weighing and correcting every word, and reducing them to the form in which they were afterwards reported. When we proceeded to the third part, we found that Mr. Pendleton had not exactly seized the intentions of the committee, which were to reform the language of the Virginia laws, and reduce the matter to a simple style and form. He had copied the acts verbatim, only omitting what was disapproved; and some family occurrence calling him indispensably home, he desired Mr. Wythe and myself to make it what we thought it ought to be, and authorized us to report him as concurring in the work. We accordingly divided the work, and re-executed it entirely, so as to assimilate its plan and execution to the other parts, as well as the shortness of the time would admit, and we brought the whole body of British statutes and laws of Virginia into 127 acts, most of them short. This is the history of that work as to its execution. Its matter and the nature of the changes made, will be a proper subject for the consideration of the historian. Experience has convinced me that the change in the style of the laws was for the better, and it has sensibly reformed the style of our laws from that time downwards, insomuch that they have obtained, in that respect, the approbation of men of consideration on both sides of the Atlantic. Whether the change in the style and form of the criminal law, as introduced by Mr. Taylor, was for the better, is not for me to judge. The digest of that act employed me longer than I believe all the rest of the work, for it rendered it necessary for me to go with great care over Bracton, Britton, the Saxon statutes, and the works of authority on criminal law; and it gave me great satisfaction to find that in general I had only to reduce the law to its ancient Saxon condition, stripping it of all the innovations and rigorisms of subsequent times, to make it what it should be. The substitution of the penitentiary, instead of labor on the high road and of some other punishments truly objectionable, is a just merit to be ascribed to Mr. Taylor's law. When our report was made, the idea of a penitentiary had never been suggested, the happy experiment of Pennsylvania we had not then the benefit of.
To assist in filling up those years of exemption from military invasion, an inquiry into the exertions of Virginia in the common cause during that period, would be proper for the patriotic historian, because her character has been very unjustly impeached by the writers of other States, as having used no equal exertions at that time. I know it to be false; because having all that time been a member of the legislature, I know that our whole occupation was in straining the resources of the State to the utmost, to furnish men, money, provisions and other necessaries to the common cause. The proofs of this will be found in the journals and acts of the legislature, in executive proceedings and papers, and in the auditor's accounts. Not that Virginia furnished her quota of requisitions of either men or money; but that she was always above par, in what was actually furnished by the other States. A letter of mine written in 1779 or '80, if still among the executive papers, will furnish full evidence of these facts. It was addressed to our delegates in answer to a formal complaint on the subject, and was founded in unquestionable vouchers.
The inquiries in your printed letter of August, 1808, would lead to the writing the history of my whole life, than which nothing could be more repugnant to my feelings. I have been connected, as many fellow laborers were, with the great events which happened to mark the epoch of our lives. But these belong to no one in particular, all of us did our parts, and no one can claim the transactions to himself. The most I could do would be to revise, correct or supply any statements which should be made respecting public transactions in which I had a part, or which may have otherwise come within my knowledge.
I have to apologize for the delay of this answer. The active hours of the day are all devoted to employments without doors, so that I have rarely an interval, and more rarely the inclination, to set down to my writing table, the divorce from which is among the greatest reliefs in my late change of life. Still, I will always answer with pleasure any particular inquiries you may wish to address to me, sincerely desiring for the public good as well as your own personal concern, to contribute to the perfection of a work from which I hope much to both; and I beg leave to tender you the assurances of my great esteem and respect.
Monticello, August 12, 1809.
Sir,—Your favor of July 5th has been duly received, and, in it, that of my friend Mr. Short. I congratulate you on your safe arrival in the American hemisphere, after a voyage which must have been lengthy in time, as it was in space. I hope you may experience no unfavorable change in your health on so great a change of climate, and that our fervid sun may be found as innocent as our cloudless skies must be agreeable. I hail you with particular pleasure, as the first harbinger of those friendly relations with your country, so desirable to ours. Both nations being in character and practice essentially pacific, a common interest in the rights of peaceable nations, gives us a common cause in their maintenance; and however your excellent Emperor may have been led from the ordinary policy of his government, I trust that the establishment of just principles will be the result, as I am sure it is the object, of his efforts.
When you shall have had time to accommodate yourself somewhat to our climate, our manners and mode of living, you will probably have a curiosity to see something of the country you have visited, something beyond the confines of our cities. These exhibit specimens of London only, our country is a different nation. Should your journeyings lead you into this quarter of it, I shall be happy to receive you at Monticello, and to renew to you in person the assurances I now tender of my great respect and consideration.
Monticello, August 17, 1809.
Dear Sir,
* * * * * * * *
I never doubted the chicanery of the Anglomen on whatsoever measures you should take in consequence of the disavowal of Erskine; yet I am satisfied that both the proclamations have been sound. The first has been sanctioned by universal approbation; and although it was not literally the case foreseen by the legislature, yet it was a proper extension of their provision to a case similar, though not the same. It proved to the whole world our desire of accommodation, and must have satisfied every candid federalist on that head. It was not only proper on the well-grounded confidence that the arrangement would be honestly executed, but ought to have taken place even had the perfidy of England been foreseen. Their dirty gain is richly remunerated to us by our placing them so shamefully in the wrong, and by the union it must produce among ourselves. The last proclamation admits of quibbles, of which advantage will doubtless be endeavored to be taken, by those for whom gain is their god, and their country nothing. But it is soundly defensible. The British minister assured us, that the orders of council would be revoked before the 10th of June. The executive, trusting in that assurance, declared by proclamation that the revocation was to take place, and that on that event the law was to be suspended. But the event did not take place, and the consequence, of course, could not follow. This view is derived from the former non-intercourse law only, having never read the latter one. I had doubted whether Congress must not be called; but that arose from another doubt, whether their second law had not changed the ground, so as to require their agency to give operation to the law. Should Bonaparte have the wisdom to correct his injustice towards us, I consider war with England as inevitable. Our ships will go to France and its dependencies, and they will take them. This will be war on their part, and leave no alternative but reprisal. I have no doubt you will think it safe to act on this hypothesis, and with energy. The moment that open war shall be apprehended from them, we should take possession of Baton Rouge. If we do not, they will, and New Orleans becomes irrecoverable, and the western country blockaded during the war. It would be justifiable towards Spain on this ground, and equally so on that of title to West Florida, and reprisal extended to East Florida. Whatever turn our present difficulty may take, I look upon all cordial conciliation with England as desperate during the life of the present king. I hope and doubt not that Erskine will justify himself. My confidence is founded in a belief of his integrity, and in the * * * * * of Canning. I consider the present as the most shameless ministry which ever disgraced England. Copenhagen will immortalize their infamy. In general, their administrations are so changeable, and they are obliged to descend to such tricks to keep themselves in place, that nothing like honor or morality can ever be counted on in transactions with them. I salute you with all possible affection.
Monticello, September 3, 1809.
Sir,—Your letter of July 29th came to hand some time since, but I have not sooner been able to acknowledge it. In answer to your proposition for publishing a complete edition of my different writings, I must observe that no writings of mine, other than those merely official, have been published, except the Notes on Virginia and a small pamphlet under the title of a Summary View of the rights of British America. The Notes on Virginia, I have always intended to revise and enlarge, and have, from time to time, laid by materials for that purpose. It will be long yet before other occupations will permit me to digest them, and observations and inquiries are still to be made, which will be more correct in proportion to the length of time they are continued. It is not unlikely that this may be through my life. I could not, therefore, at present, offer anything new for that work.
The Summary View was not written for publication. It was a draught I had prepared for a petition to the king, which I meant to propose in my place as a member of the convention of 1774. Being stopped on the road by sickness, I sent it on to the Speaker, who laid it on the table for the perusal of the members. It was thought too strong for the times, and to become the act of the convention, but was printed by subscription of the members, with a short preface written by one of them. If it had any merit, it was that of first taking our true ground, and that which was afterwards assumed and maintained.
I do not mention the Parliamentary Manual, published for the use of the Senate of the United States, because it was a mere compilation, into which nothing entered of my own but the arrangement, and a few observations necessary to explain that and some of the cases.
I do not know whether your view extends to official papers of mine which have been published. Many of these would be like old newspapers, materials for future historians, but no longer interesting to the readers of the day. They would consist of reports, correspondences, messages, answers to addresses; a few of my reports while Secretary of State, might perhaps be read by some as essays on abstract subjects. Such as the report on measures, weights and coins, on the mint, on the fisheries, on commerce, on the use of distilled sea-water, &c. The correspondences with the British and French ministers, Hammond and Genet, were published by Congress. The messages to Congress, which might have been interesting at the moment, would scarcely be read a second time, and answers to addresses are hardly read a first time.
So that on a review of these various materials, I see nothing encouraging a printer to a re-publication of them. They would probably be bought by those only who are in the habit of preserving State papers, and who are not many.
I say nothing of numerous draughts of reports, resolutions, declarations, &c., drawn as a Member of Congress or of the Legislature of Virginia, such as the Declaration of Independence, Report on the Money Mint of the United States, the act of religious freedom, &c., &c.; these having become the acts of public bodies, there can be no personal claim to them, and they would no more find readers now, than the journals and statute books in which they are deposited.
I have presented this general view of the subjects which might have been within the scope of your contemplation, that they might be correctly estimated before any final decision. They belong mostly to a class of papers not calculated for popular reading, and not likely to offer profit, or even indemnification to the re-publisher. Submitting it to your consideration, I tender you my salutations and respects.
Monticello, September 10, 1809.
Dear General,—Your favor of June 2d came duly to hand in July, and brought me a repetition of the proofs of your kindness to me. Mr. Fitzhugh delivered the skin of the sheep of the Rocky Mountains to the President, from whom I expect to receive it in a few days at his own house. For this, as well as the blanket of Indian manufacture of the same material, which you are so kind as to offer me, accept my friendly thanks. Your donations, and Governor Lewis', have given to my collection of Indian curiosities an importance much beyond what I had ever counted on. The three boxes of bones which you had been so kind as to send to New Orleans for me, as mentioned in your letter of June 2d arrived there safely, and were carefully shipped by the collector, and the bill of lading sent to me. But the vessel put into the Havana, under embargo distress, was there condemned as unseaworthy, and her enrollment surrendered at St. Mary's. What was done with my three boxes I have not learned, but have written to Mr. Brown, the collector, to have inquiry made after them. The bones of this animal are now in such a state of evanescence as to render it important to save what we can of them. Of those you had formerly sent me, I reserved a very few for myself; I got Dr. Wistar to select from the rest every piece which could be interesting to the Philosophical Society, and sent the residue to the National Institute of France. These have enabled them to decide that the animal was neither a mammoth nor an elephant, but of a distinct kind, to which they have given the name of Mastodont, from the protuberance of its teeth. These, from their forms, and the immense mass of their jaws, satisfy me this animal must have been arbonverous. Nature seems not to have provided other food sufficient for him, and the limb of a tree would be no more to him than a bough of a cotton tree to a horse. You mention in your letter that you are proceeding with your family to Fort Massac. This informs me that you have a family, and I sincerely congratulate you on it, while some may think it will render you less active in the service of the world, those who take a sincere interest in your personal happiness, and who know that, by a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family, will rejoice for your sake as I do. The world has, of right, no further claims on yourself and General Lewis, but such as you may voluntarily render according to your convenience, or as they may make it your interest. I wrote lately to the Governor, but be so good as to repeat my affectionate attachments to him, and to be assured of the same to yourself, with every sentiment of esteem and respect.
Monticello, September 12, 1809.
Dear Sir,— * * * * *
Canning's equivocations degrade his government as well as himself. I despair of accommodation with them, because I believe they are weak enough to intend seriously to claim the ocean as their conquest, and think to amuse us with embassies and negotiations, until the claim shall have been strengthened by time and exercise, and the moment arrive when they may boldly avow what hitherto they have only squinted at. Always yours, with sincere affection.
Monticello, September 21, 1809.
Dear Sir,—I received last night your favor of the 14th, and would with all possible pleasure have communicated to you any part or the whole of the Indian vocabularies which I had collected, but an irreparable misfortune has deprived me of them. I have now been thirty years availing myself of every possible opportunity of procuring Indian vocabularies to the same set of words; my opportunities were probably better than will ever occur again to any person having the same desire. I had collected about fifty, and had digested most of them in collateral columns, and meant to have printed them the last of my stay in Washington. But not having yet digested Captain Lewis' collection, nor having leisure then to do it, I put it off till I should return home. The whole, as well digest as originals, were packed in a trunk of stationery, and sent round by water with about thirty other packages of my effects from Washington, and while ascending James river, this package on account of its weight and presumed precious contents, was singled out and stolen. The thief being disappointed on opening it, threw into the river all its contents, of which he thought he could make no use. Among them were the whole of the vocabularies. Some leaves floated ashore and were found in the mud; but these were very few, and so defaced by the mud and water that no general use can be made of them. On the receipt of your letter I turned to them, and was very happy to find, that the only morsel of an original vocabulary among them, was Captain Lewis' of the Pani language, of which you say you have not one word. I therefore enclose it to you as it is, and a little fragment of some other, which I see is in his hand writing, but no indication remains on it of what language it is. It is a specimen of the condition of the little which was recovered. I am the more concerned at this accident, as of the two hundred and fifty words of my vocabularies, and the one hundred and thirty words of the great Russian vocabularies of the languages of the other quarters of the globe, seventy-three were common to both, and would have furnished materials for a comparison from which something might have resulted. Although I believe no general use can ever be made of the wrecks of my loss, yet I will ask the return of the Pani vocabulary when you are done with it. Perhaps I may make another attempt to collect, although I am too old to expect to make much progress in it.
I learn with pleasure your acquisition of the pamphlet on the astronomy of the ancient Mexicans. If it be ancient and genuine, or modern and rational, it will be of real value. It is one of the most interesting countries of our hemisphere, and merits every attention.
I am thankful for your kind offer of sending the original Spanish for my perusal. But I think it a pity to trust it to the accidents of the post, and whenever you publish the translation, I shall be satisfied to read that which shall be given by your translator, who is, I am sure, a greater adept in the language than I am.
Accept the assurances of my great esteem and respect.
Monticello, September 27, 1809.
Sir,—Your favor of June 5th came to hand in due time, and I have to acknowledge my gratification at the friendly sentiments it breathes towards myself. We have been thrown into times of a peculiar character, and to work our way through them has required services and sacrifices from our countrymen generally, and to their great honor, these have been generally exhibited, by every one in his sphere, and according to the opportunities afforded. With them I have been a fellow laborer, endeavoring to do faithfully the part alloted to me, as they did theirs; and it is a subject of mutual congratulation that, in a state of things such as the world had never before seen, we have gotten on so far well; and my confidence in our present high functionaries, as well as in my countrymen generally, leaves me without much fear for the future.
I thank you for the pamphlet you was so kind as to send me. At an earlier period of life I pursued inquiries of that kind with industry and care. Reading, reflection and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts only in which all religions agree, (for all forbid us to murder, steal, plunder, or bear false witness,) and that we should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with morality. In all of them we see good men, and as many in one as another. The varieties in the structure and action of the human mind as in those of the body, are the work of our Creator, against which it cannot be a religious duty to erect the standard of uniformity. The practice of morality being necessary for the well-being of society, he has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his discourses. It is, then, a matter of principle with me to avoid disturbing the tranquillity of others by the expression of any opinion on the innocent questions on which we schismatize. On the subject of your pamphlet, and the mode of treating it, I permit myself only to observe the candor, moderation and ingenuity with which you appear to have sought truth. This is of good example, and worthy of commendation. If all the writers and preachers on religious questions had been of the same temper, the history of the world would have been of much more pleasing aspect.
I thank you for the kindness towards myself which breathes through your letter. The first of all our consolations is that of having faithfully fulfilled our duties; the next, the approbation and good will of those who have witnessed it; and I pray you to accept my best wishes for your happiness and the assurances of my respect.