Gentlemen,—I am again to return the tribute of my thanks for the continued proofs of favor from the American Philosophical Society; and I ever do it with sincere gratitude, sensible it is the effect of their good will, and not of any services I have it in my power to render them. I pray you to convey to them these expressions of my dutiful acknowledgments, and to accept yourselves thanks for the favorable terms in which your letter of the 2d instant announces the suffrage of the Society.

I am happy at the same time to greet them on the safe return of a valuable member of our fraternity, from a journey of uncommon length and peril. He will ere long be with them, and present them with the additions he brings to our knowledge of the geography and natural history of our country, from the Mississippi to the Pacific.

Tendering them my humble respects, permit me to add for yourselves my friendly salutations, and assurances of high consideration.

TO MR. GALLATIN

January 12, 1807.

I return you the letter of Mr. Gelston respecting the Brutus. From what I learn, she cannot be destined for the Mississippi, because she draws too much water to enter it. However, considering the difficulty Congress finds in enlarging the limits of our preventive powers, I think we should be cautious how we step across those limits ourselves. She is probably bound to St. Domingo. Could not Congress, while continuing that law, amend it so as to prevent the abuse actually practised. Affectionate salutations.

TO JOHN DICKINSON

Washington, January 13, 1807.

My dear and ancient Friend,—I have duly received your favor of the 1st instant, and am ever thankful for communications which may guide me in the duties which I wish to perform as well as I am able. It is but too true that great discontents exist in the territory of Orleans. Those of the French inhabitants have for their sources, 1, the prohibition of importing slaves. This may be partly removed by Congress permitting them to receive slaves from the other States, which, by dividing that evil, would lessen its danger; 2, the administration of justice in our forms, principles, and language, with all of which they are unacquainted, and are the more abhorrent, because of the enormous expense, greatly exaggerated by the corruption of bankrupt and greedy lawyers, who have gone there from the United States and engrossed the practice; 3, the call on them by the land commissioners to produce the titles of their lands. The object of this is really to record and secure their rights. But as many of them hold on rights so ancient that the title papers are lost; they expect the land is to be taken from them whenever they cannot produce a regular deduction of title in writing. In this they will be undeceived by the final result, which will evince to them a liberal disposition of the government towards them. Among the American inhabitants it is the old division of federalists and republicans. The former are as hostile there as they are everywhere, and are the most numerous and wealthy. They have been long endeavoring to batter down the Governor, who has always been a firm republican. There were characters superior to him whom I wished to appoint, but they refused the office: I know no better man who would accept of it, and it would not be right to turn him out for one not better. But it is the second cause, above mentioned, which is deep-seated and permanent. The French members of the Legislature, being the majority in both Houses, lately passed an act declaring that the civil, or French laws, should be the laws of their land, and enumerated about fifty folio volumes, in Latin, as the depositories of these laws. The Governor negatived the act. One of the Houses thereupon passed a vote for self-dissolution of the Legislature as a useless body, which failed in the other House by a single vote only. They separated, however, and have disseminated all the discontent they could. I propose to the members of Congress in conversation, the enlisting thirty thousand volunteers, Americans by birth, to be carried at the public expense, and settled immediately on a bounty of one hundred and sixty acres of land each, on the west side of the Mississippi, on the condition of giving two years of military service, if that country should be attacked within seven years. The defence of the country would thus be placed on the spot, and the additional number would entitle the territory to become a State, would make the majority American, and make it an American instead of a French State. This would not sweeten the pill to the French; but in making that acquisition we had some view to our own good as well as theirs, and I believe the greatest good of both will be promoted by whatever will amalgamate us together.

I have tired you, my friend, with a long letter. But your tedium will end in a few lines more. Mine has yet two years to endure. I am tired of an office where I can do no more good than many others, who would be glad to be employed in it. To myself, personally, it brings nothing but unceasing drudgery and daily loss of friends. Every office becoming vacant, every appointment made, me donne un ingrat, et cent ennemis. My only consolation is in the belief that my fellow citizens at large give me credit for good intentions. I will certainly endeavor to merit the continuance of that good-will which follows well-intended actions, and their approbation will be the dearest reward I can carry into retirement.

God bless you, my excellent friend, and give you yet many healthy and happy years.

TO MR. HENING

Washington, January 14, 1807.

Sir,—Your letter of December 26th, was received in due time. The only object I had in making my collection of the laws of Virginia, was to save all those for the public which were not then already lost, in the hope that at some future day they might be republished. Whether this be by public or private enterprise, my end will be equally answered. The book divides itself into two very distinct parts; to wit, the printed and the unprinted laws. The former begin in 1682, (Pervis' collection.) My collection of these is in strong volumes, well bound, and therefore may safely be transported anywhere. Any of these volumes which you do not possess, are at your service for the purpose of republication, but the unprinted laws are dispersed through many MS. volumes, several of them so decayed that the leaf can never be opened but once without falling into powder. These can never bear removal further than from their shelf to a table. They are, as well as I recollect, from 1622 downwards. I formerly made such a digest of their order, and the volumes where they are to be found, that, under my own superintendence, they could be copied with once handling. More they would not bear. Hence the impracticability of their being copied but at Monticello. But independent of them, the printed laws, beginning in 1682, with all our former printed collections, will be a most valuable publication, and sufficiently distinct. I shall have no doubt of the exactness of your part of the work, but I hope you will take measures for having the typography and paper worthy of the work. I am lead to this caution by the scandalous volume of our laws printed by Pleasants in 1803, and those by Davis in 1796 were little better; both unworthy the history of Tom Thumb. You can have them better and cheaper printed anywhere north of Richmond. Accept my salutations and assurances of respect.

TO DANIEL CLARKE, ESQ

Washington, January 14, 1807.

Sir,—I have examined the papers you left with me on the claim to the common of New Orleans, and finding the subject to be within the cognizance of the Board of Commissioners for that territory, they will be immediately instructed to make full inquiry into the foundation of the claim, and to report it for the decision of Congress.

With respect to the lots and buildings in the city of New Orleans, held by the public, the Governor will be immediately instructed to report an exact list of them, stating the uses to which they were applied under the former government, and those for which he thinks them proper at present, which shall be laid before Congress at their next session, the Legislature alone being competent to their final disposition.

I have lodged in the Treasury Office the papers you left with me; but if you wish their return, they will there be delivered to you. Accept my salutations and assurances of respect.

TO GENERAL SHEE

Washington, January 14, 1807.

Sir,—Your letter of the 16th ult. was duly received, conveying a tender of the Philadelphia republican militia legion, of their voluntary services, against either foreign or domestic foes. The pressure of business, usual at this season, has prevented its earlier acknowledgment, and the return of my thanks, on the public behalf, for this example of patriotic spirit. Always a friend to peace, and believing it to promote eminently the happiness and prosperity of nations, I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed, until greater and more important interests call for an appeal to force. Whenever that shall take place, I feel a perfect confidence that the energy and enterprise displayed by my fellow citizens in the pursuits of peace, will be equally eminent in those of war. The Legislature have now under consideration, in what manner, and to what extent, the executive may be permitted to accept the service of volunteers, should the public peace be disturbed, either from without or within. In whatever way they shall give that authority, the legion may be assured that no unreasonable use shall be made of the proffer which their laudable zeal has prompted them to make. With my just acknowledgments to them, I pray you to accept personally the assurance of my high consideration and respect.

TO CAPTAIN CHRISTIAN

Washington, January 14, 1807.

Sir,—I have duly received your letter of December 24th, conveying a tender, by the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the Saratoga Rangers, of their voluntary services to support the Constitution, laws, and integrity of our country, when the constitutional authorities shall declare it necessary, and I now, on the public behalf, return them thanks for this example of patriotic spirit. Always a friend to peace, and believing it to promote eminently the happiness and prosperity of mankind, I am ever unwilling that it should be disturbed until greater and more imperious interests call for an appeal to force. Whenever that shall take place, I feel a perfect confidence that the energy and enterprise displayed by my fellow citizens in the pursuits of peace, will be equally eminent in those of war. The Legislature have now under consideration, in what manner, and to what extent, the executive may be permitted to accept the service of volunteers, should the public peace be disturbed either from without or within. In whatever way they shall give that authority, the Saratoga Rangers may be assured that no unreasonable use shall be made of the proffer which their laudable zeal has prompted them to make. With my acknowledgments to them, I pray you to accept personally the assurance of my high consideration and respect.

TO GOVERNOR PINCKNEY

Washington, January 20, 1807.

Dear Sir,—I received two days ago a letter from General Wilkinson, dated at New Orleans, December 14th, in which he enclosed me an affidavit, of which I now transmit you a copy. You will perceive that it authenticates the copy of a letter from Colonel Burr to the General, affirming that Mr. Alston, his son-in-law, is engaged in the unlawful enterprises he is carrying on, and is to be an actor in them. I am to add, also, that I have received information from another source, that Mr. Alston, while returning from Kentucky last autumn through the upper part of your State, proposed to a Mr. Butler of that part of the country, to join in Colonel Burr's enterprise, which he represented as of a nature to make his fortune, and is understood to have been explained as against Mexico, as well as for separating the Union of these States. That Butler communicated this to a person, of the same part of the country, called Span, who communicated it to a Mr. Horan, the clerk of a court in that quarter; that Butler and Span agreed to join in the enterprise, but Horan refused.

Nobody is a better judge than yourself whether any and what measures can be taken on this information. As to General Wilkinson's affidavit, it will be laid before the Legislature in a few days, and, of course, will be public; but as to the other part, if no use can be made of it, your own discretion and candor would lead you to keep it secret. It is further well known here that Mr. Alston is an endorser to a considerable amount, of the bills which have enabled Colonel Burr to prepare his treasons. A message which I shall send into the Legislature two days hence, will give a development of them. I avail myself with pleasure of this opportunity of recalling myself to your recollection, and of assuring you of my constant esteem and high consideration.

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

January 24, 1807.

Several French vessels of war, disabled from keeping the sea, by the storms which some time since took place on our coast, put into the harbors of the United States to avoid the danger of shipwreck. The Minister of their nation states that their crews are without resources for subsistence, and other necessaries, for the reimbursement of which he offers bills on his government, the faith of which he pledges for their punctual payment.

The laws of humanity make it a duty for nations, as well as individuals, to succor those whom accident and distress have thrown upon them. By doing this in the present case, to the extent of mere subsistence and necessaries, and so as to aid no military equipment, we shall keep within the duties of rigorous neutrality, which never can be in opposition to those of humanity. We furnished, on a former occasion, to a distressed crew of the other belligerent party, similar accommodations, and we have ourselves received, from both those powers, friendly and free supplies to the necessities of our vessels of war in their Mediterranean ports. In fact, the governments of civilized nations generally are in the practice of exercising these offices of humanity towards each other. Our government having as yet made no regular provision for the exchange of these offices of courtesy and humanity between nations, the honor, the interest, and the duty of our country requires that we should adopt any other mode by which it may legally be done on the present occasion. It is expected that we shall want a large sum of money in Europe, for the purposes of the present negotiation with Spain, and besides this we want annually large sums there, for the discharge of our instalments of debt. Under these circumstances, supported by the unanimous opinion of the heads of departments, given on the 15th of December, and again about the 10th inst., and firmly trusting that the government of France will feel itself peculiarly interested in the punctual discharge of the bills drawn by their Minister, for the sole subsistence of their people, I approve of the Secretary of the Treasury's taking the bills of the Minister of France, to an amount not exceeding sixty thousand dollars, which according to his own, as well as our estimate, will subsist his people until he will have had time to be furnished with funds from his own government.

TO MR. GALLATIN

January 31st, 1807.

Satisfied that New Orleans must fall a prey to any power which shall attack it, in spite of any means we now possess, I see no security for it but in planting on the spot the force which is to defend it. I therefore suggest to some members of the Senate to add to the volunteer bill now before them, as an amendment, some such section as that enclosed, which is on the principles of what we agreed on last year, except the omission of the two years' service. If, by giving one hundred miles square of that country, we can secure the rest, and at the same time create an American majority before Orleans becomes a State, it will be the best bargain ever made. As you are intimate with the details of the Land Office, I will thank you to make any amendments to the enclosed in that part, or in any other which you may think needs it. Affectionate salutations.

TO MR. MADISON

Sunday, February 1st, 1807.

The more I consider the letter of our minister in London, the more seriously it impresses me. I believe the sine quâ non we made is that of the nation, and that they would rather go on without a treaty than with one which does not settle this article. Under this dilemma, and at this stage of the business, had we not better take the advice of the Senate? I ask a meeting at eleven o'clock to-morrow, to consult on this question.

TO H. D. GOVERNOR TIFFIN

Washington, February 2d, 1807.

Sir,—The pressure of business during a session of the Legislature has rendered me more tardy in addressing you than it was my wish to have been. That our fellow citizens of the West would need only to be informed of criminal machinations against the public safety to crush them at once, I never entertained a doubt. I have seen with the greatest satisfaction that among those who have distinguished themselves by their fidelity to their country, on the occasion of the enterprise of Mr. Burr, yourself and the Legislature of Ohio have been the most eminent. The promptitude and energy displayed by your State has been as honorable to itself as salutary to its sister States; and in declaring that you have deserved well of your country, I do but express the grateful sentiment of every faithful citizen in it. The hand of the people has given the mortal blow to a conspiracy which, in other countries, would have called for an appeal to armies, and has proved that government to be the strongest of which every man feels himself a part. It is a happy illustration, too, of the importance of preserving to the State authorities all that vigor which the Constitution foresaw would be necessary, not only for their own safety, but for that of the whole. In making these acknowledgments of the merit of having set this illustrious example of exertion for the common safety, I pray that they may be considered as addressed to yourself and the Legislature particularly, and generally to every citizen who has availed himself of the opportunity given of proving his devotion to his country. Accept my salutations and assurances of great consideration and esteem.

TO GENERAL WILKINSON

Washington, February 3d, 1807.

Sir,—A returning express gives me an opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of your letters of November 12th, December 9th, 10th, 14th, 18th, 25th, 26th, and January 2d. I wrote to you January 3d, and through Mr. Briggs, January 10th. The former being written while the Secretary at War was unable to attend to business, gave you the state of the information we then possessed as to Burr's conspiracy. I now enclose you a message, containing a complete history of it from the commencement down to the eve of his departure from Nashville; and two subsequent messages showed that he began his descent of the Mississippi January 1st, with ten boats, from eighty to one hundred men of his party, navigated by sixty oarsmen not at all of his party. This, I think, is fully the force with which he will be able to meet your gun-boats; and as I think he was uninformed of your proceedings, and could not get the information till he would reach Natchez, I am in hopes that before this date he is in your possession. Although we at no time believed he could carry any formidable force out of the Ohio, yet we thought it safest that you should be prepared to receive him with all the force which could be assembled, and with that view our orders were given; and we were pleased to see that without waiting for them, you adopted nearly the same plan yourself, and acted on it with promptitude; the difference between yours and ours proceeding from your expecting an attack by sea, which we knew was impossible, either by England or by a fleet under Truxton, who was at home; or by our own navy, which was under our own eye. Your belief that Burr would really descend with six or seven thousand men, was no doubt founded on what you knew of the numbers which could be raised in the Western country for an expedition to Mexico, under the authority of the government; but you probably did not calculate that the want of that authority would take from him every honest man, and leave him only the desperadoes of his party, which in no part of the United States can ever be a numerous body. In approving, therefore, as we do approve, of the defensive operations for New Orleans, we are obliged to estimate them, not according to our own view of the danger, but to place ourselves in your situation, and only with your information. Your sending here Swartwout and Bollman, and adding to them Burr, Blannerhassett, and Tyler, should they fall into your hands, will be supported by the public opinion. As to Alexander, who is arrived, and Ogden, expected, the evidence yet received will not be sufficient to commit them. I hope, however, you will not extend this deportation to persons against whom there is only suspicion, or shades of offence not strongly marked. In that case, I fear the public sentiment would desert you; because, seeing no danger here, violations of law are felt with strength. I have thought it just to give you these views of the sentiments and sensations here, as they may enlighten your path. I am thoroughly sensible of the painful difficulties of your situation, expecting an attack from an overwhelming force, unversed in law, surrounded by suspected persons, and in a nation tender as to everything infringing liberty, and especially from the military. You have doubtless seen a good deal of malicious insinuation in the papers against you. This, of course, begot suspicion and distrust in those acquainted with the line of your conduct. We, who knew it, have not failed to strengthen the public confidence in you; and I can assure you that your conduct, as now known, has placed you on ground extremely favorable with the public. Burr and his emissaries found it convenient to sow a distrust in your mind of our dispositions towards you; but be assured that you will be cordially supported in the line of your duties. I pray you to send me D.'s original letter, communicated through Briggs, by the first entirely safe conveyance. Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of esteem and respect.

TO GOVERNOR CLAIBORNE

Washington, February 3, 1807.

Dear Sir,—I pray you to read the enclosed letter, to seal and deliver it. It explains itself so fully, that I need say nothing. I am sincerely concerned for Mr. Reibelt, who is a man of excellent understanding and extensive science. If you had any academical berth, he would be much better fitted for that than for the bustling business of life. I enclose to General Wilkinson my message of January 22d. I presume, however, you will have seen it in the papers. It gives the history of Burr's conspiracy, all but the last chapter, which will, I hope, be that of his capture before this time, at Natchez. Your situations have been difficult, and we judge of the merit of our agents there by the magnitude of the danger as it appeared to them, not as it was known to us. On great occasions every good officer must be ready to risk himself in going beyond the strict line of law, when the public preservation requires it; his motives will be a justification as far as there is any discretion in his ultra-legal proceedings, and no indulgence of private feelings. On the whole, this squall, by showing with what ease our government suppresses movements which in other countries requires armies, has greatly increased its strength by increasing the public confidence in it. It has been a wholesome lesson too to our citizens, of the necessary obedience to their government. The Feds, and the little band of Quids, in opposition, will try to make something of the infringement of liberty by the military arrest and deportation of citizens, but if it does not go beyond such offenders as Swartwout, Bollman, Burr, Blennerhasset, Tyler, &c., they will be supported by the public approbation. Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of esteem and respect.

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