The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 2 (of 9)

I am, with great esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO MR. J. RUTLEDGE, JUNIOR

Paris, August 12, 1788.

Dear Sir,—Obliged to make one letter serve for yourself and Mr. Shippen, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of August the 1st, and his of July the 12th and 31st. By news from Virginia of the 12th of June, when their convention had been eleven days in session, there was no doubt but that she, soon after that date, would give the ninth vote in favor of the new Constitution. New Hampshire acceded to it on the 24th of June. Of North Carolina no doubt is entertained. Congress have agreed to the independence of Kentucky. An Arret was published here yesterday announcing that the convocation of the States General should be for the 1st of May next, and in the meantime suspending the cours pleniere, but persevering in the parliamentary reform. This, I think, secures the reformation of their constitution without bloodshed. You will already have heard of the commencement of hostilities between Sweden and Russia. This war, I think, will catch from nation to nation till it becomes general. I imagine you will find it unsafe to proceed from Vienna to Constantinople. I do not think the object will justify any personal risk. Mr. Short is not yet decided as to his route, or the time of his beginning it. I am, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO MR. JAY

Paris, August 20, 1788.

Sir,—I had the honor to write to you on the 3d, 10th, and 11th instant, with a postscript of the 12th; all of which went by Mrs. Barclay. Since that date, we have received an account of a third victory obtained by the Russians over the Turks, on the Black Sea, in which the Prince of Nassau, with his gallies, destroyed two frigates, three smaller vessels, and six gallies. The Turkish power on that sea, is represented by their enemies as now annihilated. There is reason to believe, however, that this is not literally true, and, that aided by the supplies furnished by the English, they are making extraordinary efforts to re-establish their marine. The Russian minister here has shown the official report of Admiral Greigh, on the combat of July the 17th, in which he claims the victory, and urges in proof of it, that he kept the field of battle. This report is said to have been written on it. As this paper, together with the report of the Swedish admiral, is printed in the Leyden gazette of the 15th instant, I enclose it to you. The court of Denmark has declared, it will furnish Russia the aid stipulated in their treaty; and it is not doubted they will go beyond this, and become principals in the war. The next probable moves are, that the King of Prussia will succor Sweden; and Poland, Russia, by land; and a possible consequence is, that England may send a squadron into the Baltic, to restore equilibrium in that sea. In my letter of the 11th, I observed to you, that this country would have two difficulties to struggle with, till the meeting of their States General, and that one of these was the want of money: this has, in fact, overborne all their resources, and the day before yesterday they published an Arret, suspending all reimbursements of capital, and reducing the payments of the principal mass of demands for interest, to twelve sous in the livre; the remaining eight sous to be paid with certificates. I enclose you a newspaper with the Arret. In this paper, you will see the exchange of yesterday, and I have inserted that of the day before, to show you the fall. The consternation is, as yet, too great to let us judge of the issue. It will probably ripen the public mind to the necessity of a change in their constitution, and to the substituting the collected wisdom of the whole, in place of a single will, by which they have been hitherto governed. It is a remarkable proof of the total incompetency of a single head to govern a nation well, when, with a revenue of six hundred millions, they are led to a declared bankruptcy, and to stop the wheels of government, even in its most essential movements, for want of money.

I send the present letter by a private conveyance to a sea port, in hopes a conveyance may be found by some merchant vessel.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. CUTTING

Paris, August 23, 1788.

Dear Sir,—I have duly received your favors of the 3d, 8th, 14th and 15th instant, and have now the honor of enclosing you a letter of introduction to Doctor Ramsay.

I think a certainty that England and France must enter into the war, was a great inducement to the ministry here, to suspend the portion of public payments which they have lately suspended. By this operation, they secure two hundred and three millions of livres, or eight millions and a half of guineas, in the course of this and the ensuing year, which will be sufficient for the campaign of the first year: for what is to follow, the States General must provide. The interesting question now is, how the States General shall be composed? There are three opinions. 1. To place the three estates, Clergy, Noblesse, and Commons, in three different Houses. The Clergy would, probably, like this, and some of the Nobility; but it has no partisans out of those orders. 2. To put the Clergy and Noblesse into one House, and the Commons into another. The Noblesse will be generally for this. 3. To put the three orders into one House, and make the Commons the majority of that House. This re-unites the greatest number of partisans, and I suspect it is well patronised in the ministry, who, I am persuaded, are proceeding bonâ fide, to improve the constitution of their country. As to the opposition which the English expect from the personal character of the King, it proves they do not know what his personal character is. He is the honestest man in his kingdom, and the most regular and economical. He has no foible which will enlist him against the good of his people; and whatever constitution will promote this, he will befriend. But he will not befriend it obstinately: he has given repeated proofs of a readiness to sacrifice his opinion to the wish of the nation. I believe he will consider the opinion of the States General, as the best evidence of what will please and profit the nation, and will conform to it. All the characters at court may not be of this disposition, and from thence may, possibly, arise representations, capable of leading the King astray; but upon a full view of all circumstances, I have sanguine hopes, that such a constitution will be established here, as will regenerate the energy of the nation, cover its friends, and make its enemies tremble. I am, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO MR. JAY

Paris, September 3, 1788.

Sir,—By Mrs. Barclay I had the honor of sending you letters of the 3d, 10th and 11th of August: since which, I wrote you of the 20th of the same month, by a casual conveyance, as is the present.

In my letter of the 20th, I informed you of the act of public bankruptcy which had taken place here. The effect of this would have been a forced loan of about one hundred and eighty millions of livres, in the course of the present and ensuing year. But it did not yield a sufficient immediate relief. The treasury became literally moneyless, and all purposes depending on this mover, came to a stand. The Archbishop was hereupon removed, with Monsieur Lambert, the Comptroller General; and Mr. Neckar was called in, as Director General of the finance. To soften the Archbishop's dismission, a cardinal's hat is asked for him from Rome, and his nephew promised the succession to the Archbishopric of Sens. The public joy, on this change of administration, was very great indeed. The people of Paris were amusing themselves with trying and burning the Archbishop in effigy, and rejoicing on the appointment of Mr. Neckar. The commanding officer of the city guards undertook to forbid this, and not being obeyed, he charged the mob with fixed bayonets, killed two or three, and wounded many: this stopped their rejoicings for that day; but enraged at being thus obstructed in amusements wherein they had committed no disorder whatever, they collected in great numbers the next day, attacked the guards in various places, burnt ten or twelve guard houses, killed two or three of the guards, and had about six or eight of their own number killed. The city was hereupon put under martial law, and after a while, the tumult subsided, and peace was restored. The public stocks rose ten per cent. on the day of Mr. Neckar's appointment: he was immediately offered considerable sums of money, and has been able so far to wave the benefit of the act of bankruptcy, as to pay in cash all demands, except the remboursements des capitaux. For these, and for a sure supply of other wants, he will depend on the States General, and will hasten their meetings, as is thought. No other change has yet taken place in the administration. The minister of war, however, must certainly follow his brother, and some think, and all wish, that Monsieur de Lamoignon, the Garde des Sceaux, may go out also. The administration of justice is still suspended. The whole kingdom seems tranquil at this moment.

Abroad, no event worth noting has taken place, since my last. The court of Denmark has not declared it will do anything more than furnish the stipulated aid to Russia. The King of Prussia has, as yet, made no move which may decide whether he will engage in the war, nor has England sent any squadron into the Baltic. As the season for action is considerably passed over, it is become more doubtful, whether any other power will enter the lists till the next campaign: this will give time for stopping the further progress of the war, if they really wish to stop it. Two camps, of twenty-five thousand men each, are forming in this country, on its northern limits. The Prince of Condé has the command of one, and the Duke de Broglio of the other.

I trouble you with the enclosed letter from a Henry Watson, claiming prize moneys, as having served under Admiral Paul Jones, which, I suppose, should go to the treasury, or war office. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY

Paris, September 6, 1788.

Gentlemen,—Your favor of July the 3d, came to hand some days ago, and that of July the 22d, in the afternoon of yesterday. Knowing that a Mr. Vannet was to leave Paris this morning, to go to Virginia in a vessel bound from Havre to Potomac, I have engaged him to receive the papers which are the subject of those letters; to take care of them from thence to Havre, and on the voyage; and when he shall have arrived in the Potomac, instead of going directly to Richmond, as he intended, he will proceed with them himself, to New York. I shall pay here, all expenses to their delivery at the ship's side in America, freight included: unless, perhaps, he may find it necessary to put another covering over them, if he should not be able to get them into the cabin; in this case, you will have to reimburse him for that. I engage to him, that you shall pay him their transportation from the ship's side to New York, and his own reasonable expenses from the place of his landing to New York, and back to the place of landing. As he takes that journey for this object only, it would be reasonable that you give him some gratuity for his time and trouble, and I suppose it would be accepted by him; but I have made no agreement for this. The papers are contained in a large box, and a trunk. They were sent here by Mr. Ast during my absence in Holland. When they arrived at the gates of Paris, the officers of the customs opened the trunk, to see whether it contained dutiable articles; but finding only books and papers, they concluded the contents of the box to be of the same nature, and did not open that. You receive it, therefore, as it came from the hands of Mr. Ast. A small trunk, which came as a third package from Mr. Ast, and which has never been opened, I have put into the great trunk, without displacing, or ever having touched a single paper, except as far as was necessary, to make room for that. I shall have the whole corded and plumbed by the Custom house here, not only to prevent their being opened at the Custom houses on the road, and at the port of exportation, but to prove to you, whether they shall have been opened by anybody else, after going out of my hands. If the stamped leads are entire, and the cords uncut, when you receive them, you will be sure they have not been opened; they will be wrapt in oil cloth here, to guard them against the damps of the sea, and as I mentioned before, Mr. Vannet will put them under another covering, if he finds it necessary, at Havre.

At the same time with your last letter, I received from the office of Foreign Affairs, the ratification by Congress of the loan of 1788, for another million of guilders. As the necessity of this loan resulted from the estimate made by Mr. Adams and myself, which estimate was laid before Congress, I suppose their ratification of the loan, implies that of the estimate. One article of this was for the redemption of our captives at Algiers. Though your letter says nothing on this subject, I am in hopes you have sent orders to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam, to furnish, as soon as they shall have it, what may be necessary for this pressing call. So also for the foreign officers. If the ratification of the loan has been made by Congress, with a view to fulfil the objects of the estimate, a general order from you to the commissioners of the loans at Amsterdam, to pay the moneys from time to time, according to that estimate, or to such other as you shall furnish them with, might save the trouble of particular orders on every single occasion, and the disappointments arising from the delay or miscarriage of such orders; but it is for you to decide on this.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO MR. RUTLEDGE

Paris, September 9, 1788.

Dear Sir,—I have duly received your favors of August 30th and September 4th. The animal, whose skin you saw here, is called the Moose. Monsieur de Buffon had well known it by name; but he has supposed it to be the same as the Rennedeer of Lapland, in his history. Being satisfied myself that it was a different animal, I asked the favor of General Sullivan to have one killed for me, and to send me the skin and skeleton. This is what you saw, it is found only eastward of the Hudson river. M. de Buffon describes the Renne to be about three feet high, and truly, the Moose you saw here was seven feet high, and there are some of them ten feet high. The experiment was expensive to me, having cost me hunting, curing, and transporting, sixty guineas. The animal whose enormous bones are found on the Ohio, is supposed by M. de Buffon and M. Daubenton to have been an Elephant. Dr. Hunter demonstrated it not to have been an Elephant. Similar bones are found in Siberia, where it is called the Mammoth. The Indians of America say it still exists very far north in our continent. I suppose there is no such thing at Geneva as a copy of my notes on Virginia, or you might see the subject treated there somewhat at length, as also some short notice of the Moose. I am glad to hear you have been so happy as to become acquainted with M. de Saussure. He is certainly one of the best philosophers of the present age. Cautious in not letting his assent run before his evidence, he possesses the wisdom which so few possess of preferring ignorance to error. The contrary disposition in those who call themselves philosophers in this country classes them in fact with the writers of romance. You have heard that Virginia has acceded to the new Constitution. New York has done the same by a majority of five. No news from North Carolina. Congress were proceeding early in July to put the new government into motion, probably it will be December or January before the new Legislature is assembled. Were I to trouble Mr. Shippen with a letter, I could only repeat the same things over again. Be so good as to say this to him, to deliver him the enclosed letter with my friendly compliments, and to accept yourself assurances of the esteem with which I am, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO MR. CUTTING

Paris, September 9, 1788.

Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 6th instant is just come to hand. To answer your quotations from the English papers by reversing every proposition, would be to give you the literal truth, but it would be tedious. To lump it by saying every tittle is false, would be just but unsatisfactory. I will take the middle course, and give you a summary of political information as far as possessed here on tolerably sure grounds. On the Baltic nothing of note since the first great action. That was pretty equal in loss, but rather favorable to the Russians in appearance, because they kept the field while the Swedes retired into port. Since that the Swedes have had a sixty-four gun ship, the Gustavus Adolphus, run ashore and burnt, and the crew captured by the Russians. Their fleet is rather confined within port, I believe we may say blocked up, by Admiral Greigh. On land there has been nothing but a petite guerre. The Swedes have failed in every enterprise. There is considerable discontent in the Swedish Senate and nation, because the King, contrary to their constitution, has commenced an offensive war without consulting the Senate. On the Black Sea nothing has happened since the first victory obtained by the Prince of Nassau and Paul Jones, and the second and third by the Prince of Nassau. The Captain Pacha has thrown himself into Oczakow, made a sortie, and considerably discomfitted the Russians. The particulars not known; but the siege continues. The Emperor's army has suffered much by sickness and desertion, but more by imbecility. He has certainly let a campaign pass over without doing anything. Denmark has notified Sweden and the other courts that she will furnish the stipulated aid to Russia. England and Prussia have offered their mediation, and Denmark is endeavoring to counterpoise their interference by getting this court to offer to join in the mediation. The ministerial revolution here is the Archbishop of Sens, and Mr. Lambert, gone out, and Mr. Neckar come in, in lieu of the last; nobody will succeed the former, that is to say there will be no premier. Probably M. de Brienne, minister of war, will go out, as his brother is out; and it may be doubted whether M. de Lamorignon will not also go. He is Garde de Sceaux, as you know; there is no present appearance of any other change. A bed of justice will be held within a few days to revoke all that was done in that of the 8th of May, and to recall the parliaments. The States General will be called in January, probably. The two camps of twenty-five thousand men each, in the north of France, are now assembling. They are commanded by the Prince of Condé and Duke de Broglio. This is the sum of affairs as far as can be affirmed with certainty. If anything remarkable still turns up before your departure, I will do myself the pleasure of writing to you. I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN

Paris, September 11, 1788.

Sir,—In the course of the last war, the house of Schweighauser and Dobrée, of Nantes, and Puchilberg of L'Orient, presented to Dr. Franklin a demand against the United States of America. He, being acquainted with the circumstances of the demand, and knowing it to be unfounded, refused to pay it. They thereupon procured seizure, by judiciary authority, of certain arms and other military stores which we had purchased in this country, and had deposited for embarkation at Nantes; and these stores have remained in that position ever since. Congress have lately instructed me to put an end to this matter. Unwilling to trouble your Excellency, whenever it can be avoided, I proposed to the parties to have the question decided by abitrators, to be chosen by us jointly. They have refused it, as you will see by their answers to my letters, copies of both which I have the honor to enclose you. I presume it to be well settled in practice, that the property of one sovereign is not permitted to be seized within the dominions of another; and that this practice is founded not only in mutual respect, but in mutual utility. To what the contrary practice would lead, is evident in the present case, wherein military stores have been stopped, in the course of a war, in which our greatest difficulties proceeded from the want of military stores. In their letter too, they make a merit of not having seized one of our ships of war, and certainly, the principle which admits the seizure of arms, would admit that of a whole fleet, and would often furnish an enemy the easiest means of defeating an expedition. The parties obliging me, then, to have recourse to your Excellency on this occasion, I am under the necessity of asking an order from you, for the immediate delivery of the stores and other property of the United States, at Nantes, detained by the house of Schweighauser and Dobrée, and that of Puchilberg, or by either of them, under a pretence of a judicial seizure.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO M. DE REYNEVAL

Paris, September 16, 1788.

Sir,—I have the honor now to enclose you my observations on the alteration proposed in the consular convention. There remain only three articles of those heretofore in question between us, to which I am unable to agree; that is to say, the second, proposing still to retain personal immunities for the consuls, and others attached to their office; the eighth, proposing that the navigation code of each nation, shall be established in the territories of the other; and the ninth, insisting that the ship's roll shall be conclusive evidence, that a person belongs to the ship.

There are several new matters introduced into the draught; some of these are agreed to; others cannot be admitted, as being contrary to the same principles which had obliged me to disagree to some of the former articles. The greatest part of the eleventh, and the whole of the twelfth new articles, are in this predicament. They propose, that no person shall be arrested on board a merchant vessel, for any cause, but in presence of the consul; that no such vessel shall be visited, but in his presence; and that when the officers of justice have reason to believe that a criminal has taken refuge on board a vessel of war, the captain's word shall be conclusive evidence that he is not there.

To the objections which I had the honor of stating in my letter to his Excellency, the Count de Montmorin, I have now that of adding some other observations, of which I request your perusal. I enclose with them a draught, on the basis of the one you were pleased to give me, altered so as to reconcile it to the spirit of our laws.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA ROUERIE

Paris, September 16, 1788.

Sir,—On receiving the first letters which you did me the honor to write to me, on the arrears due to you from the United States, I informed you that I had nothing to do in the money department; that the subject of your letters belonged altogether to the treasury board, and to Mr. Grand, their banker here, to the former of whom I forwarded your letters. As I felt an anxiety, however, that the foreign officers should be paid, I took the liberty of pressing the treasury board, from time to time, to exert themselves for that effect; and I availed myself of an opportunity which occurred last spring, of setting on foot measures, which, with their approbation, might furnish the means of effecting this payment. So far my information to you went, and I added a supposition, that the treasury board would probably give orders on the subject, in the course of the month of July. But I made you no promise; it would have been strange if I had; nor does my office, nor anything I have ever said or done, subject me to the demand of immediate payment, which you are pleased to make on me, nor call on me for any declaration or answer, positive or negative.