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

TO M. DE CALONNE

Paris, November 2, 1786.

Sir,—I have been honored with your Excellency's letter of October the 22d, wherein you communicate to me the regulations which his majesty, the King, has been pleased lately to establish in favor of the commerce between his subjects and the citizens of the United States. I avail myself of the first occasion of conveying this information to Congress, who will receive with singular satisfaction this new proof of his majesty's friendship and of his willingness to multiply the ties of interest and intercourse between the two nations. Favors are doubly precious which, promoting the present purposes of interest and of friendship, enlarge the foundations for their continuance and increase. The part which your Excellency has been pleased to take in the establishment of these regulations, merits and meets my sincere thanks, and adds a little the more to those sentiments of profound esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO M. DE CREVECŒUR

Paris, November 6, 1786.

Sir,—Congress have as yet come to no resolution as to the general redemption of paper money. That it is to be redeemed is a principle of which there is no doubt in the mind of any member of Congress, nor of any citizen of the United States. A resolution of Congress taken in a particular case, which stood on the same ground on which the general one will stand, founds a presumption amounting nearly to a certainty that they will pay to the holder of every bill what it cost him, or the person whom he represents at the time of receiving it, with an interest from that time, of six per cent. They have of course established no rule of evidence as to the time of receiving the money. I think, however, that it would be advisable for M. de Lisle, or the representatives of Pileerf, to establish the time at which their money was received by the affidavits of such persons as know it. Those of disinterested persons would be best; but if there is no disinterested person acquainted with the fact, they will do well to take the affidavits of persons interested. It is probable this kind of testimony will be admitted; at any rate it can do no harm, no particular form nor no terms of art are required for these affidavits. It will suffice if they state facts substantially, and that the oath be administered by some person who, by the laws of the country in which it is administered, is authorized to administer an oath. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.

TO M. DU RIVAL

Paris, November 7, 1786.

Sir,—I am honored with your letter of the 1st instant, enclosing inquiries on the subject of the coins of the United States. Some time during the last year, Congress decided that the Spanish milled dollar should be their money unit, and that their coins should be in a decimal progression above or below that. Some intermediate coins will also be doubtless made for convenience, and indeed they determined that their smallest copper coin should be the two-hundredth part of a dollar. They did not determine how much pure silver their money unit should contain, nor establish the proportion between their silver and gold coins. No other resolutions were entered into, nor had anything been done to effectuate these. What is said, therefore, on this subject in the Courier d'Europe is entirely fable, unless the compiler of that paper has received information of a later date than the middle of August. I do expect that Congress will sometime soon complete their system or resolutions on this subject, and carry them into effect.

I have the honor to be, with sentiment of the highest respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

P. S. I omitted to observe that most of the gold and silver coins of Europe pass in the several States of America according to the quantity of pure metal they contain.

TO M. FAMIN

Paris, November 11, 1786.

Sir,—This will be handed you by Colonel Blackden, heretofore an officer in the American army—at present engaged in trade. He goes to Honfleur with a view to examine the commercial relations which may be established between that port and the United States. He wishes particularly to see the nature of its harbor, the conveniences already established for commerce, and to know something of the productions which can be taken and given there in exchange. Knowing your desire to assist in drawing the American commerce to that port, I take the liberty of recommending this gentleman to your acquaintance, and of praying you to procure him the information he desires.

Some late regulations of the King and Council in favor of the commerce of the United States having given us room to hope that our endeavors may be successful to remove a good part of it from Great Britain to France, Honfleur presents itself as a more important instrument for this purpose than it had heretofore appeared. We are, therefore, now pressing more earnestly its establishment as a free port, and such other regulations in its favor as may invite the commerce to it.

I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE HONORABLE MR. JAY

Paris, November 12, 1786.

Sir,—In a letter which I had the honor of writing you on the 26th of September, I informed you that a Dutch company were making propositions to the Minister of Finance here to purchase at a discount, the debt due from the United States to this country. I have lately procured a copy of their memoir which I now enclose. Should Congress think this subject worthy their attention, they have no time to lose, as the necessities of the minister, which alone has made him listen to this proposition, may force him to a speedy conclusion. The effect which a payment of the whole sum would have here, would be very valuable. The only question is, whether we can borrow it in Holland, a question which cannot be resolved but in Holland. The trouble of the trial, and the expense of the transaction, would be well repaid by the dispositions which would be excited in our favor in the King and his ministers. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

M. LE ROY DE L'ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES

Paris, November 13, 1786.

Sir,—I received the honor of yours of September the 18th, a day or two after the accident of a dislocated wrist had disabled me from writing. I have waited thus long in constant hope of recovering its use. But finding that this hope walks before me like my shadow, I can no longer oppose the desire and duty of answering your polite and learned letter. I therefore employ my left hand in the office of scribe, which it performs indeed slowly, awkwardly and badly.

The information given by me to the Marquis de Chastellux, and alluded to in his book and in your letter was, that the sea breezes which prevail in the lower parts of Virginia during the summer months, and in the warm parts of day, had made a sensible progress into the interior country: that formerly, within the memory of persons living, they extended but little above Williamsburg; that afterwards they became sensible as high as Richmond; and that, at present, they penetrate sometimes as far as the first mountains, which are above an hundred miles further from the sea coast than Williamsburg is. It is very rare, indeed, that they reach those mountains, and not till the afternoon is considerably advanced. A light north-westerly breeze is, for the most part, felt there, while an easterly or north-easterly wind is blowing strongly in the lower country. How far northward and southward of Virginia this easterly breeze takes place, I am not informed. I must, therefore, be understood as speaking of that State only, which extends on the sea coast from 36½ to 38 of latitude.

This is the fact. We know too little of the operations of nature in the physical world to assign causes with any degree of confidence. Willing always, however, to guess at what we do not know, I have sometimes indulged myself with conjectures on the causes of the phenomena above stated. I will hazard them on paper for your amusement, premising for their foundation some principles believed to be true.

Air resting on a heated and reflecting surface, becomes warmer, rarer and lighter? it ascends therefore, and the circumjacent air, which is colder and heavier, flows into its place, becomes warmed and, lightened in its turn, ascends, and is succeeded as that which went before. If the heated surface be circular, the air flows to it from every quarter, like the rays of a circle to its centre. If it be a zone of determinate breadth and indefinite length, the air will flow from each side perpendicularly on it. If the currents of air flowing from opposite sides, be of equal force, they will meet in equilibrio, at a line drawn longitudinally through the middle of the zone. If one current be stronger than the other, the stronger one will force back the line of equilibrium towards the further edge of the zone, or even beyond it: the motion it has acquired causing it to overshoot the zone, as the motion acquired by a pendulum in its descent causes it to vibrate beyond the point of its lowest descent.

Earth, exposed naked to the sun's rays, absorbs a good portion of them; but, being an opaque body, those rays penetrate to a small depth only. Its surface, by this accumulation of absorbed rays, becomes considerably heated. The residue of the rays are reflected into the air resting on that surface. This air, then, is warmed, 1, by the direct rays of the sun; 2, by its reflected rays; 3, by contact with the heated surface. A forest receiving the sun's rays, a part of them enters the intervals between the trees, and their reflection upwards is intercepted by the leaves and boughs. The rest fall on the trees, the leaves of which being generally inclined towards the horizon, reflect the rays downwards. The atmosphere here, then, receives little or no heat by reflection. Again, these leaves having a power of keeping themselves cool by their own transpiration, they impart no heat to the air by contact. Reflection and contact, then, two of the three modes before-mentioned of communicating heat, are wanting here; and of course, the air over a country covered by forest must be colder than that over cultivated grounds.

The sea being pellucid, the sun's rays penetrate it to a considerable depth. Being also fluid, and in perpetual agitation, its parts are constantly mixed together; so that, instead of its heat being all accumulated in its surface, as in the case of a solid opaque body, it is diffused through its whole mass. Its surface, therefore, is comparatively cool, for these reasons, to which may be added that of evaporation. The small degree of reflection which might otherwise take place, is generally prevented by the rippled state of its surface. The air resting on the sea, then, like that resting on a forest, receives little or no heat by reflection or contact, and is therefore colder than that which lies over a cultivated country.

To apply these observations to the phenomena under consideration. The first settlements of Virginia were made along the sea coast, bearing from the south towards the north, a little eastwardly. These settlements formed a zone, in which, though every point was not cleared of its forest, yet a good proportion was cleared and cultivated. The cultivated earth, as the sun advances above the horizon in the morning, acquires from it an intense heat, which is retained and increased through the warm parts of the day. The air, resting on it, becomes warm in proportion, and rises. On one side is a country still covered with forest, on the other is the ocean. The colder air from both of these then rushes towards the heated zone to supply the place left vacant there by the ascent of the warm air. The breeze from the west is light and feeble, because it traverses a country covered with mountains and forests, which retard its current. That from the east is strong, as passing over the ocean, wherein there is no obstacle to its motion. It is probable, therefore, that this easterly breeze forces itself far into or perhaps beyond the zone which produces it. This zone is, by the increase of population, continually widening into the interior country. The line of equilibrium between the easterly and westerly breezes is, therefore, progressive.

Did no foreign causes intervene, the sea breeze would be a little southwardly of the east, that direction being perpendicular to our coast. But within the tropics, there are winds which blow continually and strongly from the east. This current affects the course of the air, even without the tropics. The same cause, too, which produces a strong motion of the air from east to west, between the tropics, to wit, the sun, exercises its influence without those limits, but more freely, in proportion as the surface of the globe is there more obliquely presented to its rays. This effect, though not great, is not to be neglected when the sun is in, or near our summer solstice, which is the season of these easterly breezes. The northern air, too, flowing towards the equatorial parts, to supply the vacuum made there by the ascent of their heated air, has only the small rotatory motion of the polar latitudes from which it comes. Nor does it suddenly acquire the swifter rotation of the parts into which it enters. This gives it the effect of a motion opposed to that of the earth, that is to say, of an easterly one. And all these causes together, are known to produce currents of air in the Atlantic, varying from east to north-east, as far as the fortieth degree of latitude. It is this current which presses our sea breeze out of its natural south-easterly direction, to an easterly, and sometimes almost a north-easterly one.

We are led naturally to ask, where the progress of our sea breezes will ultimately be stopped? No confidence can be placed in any answer to this question. If they should ever pass the mountainous country which separates the waters of the ocean from those of the Mississippi, there may be circumstances which might aid their further progress, as far as the Mississippi. That mountainous country commences about two hundred miles from the sea coast, and consists of successive ranges passing from north-east to south-west, and rising the one above the other to the Alleghany Ridge, which is the highest of all. From that, lower and lower ridges succeed one another again, till having covered in the whole, a breadth of two hundred miles from southeast to northwest, they subside into a plain, fertile country, extending four hundred miles to the Mississippi, and probably much further on the other side, towards the heads of the western waters. When this country shall become cultivated, it will, for the reasons before explained, draw to it winds from the east and west. In this case, should the sea breezes pass the intermediate mountains, they will rather be aided than opposed in their further progress to the Mississippi. There are circumstances, however, which render it possible that they may not be able to pass those intermediate mountains. 1. These mountains constitute the highest lands within the United States. The air on them must consequently be very cold and heavy, and have a tendency to flow both to the east and west. 2. Ranging across the current of the sea breezes, they are in themselves so many successive barriers opposed to their progress. 3. The country they occupy is covered with trees, which assist to weaken and spend the force of the breezes. 4. It will remain so covered; a very small proportion of it being capable of culture. 5. The temperature of the air, then, will never be softened by culture.

Whether in the plain country between the Mississippi and Alleghany mountains, easterly or westerly winds prevail at present, I am not informed. I conjecture, however, that they must be westerly; and I think with you, Sir, that if those mountains were to subside into plain country, as their opposition to the westerly winds would then be removed, they would repress more powerfully those from the east, and of course would remove the line of equilibrium nearer to the sea coast for the present.

Having had occasion to mention the course of the tropical winds from east to west, I will add some observations connected with them. They are known to occasion a strong current in the ocean, in the same direction. This current breaks on that wedge of land of which Saint Roque is the point; the southern column of it probably turning off and washing the coast of Brazil. I say probably, because I have never heard of the fact, and conjecture it from reason only. The northern column having its western motion diverted towards the north, and reinforced by the currents of the great rivers Orinoko, Amazons and Tocantin, has probably been the agent which formed the Gulf of Mexico, cutting the American continent nearly in two, in that part. It re-issues into the ocean at the northern end of the Gulf, and passes by the name of the Gulf Stream, all along the coast of the United States, to its northern extremity. There it turns off eastwardly, having formed by its eddy at this turn the Banks of Newfoundland. Through the whole of its course, from the Gulf to the Banks, it retains a very sensible warmth. The Spaniards are, at this time, desirous of trading to the Philippine islands, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope; but opposed in it by the Dutch, under authority of the treaty of Munster, they are examining the practicability of a common passage through the Straights of Magellan or round Cape Horn. Were they to make an opening through the Isthmus of Panama, a work much less difficult than some even of the inferior canals of France, however small this opening should be in the beginning, the tropical current, entering it with all its force, would soon widen it sufficiently for its own passage, and thus complete, in a short time, that work which otherwise will still employ it for ages. Less country, too, would be destroyed by it in this way. These consequences would follow: 1. Vessels from Europe or the western coast of Africa, by entering the tropics, would have a steady wind and tide to carry them through the Atlantic, through America and the Pacific ocean, to every part of the Asiatic coast, and of the eastern coast of Africa; thus performing with speed and safety the tour of the whole globe, to within about twenty-four degrees of longitude, or one fifteenth part of its circumference; the African continent, under the line, occupying about that space. 2. The Gulf of Mexico, now the most dangerous navigation in the world on account of its currents and movable sands, would become stagnant and safe. 3. The Gulf Stream on the coast of the United States would cease, and with that those derangements of course and reckoning, which now impede and endanger the intercourse with those States. 4. The fogs on the Banks of Newfoundland,2 supposed to be the vapors of the Gulf Stream, rendered turbid by cold air, would disappear. 5. Those Banks ceasing to receive supplies of sand, weeds, and warm water, by the Gulf Stream, it might become problematical what effect changes of pasture and temperature would have on the fisheries. However, it is time to relieve you from this long lecture. I wish its subject may have been sufficiently interesting, to make amends for its details. These are submitted with entire deference to your better judgment. I will only add to them, by assuring you of the sentiments of perfect esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO GENERAL WASHINGTON

Paris, November 14, 1786.

Sir,—The house of Le Coulteux, which for some centuries has been the wealthiest of this place, has it in contemplation to establish a great company for the fur trade. They propose that partners interested one half in the establishment, should be American citizens, born and residing in the United States. Yet if I understood them rightly, they expect that that half of the company which resides here, should make the greatest part, or perhaps the whole of the advances, while those on our side the water should superintend the details. They had, at first, thought of Baltimore as the centre of their American transactions. I have pointed out to them the advantages of Alexandria for this purpose. They have concluded to take information as to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, for a principal deposit, and having no correspondent at Alexandria, have asked me to procure a state of the advantages of that place, as also to get a recommendation of the best merchant there, to be adopted as partner and head of the business there. Skill, punctuality and integrity are the requisites in such a character. They will decide on their whole information, as to the place for their principal factory. Being unwilling that Alexandria should lose its pretensions, I have undertaken to procure them information as to that place. If they undertake this trade at all, it will be on so great a scale as to decide the current of the Indian trade to the place they adopt. I have no acquaintance at Alexandria or in its neighborhood; but, believing you would feel an interest in the matter, from the same motives which I do, I venture to ask the favor of you to recommend to me a proper merchant for their purpose, and to engage some well-informed person to send me a representation of the advantages of Alexandria, as the principal deposit of the fur trade.

The author of the political part of the Encyclopedie Methodique desired me to examine his article, "Etats Unis." I did so. I found it a tissue of errors; for, in truth, they know nothing about us here. Particularly, however, the article "Cincinnati" was a mere philippic against that institution; in which it appeared that there was an utter ignorance of facts and motives. I gave him notes on it. He reformed it, as he supposed, and sent it again to me to revise. In this reformed state, Colonel Humphreys saw it. I found it necessary to write that article for him. Before I gave it to him, I showed it to the Marquis de La Fayette, who made a correction or two. I then sent it to the author. He used the materials, mixing a great deal of his own with them. In a work, which is sure of going down to the latest posterity, I thought it material to set facts to rights as much as possible. The author was well disposed; but could not entirely get the better of his original bias. I send you the article as ultimately published. If you find any material errors in it, and will be so good as to inform me of them, I shall probably have opportunities of setting this author to rights. What has heretofore passed between us on this institution, makes it my duty to mention to you, that I have never heard a person in Europe, learned or unlearned, express his thoughts on this institution, who did not consider it as dishonorable and destructive to our governments; and that every writing which has come out since my arrival here, in which it is mentioned, considers it, even as now reformed, as the germ whose development is one day to destroy the fabric we have reared. I did not apprehend this, while I had American ideas only. But I confess that what I have seen in Europe has brought me over to that opinion; and that though the day may be at some distance, beyond the reach of our lives perhaps, yet it will certainly come, when a single fibre left of this institution will produce an hereditary aristocracy, which will change the form of our governments from the best to the worst in the world. To know the mass of evil which flows from this fatal source, a person must be in France; he must see the finest soil, the finest climate, the most compact State, the most benevolent character of people, and every earthly advantage combined, insufficient to prevent this scourge from rendering existence a curse to twenty-four out of twenty-five parts of the inhabitants of this country. With us, the branches of this institution cover all the States. The southern ones, at this time, are aristocratical in their dispositions; and, that that spirit should grow and extend itself, is within the natural order of things. I do not flatter myself with the immortality of our governments; but I shall think little also of their longevity, unless this germ of destruction be taken out. When the society themselves shall weigh the possibility of evil, against the impossibility of any good to proceed from this institution, I cannot help hoping they will eradicate it. I know they wish the permanence of our governments, as much as any individuals composing them.