RichmondMarch 21, 1781.
Sir,—The enclosed letter will inform you of the arrival of a British fleet in the Chesapeake bay.
The extreme negligence of our stationed expresses is no doubt the cause why, as yet, no authentic account has reached us of a general action, which happened on the 15th instant, about a mile and a half from Guilford Court House, between General Greene and Lord Cornwallis. Captain Singleton, an intelligent officer of Harrison's artillery, who was in the action, has this moment arrived here, and gives the general information that both parties were prepared and desirous for action; the enemy were supposed about twenty-five hundred strong, our army about four thousand. That, after a very warm and general engagement, of about an hour and a half, we retreated about a mile and a half from the field, in good order, having, as he supposed, between two and three hundred killed and wounded: the enemy between five and seven hundred killed and wounded; that we lost four pieces of artillery: that the militia, as well as regulars, behaved exceedingly well: that General Greene, he believes, would have renewed the action the next day, had it not proved rainy, and would renew it as soon as possible, as he supposes: that the whole of his troops, both regulars and militia, were in high spirits and wishing a second engagement: that the loss has fallen pretty equally on the militia and regulars: that General Stevens received a ball through the thigh. Major Anderson, of Maryland, was killed, and Captain Barrett, of Washington's cavalry; Captain Fauntleroy, of the same cavalry, was shot through the thigh, and left on the field.
Captain Singleton, having left the camp the day after the battle, does not speak from particular returns, none such having been then made. I must inform your Excellency from him, till more regular applications can reach you, that they are inextreme wantof lead, cartridge paper and thread. I think it improper, however it might urge an instantaneous supply, to repeat to youhis statement of the extent of their stock of these articles. In a former letter, I mentioned to you the failure of the vein of our lead mines, which has left the army here in a state of equal distress and danger.
I have the honor to be, with very high respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Look-out boats have been ordered from the seaboard of the eastern shore, to apprise the Commander of the French fleet, on its approach, of the British being in the Chesapeake.
In Council,Richmond, March 26, 1781.
Sir,—The appointment of commissioner to the war office of this State, having lately become vacant, the Executive are desirous to place Colonel William Davies, of the Virginian Continentals, in that office. This gentleman, however, declines undertaking it, unless his rank in the army, half pay for life and allowance for depreciation of pay, can be reserved to him; observing with justice, that these emoluments, distant as they are, are important to a person who has spent the most valuable part of his youth in the service of his country. As this indulgence rests in the power of Congress alone, I am induced to request it of them on behalf of the State, to whom it is very interesting that the office be properly filled, and I may say, on behalf of the Continent also, to whom the same circumstance is interesting, in proportion to its reliance upon this State for supplies to the southern war. We should not have given Congress the trouble of this application, had we found it easy to call any other to the office, who was likely to answer our wishes in the exercise of it.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
Richmond, March 28, 1781.
Sir,—I forward to your Excellency, under cover with this, copies of letters received from Major General Greene and Baron Steuben, which will give you the latest account of the situation of things with us and in North Carolina.
I observe a late resolve of Congress, for furnishing a number of arms to the southern States; and I lately wrote you on the subject of ammunition and cartridge paper. How much of this State, the enemy thus reinforced, may think proper to possess themselves of, must depend on their own moderation and caution, till these supplies arrive. We had hoped to receive by the French squadron under Monsieur Destouches, eleven hundred stand of arms, which we had at Rhode Island, but were disappointed. The necessity of hurrying forward the troops intended for the southern operations, will be doubtless apparent from this letter.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
Richmond, March 31, 1781.
Sir,—The letters and papers accompanying this will inform your Excellency of the arrival of a British flag vessel with clothing, refreshments, money, &c., for their prisoners, under the Convention of Saratoga. The gentlemen conducting them, have, on supposition that the prisoners, or a part of them, still remained in this State, applied to me by letters, copies of which I transmit your Excellency, for leave to allow water transportation as far as possible, and then, for themselves to attend them to the post where they are to be issued. These indulgences were usually granted them here, but the prisoners being removed, itbecomes necessary to transmit the application to Congress for their direction. In the meantime, the flag will wait in James river.
Our intelligence from General Greene's camp as late as the 24th, is, that Lord Cornwallis's march of the day before had decided his route to Cross creek.
The amount of the reinforcements to the enemy, arrived at Portsmouth, is not yet known with certainty. Accounts differ from fifteen hundred to much larger numbers. We are informed they have a considerable number of horse. The affliction of the people for want of arms is great; that of ammunition is not yet known to them. An apprehension is added, that the enterprise on Portsmouth being laid aside, the troops under the Marquis Fayette will not come on. An enemy three thousand strong, not a regular in the State, nor arms to put in the hands of the militia, are, indeed, discouraging circumstances.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
Richmond, April 7, 1781.
Sir,—Hearing that our arms from Rhode Island have arrived at Philadelphia, I have begged the favor of our Delegates to send them on in wagons immediately, and, for the conveyance of my letter, have taken the liberty of setting the Continental line of expresses in motion, which I hope our distress for arms will justify, though the errand be not purely Continental.
I have nothing from General Greene later than the 27th of March; our accounts from Portsmouth vary the reinforcements, which came under General Phillips, from twenty-five hundred to three thousand. Arnold's strength before, was, I think, reduced to eleven hundred. They have made no movement as yet. Their preparation of boats is considerable; whether theymean to go southwardly or up the river, no leading circumstance has yet decided.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
In Council, April 18, 1781.
Sir,—I was honored, yesterday with your Excellency's favor enclosing the resolutions of Congress of the 8th instant, for removing stores and provisions from the counties of Accomack and Northampton. We have there no military stores, except a few muskets in the hands of the militia. There are some collections of forage and provisions belonging to the Continent, and some to the State, and the country there, generally, furnishes an abundance of forage. But such is the present condition of Chesapeake Bay that we cannot even get an advice boat across it with any certainty, much less adventure on transportation. Should, however, any interval happen, in which these articles may be withdrawn, we shall certainly avail ourselves of it, and bring thence whatever we can.
If I have been rightly informed, the horses there are by no means such, as that the enemy could apply them to the purposes of cavalry. Some large enough for the draught may, perhaps, be found, but of these not many.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant.
Richmond, April 23, 1781.
Sir,—On the 18th instant, the enemy came from Portsmouth up James river, in considerable force, though their numbers arenot yet precisely known to us. They landed at Burwell's ferry, below Williamsburg, and also a short distance above the mouth of Chickahomony. This latter circumstance obliged Colonel Innis, who commanded a body of militia, stationed on that side the river to cover the country from depredation, to retire upwards, lest he should be placed between their two bodies. One of these entered Williamsburg on the 20th, and the other proceeded to a ship-yard we had on Chickahomony. What injury they did there, I am not yet informed. I take for granted, they have burned an unfinished twenty-gun ship we had there. Such of the stores, belonging to the yard as were movable, had been carried some miles higher up the river. Two small gallies also retired up the river. Whether by this, either the stores or gallies were saved, is yet unknown. I am just informed, from a private hand, that they left Williamsburg early yesterday morning. If this sudden departure was not in consequence of some circumstance of alarm unknown to us, their expedition to Williamsburg has been unaccountable. There were no public stores at that place, but those which were necessary for the daily subsistence of the men there. Where they mean to descend next, the event alone can determine. Besides harassing our militia with this kind of war, the taking them from their farms at the interesting season of planting their corn, will have an unfortunate effect on the crop of the ensuing year.
I have heard nothing certain of General Greene since the 6th instant, except that his head-quarters were on Little river on the 11th.
I have the honor to be, with the highest respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
Richmond, May 9, 1781.
Sir,—Since the last letter which I had the honor of addressing to your Excellency, the military movements in this State,except a very late one, have scarcely merited communication.
The enemy, after leaving Williamsburg, came directly up James river and landed at City Point, being the point of land on the southern point of the confluence of Appomattox and James rivers. They marched up to Petersburg, where they were received by Baron Steuben, with a body of militia somewhat under one thousand, who, though the enemy were two thousand and three hundred strong, disputed the ground very handsomely two hours, during which time the enemy gained only one mile, and that by inches. Our troops were then ordered to retire over a bridge, which they did in perfectly good order. Our loss was between sixty and seventy, killed, wounded, and taken. The enemy's is unknown, but it must be equal to ours; for their own honor they must confess this, as they broke twice and run like sheep, till supported by fresh troops. An inferiority in number obliged our force to withdraw about twelve miles upwards, till more militia should be assembled. The enemy burned all the tobacco in the warehouses at Petersburg and its neighborhood. They afterwards proceeded to Osborne's, where they did the same, and also destroyed the residue of the public armed vessels, and several of private property, and then came to Manchester, which is on the hill opposite this place.
By this time, Major General Marquis Fayette having been advised of our danger, had, by forced marches, got here with his detachment of Continental troops; and reinforcements of militia having also come in, the enemy, finding we were able to meet them on equal footing, thought proper to burn the warehouses and tobacco at Manchester, and retire to Warwick, where they did the same. Ill armed and untried militia, who never before saw the face of an enemy, have, at times, during the course of this war, given occasions of exultation to our enemies, but they afforded us, while at Warwick, a little satisfaction in the same way. Six or eight hundred of their picked men of light infantry, with General Arnold at their head, having crossed the river from Warwick, fled from a patrole of sixteen horse, everyman into his boat as he could, some pushing North, some South, as their fears drove them. Their whole force then proceeded to the Hundred, being the point of land within the confluence of the two rivers, embarked, and fell down the river. Their foremost vessels had got below Burwell's ferry on the 6th instant, when, on the arrival of a boat from Portsmouth, and a signal given, the whole crowded sail up the river again with a fair wind and tide, and came to anchor at Brandon; there six days' provision was dealt out to every man; they landed, and had orders to march an hour before day the next morning. We have not yet heard which way they went, or whether they have gone, but having, about the same time, received authentic information that Lord Cornwallis had, on the 1st instant, advanced from Wilmington half way to Halifax, we have no doubt, putting all circumstances together, that these two armies are forming a junction.
We are strengthening our hands with militia, as far as arms, either public or private, can be collected, but cannot arm a force which may face the combined armies of the enemy. It will, therefore, be of very great importance that General Wayne's forces be pressed on with the utmost despatch. Arms and a naval force, however, are what must ultimately save us. This movement of our enemies we consider as most perilous in its consequences.
Our latest advices from General Greene were of the 26th ult., when he was lying before Camden, the works and garrison of which were much stronger than he had expected to find them.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.
In Council, May 10, 1781.
Gentlemen,—A small affair has taken place between the British commanding officer in this State, General Phillips, andthe Executive, of which, as he may endeavor to get rid of it through the medium of Congress, I think it necessary previously to apprise you.
General Scott obtained permission from the Commandant at Charleston, for vessels with necessary supplies to go from hence to them, but instead of sending the original, sent only a copy of the permission taken by his brigade major. I applied to General Phillips to supply this omission by furnishing a passport for the vessel. Having just before taken great offence at a threat of retaliation in the treatment of prisoners, he enclosed his answer to my letter under this address, "To Thomas Jefferson, Esq., American Governor of Virginia." I paused on receiving the letter, and for some time would not open it; however, when the miserable condition of our brethren in Charleston occurred to me, I could not determine that they should be left without the necessaries of life, while a punctilio should be discussing between the British General and myself; and, knowing that I had an opportunity of returning the compliment to Mr. Phillips in a case perfectly corresponding, I opened the letter.
Very shortly after, I received, as I expected, the permission of the board of war, for the British flag vessel then in Hampton Roads with clothing and refreshments, to proceed to Alexandria. I enclosed and addressed it, "To William Phillips, Esq., commanding the British forces in the Commonwealth of Virginia." Personally knowing Phillips to be the proudest man of the proudest nation on earth, I well know he will not open this letter; but having occasion, at the same time, to write to Captain Gerlach, the flag-master, I informed him that the Convention troops in this State should perish for want of necessaries, before any should be carried to them through this State, till General Phillips either swallowed this pill of retaliation, or made an apology for his rudeness. And in this, should the matter come ultimately to Congress, we hope for their support.
He has the less right to insist on the expedition of his flag, because his letter, instead of enclosing a passport to expedite ours, contained only an evasion of the application, by saying he hadreferred it to Sir Henry Clinton, and in the meantime, he has come up the river, and taken the vessel with her loading, which we had chartered and prepared to send to Charleston, and which wanted nothing but the passport to enable her to depart.
I would further observe to you, that this gentleman's letters to the Baron Steuben first, and afterwards to the Marquis Fayette, have been in a style so intolerably insolent and haughty, that both these gentlemen have been obliged to inform him, that if he thinks proper to address them again in the same spirit, all intercourse shall be discontinued.
I am, with great respect and esteem, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient servant.
Charlottesville, May 28,1781.
Sir,—I make no doubt you will have heard, before this shall have the honor of being presented to your Excellency, of the junction of Lord Cornwallis with the force at Petersburg under Arnold, who had succeeded to the command on the death of Major-general Phillips. I am now advised that they have evacuated Petersburg, joined at Westover a reinforcement of two thousand men just arrived from New York, crossed James river, and on the 26th instant, were three miles advanced on their way towards Richmond; at which place, Major-General the Marquis Fayette lay with three thousand men, regulars and militia: these being the whole number we could arm, until the arrival of the eleven hundred arms from Rhode Island, which are, about this time, at the place where our public stores are deposited. The whole force of the enemy within this State, from the best intelligence I have been able to get, is, I think, about seven thousand men, infantry and cavalry, including, also, the small garrison left at Portsmouth. A number of privateers, which are constantly ravaging the shores of our rivers, prevent us from receiving anyaid from the counties lying on navigable waters; and powerful operations meditated against our western frontier, by a joint force of British and Indian savages, have, as your Excellency before knew, obliged us to embody between two and three thousand men in that quarter. Your Excellency will judge from this state of things, and from what you know of our country, what it may probably suffer during the present campaign. Should the enemy be able to produce no opportunity of annihilating the Marquis's army, a small proportion of their force may yet restrain his movements effectually while the greater part are employed, in detachment, to waste an unarmed country, and lead the minds of the people to acquiesce under those events which they see no human power prepared to ward off. We are too far removed from the other scenes of war to say, whether the main force of the enemy be within this State. But I suppose they cannot anywhere spare so great an army for the operations of the field. Were it possible for this circumstance to justify in your Excellency a determination to lend us your personal aid, it is evident, from the universal voice, that the presence of their beloved countryman, whose talents have so long been successfully employed in establishing the freedom of kindred States, to whose person they have still flattered themselves they retained some right, and have ever looked up, as their dernier resort in distress, would restore full confidence of salvation to our citizens, and would render them equal to whatever is not impossible. I cannot undertake to foresee and obviate the difficulties which lie in the way of such a resolution. The whole subject is before you, of which I see only detached parts; and your judgment will be formed on a view of the whole. Should the danger of this State and its consequence to the Union, be such, as to render it best for the whole that you should repair to its assistance, the difficulty would then be, how to keep men out of the field. I have undertaken to hint this matter to your Excellency, not only on my own sense of its importance to us, but at the solicitations of many members of weight in our legislature, which has not yet assembled to speak their own desires.
A few days will bring to me that relief which the constitution has prepared for those oppressed with the labors of my office, and a long declared resolution of relinquishing it to abler hands, has prepared my way for retirement to a private station: still, as an individual, I should feel the comfortable effects of your presence, and have (what I thought could not have been) an additional motive for that gratitude, esteem, and respect, with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient humble servant.
Monticello, August 4, 1781.
Sir,—I am much obliged by the trouble you took in forwarding to me the letter of his Excellency, the President of Congress. It found me in Bedford, an hundred miles southward of this, where I was confined till within these few days, by an unfortunate fall from my horse. This has occasioned the delay of the answer which I now take the liberty of enclosing to you, as the confidential channel of conveyance, pointed out by the President.
I thank you also for your kind sentiments and friendly offer on the occasion, which, that I cannot avail myself of, has given me more mortification than almost any occurrence of my life. I lose an opportunity, the only one I ever had, and perhaps ever shall have, of combining public service with private gratification. Of seeing countries whose improvements in science, in arts, and in civilization, it has been my fortune to admire at a distance, but never to see, and at the same time of lending some aid to a cause, which has been handed on from its first organization to its present stage, by every effort of which my poor faculties were capable. These, however, have not been such as to give satisfaction to some of my countrymen, and it has become necessary for me to remain in the State till a later period in the present year, than is consistent with an acceptance of what hasbeen offered me.[102]Declining higher objects, therefore, my only one must be to show that suggestion and fact are different things, and that public misfortune may be produced as well by public poverty and private disobedience to the laws, as by the misconduct of public servants.[103]The independence of private life under the protection of republican laws will, I hope, yield me the happiness from which no slave is so remote as the minister of a commonwealth. From motives of private esteem as well as public gratitude, I shall pray it to be your lot in every line of life, as no one can with more truth subscribe himself with the highest regard and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Monticello, September 16, 1781.
Dear Sir,—I have received your letter of the 7th instant. That, mentioned to have been sent by the preceding post, has not come to hand, nor two others, which Mrs. Randolph informs me you wrote before you left Virginia, nor indeed any others,should you have been so kind as to have written any others. When I received the first letter from the President of Congress, enclosing their resolution, and mentioning the necessity of an expeditious departure, my determination to attend at the next session of the Assembly offered a ready and insuperable obstacle to my accepting of that appointment, and left me under no necessity of deliberating with myself whether, that objection being removed, any other considerations might prevent my undertaking it. I find there are many, and must, therefore, decline it altogether. Were it possible for me to determine again to enter into public business, there is no appointment whatever which would have been so agreeable to me. But I have taken my final leave of everything of that nature. I have retired to my farm, my family and books, from which I think nothing will evermore separate me. A desire to leave public office, with a reputation not more blotted than it has deserved, will oblige me to emerge at the next session of our Assembly, and perhaps to accept of a seat in it. But as I go with a single object, I shall withdraw when that shall be accomplished. I should have thought that North Carolina, rescued from the hands of Britain, Georgia and almost the whole of South Carolina recovered, would have been sufficiently humiliating to induce them to treat with us. If this will not do, I hope the stroke is now hanging over them which will satisfy them that their views of Southern conquests are likely to be as visionary as those of Northern. I think it impossible Lord Cornwallis should escape. Mrs. Randolph will be able to give you all the news on this subject, as soon as you shall be able to release her from others. I am, with much esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
Monticello, October 28th, 1781.
Sir,—I hope it will not be unacceptable to your Excellency to receive the congratulations of a private individual on your returnto your native country, and, above all things, on the important success which has attended it.[104]Great as this has been, however, it can scarcely add to the affection with which we have looked up to you. And if, in the minds of any, the motives of gratitude to our good allies were not sufficiently apparent, the part they have borne in this action must amply evince them. Notwithstanding the state of perpetual decrepitude to which I am unfortunately reduced, I should certainly have done myself the honor of paying my respects to you personally; but I apprehend these visits, which are meant by us as marks of our attachment to you, must interfere with the regulations of a camp, and be particularly inconvenient to one whose time is too precious to be wasted in ceremony.
I beg you to believe me among the sincerest of those who subscribe themselves, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
Richmond, December 14th, 1781.
Dear Sir,—I have received your friendly letters of August 2d and November 15th, and some of the gentlemen to whom you wished them to be communicated not being here, I have taken the liberty of handing them to some others, so as to answer the spirit of your wish. It seems likely to end, as I ever expected it would, in a final acknowledgment that good dispositions and arrangements will not do without a certain degree of bravery and discipline in those who are to carry them into execution. This, the men whom you commanded, or the greater part of them at least, unfortunately wanted on that particular occasion.
I have not a doubt but that, on a fair enquiry, the returning justice of your countrymen will remind them of Saratoga, and induce them to recognize your merits. My future plan of lifescarcely admits a hope of my having the pleasure of seeing you at your seat; yet I assuredly shall do it should it ever lie within my power, and am assured that Mrs. Jefferson will join me in sincere thanks for your kind sentiments and invitation, and in expressions of equal esteem for Mrs. Gates and yourself, and in a certain hope that, should any circumstance lead you within our reach, you will make us happy by your company at Monticello. We have no news to communicate. That the Assembly does little, does not come under that description.
I am, with very sincere esteem, dear sir, your friend and servant.
Monticello, March 24th, 1782.
Dear Sir,—I have received from you two several favors, on the subject of the designs against the territorial rights of Virginia.[105]I never before could comprehend on what principle our rights to the western country could be denied, which would not, at the same time, subvert the right of all the States to the whole of their territory. What objections may be founded on the charter of New York, I cannot say, having never seen that charter, nor been able to get a copy of it in this country. I had thought to have seized the first leisure on my return from the last Assembly, to have considered and stated our rights, and to have communicated to our delegates, or perhaps to the public, so much as I could trace, and expected to have derived some assistance from ancient MSS., which I have been able to collect. These, with my other papers and books, however, had been removed to Augustato be out of danger from the enemy, and have not yet been brought back. The ground on which I now find the question to be bottomed is so unknown to me that it is out of my power to say anything on the subject. Should it be practicable for me to procure a copy of the charter of New York, I shall probably think on it, and would cheerfully communicate to you whatever could occur to me worth your notice. But this will probably be much too late to be of any service before Congress, who doubtless will decide, ere long, on the subject. I sincerely wish their decision may tend to the preservation of peace. If I am not totally deceived in the determination of this country, the decision of Congress, if unfavorable, will not close the question. I suppose some people on the western waters, who are ambitious to be Governors, &c., will urge a separation by authority of Congress. But the bulk of the people westward are already thrown into great ferment by the report of what is proposed, to which I think they will not submit. This separation is unacceptable to us in form only, and not in substance. On the contrary, I may safely say it is desired by the eastern part of our country whenever their western brethren shall think themselves able to stand alone. In the meantime, on the petition of the western counties, a plan is digesting for rendering their access to government more easy. I trouble you with the enclosed to Mons. Marbois. I had the pleasure of hearing that your father and family were all well yesterday, by your brother, who is about to study the law in my neighborhood. I shall always be glad to hear from you, and, if it be possible for me, retired from public business, to find anything worth your notice, I shall communicate it with great pleasure.
I am with sincere esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
Richmond, 11th of May, 1782.
Dear Sir,—As I so lately wrote you by Mr. Short, and have since daily expected to see you here, I did not propose writingto you till after I should have that pleasure; but as I begin to fear you will not abate that firmness and decision which you have frequently shown in the service of your country, even upon this occasion, and as I have had an opportunity since I last wrote of being better informed of the sentiments of those whom I know you put the greatest value on, I think it my duty to make you acquainted therewith. It is publicly said here, that the people of your country informed you that they had frequently elected you in times of less difficulty and danger than the present to please you; but that now they had called you forth into public office to serve themselves. This is a language which has been often used in my presence; and you will readily conceive that, as it furnishes those who argue on the fundamental maxims of a Republican government with ample field for declamation, the conclusion has always been, that you should not decline the service of your country. The present is generally conceived to be an important era, which, of course, makes your attendance particularly necessary. And as I have taken the liberty to give you the public opinion and desire upon this occasion, and as I am warmly interested in whatever concerns the public interest or has relation to you, it will be necessary to add, it is earnestly the desire of, dear Sir,
Your sincere friend and obedient servant.
Monticello, May 20th, 1782.
Dear Sir,—I have been gratified with your two favors of the 6th and 11th inst. It gives me pleasure that your county has been wise enough to enlist your talent into their service. I am much obliged by the kind wishes you express of seeing me also in Richmond, and am always mortified when anything is expected from me which I cannot fulfill, and more especially if it relate to the public service. Before I ventured to declare to mycountrymen my determination to retire from public employment, I examined well my heart to know whether it were thoroughly cured of every principle of political ambition, whether no lurking particle remained which might leave me uneasy, when reduced within the limits of mere private life. I became satisfied that every fibre of that passion was thoroughly eradicated. I examined also, in other views, my right to withdraw. I considered that I had been thirteen years engaged in public service—that, during that time, I had so totally abandoned all attention to my private affairs as to permit them to run into great disorder and ruin—that I had now a family advanced to years which require my attention and instruction—that, to these, was added the hopeful offspring of a deceased friend, whose memory must be forever dear to me, and who have no other reliance for being rendered useful to themselves or their country—that by a constant sacrifice of time, labor, parental and friendly duties, I had, so far from gaining the affection of my countrymen, which was the only reward I ever asked or could have felt, even lost the small estimation I had before possessed.
That, however I might have comforted myself under the disapprobation of the well-meaning but uninformed people, yet, that of their representatives was a shock on which I had not calculated. That this, indeed, had been followed by an exculpatory declaration. But, in the meantime, I had been suspected in the eyes of the world, without the least hint then or afterwards being made public, which might restrain them from supposing that I stood arraigned for treason of the heart, and not merely weakness of the mind; and I felt that these injuries, for such they have been since acknowledged, had inflicted a wound on my spirit which will only be cured by the all-healing grave. If reason and inclination unite in justifying my retirement, the laws of my country are equally in favor of it. Whether the State may command the political services of all its members to an indefinite extent, or, if these be among the rights never wholly ceded to the public power, is a question which I do not find expressly decided in England.Obiter dictumson the subject I haveindeed met with, but the complexion of the times in which these have dropped would generally answer them. Besides that, this species of authority is not acknowledged in our possession.
In this country, however, since the present government has been established, the point has been settled by uniform, pointed and multiplied precedents. Offices of every kind, and given by every power, have been daily and hourly declined and resigned from the Declaration of Independence to this moment. The General Assembly has accepted these without discrimination of office, and without ever questioning them in point of right. If the difference between the office of a delegate and any other could ever have been supposed, yet in the case of Mr. Thompson Mason, who declined the office of delegate, and was permitted so to do by the House, that supposition has been proved to be groundless. But, indeed, no such distinction of offices can be admitted. Reason, and the opinions of the lawyers, putting all on a footing as to this question, and so giving to the delegate the aid of all the precedents of the refusal of other offices. The law then does not warrant the assumption of such a power by the State over its members. For if it does, where is that law? nor yet does reason. For though I will admit that this does subject every individual, if called on, to an equal tour of political duty, yet it can never go so far as to submit to it his whole existence. If we are made in some degree for others, yet, in a greater, are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling, and indeed ridiculous to suppose that a man had less rights in himself than one of his neighbors, or indeed all of them put together. This would be slavery, and not that liberty which the bill of rights has made inviolable, and for the preservation of which our government has been charged. Nothing could so completely divest us of that liberty as the establishment of the opinion, that the State has a perpetual right to the services of all its members. This, to men of certain ways of thinking, would be to annihilate the blessings of existence, and to contradict the Giver of life, who gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness. And certainly, to such it were better that they hadnever been born. However, with these, I may think public service and private misery inseparably linked together, I have not the vanity to count myself among those whom the State would think worth oppressing with perpetual service. I have received a sufficient memento to the contrary. I am persuaded that, having hitherto dedicated to them the whole of the active and useful part of my life, I shall be permitted to pass the rest in mental quiet. I hope, too, that I did not mistake modes any more than the matter of right when I preferred a simple act of renunciation, to the taking sanctuary under those disqualifications (provided by the law for other purposes indeed but) affording asylum also for rest to the wearied. I dare say you did not expect by the few words you dropped on the right of renunciation to expose yourself to the fatigue of so long a letter, but I wished you to see that, if I had done wrong, I had been betrayed by a semblance of right at least. I take the liberty of enclosing to you a letter for General Chattellux, for which you will readily find means of conveyance. But I mean to give you more trouble with the one to Pelham, who lives in the neighborhood of Manchester, and to ask the favor of you to send it by your servant—express—which I am in hopes may be done without absenting him from your person, but during those hours in which you will be engaged in the house. I am anxious that it should be received immediately. * * * * * * It will give me great pleasure to see you here whenever you can favor us with your company. You will find me still busy, but in lighter occupations. But in these and all others you will find me to retain a due sense of your friendship, and to be, with sincere esteem, dear Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
Chesterfield, November 26, 1782.
Sir,—I received yesterday the letter with which you have been pleased to honor me, enclosing the resolution of Congressof the 12th instant, renewing my appointment as one of their ministers plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace—and beg leave, through you, to return my sincere thanks to that august body, for the confidence they are pleased to repose in me, and to tender the same to yourself for the obliging manner in which you have notified it.[106]I will employ in this arduous charge, with diligence and integrity, the best of my poor talents, which I am conscious are far short of what it requires. This, I hope, will ensure to me from Congress a kind construction of all my transactions. And it gives me no small pleasure, that my communications will pass through the hands of a gentleman with whom I have acted in the earlier stages of this contest, and whose candor and discernment I had the good fortune then to approve and esteem. Your letter finds me at a distance from home, attending my family under inoculation. This will add to the delay which the arrangements of my particular affairs would necessarily occasion. I shall lose no moment, however, in preparing for my departure, and shall hope to pay my respects to Congress and yourself at sometime between the 20th and the last of December.
I have the honor to be, with very great esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
Amphill, November 26, 1782.
Dear Sir,—I received your friendly letters of —— and June30th, but the latter not till the 17th of October. It found me a little emerging from the stupor of mind which had rendered me as dead to the world as was she whose loss occasioned it.[107]Your letter recalled to my memory that there were persons still living of much value to me. If you should have thought me remiss in not testifying to you sooner, how deeply I had been impressed with your worth in the little time I had the happiness of being with you, you will, I am sure, ascribe it to its true cause, the state of dreadful suspense in which I have been kept all the summer, and the catastrophe which closed it.
Before that event, my scheme of life had been determined. I had folded myself in the arms of retirement, and rested all prospects of future happiness on domestic and literary objects. A single event wiped away all my plans, and left me a blank which I had not the spirits to fill up. In this state of mind an appointment from Congress found me, requiring me to cross the Atlantic. And that temptation might be added to duty, I was informed, at the same time, from his Excellency the Chevalier de Luzerne, that a vessel of force would be sailing about the middle of December in which you would be passing to France. I accepted the appointment, and my only object now is, to so hasten over those obstacles which would retard my departure, as to be ready to join you in your voyage—fondly measuring your affection by my own, and presuming your consent. It is not certain that I can, by any exertion, be in Philadelphia by the middle of December—the contrary is most probable. But hoping it will not be much later, and counting on those procrastinations which usually attend the departure of vessels of size, I have hopes of being with you in time. This will give me full leisure to learn the result of your observations on the natural bridge, to communicate to you my answers to the enquiries of Monsieur de Marbois, to receive edification from you on these and other subjects of science; considering chess, too, as a matter of science. Should I be able to get out in tolerable time,and any extraordinary delays attend the sailing of the vessel, I shall certainly do myself the honor of waiting on his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, at his head-quarters, and assuring him in person of my high respect and esteem for him—an object of which I have never lost sight. To yourself, I am unable to express the warmth of those sentiments of friendship and attachment with which I have the honour to be, dear Sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant.
November 26, 1782.
Dear Sir,—I received in August your favor, wherein you give me hopes of being able to procure for me some of the big bones. I should be unfaithful to my own feeling, were I not to express to you how much I am obliged by your attention to the requests I made you on that subject. A specimen of each of the several species of bones now to be found, is to me the most desirable objects in natural history. And there is no expense of package or of safe transportation which I will not gladly reimburse, to procure them safely. Elk horns of very extraordinary size, or anything else uncommon, would be very acceptable. You will hear of my going to Europe, but my trip there will be short. I mention this, lest you should hesitate forwarding any curiosities to me. New London in Bedford, Staunton in Augusta, or Frederick County, are places from whence I can surely get them. Any observations of your own on the subject of the big bones or their history, or on anything else in the western country, will come acceptably to me, because I know you see the works of nature in the great and not merely in detail. Descriptions of animals, vegetables, minerals, or other curious things; notes as to the Indians' information of the country between the Mississippi and waters of the South Sea, &c., &c., will strike your mind as worthy being communicated. I wish you had more time to pay attention to them. I perceive by your letter, you are not unapprized that your services to yourcountry have not made due impression on every mind. That you have enemies, you must not doubt, when you reflect that you have made yourself eminent. If you meant to escape malice, you should have confined yourself within the sleepy line of regular duty. When you transgressed this, and enterprised deeds which will hand down your name with honor to future times, you made yourself a mark for envy and malice to shoot at. Of these there is enough, you know, both in and out of office. I was not a little surprised, however, to find one person hostile to you, as far as he has personal courage to show hostility to any man. Who he is, you will probably have heard, or may know him by this description—as being all tongue without either head or heart. In the variety of his crooked schemes, however, his interest may probably veer about, so as to put it in your power to be useful to him. In which case, he certainly will be your friend again, if you want him. That you may long continue a fit object for his enmity, and for that of every person of his complexion in the State, which I know can only be by your continuing to do good to your country and to acquire honor to yourself, is the earnest prayer of one who subscribes himself, with great truth and sincerity, dear Sir,
Your friend and servant.
Amphill,in Chesterfield, November 26th, 1782.
Dear Sir,—Your favor by Colonel Basset is not yet come to hand. The intimation through the attorney, I received the day before Colonel Bland's arrival, by whom I am honored with yours of the 14th inst. It finds me at this place attending my family under inoculation. This will of course retard those arrangements of my domestic affairs, which will of themselves take time and cannot be made but at home. I shall lose no time, however, in preparing for my departure. And from the calculation I am at present enabled to make, I suppose I cannot be inPhiladelphia before the 20th of December, and that possibly it may be the last of that month. Some days I must certainly pass there, as I could not propose to jump into the midst of a negotiation without a single article of previous information. From these data, you will be enabled to judge of the chance of availing myself of his Excellency, the Chevalier de Luzerne's, kind offers, to whom I beg you to present my thanks for his friendly attention, and let him know I shall use my best endeavors to be in time for the departure of his frigate. No circumstances of a private nature could induce me to hasten over the several obstacles to my departure more unremitting than the hope of having the Chevalier de Chattellux as a companion in my voyage. A previous acquaintance with his worth and abilities, had impressed me with an affection for him which, under the then prospect of never seeing him again, was perhaps imprudent.
I am with very sincere esteem, dear Sir, your very affectionate friend, and humble servant.
Philadelphia, January 22d, 1783.
Sir,—Having lately received a call from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of their minister for negotiating peace, I cannot leave the continent without separating myself for a moment from the general gratitude of my country, to offer my individual tribute to your Excellency for all you have suffered and all you have effected for us. Were I to indulge myself in those warm effusions which this subject forever prompts, they would wear an appearance of adulation very foreign to my nature; for such is become the prostitution of language that sincerity has no longer distinct terms in which to express her own truths. Should you give me occasion, during the short mission on which I go, to render you any service beyond the water, I shall, for a proof of my gratitude, appeal from language to the zeal with which I shall embrace it. The negotiations towhich I am joined may perhaps be protracted beyond our present expectations, in which case, though I know you must receive much better intelligence from the gentlemen whose residence there has brought them into a more intimate acquaintance with the characters and views of the European courts, yet I shall certainly presume to add my mite, should it only serve to convince you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
Baltimore, February 7th, 1783.
Sir,—The Chevalier de Ville Brun was so kind as to communicate to me yesterday your Excellency's letter to him of January, together with the intelligence therein referred to. I feel myself bound to return you my thanks, for your orders to the Guadeloupe frigate to receive me, if I should think a passage should be hazarded under present circumstances. According to this information (which is the most worthy of credit of any we have received here), it would seem that our capture would be unavoidable were we to go out now. This, therefore, is a risk to which I cannot think of exposing his Majesty's vessel and subjects; however I might be disposed to encounter personal hazards, from my anxiety to execute, with all the promptitude in my power, a service which has been assigned to me. I shall therefore wait with patience the arrival of the moment when the Chevalier de Ville Brun shall be of opinion that the one or the other of the vessels may venture out without any greater risk than he shall think proportioned to her proper object, independently of mine. It has been suggested to me this evening, that perhaps their safe departure might be greatly forwarded by their falling down to York, or Hampton, there to be ready at a moment's warning, to avail themselves of those favorable circumstances which the present season sometimes offers.
But of this, yourself will be the proper judge. I cannot close my letter without expressing to you my obligations to the Chevalier de Ville Brun for the particular attention he has shown to my accommodation on board his ship. The apartments he has had constructed for me are ample and commodious, and his politeness and deportment as an officer are an agreeable presage of everything that shall depend on him. I have delivered to him the two large packets you were pleased to put into my hands, and he will dispose of them according to your orders.
I have the honor to be, with the highest sentiments of esteem, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
Baltimore, February 7, 1783.
Sir,—I arrived here on the 30th of the last month, and had a short interview the same evening with the Chevalier de Ville Brun, commander of the Ramilies. There appeared at that time little apprehension but that we might sail in a few days, but we were not very particular in our conference, as we expected to see each other again. The severity of the cold, however, which commenced that night, obliged the Chevalier de Ville Brun to fall twelve miles below this place, and excluded all correspondence with him till yesterday, when I found means to get through the ice on board his ship. He then communicated to me, by direction of his Excellency, the minister of France, intelligence as to the number and force of the cruisers now actually watching the capes of the Chesapeake. I must acknowledge that the appearances are such as to render a capture certain were we to hazard it. The minister was pleased at the same time to submit the Guadeloupe to my wishes, if I chose to adventure. I take the liberty of troubling you with a copy of my letter to him on that subject. I should certainly be disposed to run very considerable risks myself to effect my passage; but should think it an unfortunate introduction to an ally, who has already done somuch for us, were I to add to his losses and disbursements that of a valuable ship and crew. I wish that the present delay offered some period less distant than the lassitude of an avaricious enemy to watch for prey. Perhaps you may be able to put me on some more expeditious mode of passage than the one under which I am acquiescing at present. I shall be much pleased to adopt any such which may come recommended from you, without regard to personal risk or trouble. In the meantime, any intelligence which you can collect and will be pleased to give me as to the state of our coast, will be of utility in determining whether and when we shall depart hence.
I have the honor to be with very great esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
P. S. Your letter of the 31st ultimo came safely to hand with the packet to Mr. Adams accompanying it.
Newburgh, 10th February, 1783.
Dear Sir,—I have been honored with your favor of 22d of January from Philadelphia. I feel myself much flattered by your kind remembrance of me in the hour of your departure from this continent, for the favorable sentiments you are pleased to entertain of my services for this our common country. To merit the approbation of good and virtuous men is the height of my ambition, and will be a full compensation for all my toils and sufferings in the long and painful contest in which we have been engaged. It gave me great pleasure to hear that the call upon you from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of one of their ministers for negotiating peace had been repeated; but I hope you will have found the business already done. The speech of his Britannic Majesty is strongly indicative of the olive branch; and yet, as he observes, unforseen events may place itout of reach. At present, the prospect of peace absorbs, or seems to do so, every other consideration among us; and would, it is to be feared, leave us in a very unprepared state to continue the war, if the negotiations at Paris should terminate otherwise than in a general pacification. But I will hope that it is the dearth of other news that fills the mouths of every person with peace, while their minds are employed in contemplating on the means of prosecuting the war, if necessity should drive us to it. You will please to accept my grateful thanks for your obliging offer of services during your stay in France. To hear from you frequently will be an honor and very great satisfaction to, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, 14th February, 1783.
Sir,—I have delayed in answering your favor of the 7th instant until I could obtain the sense of Congress on the matter it contains. I conceive it hardly possible, while the British cruisers retain their present station, for you to elude their vigilance in either of the ships offered to your choice. This, concurring with the late advices from England, has induced Congress to pass the enclosed resolution.[108]We have reason to conjecture that peace is already concluded; whether it is or not, a few days will determine. I transmit the speech of his Britannic Majesty, which, with what you already know of the state of our negotiations, will enable you to form your opinion on the sameground that we do. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Baltimore, February 14, 1783.
Sir,—I apprised you in my former letter of the causes which had so long delayed my departure. These still continue. I have this moment received a printed copy of his British Majesty's speech to his Parliament, by which we learn that the preliminaries between Great Britain and America, among which is one for the acknowledgment of our independence, have been provisionally agreed to on his part. That the negotiations with the other powers at war were considerably advanced, and that he hoped, in a very short time, they would end in terms of pacification. As considerable progress has been made in the negotiations for peace since the appointment with which Congress were pleased to honor me, it may have become doubtful whether any communications I could make or any assistance I could yield to the very able gentlemen in whose hands the business already is, would compensate the expense of prosecuting my voyage to Europe. I therefore beg leave through you, Sir, to assure Congress that I desire this question to be as open to them now as it was on the day of my appointment, and that I have not a wish either to go or to stay. They will be pleased to weigh the economy of the one measure against the chance which the other may offer of my arriving in such time as that any communications which have been confided to me may produce effect on definitive articles. I shall continue here for the prosecution of my voyage, under the orders before received, or for its discontinuance, should that be more eligible to Congress, and be signified at any moment before my departure. I have the honor to be, &c.
Philadelphia, February 18, 1783.
Sir,—I was yesterday honored with your favor of the 14th, which I shall lay before Congress this morning. As you have by this time received their resolution which I had the honor to send you by the last post, and again enclosed, you will be relieved in some measure from your embarrassments, though not entirely of your suspense with respect to their final determination. But that cannot be long doubtful, since the negotiations have certainly arrived at such a crisis as either to terminate soon in a peace or a total rupture. In the latter case, you will necessarily be obliged to proceed on your voyage, as Congress seems anxious to avail themselves of your abilities and information in the negotiations, unless they are fully assured that a speedy peace will preclude them from that advantage.
I enclose a paper which contains all that we have yet received on that interesting subject. It may, perhaps, be difficult to account for our ministers having signed before those of France. But if this letter is genuine, it serves, when compared with their instructions, to prove that the terms of peace are acceptable to us and not disagreeable to France. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, March 13, 1783.
Sir,—Supposing the despatches received by the Washington, may have enabled Congress to decide on the expediency of continuing, or of countermanding my mission to Europe, I take the liberty of expressing to you the satisfaction it will give me toreceive their ultimate will, so soon as other business will permit them to revert to this subject.[109]I have the honor, &c.
Philadelphia, April 11, 1783.
Dear Sir,—In a letter which I did myself the honor of writing to you by the Chevalier de Chattellux, I informed you of my being at this place, with the intention of joining you in Paris. But the uncommon vigilance of the enemy's cruisers, immediately after the departure of the French fleet, deterred every vessel from attempting to go out. The arrival of the preliminaries soon after showed the impropriety of my proceeding, and I am just now setting out on my return to Virginia. I cannot, however, take my departure, without paying to yourself and your worthy colleague my homage for the good work you have completed for us, and congratulating you on the singular happiness of having borne so distinguished a part both in the earliest and latest transactions of this revolution. The terms obtained for us are indeed great, and are so deemed by your country—a few ill-designing debtors excepted. I am in hopes you will continue at some one of the European courts most agreeable to yourself, that we may still have the benefit of your talents. I took the liberty in my letter of suggesting a wish that you wouldbe so kind as to engage lodgings for me. Should you have given yourself this trouble, I beg leave to return you my thanks, and to ask the favor of you to communicate the amount of their hire to Mr. Robert Morris, of this city, who will immediately remit it to you, as I lodge money in his hands for this purpose. Accept my warmest wishes for your happiness, and be assured of the sincerity with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
P. S. I beg to be affectionately remembered to Dr. F. and Mr. A., if they be still with you.
Annapolis, April 16, 1784.
Dear Sir,—I received your favor of April 8th, by Colonel Harrison. The subject of it is interesting, and, so far as you have stood connected with it, has been matter of anxiety to me; because, whatever may be the ultimate fate of the institution of the Cincinnati, in its course, it draws to it some degree of disapprobation. I have wished to see you standing on ground separated from it, and that the character which will be handed to future ages at the head of our Revolution, may, in no instance, be compromitted in subordinate altercations. The subject has been at the point of my pen in every letter I have written to you, but has been still restrained by the reflection that you had among your friends more able counsellors, and, in yourself, one abler than them all. Your letter has now rendered a duty what was before a desire, and I cannot better merit your confidence than by a full and free communication of facts and sentiments, as far as they have come within my observation. When the army was about to be disbanded, and the officers to take final leave, perhaps never again to meet, it was natural for men who had accompanied each other through so many scenes of hardship, of difficulty, and danger, who, in a varietyof instances, must have been rendered mutually dear by those aids and good offices, to which their situations had given occasion; it was natural, I say, for these to seize with fondness any proposition which promised to bring them together again, at certain and regular periods. And this, I take for granted, was the origin and object of this institution; and I have no suspicion that they foresaw, much less intended, those mischiefs which exist, perhaps in the forebodings of politicians only. I doubt, however, whether, in its execution, it would be found to answer the wishes of those who framed it, and to foster those friendships it was intended to preserve. The members would be brought together at their annual assemblies, no longer to encounter a common enemy, but to encounter one another in debate and sentiment. For something, I suppose, is to be done at these meetings, and, however unimportant, it will suffice to produce difference of opinion, contradiction and irritation. The way to make friends quarrel is to put them in disputation under the public eye. An experience of near twenty years has taught me, that few friendships stand this test, and that public assemblies, where every one is free to act and speak, are the most powerful looseners of the bands of private friendship. I think, therefore, that this institution would fail in its principal object, the perpetuation of the personal friendships contracted through the war.
The objections of those who are opposed to the institution shall be briefly sketched. You will readily fill them up. They urge that it is against the Confederation—against the letter of some of our constitutions—against the spirit of all of them;—that the foundation on which all these are built, is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office, and, particularly, the denial of a pre-eminence by birth; that, however, in their present dispositions, citizens might decline accepting honorary instalments into the order, a time may come, when a change of dispositions would render these flattering, when a well-directed distribution of them might draw into the order all the men of talents, ofoffice and wealth, and in this case, would probably procure an ingraftment into the government; that in this, they will be supported by their foreign members, and the wishes and influence of foreign courts; that experience has shown that the hereditary branches of modern governments are the patrons of privilege and prerogative, and not of the natural rights of the people, whose oppressors they generally are; that, besides these evils, which are remote, others may take place more immediately; that a distinction is kept up between the civil and military, which it is for the happiness of both to obliterate; that when the members assemble they will be proposing to do something, and what that something may be, will depend on actual circumstances; that being an organized body, under habits of subordination, the first obstruction to enterprize will be already surmounted; that the moderation and virtue of a single character have probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish; that he is not immortal, and his successor, or some of his successors, may be led by false calculation into a less certain road to glory.
What are the sentiments of Congress on this subject, and what line they will pursue, can only be stated conjecturally. Congress, as a body, if left to themselves, will, in my opinion, say nothing on the subject. They may, however, be forced into a declaration by instructions from some of the States, or by other incidents. Their sentiments, if forced from them, will be unfriendly to the institution. If permitted to pursue their own path, they will check it by side-blows whenever it comes in their way, and in competitions for office, on equal or nearly equal ground, will give silent preferences to those who are not of the fraternity. My reasons for thinking this are, 1. The grounds on which they lately declined the foreign order proposed to be conferred on some of our citizens. 2. The fourth of the fundamental articles of constitution for the new States. I enclose you the report; it has been considered by Congress, recommitted and reformed by a committee, according to sentimentsexpressed on other parts of it, but the principle referred to, having not been controverted at all, stands in this as in the original report; it is not yet confirmed by Congress. 3. Private conversations on this subject with the members. Since the receipt of your letter, I have taken occasion to extend these; not, indeed, to the military members, because, being of the order delicacy forbade it, but to the others pretty generally; and among these, I have as yet found but one who is not opposed to the institution, and that with an anguish of mind, though covered under a guarded silence, which I have not seen produced by any circumstance before. I arrived at Philadelphia before the separation of the last Congress, and saw there and at Princeton some of its members, not now in delegation. Burke's piece happened to come out at that time, which occasioned this institution to be the subject of conversation. I found the same impressions made on them which their successors have received. I hear from other quarters that it is disagreeable, generally, to such citizens as have attended to it, and, therefore, will probably be so to all, when any circumstance shall present it to the notice of all.