New York, August 12, 1790.
Dear Sir,—Your letter of May the 29th to the President of the United States, has been duly received. You have placed their proposition of exchanging a minister on proper ground. It must certainly come from them, and come in unequivocal form. With those who respect their own dignity so much, ours must not be counted at naught. On their own proposal formally, to exchange a minister, we sent them one. They have taken no notice of that, and talk of agreeing to exchange one now, as if the idea were new. Besides, what they are saying to you, they are talking to us through Quebec; but so informally, that they may disavow it when they please. It would only oblige them to make the fortune of the poor Major, whom they would pretend to sacrifice. Through him, they talk of a minister, a treaty of commerceand alliance. If the object of the latter be honorable, it is useless; if dishonorable, inadmissible. These tamperings prove, they view a war as very possible; and some symptoms indicate designs against the Spanish possessions adjoining us. The consequences of their acquiring all the country on our frontier, from the St. Croix to the St. Mary's, are too obvious to you to need development. You will readily see the dangers which would then environ us. We wish you, therefore, to intimate to them that we cannot be indifferent to enterprises of this kind. That we should contemplate a change of neighbors with extreme uneasiness; and that a due balance on our borders is not less desirable to us, than a balance of power in Europe has always appeared to them. We wish to be neutral, and we will be so,if they will execute the treaty fairly, andattempt no conquests adjoining us. The first condition is just; the second imposes no hardship on them. They cannot complain that the other dominions of Spain would be so narrow as not to leave them room enough for conquest. If the war takes place, we would really wish to be quieted on these two points, offering in return an honorable neutrality. More than this, they are not toexpect. It will be proper that these ideas be conveyed in delicate and friendly terms; but that they be conveyed, if the war takes place; for it is in that case alone, and not till it be begun, that we should wish our dispositions to be known. But in no case, need they think of our accepting any equivalent for the posts.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, dear Sir your most obedient, and most humble servant.
New York, August 12, 1790.
Sir,—It is desirable that government should be informed what proceedings have taken place in the several States since the treaty with Great Britain, which may be considered by that nation as infractions of the treaty, and consequently that we should be furnished with copies of all acts, orders, proclamations, and decisions, legislative, executive, or judiciary, which may have affected the debts or other property, or the persons, of British subjects or American refugees. The proceedings subsequent to the treaty, will sometimes call for those also which took place during the war. No person is more able than yourself, Sir, to furnish us with a list of the proceedings of this kind which have taken place within your State, nor is there any one on whom we may with more propriety rely for it, as well as to take the trouble of furnishing us with exact copies of them. Should you be so kind as to state any facts or circumstances which may enter into the justification or explanation of any of these proceedings, they will be thankfully received; and it is wished the whole may come to hand between this and the last of October.
While I am troubling you with this commission, I am obliged to add a second, which being undertaken at this time, will abridge the labor of the first. It is found indispensable that we be possessed here of a complete collection of all the printed lawsand ordinances, ancient and modern, of every State of the Union. I must ask the favor of you, Sir, to have such a collection made for us, so far as relates to your State. The volumes of this collection which, being more modern, may be more readily found, I will ask the favor of you to send immediately by whatever conveyance you think safest and best; those more rarely to be had, you will be so good as to forward from time to time, as you can get them. For your reimbursement, be pleased to draw on me, only expressing in your draught that it is for "the laws of your State, purchased and forwarded for the United States:" or, if it should be more convenient to you, I will at any time send you an order from the treasury for your reimbursement on the collection most convenient to you. This shall be as you please.
Your zeal for the general service needs not to be excited by information, that it is with the special approbation of the President of the United States that I address you on this occasion.
I have the honor to be, with great regard, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
New York, August 14, 1790.
Dear Sir,—I am setting out on a trip to Rhode Island with the President to-morrow, by water. We shall be absent five or six days, and of course his departure hence to the southward will be that much later than he intended; and my departure, which must be after his, a little delayed. Still I hope to reach Monticello by the 15th of September, or from that to the 20th. We have just concluded a treaty with the Creeks, which is important, as drawing a line between them and Georgia, and enabling the government to do, as it will do, justice against either party offending. Congress separated the day before yesterday, having in the latter part of their session re-acquired the harmony which had always distinguished their proceedings, till the two disagreeable subjects of the assumption and residence wereintroduced. These really threatened, at one time, a separation of the legislaturesine die. They saw the necessity of suspending almost all business for some time; and, when they resumed it, of some mutual sacrifices of opinion. It is not foreseen that anything so generative of dissension can arise again, and therefore the friends of the government hope that, this difficulty once surmounted in the States, everything will work well. I am principally afraid that commerce will be overloaded by the assumption, believing that it would be better that property should be duly taxed. Present me affectionately to my dear daughters, and believe me to be sincerely yours.
New York, August 24, 1790.
Sir,—The representatives of the United States have been pleased to refer to me the representation from the general court of Massachusetts, on the subject of the whale and cod fisheries, which had been transmitted by your Excellency, with an instruction to examine the matter thereof, and report my opinion thereupon to the next session of Congress. To prepare such a report as may convey to them the information necessary to lead to an adequate remedy, it is indispensable that I obtain a statement of the fisheries, comprehending such a period before and since the war, as may show the extent to which they were and are carried on. With such a statement under their view, Congress may be able, by comparing the circumstances which existed when the fisheries flourished, with those which exist at this moment of their decline, to discover the cause of that decline, and provide either a remedy for it, or something which may countervail its effect. This information can be obtained nowhere but in the State over which your Excellency presides, and under no other auspices so likely to produce it. May I, therefore, take the liberty of soliciting your Excellency to charge with the collecting andfurnishing me this information, some person or persons who may be competent to the object. Taking a point of commencement at a proper interval before the year of greatest prosperity, there should be stated in a table, year by year, under different columns, as follows:
1. The number of vessels fitted out each year for the codfishery. 2. Their tonnage. 3. The number of seamen employed. 4. The quantity of fish taken; 1, of superior quality; 2, of inferior. 5. The quantity of each kind exported; 1, to Europe, and to what countries there; 2, to other, and what parts of America. 6. The average prices at the markets, 1, of Europe; 2, of America. With respect to the whale fishery, after the three first articles, the following should be substituted. 4. Whether to the northern or southern fishery. 5. The quantity of oil taken; 1, of the spermaceti whale; 2, of the other kinds. 6. To what market each kind was sent. 7. The average prices of each. As the ports from which the equipments were made, could not be stated in the same table conveniently, they might form a separate one. It would be very material that I should receive this information by the first of November, as I might be able to bestow a more undisturbed attention to the subject before than after the meeting of Congress, and it would be better to present it to them at the beginning, than towards the close of a session.
The peculiar degree of interest with which this subject must affect the State of Massachusetts, the impossibility of obtaining necessary information from any other quarter, and the slender means I should have of acquiring it from thence, without the aid of your Excellency, will, I hope, be a sufficient apology for the trouble I take the liberty of giving you; and I am happy in every occasion of repeating assurances of the respect and attachment with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
Circular of the Consuls and Vice-Consuls of the United States.
New York, August 26, 1790.
Sir,—I expected ere this, to have been able to send you an act of Congress, prescribing some special duties and regulations for the exercise of the consular offices of the United States; but Congress not having been able to mature the act sufficiently, it lies over to their next session. In the meanwhile, I beg leave to draw your attention to some matters of information, which it is interesting to receive.
I must beg the favor of you to communicate to me every six months, a report of the vessels of the United States which enter at the ports of your district, specifying the name and burthen of each vessel, of what description she is, (to wit, ship, snow, brig, &c.,) the names of the master and owners, and number of seamen, the port of the United States from which she cleared, places touched at, her cargo outward and inward, and the owners thereof, the port to which she is bound, and times of arrival and departure; the whole arranged in a table under different columns, and the reports closing on the last days of June and December.
We wish you to use your endeavors that no vessel enter as an American in the ports of your district, which shall not be truly such, and that none be sold under that name, which are not really of the United States.
That you give to me, from time to time, information of all military preparations, and other indications of war which may take place in your ports; and when a war shall appear imminent, that you notify thereof the merchants and vessels of the United States within your district, that they may be duly on their guard; and in general, that you communicate to me such political and commercial intelligence, as you may think interesting to the United States.
The consuls and vice-consuls of the United States are free to wear the uniform of their navy, if they choose to do so. This is a deep blue coat with red facings, lining and cuffs, the cuffs slashed and a standing collar; a red waistcoat (laced or not at theelection of the wearer) and blue breeches; yellow buttons with a foul anchor, and black cockades and small swords.
Be pleased to observe, that the vice-consul of one district is not at all subordinate to the consul of another. They are equally independent of each other.
The ground of distinction between these two officers is this. Our government thinks, that to whatever there may be either of honor or profit resulting from the consular office, native citizens are first entitled, where such, of proper character, will undertake the duties; but where none such offer, a vice-consul is appointed of any other nation. Should a proper native come forward at any future time, he will be named consul; but this nomination will not revoke the commission of vice-consul; it will only suspend his functions during the continuance of the consul within the limits of his jurisdiction, and on his departure therefrom, it is meant that the vice-consular authority shall revive of course, without the necessity of a re-appointment.
It is understood, that consuls and vice-consuls have authority of course, to appoint their own agents in the several ports of their district, and that it is with themselves alone those agents are to correspond.
It will be best not fatigue the government in which you reside, or those in authority under it, with applications in unimportant cases. Husband their good dispositions for occasions of some moment, and let all representations to them be couched in the most temperate and friendly terms, never indulging in any case whatever, a single expression which may irritate.
I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
New York, August 26, 1790.
Dear Sir,—My last letters to you have been of the 26th of July, and 10th instant. Yours of May the 16th, No. 31, has come to hand.
I enclose you sundry papers, by which you will perceive, that the expression in the eleventh article of our treaty of amity and commerce with France, viz. "that the subjects of the United States shall not be reputed Aubainesin France, and consequently shall be exempted from the Droit d'Aubaine, or other similar duty, under what name soever," has been construed so rigorously to the letter, as to consider us as Aubaines in thecoloniesof France. Our intercourse with those colonies is so great, that frequent and important losses will accrue to individuals, if this construction be continued. The death of the master or supercargo of a vessel, rendered a more common event by the unhealthiness of the climate, throws all the property which was either his, or under his care, into contest. I presume that the enlightened Assembly now engaged in reforming the remains of feudal abuse among them, will not leave so inhospitable an one as the Droit d'Aubaine existing in France, or any of its dominions. If this may be hoped, it will be better that you should not trouble the minister with any application for its abolition in the colonies as to us. This would be erecting into a special favor to us, the extinction of a general abuse, which will, I presume, extinguish of itself. Only be so good as to see, that in abolishing this odious law in France, its abolition in the colonies also, be not omitted by mere oversight; but if, contrary to expectations, this fragment of barbarism be suffered to remain, then it will become necessary that you bring forward the enclosed case, and press a liberal and just exposition of our treaty, so as to relieve our citizens from this species of risk and ruin hereafter. Supposing the matter to rest on the eleventh article only, it is inconceivable, that he, who with respect to his personal goods is as a native citizen in the mother country, should be deemed a foreigner in its colonies. Accordingly, you will perceive by the opinions of Dr. Franklin and Dr. Lee, two of our ministers who negotiated and signed the treaty, that they considered that rights stipulated for usin France, were meant to exist in all thedominions of France.
Considering this question under the second article of the treaty also, we are exempted from the Droit d'Aubaine in all the dominionsof France; for by that article, no particular favor is to be granted to any other nation, which shall not immediately become common to the other party. Now, by the forty-fourth article of the treaty between France and England, which was subsequent to ours, it is stipulated, "que dans tout ce qui concerne—les successions des biens mobiliers—les sujets des deux hautes parties contractantes aurontdans les Etats respectifsles memes privileges, libertés et droits, que la nation la plus favorisée." This gave to the English the general abolition of the Droit d'Aubaine, enjoyed by the Hollanders under the first article of their treaty with France, of July the 23d, 1773, which is in these words, "Les sujets des E. G. des P. U. des pays-bas ne seront point assujettis au Droit d'Aubaine dans les Etats de S. M. T. C." This favor then, being granted to the English subsequent to our treaty, we become entitled to it of course by the article in question. I have it not in my power at this moment, to turn to the treaty between France and Russia, which was also posterior to ours. If by that, the Russians are exempted from the Droit d'Aubaine, "dans les Etats deS. M. T. C." it is a ground the more for our claiming the exemption. To these, you will be pleased to add such other considerations of reason, friendship, hospitality and reciprocity, as will readily occur to yourself.
About two or three weeks ago, a Mr. Campbell called on me, and introduced himself by observing that his situation was an awkward one, that he had come from Denmark with an assurance of being employed here in a public character, that he was actually in service, though un-announced. He repeated conversations which had passed between Count Bernstorff and him, and asked me when a minister would be appointed to that court, or a character sent to negotiate a treaty of commerce; he had not the scrip of a pen to authenticate himself, however informally. I told him our government had not yet had time to settle a plan of foreign arrangements; that with respect to Denmark particularly, I might safely express to him those sentiments of friendship which our government entertained for that country, and assurances that the King's subjects would always meet with favorand protection here; and in general, I said to him those things which being true, might be said to anybody. You can perhaps learn something of him from the Baron de Blome. If he be an unauthorized man, it would be well it should be known here, as the respect which our citizens might entertain, and the credit they might give to any person supposed to be honored by the King's appointment, might lead them into embarrassment.
You know the situation of the new loan of three millions of florins going on at Amsterdam. About one half of this is destined for an immediate payment to France; but advantage may be gained by judiciously timing the payment. The French colonies will doubtless claim in their new constitution, a right to receive the necessaries of life from whomever will deliver them cheapest; to wit, grain, flour, live stock, salted fish, and other salted provisions. It would be well that you should confer with their deputies, guardedly, and urge them to this demand, if they need urging. The justice of the National Assembly will probably dispose them to grant it, and the clamors of the Bordeaux merchants may be silenced by the clamors and arms of the colonies. It may co-operate with the influence of the colonies, if favorable dispositions towards us can be excited in the moment of discussing this point. It will therefore be left to you to say when the payment shall be made, in confidence that you will so time it, as to forward this great object; and when you make this payment, you may increase its effect, by adding assurances to the minister, that measures have been taken which will enable us to pay up, within a very short time, all arrears of principal and interest now due; and further, that Congress has fully authorized our government to go on and pay even the balance not yet due, which we mean to do, if that money can be borrowed on reasonable terms; and that favorable arrangements of commerce between us and their colonies, might dispose us to effect that payment with less regard to terms. You will, of course, find excuses for not paying the money which is ready and put under your orders, till you see that the moment has arrived when the emotionsit may excite, may give a decisive cast to the demands of the colonies.
The newspapers, as usual, will accompany the present.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and attachment, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
New York, August 26, 1790.
Dear Sir,—On the hasty view which the shortness of time permits me to take of the treaty of Hopewell, the act of cession of North Carolina and the act of acceptance by Congress, I hazard the following sentiments:
Were the treaty of Hopewell, and the act of acceptance of Congress to stand in any point in direct opposition to each other, I should consider the act of acceptance as void in that point; because the treaty is a law made by two parties, and not revocable by one of them either acting alone or in conjunction with a third party. If we consider the acceptance as a legislative act of Congress, it is the act of one party only; if we consider it as a treaty between Congress and North Carolina, it is but a subsequent treaty with another power, and cannot make void a preceding one with a different power.
But I see no such opposition between these two instruments. The Cherokees were entitled to the sole occupation of the lands within the limits guaranteed to them. The State of North Carolina, according to thejus gentiumestablished for America by universal usage, had only a right of pre-emption of these lands against all other nations. It could convey, then, to its citizens only this right of pre-emption, and the right of occupation could not be united to it till obtained by the United States from the Cherokees. The act of cession of North Carolina only preserves the rights of its citizens in the same state as they would have been,had that act never been passed. It does not make imperfect titles perfect; but only prevents their being madeworse. Congress, by their act, accept on these conditions. The claimants of North Carolina, then, and also the Cherokees, are exactly where they would have been, had neither the act of cession, nor that of acceptance, been ever made; that is, the latter possess the right of occupation, and the former the right of pre-emption.
Though these deductions seem clear enough, yet the question would be a disagreeable one between the general government, a particular government, and individuals, and it would seem very desirable to draw all the claims of pre-emption within a certain limit, by commuting for those out of it, and then to purchase of the Cherokees the right of occupation.
I have the honor to be, my dear Sir, yours respectfully and affectionately.
New York, August 30, 1790.
Sir,—I asked the favor of the Secretary of the Treasury to consider the fourth article of the consular convention, and to let me know whether he should conclude that consuls not exercising commerce, were exempt from paying duties on things imported for their own use. I furnished him no explanation whatever, of what had passed on the subject at the time of forming the convention, because I thought it should be decided on the words of the convention, as they are offered to all the world, and that it would only be where these are equivocal, that explanations might be adduced from other circumstances. He considered the naked words of the article, and delivered me as his opinion, that, according to these, the first paragraph, "The consuls, and vice-consuls, &c., as the natives are," subjected all their property, in whatever form and under whatever circumstances it existed, to the same duties and taxes to which the property of other individuals is liable, and exempts them only fromtaxes on their persons, as poll taxes, head rates for the poor, for town charges, &c.; and that the second paragraph, "Those ofthe said consuls, &c., or other merchants," subjected such of them as exercised commerce, even to the samepersonal taxesas other merchants are: that the second paragraph is an abridgment of the first, not an enlargement of it; and that the exemption of those, not merchants, which seemedimpliedin the words of the second paragraph, could not be admitted against the contrary meaning, directly and unequivocally expressed in the first.
Such, Sir, was his opinion, and it is exactly conformable to what the negotiators had in view in forming this article. I have turned to the papers which passed on that occasion, and I find that the first paragraph was proposed in the first project given in by myself, by which the distinction between taxes on their property and taxes on their persons, is clearly enounced, and was agreed to; but as our merchants exercising commerce in France, would have enjoyed a much greater benefit from the personal exemption, than those of France do here, M. de Reyneval, in his first counter-project, inserted the second paragraph, to which I agreed. So that the object was, in the first paragraph, to put consuls, not being merchants, on the same footing with citizens, not being merchants; and in the second, to put consuls, merchants, on the same footing with citizens, merchants.
This, Sir, we suppose to be the sense of the convention, which has become a part of the law of the land, and the law, you know, in this country, is not under the control of the executive, either in its meaning or course. We must reserve, therefore, for more favorable occasions, our dispositions to render the situation of the consuls of his Majesty as easy as possible, by indulgences depending more on us; and of proving the sentiments of esteem and attachment to yourself personally, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
New York, August 31, 1790.
Dear Sir,—You will have understood perhaps that in the appointment of consuls, which has taken place, another thanyourself has been named for Bordeaux. I feel it a duty to explain this matter to you, lest it should give you an uneasiness as to the cause. No nomination occasioned more difficulty, nor hung longer suspended. But the senate refused in every instance, where there was anative citizenin any port, to consent to the nomination of any other. While this explains the reason of your not having been appointed, I trust it will also excuse those with whom the appointment rested. With respect to myself particularly, I beg you to be assured that I shall be happy in every occasion of being useful to you, and of proving to you the sentiments of esteem and attachment with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Monticello, October 27, 1790.
Sir,—I am honored here by the receipt of your favor of the 7th instant, covering a letter to me from the governor of East Florida, wherein he informs me that he has received the King's orders, not to permit, under any pretext, that persons held in slavery in the United States introduce themselves as free, into the province of East Florida. I am happy that this grievance, which had been a subject of great complaint from the citizens of Georgia, is to be removed, and that we have therein a proof as well of the general principles of justice which form the basis of his Majesty's character and administration, as of his disposition to meet us in the cultivation of that mutual friendship and union of interests which would be the happiness of both countries, and is the sincere wish of ours.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Monticello, October 27, 1790.
Sir,—I had intended to set out about this time for Philadelphia, but the desire of having Mr. Madison's company, who cannot return for some days yet, and believing that nothing important requires my presence at Philadelphia as yet, induce me to postpone my departure to the 8th of the ensuing month, so that it will be about the 12th before I can have the honor of waiting on you at Mount Vernon, to take your commands. In the meantime, the papers enclosed will communicate to you everything which has occurred to me since I saw you, and worthy notice. Our affair with Algiers seems to call for some new decision; and something will be to be done with the new Emperor of Morocco. Mr. Madison and myself have endeavored to press on some members of the assembly the expediency of their undertaking to build two good private dwelling houses a year, for ten years in the new city, to be rented or sold for the benefit of the State. Should they do this, and Maryland as much, it will be one means of ensuring the removal of government thither. Candidates for the Senate are said to be the Speaker, Colonel Harrison, Colonel H. Lee, and Mr. Walker; but it is the opinion of many that Colonel Monroe will be impressed into the service. He has agreed, it seems, with a good deal of reluctance, to say he will serve if chosen. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect respect and attachment, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, November 26, 1790.
Dear Sir,—Your favor of April 26th, 1789, did not come to my hands till the 4th of the last month, when it found me on my way to Virginia. It should not otherwise have been so long unanswered. I am certainly flattered by the approbation youare so good as to express of the Notes on Virginia. The passage relative to the English, which has excited disagreeable sensations in your mind, is accounted for by observing that it was written during the war, while they were committing depredations in my own country and on my own property never practised by a civilized nation. Perhaps their conduct and dispositions since the war have not been as well calculated as they might have been to excite more favorable dispositions on our part. Still, as a political man, they shall never find any passion in me either for or against them. Whenever their avarice of commerce will let them meet us fairly half way, I should meet them with satisfaction, because it would be for our benefit; but I mistake their character if they do this under present circumstances.
The rumors of war seem to pass away. Such an event might have produced to us some advantages; but it might also have exposed us to dangers; and on the whole I think a general peace more desirable. Be so good as to present my respects to Mrs. Kinloch, and to be assured of the esteem and respect with which I am, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, November 26, 1790.
Dear Sir,—I have yet to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of April 10 and July 7. By the latter it would seem as if you had written an intermediate one, which has never come to hand; and the letter of July 7 itself, was not received till the 14th of October, while I was in Virginia, from which I am but just returned. The President is not yet returned, though expected to-morrow. The Declaration and Counter-Declaration established with us a full expectation that peace would be continued; perhaps this is still the most rational opinion, though theEnglishpapers continue to talk of preparations for war. That such an event would have ensured good prices for our produce,and so far have been advantageous, is probable; but it would have exposed us to risks also, which are better deferred, for some years at least. It is not to be expected that our system of finance has met your approbation in all its parts. It has excited even here great opposition; and more especially that part of it which transferred the State debts to the general government. The States of Virginia and North Carolina are peculiarly dissatisfied with this measure. I believe, however, that it is harped on by many to mask their disaffection to the government on other grounds. Its great foe in Virginia is an implacable one. He avows it himself, but does not avow all his motives for it. The measures and tone of the government threaten abortion to some of his speculations; most particularly to that of the Yazoo territory. But it is too well nerved to be overawed by individual opposition. It is proposed to provide additional funds, to meet the additional debt, by a tax on spirituous liquors, foreign and home-made, so that the whole interest will be paid by taxes on consumption. If a sufficiency can now be raised in this way to pay the interest at present, its increase by the increase of population (suppose five per cent. per annum), will alone sink the principle within a few years, operating, as it will, in the way of compound interest. Add to this what may be done by throwing in the aid of western lands and other articles as a sinking fund, and our prospect is really a bright one.
A pretty important expedition has been undertaken against the Indians north of the Ohio. As yet we have no news of its success. The late elections of members of Congress have changed about a third or fourth of them. It is imagined the session of Congress, which is to begin within ten days, will end on the 3d of March, with the federal year; as a continuance over that day would oblige them to call forward the new members. The admission of Vermont and Kentucky into Congress, will be decided on in this session. I have the honor to be, with very great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, December 3, 1790.
Dear Sir,—I am afraid I have suffered in your opinion from the delay of acknowledging the receipt of your several letters, into which I have been led by unavoidable circumstances. The truth is that since my arrival in America (now exactly a twelve-month), I have been able to pass not one-third of that time at the seat of government, one half of which was lost by an illness, during which I was incapable of doing anything, and the residue so engaged by accumulated business as to oblige me to suspend my private correspondences. I beg you to be assured that yours is valued by me too much to have been suspended under any other circumstances. I am just now returned from Virginia to this place, where the members of government are now assembling to begin its administration here, and I avail myself of the first moments to recall myself to your recollection. Fortune seems to have arranged among her destinies that I should never continue for any time with a person whose manners and principles had excited my warm attachment. While I resided in France, you resided in America. While I was crossing over to America, you were crossing back to France; when I am come to reside with our government, your residence is transferred to Berlin. Of all this, Fortune is the mistress; but she cannot change my affections, nor lessen the regrets I feel at their perpetual disappointment. I am sincerely sorry at the delays which the settlement of your constitution has experienced. I suppose they have been rendered unavoidable by difficulties, and hope all will end well. They have certainly prolonged the risk to which the new work was exposed from without as well as within. I think it would be better to wind it up as quickly as possible, to consider it as a mere experiment to be amended hereafter, when time and trial shall show where it is imperfect. Our second experiment is going on happily; and so far we have no reason to wish for changes, except by adding those principles which several of the States thought were necessary as a further security fortheir liberties. All of these, as proposed by Congress, will certainly be adopted, except the second, which is doubtful, and the first, which is rejected. The powers of the government for the collection of taxes, are found to be perfect, so far as they have been tried. This has been as yet only by duties on consumption. As these fall principally on the rich, it is a general desire to make them contribute the whole money we want, if possible. And we have a hope that they will furnish enough for the expenses of government and the interest of our whole public debt, foreign and domestic. If they do this for the present, their increase, from the increase of population and consumption, (which is at the rate of five per centum per annum,) will sink the capital in thirteen or fourteen years, as it will operate in the way of compound interest. Independent of this prospect, which is itself a good one, we make the produce of our land office, and some other articles, a sinking fund for the principal. We are now going on with a census of our inhabitants. It will not be completed till the next summer; but such progress is already made as to show our numbers will very considerably exceed the former estimates. I shall be happy to hear of your health and welfare everywhere, and that you will continue persuaded of the sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, December 4, 1790.
Sir,—Your favor of October 4 came to my hands on the 20th of November. Application was made a day or two after to Mr. Dobson for the copies of your Essays, which were received, and one of them lodged in the office. For that intended for myself, be pleased to accept my thanks. I return you the order on Mr. Allen, that on Dobson having been made use of instead of it. I submit to your consideration whether it might not be advisable to record a second time your right to the Grammatical Institutes,in order to bring the lodging of the copy in my office within the six months, made a condition in the law? I have not at this moment an opportunity of turning to the law to see if that may be done; but I suppose it possible that the failure to fulfil the legal condition on the first record might excite objections against the validity of that.
In mentioning me in your Essays, and canvassing my opinions, you have done what every man has a right to do, and it is for the good of society that that right should be freely exercised. No republic has more zeal than that of letters, and I am the last in principles, as I am the least in pretensions, to any dictatorship in it. Had I other dispositions, the philosophical and dispassionate spirit with which you have expressed your own opinions in opposition to mine, would still have commanded my approbation. A desire of being set right in your opinion, which I respect too much not to entertain that desire, induces me to hazard to you the following observations. It had become an universal and almost uncontroverted position in the several States, that the purposes of society do not require a surrender of all our rights to our ordinary governors; that there are certain portions of right not necessary to enable them to carry on an effective government, and which experience has nevertheless proved they will be constantly encroaching on, if submitted to them; that there are also certain fences which experience has proved peculiarly efficacious against wrong, and rarely obstructive of right, which yet the governing powers have ever shown a disposition to weaken and remove. Of the first kind, for instance, is freedom of religion; of the second, trial by jury, habeas corpus laws, free presses. These were the settled opinions of all the States,—of that of Virginia, of which I was writing, as well as of the others. The others had, in consequence, delineated these unceded portions of right, and these fences against wrong, which they meant to exempt from the power of their governors, in instruments called declarations of rights and constitutions; and as they did this by conventions, which they appointed for the express purpose of reserving these rights, and of delegating others to their ordinarylegislative, executive and judiciary bodies, none of the reserved rights can be touched without resorting to the people to appoint another convention for the express purpose of permitting it. Where the constitutions then have been so formed by conventions named for this express purpose, they are fixed and unalterable but by a convention or other body to be specially authorized; and they have been so formed by, I believe, all the States, except Virginia. That State concurs in all these opinions, but has run into the wonderful error that her constitution, though made by the ordinary legislature, cannot yet be altered by the ordinary legislature. I had, therefore, no occasion to prove to them the expediency of a constitution alterable only by a special convention. Accordingly, I have not in my notes advocated that opinion, though it was and is mine, as it was and is theirs. I take that position as admitted by them, and only proceed to adduce arguments to prove that they were mistaken in supposing their constitution could not be altered by the common legislature. Among other arguments I urge that the convention which formed the constitution had been chosen merely for ordinary legislation; that they had no higher power than every subsequent legislature was to have; that all their acts are consequently repealable by subsequent legislatures; that their own practice at a subsequent session proved they were of this opinion themselves; that the opinion and practice of several subsequent legislatures had been the same, and so conclude "that their constitution is alterable by the common legislature." Yet these arguments urged to prove that their constitutionisalterable, you cite as if urged to prove that itought not to bealterable, and you combat them on that ground. An argument which is good to prove one thing, may become ridiculous when exhibited as intended to prove another thing. I will beg the favor of you to look over again the passage in my notes, and am persuaded you will be sensible that you have misapprehended the object of my arguments, and therefore have combated them on a ground for which they were not intended. My only object in this is the rectification of your own opinion of me, which I repeat that I respect too much to neglect.I have certainly no view of entering into the contest, whether it be expedient to delegate unlimited powers to our ordinary governors? my opinion is against that expediency; but my occupations do not permit me to undertake to vindicate all my opinions, nor have they importance enough to merit it. It cannot, however, but weaken my confidence in them, when I find them opposed to yours, there being no one who respects the latter more than, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, December 17, 1790.
Since mine to you of August the 12th, yours of July the 3d, August the 16th, and September the 18th, have come to hand. They suffice to remove all doubts which might have been entertained as to the real intentions of the British cabinet, on the several matters confided to you. The view of government in troubling you with this business was, either to remove from between the two nations all causes of difference, by a fair and friendly adjustment, if such was the intention of the other party, or to place it beyond a doubt that such was not their intention. In result, it is clear enough that further applications would tend to delay, rather than advance our object. It is therefore the pleasure of the President, that no orders be made; and that in whatever state this letter may find the business, in that state it be left. I have it in charge, at the same time, to assure you that your conduct in these communications with the British ministers, has met the President's entire approbation, and to convey to you his acknowledgments for your services.
As an attendance on this business must, at times, have interfered with your private pursuits, and subjected you also to additional expenses, I have the honor to enclose you a draft on our bankers in Holland, for a thousand dollars, as an indemnification for those sacrifices.
My letter of August the 12th, desired a certain other communicationto be made to the same court, if a war should have actually commenced. If the event has not already called for it, it is considered as inexpedient to be made at all.
You will of course have the goodness to inform us of whatever may have passed further, since the date of your last.
In conveying to you this testimony of approbation from the President of the United States, I am happy in an occasion of repeating assurances of the sentiments of perfect esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, December 17, 1790.
Sir,—Though not yet informed of the receipt of my letter, covering your commission as consul for the United States, in the port of London, yet knowing that the ship has arrived by which it went, I take for granted the letter and commission have gone safe to hand, and that you have been called into the frequent exercise of your office for the relief of our seamen, upon whom such multiplied acts of violence have been committed in England, by press-gangs, pretending to take them for British subjects, not only without evidence, but against evidence. By what means may be procured for our seamen, while in British ports, that security for their persons which the laws of hospitality require, and which the British nation will surely not refuse, remains to be settled. In the meantime, there is one of these cases, wherein so wilful and so flagrant a violation has been committed by a British officer, on the person of one of our citizens, as requires that it be laid before his government, in friendly and firm reliance of satisfaction for the injury, and of assurance for the future, that the citizens of the United States, entering the ports of Great Britain, in pursuit of a lawful commerce, shall be protected by the laws of hospitality in usage among nations.
It is represented to the President of the United States, that Hugh Purdie, a native of Williamsburg, in Virginia, was, in themonth of July last, seized in London by a party of men, calling themselves press-officers, and pretending authority from their government so to do, notwithstanding his declarations and the evidence he offered of his being a native citizen of the United States; and that he was transferred on board the Crescent, a British ship of war, commanded by a Captain Young. Passing over the intermediate violences exercised on him, because not peculiar to his case (so many other American citizens having suffered the same), I proceed to the particular one which distinguishes the present representation. Satisfactory evidence having been produced by Mr. John Brown Cutting, a citizen of the United States, to the Lords of the Admiralty, that Hugh Purdie was a native citizen of the same States, they, in their justice, issued orders to the Lord Howe, their Admiral, for his discharge. In the meantime, the Lord Howe had sailed with the fleet of which the Crescent was. But, on the 27th of August, he wrote to the board of admiralty, that he had received their orders for the discharge of Hugh Purdie, and had directed it accordingly. Notwithstanding these orders, the receipt of which at sea Captain Young acknowledges, notwithstanding Captain Young's confessed knowledge, that Hugh Purdie was a citizen of the United States, from whence it resulted that his being carried on board the Crescent and so long detained there, had been an act of wrong, which called for expiatory conduct and attentions, rather than new injuries on his part towards the sufferer, instead of discharging him according to the orders he had received, on his arrival in port, which was on the 14th of September, he, on the 15th, confined him in irons for several hours, then had him bound and scourged in presence of the ship's crew, under a threat to the executioner that if he did not do his duty well, he should take the place of the sufferer. At length he discharged him on the 17th, without the means of subsistence for a single day. To establish these facts, I enclose you copies of papers communicated to me by Mr. Cutting, who laid the case of Purdie before the board of admiralty, and who can corroborate them by his personal evidence. He can especially verify the letter of CaptainYoung, were it necessary to verify a paper, the original of which is under the command of his Majesty's ministers, and this paper is so material, as to supersede of itself all other testimony, confessing the orders to discharge Purdie, that yet he had whipped him, and that it was impossible, without giving up all sense of discipline, to avoid whipping a free American citizen. We have such confidence in the justice of the British government, in their friendly regard to these States, in their respect for the honor and good understanding of the two countries, compromitted by this act of their officer, as not to doubt their due notice ofhim, indemnification to the sufferer, and a friendly assurance to these States that effectual measures shall be adopted in future, to protect the persons of their citizens while in British ports.
By the express command of the President of the United States, you are to lay this case, and our sense of it, before his Britannic Majesty's minister for Foreign Affairs, to urge it on his particular notice by all the motives which it calls up, and to communicate to me the result.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem, your most obedient humble servant.
Philadelphia, December 23, 1790.
Dear Sir,—The vexations of our seamen and their sufferings under the press-gangs of England, have become so serious, as to oblige our government to take serious notice of it. The particular case has been selected where the insult to the United States has been the most barefaced, the most deliberately intentional, and the proof the most complete. The enclosed letter to you is on that subject, and has been written on the supposition that you would show the original to the Duke of Leeds, and give him a copy of it, but as of your own movement, and not as if officially instructed so to do. You will be pleased to follow up this matter as closely as decency will permit, pressing it in firm but respectfulterms, on all occasions. We think it essential that Captain Young's case may be an example to others. The enclosed letters are important. Be so good as to have them conveyed by the surest means possible.
I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
December 29, 1790.
Thomas Jefferson presents his respectful compliments to the Secretary of the Treasury, and his condolences on the accident of the other evening, which he hopes has produced no serious loss.
He encloses to the Secretary of the Treasury a report of a committee of the National Assembly of France, on the subject of Billon, containing more particular information as to that species of coin than he had before met with. If the metal be so mixed as to make it of 1-5 of the intrinsic value of the standard silver coin of the United States, the cent of billon will be a little smaller than the present 16ths of dollars, and consequently be more convenient than a copper cent. This he submits to the better judgment of the Secretary of the Treasury, and hopes he will consider the liberty taken as an advance towards unreserved communications for reciprocal benefit.
Philadelphia, January 23, 1791.
Sir,—The 3d and subsequent amendments to the constitution have been agreed to by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The first by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and the second by only New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the two Carolinas. The other States, viz. Massachusetts,Connecticut, Virginia and Georgia, have not decided on them. Vermont has acceded to the new Constitution of the United States, and is coming forward to ask admission into Congress. Kentucky has asked the same, and a bill for the purpose has passed the Senate, and is now before the Representatives, where it will meet with no difficulty. But they have only asked admission for the year 1792.
The census had made considerable progress, but will not be completed till midsummer. It is judged at present that our numbers will be between four and five millions. Virginia it is supposed will be between 7 and 800,000.
You will perceive by the papers that the object of our Indian expedition has been so imperfectly obtained, as to call for another the ensuing year. By the present conveyance you will probably receive a proclamation, locating the federal territory so as to comprehend Georgetown. It will appear within a day or two. We must still pursue the redemption of our captives through the same channel, till some better means can be devised. The money, however, which is in Mr. Grand's hands, will be the subject of a letter to you from the Secretary of the Treasury, as soon as he can have an act of Congress authorizing the application of it to the debt of the foreign officers.
The most important matters now before Congress are propositions to establish a bank, to establish a land office and excise. The latter measure, though severely modified, is very unpopular in the middle and southern States.
Fenno's and Davies' papers will accompany this. These contain all the laws of the last session, and therefore it is thought better to defer sending them to you in a body, till a third edition appears, which is proposed to be printed, as this will be more conveniently conveyed as well as handled.
I am, with great and sincere esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, February 4, 1791.
Dear Sir,—I am to make you my acknowledgments for your favor of January 10th, and the information from France which it contained. It confirmed what I had heard more loosely before, and accounts still more recent are to the same effect. I look with great anxiety for the firm establishment of the new government in France, being perfectly convinced that if it takes place there, it will spread sooner or later all over Europe. On the contrary, a check there would retard the revival of liberty in other countries. I consider the establishment and success of their government as necessary to stay up our own, and to prevent it from falling back to that kind of a half-way house, the English constitution. It cannot be denied that we have among us a sect who believe that to contain whatever is perfect in human institutions; that the members of this sect have, many of them, names and offices which stand high in the estimation of our countrymen. I still rely that the great mass of our community is untainted with these heresies, as is its head. On this I build my hope that we have not labored in vain, and that our experiment will still prove that men can be governed by reason. You have excited my curiosity in saying "there is a particular circumstance, little attended to, which is continually sapping the republicanism of the United States." What is it? What is said in our country of the fiscal arrangements now going on? I really fear their effect when I consider the present temper of the southern States. Whether these measures be right or wrong abstractedly, more attention should be paid to the general opinion. However, all will pass—the excise will pass—the bank will pass. The only corrective of what is corrupt in our present form of government will be the augmentation of the numbers in the lower House, so as to get a more agricultural representation, which may put that interest above that of the stock-jobbers.
I had no occasion to sound Mr. Madison on your fears expressed in your letter. I knew before, as possessing his sentimentsfully on that subject, that his value for you was undiminished. I have always heard him say that though you and he appeared to differ in your systems, yet you were in truth nearer together than most persons who were classed under the same appellation. You may quiet yourself in the assurance of possessing his complete esteem. I have been endeavoring to obtain some little distinction for our useful customers, the French. But there is a particular interest opposed to it, which I fear will prove too strong. We shall soon see. I will send you a copy of a report I have given in, as soon as it is printed. I know there is one part of it contrary to your sentiments; yet I am not sure you will not become sensible that a change should be slowly preparing. Certainly, whenever I pass your road, I shall do myself the pleasure of turning into it. Our last year's experiment, however, is much in favor of that by Newgate.
I am, with great respect and esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.
Philadelphia, February 14, 1791.
Sir,—I now return you the papers you were pleased to put into my hands, when you expressed to me your dissatisfaction that our court of admiralty had taken cognizance of a complaint of some Swedish sailors against their captain for cruelty. If there was error in this proceeding, the law allows an appeal from that to the Supreme Court; but the appeal must be made in the forms of the law, which have nothing difficult in them. You were certainly free to conduct the appeal yourself, without employing an advocate, but then you must do it in the usual form. Courts of justice, all over the world, are held by the laws to proceed according to certain forms, which the good of the suitors themselves requires they should not be permitted to depart from.
I have further to observe to you, Sir, that this question lies altogether with the courts of justice; that the constitution of theUnited States having divided the powers of government into three branches, legislative, executive, and judiciary, and deposited each with a separate body of magistracy, forbidding either to interfere in the department of the other, the executive are not at liberty to intermeddle in the present question. It must be ultimately decided by the Supreme Court. If you think proper to carry it into that, you may be secure of the strictest justice from them. Partialities they are not at liberty to show. But, for whatever may come before the executive, relative to your nation, I can assure you of every favor which may depend on their dispositions to cultivate harmony and a good understanding with it.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, February 18, 1791.
Sir,—I return you the two volumes of records, with thanks for the opportunity of looking into them. They are curious monuments of the infancy of our country. I learn with great satisfaction that you are about committing to the press the valuable historical and State papers you have been so long collecting. Time and accident are committing daily havoc on the originals deposited in our public offices. The late war has done the work of centuries in this business. The last cannot be recovered, but let us save what remains; not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a multiplication of copies, as shall place them beyond the reach of accident. This being the tendency of your undertaking, be assured there is no one who wishes it more success than, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.
Philadelphia, February 19, 1791.
Dear Sir,—I feel both the wish and the duty to communicate, in compliance with your request, whatever, within my knowledge, might render justice to the memory of our great countrymen, Dr. Franklin, in which Philosophy has to deplore one of its principal luminaries extinguished. But my opportunities of knowing the interesting facts of his life, have not been equal to my desire of making them known. I could indeed relate a number of thosebon mots, with which he used to charm every society, as having heard many of them. But these are not your object. Particulars of greater dignity happened not to occur during his stay of nine months, after my arrival in France.
A little before that, Argand had invented his celebrated lamp, in which the flame is spread into a hollow cylinder, and thus brought into contact with the air within as well as without. Doctor Franklin had been on the point of the same discovery. The idea had occurred to him; but he had tried a bull-rush as a wick, which did not succeed. His occupations did not permit him to repeat and extend his trials to the introduction of a larger column of air than could pass through the stem of a bull-rush.
The animal magnetism too of the maniac Mesmer, had just received its death wound from his hand in conjunction with his brethren of the learned committee appointed to unveil that compound of fraud and folly. But after this, nothing very interesting was before the public, either in philosophy or politics, during his stay; and he was principally occupied in winding up his affairs there.
I can only therefore testify in general, that there appeared to me more respect and veneration attached to the character of Doctor Franklin in France, than to that of any other person in the same country, foreign or native. I had opportunities of knowing particularly how far these sentiments were felt by the foreign ambassadors and ministers at the court of Versailles. The fableof his capture by the Algerines, propagated by the English newspapers, excited no uneasiness; as it was seen at once to be a dish cooked up to the palate of their readers. But nothing could exceed the anxiety of his diplomatic brethren, on a subsequent report of his death, which, though premature, bore some marks of authenticity.
I found the ministers of France equally impressed with the talents and integrity of Dr. Franklin. The Count de Vergennes particularly gave me repeated and unequivocal demonstrations of his entire confidence in him.
When he left Passy, it seemed as if the village had lost its patriarch. On taking leave of the court, which he did by letter, the King ordered him to be handsomely complimented, and furnished him with a litter and mules of his own, the only kind of conveyance the state of his health could bear.
No greater proof of his estimation in France can be given than the late letters of condolence on his death, from the National Assembly of that country, and the community of Paris, to the President of the United States and to Congress, and their public mourning on that event. It is, I believe, the first instance of that homage having been paid by a public body of one nation to a private citizen of another.
His death was an affliction which was to happen to us at some time or other. We have reason to be thankful he was so long spared; that the most useful life should be the longest also; that it was protracted so far beyond the ordinary span allotted to man, as to avail us of his wisdom in the establishment of our own freedom, and to bless him with a view of its dawn in the east, where they seemed, till now, to have learned everything, but how to be free.
The succession to Dr. Franklin, at the court of France, was an excellent school of humility. On being presented to any one as the minister of America, the commonplace question used in such cases was "c'est vous, Monsieur, qui remplace le Docteur Franklin?" "it is you, Sir, who replace Doctor Franklin?" I generally answered, "no one can replace him, Sir: I am only his successor."
These small offerings to the memory of our great and dear friend, whom time will be making greater while it is spunging us from its records, must be accepted by you, Sir, in that spirit of love and veneration for him, in which they are made; and not according to their insignificance in the eyes of a world, who did not want this mite to fill up the measure of his worth.
I pray you to accept, in addition, assurances of the sincere esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.