The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Part 20

TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, September 19, 1787.

SIR,--My last letters to you were of the 6th and 15th of August; since which, I have been honored with yours of July the 24th, acknowledging the receipt of mine of the 14th and 23d of February. I am anxious to hear you have received that also of May the 4th, written from Ma.r.s.eilles. According to the desires of Congress, expressed in their vote confirming the appointments of Francisco, Giuseppa and Girolamo Chiappi, their agents in Morocco, I have written letters to these gentlemen, to begin a correspondence with them. To the first, I have inclosed the ratification of the treaty with the Emperor of Morocco, and shall send it either by our agent at Ma.r.s.eilles, who is now here, or by the Count Daranda, who sets out for Madrid in a few days, having relinquished his emba.s.sy here. I shall proceed on the redemption of our captives at Algiers, as soon as the commissioners of the treasury shall enable me, by placing the money necessary, under my orders. The prisoners redeemed by the religious order of Mathurins, cost about four hundred dollars each, and the General of the order told me, that they had never been able to redeem foreigners on so good terms as their own countrymen. Supposing that their redemption, clothing, feeding and transportation, should amount to five hundred dollars each, there must be, at least, a sum of ten thousand dollars set apart for this purpose.

Till this is done, I shall take no other step than the preparatory one, of destroying at Algiers all idea of our intending to redeem the prisoners. This, the General of the Mathurins told me, was indispensably necessary, and that it must not, on any account, transpire, that the public would interest themselves for their redemption. This was rendered the more necessary, by the declaration of the Dey to the Spanish consul, that he should hold him responsible, at the Spanish price, for our prisoners, even for such as should die.

Three of them have died of the plague. By authorizing me to redeem at the prices _usually_ paid by the European nations, Congress, I suppose, could not mean the Spanish price, which is not only unusual, but unprecedented, and would make our vessels the first object with those pirates. I shall pay no attention, therefore, to the Spanish price, unless further instructed. Hard as it may seem, I should think it necessary not to let it be known even to the relations of the captives, that we mean to redeem them.

I have the honor to enclose you a paper from the admiralty of Guadaloupe, sent to me as a matter of form, and to be lodged, I suppose, with our marine records. I enclose, also, a copy of a letter from the Count de Florida Blanca to Mr. Carmichael, by which you will perceive, they have referred the settlement of the claim of South Carolina for the use of their frigate, to Mr. Gardoqui, and to the Delegates of South Carolina in Congress.

I had the honor to inform you, in my last letter, of the parliament's being transferred to Troyes. To put an end to the tumults in Paris, some regiments were brought nearer, the patroles were strengthened and multiplied, some mutineers punished by imprisonment: it produced the desired effect. It is confidently believed, however, that the parliament will be immediately recalled, the stamp tax and land tax repealed, and other means devised of accommodating their receipts and expenditures. Those supposed to be in contemplation, are a rigorous levy of the old tax of the _deux vingtiemes_, on the rich, who had, in a great measure, withdrawn their property from it, as well as on the poor, on whom it had princ.i.p.ally fallen. This will greatly increase the receipts; while they are proceeding on the other hand, to reform their expenses far beyond what they had promised. It is said these reformations will amount to eighty millions. Circ.u.mstances render these measures more and more pressing. I mentioned to you in my last letter, that the officer charged by the ministry to watch the motion of the British squadron, had returned with information that it had sailed westwardly. The fact was not true. He had formed his conclusion too hastily, and thus led the ministry into error. The King of Prussia, urged on by England, has pressed more and more the affairs of Holland, and lately has given to the States General of Holland, four days only to comply with his demand. This measure would, of itself, have rendered it impossible for France to proceed longer in the line of accommodation with Prussia. In the same moment, an event takes place, which seems to render all attempt at accommodation idle. The Turks have declared war against the Russians, and that under circ.u.mstances which exclude all prospect of preventing its taking place. The King of Prussia having deserted his ancient friends, there remains only France and Turkey, perhaps Spain also, to oppose the two empires, Russia and England. By such a piece of Quixotism, France might plunge herself into ruin with the Turks and Dutch, but would save neither. But there is certainly a confederacy secretly in contemplation, of which the public have not yet the smallest suspicion; that is, between France and the two empires. I think it sure that Russia has desired this, and that the Emperor, after some hesitation, has acceded. It rests on this country to close. Her indignation against the King of Prussia will be some spur. She will thereby save her party in Holland, and only abandon the Turks to that fate she cannot ward off, and which their precipitation has brought on themselves, by the instigations of the English amba.s.sador at the Porte, and against the remonstrances of the French amba.s.sador. Perhaps this formidable combination, should it take place, may prevent the war of the western powers, as it would seem that neither England nor Prussia would carry their false calculations so far, as, with the aid of the Turks only, to oppose themselves to such a force. In that case, the Patriots of Holland would be peaceably established in the powers of their government, and the war go on against the Turks only, who would probably be driven from Europe. This new arrangement would be a total change of the European system, and a favorable one for our friends. The probability of a general war, in which this country will be engaged on one side, and England on the other, has appeared to me sufficient to justify my writing to our agents in the different ports of France, to put our merchants on their guard, against risking their property in French or English bottoms. The Emperor, instead of tracing back his steps in Brabant, as was expected, has pursued the less honorable plan of decoying his subjects thence by false pretences, to let themselves be invested by his troops, and this done, he dictates to them his own terms. Yet it is not certain the matter will end with that.

The Count de Moustier is nominated Minister Plenipotentiary to America; and a frigate is ordered to Cherbourg, to carry him over. He will endeavor to sail by the middle of the next month, but if any delay should make him pa.s.s over the whole of October, he will defer his voyage to the spring, being unwilling to take a winter pa.s.sage.

Monsieur de St. Priest is sent Amba.s.sador to Holland, in the room of Monsieur de Verac, appointed to Switzerland. The Chevalier de Luzerne might, I believe, have gone to Holland, but he preferred a general promise of promotion, and the possibility that it might be to the court of London. His prospects are very fair. His brother, the Count de la Luzerne, (now Governor in the West Indies,) is appointed minister of the marine, in the place of Monsieur de Castries, who has resigned. The Archbishop of Thoulouse is appointed _ministre princ.i.p.ale_, and his brother, Monsieur de Brienne, minister of war, in the place of Monsieur de Segur. The department of the Comptroller has had a very rapid succession of tenants. From Monsieur de Calonnes it pa.s.sed to Monsieur de Forqueux, from him to Villedeuil, and from him to Lambert, who holds it at present, but divided with a Monsieur Cabarrus, (whom I believe you knew in Spain,) who is named _Directeur du tresor_ _royal_, the office into which M. Neckar came at first. I had the honor to inform you, that before the departure of the Count de Luzerne to his government in the West Indies, I had pressed on him the patronage of our trade with the French islands; that he appeared well disposed, and a.s.sured me he would favor us as much as his instructions, and the laws of the colonies, would permit. I am in hopes these dispositions will be strengthened by his residence in the islands, and that his acquaintance among the people there, will be an additional motive to favor them.

Probably they will take advantage of his appointment, to press indulgences in commerce with us. The ministry is of a liberal complexion, and well disposed to us. The war may add to the motives for opening their islands to other resources for their subsistence, and for doing what may be agreeable to us. It seems to me, at present, then, that the moment of the arrival of the Count de La Luzerne, will be the moment for trying to obtain a freer access to their islands. It would be very material to do this, if possible, in a permanent way, that is to say, by treaty. But I know of nothing we have to offer in equivalent. Perhaps the payment of our debt to them might be made use of as some inducement, while they are so distressed for money. Yet the borrowing the money in Holland will be rendered more difficult by the same event, in proportion as it will increase the demand for money by other powers.

The gazettes of Leyden and France to this date are enclosed, together with some pamphlets on the internal affairs of this country.

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

TO CHARLES THOMPSON.

PARIS, Sept. 20, 1787.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of April the 28th did not come to my hands till the first instant. Unfortunately, the box of plants, which were a day too late to come by the April packet, missed the packet of June the 10th also, and only came by that of July the 25th. They are not yet arrived at Paris, but I expect them daily. I am sensible of your kind attention to them, and that as you were leaving New York, you took the course which bade fair to be the best. That they were forgotten in the hands in which you placed them, was probably owing to too much business, and more important. I have desired Mr. Madison to refund to you the money you were so kind as to advance for me. The delay of your letter will apologize for this delay of the repayment. I thank you also for the extract of the letter you were so kind as to communicate to me, on the antiquities found in the western country. I wish that the persons who go thither would make very exact descriptions of what they see of that kind, without forming any theories. The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees, in every object, only the traits which favor that theory. But it is too early to form theories on those antiquities. We must wait with patience till more facts are collected.

I wish your Philosophical Society would collect exact descriptions of the several monuments as yet known, and insert them naked in their Transactions, and continue their attention to those hereafter to be discovered. Patience and observation may enable us in time, to solve the problem, whether those who formed the scattering monuments in our western country, were colonies sent off from Mexico, or the founders of Mexico itself? Whether both were the descendants or the progenitors of the Asiatic red men? The Mexican tradition, mentioned by Dr. Robertson, is an evidence, but a feeble one, in favor of the one opinion. The number of languages radically different, is a strong evidence in favor of the contrary one. There is an American by the name of Ledyard, he who was with Captain Cook on his last voyage, and wrote an account of that voyage, who has gone to St. Petersburg; from thence he was to go to Kamschatka; to cross over thence to the northwest coast of America, and to penetrate through the main continent, to our side of it. He is a person of ingenuity and information. Unfortunately, he has too much imagination. However, if he escapes safety, he will give us new, curious and useful information. I had a letter from him, dated last March, when he was about to leave St. Petersburg on his way to Kamschatka.

With respect to the inclination of the strata of rocks, I had observed them between the Blue Ridge and North Mountains in Virginia, to be parallel with the pole of the earth. I observed the same thing in most instances in the Alps, between Cette and Turin; but in returning along the precipices of the Apennines, where they hang over the Mediterranean, their direction was totally different and various; and you mention that in our western country they are horizontal. This variety proves they have not been formed by subsidence, as some writers of theories of the earth have pretended; for then they should always have been in circular strata, and concentric. It proves, too, that they have not been formed by the rotation of the earth on its axis, as might have been suspected, had all these strata been parallel with that axis.

They may, indeed, have been thrown up by explosions, as Whitehurst supposes, or have been the effect of convulsions. But there can be no proof of the explosion, nor is it probable that convulsions have deformed every spot of the earth. It is now generally agreed that rock grows, and it seems that it grows in layers in every direction, as the branches of trees grow in all directions. Why seek further the solution of this phenomenon? Everything in nature decays. If it were not reproduced then by growth, there would be a chasm.

I remember you asked me, in a former letter, whether the steam mill in London was turned by the steam immediately, or by the intermediate agency of water raised by the steam. When I was in London, Boulton made a secret of his mill. Therefore, I was permitted to see it only superficially. I saw no water wheels, and, therefore, supposed none. I answered you, accordingly, that there were none. But when I was at Nismes, I went to see the steam mill there, and they showed it to me in all the parts. I saw that their steam raised water, and that this water turned a wheel. I expressed my doubts of the necessity of the inter-agency of water, and that the London mill was without it. But they supposed me mistaken; perhaps I was so; I have had no opportunity since of clearing up the doubt.

I had a letter from Mr. Churchman, but not developing his plan of knowing the longitude, fully. I wrote him what was doubted about it, so far as we could conjecture what it was.

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

TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, Sept. 22, 1787.

SIR,--The letters of which the enclosed are copies, are this moment received, and as there is a possibility that they may reach Havre before the packet sails, I have the honor of enclosing them to you.

They contain a promise of reducing the duties on tar, pitch and turpentine, and that the government will interest itself with the city of Rouen, to reduce the local duty on potash. By this you will perceive that we are getting on a little in this business, though under their present embarra.s.sments, it is difficult to procure the attention of the ministers to it. The parliament has enregistered the edict of a rigorous levy of the _deux vingtiemes_. As this was proposed by the King in lieu of the impost territorial, there is no doubt now that the latter, with the stamp tax, will be immediately repealed. There can be no better proof of the revolution in the public opinion, as to the powers of the monarch, and of the force, too, of that opinion. Six weeks ago, we saw the King displaying the plent.i.tude of his omnipotence, as. .h.i.therto conceived, to enforce these two acts. At this day, he is forced to retract them by the public voice; for as to the opposition of the parliament, that body is too little esteemed to produce this effect in any case where the public do not throw themselves into the same scale.

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

TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, Sept. 22, 1787.

SIR,--When I had the honor of addressing you this morning, intelligence was handing about, which I did not think well enough authenticated to communicate to you. As it is now ascertained, I avail myself of the chance that another post may yet reach Havre before the departure of the packet. This will depend on the wind, which has for some days been unfavorable. I must premise, that this court, about ten days ago, declared, by their Charge des Affaires in Holland, that if the Prussian troops continued to menace Holland with an invasion, his Majesty was determined, in quality of ally, to succor that province. An _official_ letter from the Hague, of the 18th instant, a.s.sures that the Prussian army entered the territory of Holland on the 15th, that most of the princ.i.p.al towns had submitted, some after firing a gun or two, others without resistance; that the Rhingrave de Salm had evacuated Utretcht, with part of the troops under his command, leaving behind him one hundred and forty-four pieces of cannon, with great warlike stores; that the standard of Orange was hoisted everywhere; that no other c.o.c.kade could be worn at the Hague; that the States General were to a.s.semble that night for reinstating the Stadtholder in all his rights.

The letter concludes, "we have this moment intelligence that Woerden has capitulated; so that Amsterdam remains without defence." So far the letter. We know, otherwise, that Monsieur de St. Priest, who had set out on his emba.s.sy to the Hague, has stopped at Antwerp, not choosing to proceed further till new orders. This court has been completely deceived, first by its own great desire to avoid a war, and secondly by calculating that the King of Prussia would have acted on principles of common sense, which would surely have dictated, that a power, lying between the jaws of Russia and Austria, should not separate itself from France, unless, indeed, he had a.s.surances of dispositions in those two powers, which are not supposed to exist. On the contrary, I am persuaded that they ask the alliance of France, whom we suppose to be under hesitations between her reluctance to abandon the Turks, her jealousy of increasing by their spoils, the power of the two empires, and the inability to oppose them. If they cannot obtain her alliance, they will surely join themselves to England and Prussia.

Official advices are received, that the first division of the Russian army has pa.s.sed the Borysthenes into the Polish Ukraine, and is marching towards the frontiers of Turkey. Thus, we may consider the flames of war as completely kindled in two distinct parts of this quarter of the globe, and that though France and England have not yet engaged themselves in it, the probabilities are, that they will do it.

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

TO MR. CARNES.

PARIS, September 22, 1787.

SIR,--I am honored by your favor of the 17th instant. A war between France and England does not necessarily engage America in it; and I think she will be disposed rather to avail herself of the advantages of a neutral power. By the former usage of nations, the goods of a friend were safe, though taken in an enemy bottom, and those of an enemy were lawful prize, though found in a free bottom. But in our treaties with France, etc., we have established the simpler rule, that a free bottom makes free goods, and an enemy bottom, enemy goods. The same rule has been adopted by the treaty of armed neutrality between Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Portugal, and a.s.sented to by France and Spain.

Contraband goods, however, are always excepted, so that they may still be seized; but the same powers have established that naval stores are not contraband; and this may be considered now as the law of nations.

Though England acquiesced under this during the late war, rather than draw on herself the neutral powers, yet she never acceded to the new principle, and her obstinacy on this point, is what has prevented the late renewal of her treaty with Russia. On the commencement of a new war, this principle will probably be insisted on by the neutral powers, whom we may suppose to be Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, America, and perhaps Spain. Quere; if England will again acquiesce. Supposing these details might be useful to you, I have taken the liberty of giving them, and of a.s.suring you of the esteem with which I am, Sir, your very humble servant.

TO MONSIEUR LIMOZIN.

PARIS, September 22, 1787.

SIR,--I must trouble you with another letter to Mr. Jay, to be delivered to Monsieur Bourgoin on board the packet, which I hope will not be sailed before it gets to your hands, as the letter is of extreme importance. It is to inform Congress that official advice is just received here that the Prussian troops entered the territory of Holland on the 15th instant; that most of the princ.i.p.al towns had submitted, that Utrecht was evacuated by the Rhingrave de Salm, and Woerden capitulated, so that Amsterdam remained without defence. M. de St.

Priest had stopped at Antwerp and waited further orders. We know also, that the first division of the Russian army has pa.s.sed the Borysthenes into the Polish Ukraine, and is marching towards the frontiers of Turkey. War then is well kindled in those two quarters. Monsieur Cabarus is arrived at Paris, but will not accept the appointment offered him unless they will adopt his plans. On this there is hesitation; so that it is not certain he will come in.

I have received your favor of the 20th, and shall make proper use of its contents. Should the packet be sailed, I will pray you to send my letter by the first of the vessels which you mention bound for Philadelphia. I am, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.