Letters of Thomas Jefferson

1800 - 1801

“Ideas for a University”

DEAR SIR, -- I have to thank you for the pamphlets you were so kind as to send me.  You will know what I thought of them by my having before sent a dozen sets to Virginia to distribute among my friends.  Yet I thank you not the less for these, which I value the more as they came from yourself.  The stock of them which Campbell had was, I believe, exhausted the first or second day of advertising them.  The Papers of political arithmetic, both in your & Mr. Cooper’s pamphlets, are the most precious gifts that can be made to us; for we are running navigation mad, & commerce mad, & navy mad, which is worst of all.  How desirable is it that you could pursue that subject for us.  From the Porcupines of our country you will receive no thanks; but the great mass of our nation will edify & thank you.  How deeply have I been chagrined & mortified at the persecutions which fanaticism & monarchy have excited against you, even here!  At first I believed it was merely a continuance of the English persecution.  But I observe that on the demise of Porcupine & division of his inheritance between Fenno & Brown, the latter (tho’ succeeding only to the federal portion of Porcupinism, not the Anglican, which is Fenno’s part) serves up for the palate of his sect, dishes of abuse against you as high seasoned as Porcupine’s were.  You have sinned against church & king, & can therefore never be forgiven.  How sincerely have I regretted that your friend, before he fixed his choice of a position, did not visit the vallies on each side of the blue ridge in Virginia, as Mr. Madison & myself so much wished.  You would have found there equal soil, the finest climate & most healthy one on the earth, the homage of universal reverence & love, & the power of the country spread over you as a shield.  But since you would not make it your country by adoption, you must now do it by your good offices.  I have one to propose to you which will produce their good, & gratitude to you for ages, and in the way to which you have devoted a long life, that of spreading light among men.

We have in that state a college (Wm. & Mary) just well enough endowed to draw out the miserable existence to which a miserable constitution has doomed it.  It is moreover eccentric in it’s position, exposed to bilious diseases as all the lower country is, & therefore abandoned by the public care, as that part of the country itself is in a considerable degree by it’s inhabitants.  We wish to establish in the upper & healthier country, & more centrally for the state, an University on a plan so broad & liberal & modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to the youth of other states to come and drink of the cup of knowledge & fraternize with us.  The first step is to obtain a good plan; that is, a judicious selection of the sciences, & a practicable grouping of some of them together, & ramifying of others, so as to adapt the professorships to our uses & our means.  In an institution meant chiefly for use, some branches of science, formerly esteemed, may be now omitted; so may others now valued in Europe, but useless to us for ages to come.  As an example of the former, the oriental learning, and of the latter, almost the whole of the institution proposed to Congress by the Secretary of war’s report of the 5th inst.  Now there is no one to whom this subject is so familiar as yourself.  There is no one in the world who, equally with yourself, unites this full possession of the subject with such a knowledge of the state of our existence, as enables you to fit the garment to him who is to pay for it & to wear it.  To you therefore we address our solicitations, and to lessen to you as much as possible the ambiguities of our object, I will venture even to sketch the sciences which seem useful & practicable for us, as they occur to me while holding my pen.  Botany, Chemistry, Zoology, Anatomy, Surgery, Medicine, Natl Philosophy, Agriculture, Mathematics, Astronomy, Geology, Geography, Politics, Commerce, History, Ethics, Law, Arts, Finearts.  This list is imperfect because I make it hastily, and because I am unequal to the subject.  It is evident that some of these articles are too much for one professor & must therefore be ramified; others may be ascribed in groups to a single professor.  This is the difficult part of the work, & requires a head perfectly knowing the extent of each branch, & the limits within which it may be circumscribed, so as to bring the whole within the powers of the fewest professors possible, & consequently within the degree of expence practicable for us.  We should propose that the professors follow no other calling, so that their whole time may be given to their academical functions; and we should propose to draw from Europe the first characters in science, by considerable temptations, which would not need to be repeated after the first set should have prepared fit successors & given reputation to the institution.  From some splendid characters I have received offers most perfectly reasonable & practicable.

I do not propose to give you all this trouble merely of my own head, that would be arrogance.  It has been the subject of consultation among the ablest and highest characters of our State, who only wait for a plan to make a joint & I hope successful effort to get the thing carried into effect.  They will receive your ideas with the greatest deference & thankfulness.  We shall be here certainly for two months to come; but should you not have leisure to think of it before Congress adjourns, it will come safely to me afterwards by post, the nearest post office being Milton.

Will not the arrival of Dupont tempt you to make a visit to this quarter?  I have no doubt the alarmists are already whetting their shafts for him also, but their glass is nearly run out, and the day I believe is approaching when we shall be as free to pursue what is true wisdom as the effects of their follies will permit; for some of them we shall be forced to wade through because we are emerged in them.

Wishing you that pure happiness which your pursuits and circumstances offer, and which I am sure you are too wise to suffer a diminution of by the pigmy assaults made on you, and with every sentiment of affectionate esteem & respect, I am, dear Sir, your most humble, and most obedient servant.

“A Sublime Luxury”

DEAR SIR, -- In my letter of the 18th, I omitted to say any thing of the languages as part of our proposed university.  It was not that I think, as some do, that they are useless.  I am of a very different opinion.  I do not think them essential to the obtaining eminent degrees of science; but I think them very useful towards it.  I suppose there is a portion of life during which our faculties are ripe enough for this, & for nothing more useful.  I think the Greeks & Romans have left us the present models which exist of fine composition, whether we examine them as works of reason, or of style & fancy; and to them we probably owe these characteristics of modern composition.  I know of no composition of any other antient people, which merits the least regard as a model for it’s matter or style.  To all this I add, that to read the Latin & Greek authors in their original, is a sublime luxury; and I deem luxury in science to be at least as justifiable as in architecture, painting, gardening, or the other arts.  I enjoy Homer in his own language infinitely beyond Pope’s translation of him, & both beyond the dull narrative of the same events by Dares Phrygius; & it is an innocent enjoyment.  I thank on my knees, him who directed my early education, for having put into my possession this rich source of delight; and I would not exchange it for anything which I could then have acquired, & have not since acquired.  With this regard for those languages, you will acquit me of meaning to omit them.  About 20. years ago, I drew a bill for our legislature, which proposed to lay off every county into hundreds or townships of 5. or 6. miles square, in the centre of each of which was to be a free English school; the whole state was further laid off into 10. districts, in each of which was to be a college for teaching the languages, geography, surveying, and other useful things of that grade; and then a single University for the sciences.  It was received with enthusiasm; but as I had proposed that Wm & Mary, under an improved form, should be the University, & that was at that time pretty highly Episcopal, the dissenters after a while began to apprehend some secret design of a preference to that sect and nothing could then be done.  About 3. years ago they enacted that part of my bill which related to English schools, except that instead of obliging, they left it optional in the court of every county to carry it into execution or not.  I think it probable the part of the plan for the middle grade of education, may also be brought forward in due time.  In the meanwhile, we are not without a sufficient number of good country schools, where the languages, geography, & the first elements of Mathematics, are taught.  Having omitted this information in my former letter, I thought it necessary now to supply it, that you might know on what base your superstructure was to be reared.  I have a letter from M. Dupont, since his arrival at N. York, dated the 20th, in which he says he will be in Philadelphia within about a fortnight from that time; but only on a visit.  How much would it delight me if a visit from you at the same time, were to shew us two such illustrious foreigners embracing each other in my country, as the asylum for whatever is great & good.  Pardon, I pray you, the temporary delirium which has been excited here, but which is fast passing away.  The Gothic idea that we are to look backwards instead of forwards for the improvement of the human mind, and to recur to the annals of our ancestors for what is most perfect in government, in religion & in learning, is worthy of those bigots in religion & government, by whom it has been recommended, & whose purposes it would answer.  But it is not an idea which this country will endure; and the moment of their showing it is fast ripening; and the signs of it will be their respect for you, & growing detestation of those who have dishonored our country by endeavors to disturb our tranquility in it.  No one has felt this with more sensibility than, my dear Sir, your respectful & affectionate friend & servant.

“The 18th Brumaire”

DEAR SIR, -- Your favor of the 13th has been duly received, as had been that containing the resolutions of your legislature on the subject of the former resolutions.  I was glad to see the subject taken up, and done with so much temper, firmness and propriety.  From the reason of the thing I cannot but hope that the Western country will be laid off into a separate Judiciary district.  From what I recollect of the dispositions on the same subject at the last session, I should expect that the partiality to a general & uniform system would yield to geographical & physical impracticabilities.  I was once a great advocate for introducing into chancery viva voce testimony, & trial by jury.  I am still so as to the latter, but have retired from the former opinion on the information received from both your state & ours, that it worked inconveniently.  I introduced it into the Virginia law, but did not return to the bar, so as to see how it answered.  But I do not understand how the viva voce examination comes to be practiced in the Federal court with you, & not in your own courts; the Federal courts being decided by law to proceed & decide by the laws of the states.

A great revolution has taken place at Paris.  The people of that country having never been in the habit of self-government, are not yet in the habit of acknoleging that fundamental law of nature, by which alone self government can be exercised by a society, I mean the lex majoris partis.  Of the sacredness of this law, our countrymen are impressed from their cradle, so that with them it is almost innate.  This single circumstance may possibly decide the fate of the two nations.  One party appears to have been prevalent in the Directory & council of 500.  The other in the council of antients.  Sieyes & Ducos, the minority in the Directory, not being able to carry their points there seem to have gained over Buonaparte, & associating themselves with the majority of the Council of antients, have expelled (*) 120. odd members the most obnoxious of the minority of the Elders, & of the majority of the council of 500. so as to give themselves a majority in the latter council also.  They have established Buonaparte, Sieyes & Ducos into an executive, or rather Dictatorial consulate, given them a committee of between 20. & 30. from each council, & have adjourned to the 20th of Feb.  Thus the Constitution of the 3d year which was getting consistency & firmness from time is demolished in an instant, and nothing is said about a new one.  How the nation will bear it is yet unknown.  Had the Consuls been put to death in the first tumult & before the nation had time to take sides, the Directory & councils might have reestablished themselves on the spot.  But that not being done, perhaps it is now to be wished that Buonaparte may be spared, as, according to his protestations, he is for liberty, equality & representative government, and he is more able to keep the nation together, & to ride out the storm than any other.  Perhaps it may end in their establishing a single representative & that in his person.  I hope it will not be for life, for fear of the influence of the example on our countrymen.  It is very material for the latter to be made sensible that their own character & situation are materially different from the French; & that whatever may be the fate of republicanism there, we are able to preserve it inviolate here: we are sensible of the duty & expediency of submitting our opinions to the will of the majority and can wait with patience till they get right if they happen to be at any time wrong.  Our vessel is moored at such a distance, that should theirs blow up, ours is still safe, if we will but think so.

(*)  60. were expelled from the 500, so as to change the majority there to the other side.  It seems doubtful whether any were expelled from the Antients.  The majority there was already with the Consular party.

I had recommended the enclosed letter to the care of the postmaster at Louisville; but have been advised it is better to get a friend to forward it by some of the boats.  I will ask that favor of you.  It is the duplicate of one with the same address which I inclosed last week to mr. Innes & should therefore go by a different conveyance.  I am with great esteem dear sir your friend & servant.

“Illuminatism”

DEAR SIR, -- I have received your favor of the 17th, & communicated it to Mr. Smith.  I lately forwarded your letter from Dr. Priestley, endorsed ‘with a book’; I struck those words through with my pen, because no book had then come. It is now received, & shall be forwarded to Richmond by the first opportunity: but such opportunities are difficult to find; gentlemen going in the stage not liking to take charge of a packet which is to be attended to every time the stage is changed.  The best chance will be by some captain of a vessel going round to Richmond. I shall address it to the care of Mr. George Jefferson there.

I have lately by accident got a sight of a single volume (the 3d.) of the Abbe Barruel’s ‘Antisocial conspiracy,’ which gives me the first idea I have ever had of what is meant by the Illuminatism against which ‘illuminate Morse’ as he is now called, & his ecclesiastical & monarchical associates have been making such a hue and cry.  Barruel’s own parts of the book are perfectly the ravings of a Bedlamite.  But he quotes largely from Wishaupt whom he considers as the founder of what he calls the order.  As you may not have had an opportunity of forming a judgment of this cry of ‘mad dog’ which has been raised against his doctrines, I will give you the idea I have formed from only an hour’s reading of Barruel’s quotations from him, which you may be sure are not the most favorable.  Wishaupt seems to be an enthusiastic Philanthropist.  He is among those (as you know the excellent Price and Priestley also are) who believe in the indefinite perfectibility of man.  He thinks he may in time be rendered so perfect that he will be able to govern himself in every circumstance so as to injure none, to do all the good he can, to leave government no occasion to exercise their powers over him, & of course to render political government useless.  This you know is Godwin’s doctrine, and this is what Robinson, Barruel & Morse had called a conspiracy against all government.  Wishaupt believes that to promote this perfection of the human character was the object of Jesus Christ.  That his intention was simply to reinstate natural religion, & by diffusing the light of his morality, to teach us to govern ourselves.  His precepts are the love of god & love of our neighbor. And by teaching innocence of conduct, he expected to place men in their natural state of liberty & equality.  He says, no one ever laid a surer foundation for liberty than our grand master, Jesus of Nazareth.  He believes the Free masons were originally possessed of the true principles & objects of Christianity, & have still preserved some of them by tradition, but much disfigured.  The means he proposes to effect this improvement of human nature are ‘to enlighten men, to correct their morals & inspire them with benevolence.  Secure of our success, sais he, we abstain from violent commotions.  To have foreseen the happiness of posterity & to have prepared it by irreproachable means, suffices for our felicity.  The tranquility of our consciences is not troubled by the reproach of aiming at the ruin or overthrow of states or thrones.’  As Wishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot & priests, he knew that caution was necessary even in spreading information, & the principles of pure morality.  He proposed therefore to lead the Free masons to adopt this object & to make the objects of their institution the diffusion of science & virtue.  He proposed to initiate new members into his body by gradations proportioned to his fears of the thunderbolts of tyranny.  This has given an air of mystery to his views, was the foundation of his banishment, the subversion of the masonic order, & is the colour for the ravings against him of Robinson, Barruel & Morse, whose real fears are that the craft would be endangered by the spreading of information, reason, & natural morality among men.  This subject being new to me, I have imagined that if it be so to you also, you may receive the same satisfaction in seeing, which I have had in forming the analysis of it: & I believe you will think with me that if Wishaupt had written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavors to render men wise & virtuous, he would not have thought of any secret machinery for that purpose.  As Godwin, if he had written in Germany, might probably also have thought secrecy & mysticism prudent.  I will say nothing to you on the late revolution of France, which is painfully interesting.  Perhaps when we know more of the circumstances which gave rise to it, & the direction it will take, Buonaparte, its chief organ, may stand in a better light than at present.  I am with great esteem, dear sir, your affectionate friend.

“A Few Plain Duties”

DEAR SIR, -- I received with great pleasure your favor of June 4, and am much comforted by the appearance of a change of opinion in your state; for tho’ we may obtain, & I believe shall obtain, a majority in the legislature of the United States, attached to the preservation of the Federal constitution according to it’s obvious principles, & those on which it was known to be received; attached equally to the preservation to the states of those rights unquestionably remaining with them; friends to the freedom of religion, freedom of the press, trial by jury & to economical government; opposed to standing armies, paper systems, war, & all connection, other than commerce, with any foreign nation; in short, a majority firm in all those principles which we have espoused and the federalists have opposed uniformly; still, should the whole body of New England continue in opposition to these principles of government, either knowingly or through delusion, our government will be a very uneasy one.  It can never be harmonious & solid, while so respectable a portion of it’s citizens support principles which go directly to a change of the federal constitution, to sink the state governments, consolidate them into one, and to monarchize that.  Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government.  Public servants at such a distance, & from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer & overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens, and the same circumstance, by rendering detection impossible to their constituents, will invite the public agents to corruption, plunder & waste.  And I do verily believe, that if the principle were to prevail, of a common law being in force in the U S, (which principle possesses the general government at once of all the powers of the state governments, and reduces us to a single consolidated government,) it would become the most corrupt government on the earth.  You have seen the practises by which the public servants have been able to cover their conduct, or, where that could not be done, delusions by which they have varnished it for the eye of their constituents.  What an augmentation of the field for jobbing, speculating, plundering, office-building & office-hunting would be produced by an assumption of all the state powers into the hands of the general government.  The true theory of our constitution is surely the wisest & best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, & united as to everything respecting foreign nations.  Let the general government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which the merchants will manage the better, the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and our general government may be reduced to a very simple organization, & a very unexpensive one; a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants.  But I repeat, that this simple & economical mode of government can never be secured, if the New England States continue to support the contrary system.  I rejoice, therefore, in every appearance of their returning to those principles which I had always imagined to be almost innate in them.  In this State, a few persons were deluded by the X. Y. Z. duperies.  You saw the effect of it in our last Congressional representatives, chosen under their influence.  This experiment on their credulity is now seen into, and our next representation will be as republican as it has heretofore been.  On the whole, we hope, that by a part of the Union having held on to the principles of the constitution, time has been given to the states to recover from the temporary frenzy into which they had been decoyed, to rally round the constitution, & to rescue it from the destruction with which it had been threatened even at their own hands.  I see copied from the American Magazine two numbers of a paper signed Don Quixotte, most excellently adapted to introduce the real truth to the minds even of the most prejudiced.

I would, with great pleasure, have written the letter you desired in behalf of your friend, but there are existing circumstances which render a letter from me to that magistrate as improper as it would be unavailing.  I shall be happy, on some more fortunate occasion, to prove to you my desire of serving your wishes.

I sometime ago received a letter from a Mr. M’Gregory of Derby, in your State; it is written with such a degree of good sense & appearance of candor, as entitles it to an answer.  Yet the writer being entirely unknown to me, and the stratagems of the times very multifarious, I have thought it best to avail myself of your friendship, & enclose the answer to you.  You will see it’s nature.  If you find from the character of the person to whom it is addressed, that no improper use would probably be made of it, be so good as to seal & send it.  Otherwise suppress it.

How will the vote of your State and R I be as to A. and P.?

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

“I Have Sworn Upon the Altar of God . . .”

DEAR SIR, -- I have to acknolege the receipt of your favor of Aug. 22, and to congratulate you on the healthiness of your city.  Still Baltimore, Norfolk & Providence admonish us that we are not clear of our new scourge.  When great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us, and Providence has in fact so established the order of things, as that most evils are the means of producing some good.  The yellow fever will discourage the growth of great cities in our nation, & I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health and the liberties of man.  True, they nourish some of the elegant arts, but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere, and less perfection in the others, with more health, virtue & freedom, would be my choice.

I agree with you entirely, in condemning the mania of giving names to objects of any kind after persons still living.  Death alone can seal the title of any man to this honor, by putting it out of his power to forfeit it.  There is one other mode of recording merit, which I have often thought might be introduced, so as to gratify the living by praising the dead.  In giving, for instance, a commission of chief justice to Bushrod Washington, it should be in consideration of his integrity, and science in the laws, and of the services rendered to our country by his illustrious relation, &c.  A commission to a descendant of Dr. Franklin, besides being in consideration of the proper qualifications of the person, should add that of the great services rendered by his illustrious ancestor, Bn Fr, by the advancement of science, by inventions useful to man, &c. I am not sure that we ought to change all our names.  And during the regal government, sometimes, indeed, they were given through adulation; but often also as the reward of the merit of the times, sometimes for services rendered the colony.  Perhaps, too, a name when given, should be deemed a sacred property.

I promised you a letter on Christianity, which I have not forgotten.  On the contrary, it is because I have reflected on it, that I find much more time necessary for it than I can at present dispose of.  I have a view of the subject which ought to displease neither the rational Christian nor Deists, and would reconcile many to a character they have too hastily rejected.  I do not know that it would reconcile the genus irritabile vatum who are all in arms against me.  Their hostility is on too interesting ground to be softened.  The delusion into which the X. Y. Z. plot shewed it possible to push the people; the successful experiment made under the prevalence of that delusion on the clause of the constitution, which, while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity thro’ the U. S.; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalians & Congregationalists.  The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes.  And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: & enough too in their opinion, & this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me, forging conversations for me with Mazzei, Bishop Madison, &c., which are absolute falsehoods without a circumstance of truth to rest on; falsehoods, too, of which I acquit Mazzei & Bishop Madison, for they are men of truth.

But enough of this: it is more than I have before committed to paper on the subject of all the lies that has been preached and printed against me.  I have not seen the work of Sonnoni which you mention, but I have seen another work on Africa, (Parke’s,) which I fear will throw cold water on the hopes of the friends of freedom.  You will hear an account of an attempt at insurrection in this state.  I am looking with anxiety to see what will be it’s effect on our state.  We are truly to be pitied.  I fear we have little chance to see you at the Federal city or in Virginia, and as little at Philadelphia.  It would be a great treat to receive you here.  But nothing but sickness could effect that; so I do not wish it.  For I wish you health and happiness, and think of you with affection.  Adieu.

“‘Philosophical Vedette’ at a Distance”

DEAR SIR, -- Your favor of July 14, with the papers accompanying it, came safely to hand about the last of October.  That containing remarks on the line of demarcation I perused according to your permission, and with great satisfaction, and then enclosed to a friend in Philadelphia, to be forwarded to it’s address.  The papers addressed to me, I took the liberty of communicating to the Philosophical society.  That on the language by signs is quite new.  Soon after receiving your meteorological diary, I received one of Quebec; and was struck with the comparison between - 32 & + 19 3/4 the lowest depression of the thermometer at Quebec & the Natchez.  I have often wondered that any human being should live in a cold country who can find room in a warm one.  I have no doubt but that cold is the source of more sufferance to all animal nature than hunger, thirst, sickness, & all the other pains of life & of death itself put together.  I live in a temperate climate, and under circumstances which do not expose me often to cold.  Yet when I recollect on one hand all the sufferings I have had from cold, & on the other all my other pains, the former preponderate greatly.  What then must be the sum of that evil if we take in the vast proportion of men who are obliged to be out in all weather, by land & by sea, all the families of beasts, birds, reptiles, & even the vegetable kingdom! for that too has life, and where there is life there may be sensation.  I remark a rainbow of a great portion of the circle observed by you when on the line of demarcation.  I live in a situation which has given me an opportunity of seeing more than the semicircle often.  I am on a hill 500 f. perpendicularly high.  On the east side it breaks down abruptly to the base, where a river passes through.  A rainbow, therefore, about sunset, plunges one of it’s legs down to the river, 500 f. below the level of the eye on the top of the hill.  I have twice seen bows formed by the moon.  They were of the color of the common circle round the moon, and were very near, being within a few paces of me in both instances.  I thank you for the little vocabularies of Bedais, Jankawis and Teghas.  I have it much at heart to make as extensive a collection as possible of the Indian tongues.  I have at present about 30. tolerably full, among which the number radically different, is truly wonderful.  It is curious to consider how such handfuls of men came by different languages, & how they have preserved them so distinct.  I at first thought of reducing them all to one orthography, but I soon become sensible that this would occasion two sources of error instead of one.  I therefore think it best to keep them in the form of orthography in which they were taken, only noting whether that were English, French, German, or what.  I have never been a very punctual correspondent, and it is possible that new duties may make me less so.  I hope I shall not on that account lose the benefit of your communications.  Philosophical vedette at the distance of one thousand miles, and on the verge of the terra incognita of our continent, is precious to us here.  I pray you to accept assurances of my high consideration & esteem, and friendly salutations.

“The Revolution of 1800”

DEAR SIR, -- No pleasure can exceed that which I received from reading your letter of the 21st ult.  It was like the joy we expect in the mansions of the blessed, when received with the embraces of our fathers, we shall be welcomed with their blessing as having done our part not unworthily of them.  The storm through which we have passed, has been tremendous indeed.  The tough sides of our Argosie have been thoroughly tried.  Her strength has stood the waves into which she was steered, with a view to sink her.  We shall put her on her republican tack, & she will now show by the beauty of her motion the skill of her builders.  Figure apart, our fellow citizens have been led hood-winked from their principles, by a most extraordinary combination of circumstances.  But the band is removed, and they now see for themselves.  I hope to see shortly a perfect consolidation, to effect which, nothing shall be spared on my part, short of the abandonment of the principles of our revolution.  A just and solid republican government maintained here, will be a standing monument & example for the aim & imitation of the people of other countries; and I join with you in the hope and belief that they will see, from our example, that a free government is of all others the most energetic; that the inquiry which has been excited among the mass of mankind by our revolution & it’s consequences, will ameliorate the condition of man over a great portion of the globe.  What a satisfaction have we in the contemplation of the benevolent effects of our efforts, compared with those of the leaders on the other side, who have discountenanced all advances in science as dangerous innovations, have endeavored to render philosophy and republicanism terms of reproach, to persuade us that man cannot be governed but by the rod, &c.  I shall have the happiness of living & dying in the contrary hope.  Accept assurances of my constant & sincere respect and attachment, and my affectionate salutations.

“Something New Under the Sun”

DEAR SIR, -- I learnt some time ago that you were in Philadelphia, but that it was only for a fortnight; & supposed you were gone.  It was not till yesterday I received information that you were still there, had been very ill, but were on the recovery.  I sincerely rejoice that you are so.  Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind, & for the continuance of which every thinking man is solicitous.  Bigots may be an exception.  What an effort, my dear Sir, of bigotry in Politics & Religion have we gone through!  The barbarians really flattered themselves they should be able to bring back the times of Vandalism, when ignorance put everything into the hands of power & priestcraft.  All advances in science were proscribed as innovations.  They pretended to praise and encourage education, but it was to be the education of our ancestors.  We were to look backwards, not forwards, for improvement; the President himself declaring, in one of his answers to addresses, that we were never to expect to go beyond them in real science.  This was the real ground of all the attacks on you.  Those who live by mystery & charlatanerie, fearing you would render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy, -- the most sublime & benevolent, but most perverted system that ever shone on man, -- endeavored to crush your well-earnt & well-deserved fame.  But it was the Lilliputians upon Gulliver.  Our countrymen have recovered from the alarm into which art & industry had thrown them; science & honesty are replaced on their high ground; and you, my dear Sir, as their great apostle, are on it’s pinnacle.  It is with heartfelt satisfaction that, in the first moments of my public action, I can hail you with welcome to our land, tender to you the homage of it’s respect & esteem, cover you under the protection of those laws which were made for the wise and good like you, and disdain the legitimacy of that libel on legislation, which under the form of a law, was for some time placed among them.

As the storm is now subsiding, and the horizon becoming serene, it is pleasant to consider the phenomenon with attention.  We can no longer say there is nothing new under the sun.  For this whole chapter in the history of man is new.  The great extent of our Republic is new.  Its sparse habitation is new.  The mighty wave of public opinion which has rolled over it is new.  But the most pleasing novelty is, it’s so quickly subsiding over such an extent of surface to it’s true level again.  The order & good sense displayed in this recovery from delusion, and in the momentous crisis which lately arose, really bespeak a strength of character in our nation which augurs well for the duration of our Republic; & I am much better satisfied now of it’s stability than I was before it was tried.  I have been, above all things, solaced by the prospect which opened on us, in the event of a non-election of a President; in which case, the federal government would have been in the situation of a clock or watch run down.  There was no idea of force, nor of any occasion for it.  A convention, invited by the Republican members of Congress, with the virtual President & Vice President, would have been on the ground in 8. weeks, would have repaired the Constitution where it was defective, & wound it up again.  This peaceable & legitimate resource, to which we are in the habit of implicit obedience, superseding all appeal to force, and being always within our reach, shows a precious principle of self-preservation in our composition, till a change of circumstances shall take place, which is not within prospect at any definite period.

But I have got into a long disquisition on politics, when I only meant to express my sympathy in the state of your health, and to tender you all the affections of public & private hospitality.  I should be very happy indeed to see you here.  I leave this about the 30th inst., to return about the twenty-fifth of April.  If you do not leave Philadelphia before that, a little excursion hither would help your health.  I should be much gratified with the possession of a guest I so much esteem, and should claim a right to lodge you, should you make such an excursion.

“Wisdom and Patriotism”

DEAR SIR, -- I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 3rd instant, and to thank you for the friendly expressions it contains.  I entertain real hope that the whole body of your fellow citizens (many of whom had been carried away by the X. Y. Z. business) will shortly be consolidated in the same sentiments.  When they examine the real principles of both parties, I think they will find little to differ about.  I know, indeed, that there are some of their leaders who have so committed themselves, that pride, if no other passion, will prevent their coalescing.  We must be easy with them.  The eastern States will be the last to come over, on account of the dominion of the clergy, who had got a smell of union between Church and State, and began to indulge reveries which can never be realised in the present state of science.  If, indeed, they could have prevailed on us to view all advances in science as dangerous innovations, and to look back to the opinions and practices of our forefathers, instead of looking forward, for improvement, a promising groundwork would have been laid.  But I am in hopes their good sense will dictate to them, that since the mountain will not come to them, they had better go to the mountain: that they will find their interest in acquiescing in the liberty and science of their country, and that the Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.

I sincerely wish with you, we could see our government so secured as to depend less on the character of the person in whose hands it is trusted.  Bad men will sometimes get in, and with such an immense patronage, may make great progress in corrupting the public mind and principles.  This is a subject with which wisdom and patriotism should be occupied.

I pray you to accept assurances of my high respect and esteem.

“Reconciliation and Reform”

MY DEAR SIR, -- Your two letters of Jan. 15 and Feb. 24, came safely to hand, and I thank you for the history of a transaction which will ever be interesting in our affairs.  It has been very precisely as I had imagined.  I thought, on your return, that if you had come forward boldly, and appealed to the public by a full statement, it would have had a great effect in your favor personally, & that of the republican cause then oppressed almost unto death.  But I judged from a tact of the southern pulse.  I suspect that of the north was different and decided your conduct; and perhaps it has been as well.  If the revolution of sentiment has been later, it has perhaps been not less sure.  At length it is arrived.  What with the natural current of opinion which has been setting over to us for 18. months, and the immense impetus which was given it from the 11th to the 17th of Feb., we may now say that the U.S. from N.Y. southwardly, are as unanimous in the principles of ’76, as they were in ’76.  The only difference is, that the leaders who remain behind are more numerous & bolder than the apostles of toryism in ’76.  The reason is, that we are now justly more tolerant than we could safely have been then, circumstanced as we were.  Your part of the Union tho’ as absolutely republican as ours, had drunk deeper of the delusion, & is therefore slower in recovering from it.  The aegis of government, & the temples of religion & of justice, have all been prostituted there to toll us back to the times when we burnt witches.  But your people will rise again.  They will awake like Sampson from his sleep, & carry away the gates & posts of the city.  You, my friend, are destined to rally them again under their former banner, and when called to the post, exercise it with firmness & with inflexible adherence to your own principles.  The people will support you, notwithstanding the howlings of the ravenous crew from whose jaws they are escaping.  It will be a great blessing to our country if we can once more restore harmony and social love among its citizens.  I confess, as to myself, it is almost the first object of my heart, and one to which I would sacrifice everything but principle.  With the people I have hopes of effecting it.  But their Coryphaei are incurables.  I expect little from them.

I was not deluded by the eulogiums of the public papers in the first moments of change.  If they could have continued to get all the loaves & fishes, that is, if I would have gone over to them, they would continue to eulogise.  But I well knew that the moment that such removals should take place, as the justice of the preceding dministration ought to have executed, their hue and cry would be set up, and they would take their old stand.  I shall disregard that also.  Mr. Adams’ last appointments, when he knew he was naming counsellors & aids for me & not for himself, I set aside as far as depends on me.  Officers who have been guilty of gross abuses of office, such as marshals packing juries, &c., I shall now remove, as my predecessor ought in justice to have done.  The instances will be few, and governed by strict rule, & not party passion.  The right of opinion shall suffer no invasion from me.  Those who have acted well have nothing to fear, however they may have differed from me in opinion: those who have done ill, however, have nothing to hope; nor shall I fail to do justice lest it should be ascribed to that difference of opinion.  A coalition of sentiments is not for the interest of printers.  They, like the clergy, live by the zeal they can kindle, and the schisms they can create.  It is contest of opinion in politics as well as religion which makes us take great interest in them, and bestow our money liberally on those who furnish aliment to our appetite.  The mild and simple principles of the Christian philosophy would produce too much calm, too much regularity of good, to extract from it’s disciples a support for a numerous priesthood, were they not to sophisticate it, ramify it, split it into hairs, and twist it’s texts till they cover the divine morality of it’s author with mysteries, and require a priesthood to explain them.  The Quakers seem to have discovered this.  They have no priests, therefore no schisms.  They judge of the text by the dictates of common sense & common morality.  So the printers can never leave us in a state of perfect rest and union of opinion.  They would be no longer useful, and would have to go to the plough.  In the first moments of quietude which have succeeded the election, they seem to have aroused their lying faculties beyond their ordinary state, to re-agitate the public mind.  What appointments to office have they detailed which had never been thought of, merely to found a text for their calumniating commentaries.  However, the steady character of our countrymen is a rock to which we may safely moor; and notwithstanding the efforts of the papers to disseminate early discontents, I expect that a just, dispassionate and steady conduct, will at length rally to a proper system the great body of our country.  Unequivocal in principle, reasonable in manner, we shall be able I hope to do a great deal of good to the cause of freedom & harmony.  I shall be happy to hear from you often, to know your own sentiments & those of others on the course of things, and to concur with you in efforts for the common good.  Your letters through the post will now come safely.  Present my best respects to Mrs. Gerry, & accept yourself assurances of my constant esteem and high consideration.

“Free Ships Make Free Goods”

DEAR SIR, -- You will receive, probably by this post, from the Secretary of State, his final instructions for your mission to France.  We have not thought it necessary to say anything in them on the great question of the maritime law of nations, which at present agitates Europe; that is to say, whether free ships shall make free goods; because we do not mean to take any side in it during the war.  But, as I had before communicated to you some loose thoughts on that subject, and have since considered it with somewhat more attention, I have thought it might not be unuseful that you should possess my ideas in a more matured form than that in which they were before given.  Unforeseen circumstances may perhaps oblige you to hazard an opinion, on some occasion or other, on this subject, and it is better that it should not be at variance with ours.  I write this, too, myself, that it may not be considered as official, but merely my individual opinion, unadvised by those official counsellors whose opinions I deem my safest guide, & should unquestionably take in form, were circumstances to call for a solemn decision of the question.

When Europe assumed the general form in which it is occupied by the nations now composing it, and turned its attention to maritime commerce, we found among its earliest practices, that of taking the goods of an enemy from the ship of a friend; and that into this practice every maritime State went sooner or later, as it appeared on the theatre of the ocean.  If, therefore, we are to consider the practice of nations as the sole & sufficient evidence of the law of nature among nations, we should unquestionably place this principle among those of natural laws.  But it’s inconveniences, as they affected neutral nations peaceably pursuing their commerce, and it’s tendency to embroil them with the powers happening to be at war, and thus to extend the flames of war, induced nations to introduce by special compacts, from time to time, a more convenient rule; that “free ships should make free goods;” and this latter principle has by every maritime nation of Europe been established, to a greater or less degree, in it’s treaties with other nations; insomuch, that all of them have, more or less frequently, assented to it, as a rule of action in particular cases.  Indeed, it is now urged, and I think with great appearance of reason, that this is genuine principle dictated by national morality; & that the first practice arose from accident, and the particular convenience of the States which first figured on the water, rather than from well-digested reflections on the relations of friend and enemy, on the rights of territorial jurisdiction, & on the dictates of moral law applied to these.  Thus it had never been supposed lawful, in the territory of a friend to seize the goods of an enemy.  On an element which nature has not subjected to the jurisdiction of any particular nation, but has made common to all for the purposes to which it is fitted, it would seem that the particular portion of it which happens to be occupied by the vessel of any nation, in the course of it’s voyage, is for the moment, the exclusive property of that, and nation, with the vessel, is exempt from intrusion by any other, & from it’s jurisdiction, as much as if it were lying in the harbor of it’s sovereign.  In no country, we believe, is the rule otherwise, as to the subjects of property common to all.  Thus the place occupied by an individual in a highway, a church, a theatre, or other public assembly, cannot be intruded on, while it’s occupant holds it for the purposes of it’s institution.  The persons on board a vessel traversing the ocean, carry with them the laws of their nation, have among themselves a jurisdiction, a police, not established by their individual will, but by the authority of their nation, of whose territory their vessel still seems to compose a part, so long as it does not enter the exclusive territory of another.  No nation ever pretended a right to govern by their laws the ship of another nation navigating the ocean.  By what law then can it enter that ship while in peaceable & orderly use of the common element?  We recognize no natural precept for submission to such a right; & perceive no distinction between the movable & immovable jurisdiction of a friend, which would authorize the entering the one & not the other, to seize the property of an enemy.

It may be objected that this proves too much, as it proves you cannot enter the ship of a friend to search for contraband of war.  But this is not proving too much.  We believe the practice of seizing what is called contraband of war, is an abusive practice, not founded in natural right.  War between two nations cannot diminish the rights of the rest of the world remaining at peace.  The doctrine that the rights of nations remaining quietly under the exercise of moral & social duties, are to give way to the convenience of those who prefer plundering & murdering one another, is a monstrous doctrine; and ought to yield to the more rational law, that “the wrongs which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other, must not infringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at peace.”  And what is contraband, by the law of nature?  Either everything which may aid or comfort an enemy, or nothing.  Either all commerce which would accommodate him is unlawful, or none is.  The difference between articles of one or another description, is a difference in degree only.  No line between them can be drawn.  Either all intercourse must cease between neutrals & belligerents, or all be permitted.  Can the world hesitate to say which shall be the rule?  Shall two nations turning tigers, break up in one instant the peaceable relations of the whole world?  Reason & nature clearly pronounce that the neutral is to go onin the enjoyment of all it’s rights, that it’s commerce remains free, not subject to the jurisdiction of another, nor consequently it’s vessels to search, or to enquiries whether their contents are the property of an enemy, or are of those which have been called contraband of war.2

Nor does this doctrine contravene the right of preventing vessels from entering a blockaded port.  This right stands on other ground.  When the fleet of any nation actually beleaguers the port of its enemy, no other has a right to enter their line, any more than their line of battle in the open sea, or their lines of circumvallation, or of encampment, or of battle array on land.  The space included within their lines in any of those cases, is either the property of their enemy, or it is common property assumed and possessed for the moment, which cannot be intruded on, even by a neutral, without committing the very trespass we are now considering, that of intruding into the lawful possession of a friend.

Although I consider the observance of these principles as of great importance to the interests of peaceable nations, among whom I hope the U S will ever place themselves, yet in the present state of things they are not worth a war.  Nor do I believe war the most certain means of enforcing them.  Those peaceable coercions which are in the power of every nation, if undertaken in concert & in time of peace, are more likely to produce the desired effect.

The opinions I have here given are those which have generally been sanctioned by our government.  In our treaties with France, the United Netherlands, Sweden & Prussia, the principle of free bottom, free goods, was uniformly maintained.  In the instructions of 1784, given by Congress to their ministers appointed to treat with the nations of Europe generally, the same principle, and the doing away contraband of war, were enjoined, and were acceded to in the treaty signed with Portugal.  In the late treaty with England, indeed, that power perseveringly refused the principle of free bottoms, free goods; and it was avoided in the late treaty with Prussia, at the instance of our then administration, lest it should seem to take side in a question then threatening decision by the sword.  At the commencement of the war between France & England, the representative of the French republic then residing in the U S, complaining that the British armed ships captured French property in American bottoms, insisted that the principle of “free bottoms, free goods,” was of the acknowledged law of nations; that the violation of that principle by the British was a wrong committed on us, and such an one as we ought to repel by joining in a war against that country.  We denied his position, and appealed to the universal practice of Europe, in proof that the principle of “free bottoms, free goods,” was not acknowledged as of the natural law of nations, but only of it’s conventional law.  And I believe we may safely affirm, that not a single instance can be produced where any nation of Europe, acting professedly under the law on nations alone, unrestrained by treaty, has, either by it’s executive or judiciary organs, decided on the principle of “free bottoms, free goods.”  Judging of the law of nations by what has been practised among nations, we were authorized to say that the contrary principle was their rule, and this but an exception to it, introduced by special treaties in special cases only; that having no treaty with England substituting this instead of the ordinary rule, we had neither the right nor the disposition to go to war for it’s establishment.  But though we would not then, nor will we now, engage in war to establish this principle, we are nevertheless sincerely friendly to it.  We think that the nations of Europe have originally set out in error; that experience has proved the error oppressive to the rights and interests of the peaceable part of mankind; that every nation but one has acknoleged this, by consenting to the change, & that one has consented in particular cases; that nations have a right to correct an erroneous principle, & to establish that which is right as their rule of action; and if they should adopt measures for effecting this in a peaceable way, we shall wish them success, and not stand in their way to it.  But should it become, at any time, expedient for us to co-operate in the establishment of this principle, the opinion of the executive, on the advice of it’s constitutional counsellors, must then be given; & that of the legislature, an independent & essential organ in the operation, must also be expressed; in forming which, they will be governed, every man by his own judgment, and may, very possibly, judge differently from the executive.  With the same honest views, the most honest men often form different conclusions.  As far, however, as we can judge, the principle of “free bottoms, free goods,” is that which would carry the wishes of our nation.

Wishing you smooth seas and prosperous gales, with the enjoyment of good health, I tender you the assurances of my constant friendship & high consideration and respect.

“Interchangeable Parts”

DEAR SIR, -- The bearer hereof is Mr. Whitney at Connecticut a mechanic of the first order of ingenuity, who invented the cotton gin now so much used in the South; he is at the head of a considerable gun manufactory in Connecticut, and furnishes the U.S. with muskets undoubtedly the best they receive.  He has invented molds and machines for making all the pieces of his locks so exactly equal, that take 100 locks to pieces and mingle their parts and the hundred locks may be put together as well by taking the first pieces which come to hand.  This is of importance in repairing, because out of 10 locks e.g. disabled for the want of different pieces, 9 good locks may be put together without employing a smith.  Leblanc in France had invented a similar process in 1788 and had extended it to the barrel, mounting & stock.  I endeavored to get the U.S. to bring him over, which he was ready for on moderate terms.  I failed and I do not know what became of him.  Mr. Whitney has not yet extended his improvements beyond the lock.  I think it possible he might be engaged in our manufactory of Richmd. tho’ I have not asked him the question.  I know nothing of his moral character.  He is now on his way to S. Carola. on the subject of his gin.  Health & happiness cum caeteris votis.

“African Colonization”

DEAR SIR, -- I had not been unmindful of your letter of June 15, covering a resolution of the House of Representatives of Virginia, and referred to in yours of the 17th inst.  The importance of the subject, and the belief that it gave us time for consideration till the next meeting of the Legislature, have induced me to defer the answer to this date.  You will perceive that some circumstances connected with the subject, & necessarily presenting themselves to view, would be improper but for yours’ & the legislative ear.  Their publication might have an ill effect in more than one quarter.  In confidence of attention to this, I shall indulge greater freedom in writing.

Common malefactors, I presume, make no part of the object of that resolution.  Neither their numbers, nor the nature of their offences, seem to require any provisions beyond those practised heretofore, & found adequate to the repression of ordinary crimes.  Conspiracy, insurgency, treason, rebellion, among that description of persons who brought on us the alarm, and on themselves the tragedy, of 1800, were doubtless within the view of every one; but many perhaps contemplated, and one expression of the resolution might comprehend, a much larger scope.  Respect to both opinions makes it my duty to understand the resolution in all the extent of which it is susceptible.

The idea seems to be to provide for these people by a purchase of lands; and it is asked whether such a purchase can be made of the U S in their western territory?  A very great extent of country, north of the Ohio, has been laid off into townships, and is now at market, according to the provisions of the acts of Congress, with which you are acquainted.  There is nothing which would restrain the State of Virginia either in the purchase or the application of these lands; but a purchase, by the acre, might perhaps be a more expensive provision than the H of Representatives contemplated.  Questions would also arise whether the establishment of such a colony within our limits, and to become a part of our union, would be desirable to the State of Virginia itself, or to the other States --- especially those who would be in its vicinity?

Could we procure lands beyond the limits of the U S to form a receptacle for these people?  On our northern boundary, the country not occupied by British subjects, is the property of Indian nations, whose title would be to be extinguished, with the consent of Great Britain; & the new settlers would be British subjects.  It is hardly to be believed that either Great Britain or the Indian proprietors have so disinterested a regard for us, as to be willing to relieve us, by receiving such a colony themselves; and as much to be doubted whether that race of men could long exist in so rigorous a climate.  On our western & southern frontiers, Spain holds an immense country, the occupancy of which, however, is in the Indian natives, except a few insulated spots possessed by Spanish subjects.  It is very questionable, indeed, whether the Indians would sell? whether Spain would be willing to receive these people? and nearly certain that she would not alienate the sovereignty.  The same question to ourselves would recur here also, as did in the first case: should we be willing to have such a colony in contact with us?  However our present interests may restrain us within our own limits, it is impossible not to look forward to distant times, when our rapid multiplication will expand itself beyond those limits, & cover the whole northern, if not the southern continent, with a people speaking the same language, governed in similar forms, & by similar laws; nor can we contemplate with satisfaction either blot or mixture on that surface.  Spain, France, and Portugal hold possessions on the southern continent, as to which I am not well enough informed to say how far they might meet our views.  But either there or in the northern continent, should the constituted authorities of Virginia fix their attention, of preference, I will have the dispositions of those powers sounded in the first instance.

The West Indies offer a more probable & practicable retreat for them.  Inhabited already by a people of their own race & color; climates congenial with their natural constitution; insulated from the other descriptions of men; nature seems to have formed these islands to become the receptacle of the blacks transplanted into this hemisphere.  Whether we could obtain from the European sovereigns of those islands leave to send thither the persons under consideration, I cannot say; but I think it more probable than the former propositions, because of their being already inhabited more or less by the same race.  The most promising portion of them is the island of St. Domingo, where the blacks are established into a sovereignty de facto, & have organized themselves under regular laws & government.  I should conjecture that their present ruler might be willing, on many considerations, to receive even that description which would be exiled for acts deemed criminal by us, but meritorious, perhaps, by him.  The possibility that these exiles might stimulate & conduct vindicative or predatory descents on our coasts, & facilitate concert with their brethren remaining here, looks to a state of things between that island & us not probable on a contemplation of our relative strength, and of the disproportion daily growing; and it is overweighed by the humanity of the measures proposed, & the advantages of disembarrassing ourselves of such dangerous characters.  Africa would offer a last & undoubted resort, if all others more desirable should fail us.  Whenever the Legislature of Virginia shall have brought it’s mind to a point, so that I may know exactly what to propose to foreign authorities, I will execute their wishes with fidelity & zeal.  I hope, however, they will pardon me for suggesting a single question for their own consideration.  When we contemplate the variety of countries & of sovereigns towards which we may direct our views, the vast revolutions & changes of circumstances which are now in a course of progression, the possibilities that arrangements now to be made, with a view to any particular plan, may, at no great distance of time, be totally deranged by a change of sovereignty, of government, or of other circumstances, it will be for the Legislature to consider whether, after they shall have made all those general provisions which may be fixed by legislative authority, it would be reposing too much confidence in their Executive to leave the place of relegation to be decided on by them.  They could accommodate their arrangements to the actual state of things, in which countries or powers may be found to exist at the day; and may prevent the effect of the law from being defeated by intervening changes.  This, however, is for them to decide.  Our duty will be to respect their decision.