Letters of Thomas Jefferson

1788

“A Strategy on Ratification”

DEAR SIR, -- I received duly your friendly letter of November the 12th.  By this time, you will have seen published by Congress, the new regulations obtained from this court, in favor of our commerce.  You will observe, that the arrangement relative to tobacco is a continuation of the order of Berni for five years, only leaving the price to be settled between the buyer and seller.  You will see too, that all contracts for tobacco are forbidden, till it arrives in France.  Of course, your proposition for a contract is precluded.  I fear the prices here will be low, especially if the market be crowded.  You should be particularly attentive to the article, which requires that the tobacco should come in French or American bottoms, as this article will, in no instance, be departed from.

I wish with all my soul, that the nine first conventions may accept the new constitution, because this will secure to us the good it contains, which I think great and important.  But I equally wish, that the four latest conventions, which ever they be, may refuse to accede to it, till a declaration of rights be annexed.  This would probably command the offer of such a declaration, and thus give to the whole fabric, perhaps as much perfection as any one of that kind ever had.  By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies.  These are fetters against doing evil, which no honest government should decline.  There is another strong feature in the new constitution, which I as strongly dislike.  That is, the perpetual reeligibility of the President.  Of this I expect no amendment at present, because I do not see that any body has objected to it on your side the water.  But it will be productive of cruel distress to our country, even in your day and mine.  The importance to France and England, to have our government in the hands of a friend or a foe, will occasion their interference by money, and even by arms.  Our President will be of much more consequence to them than a King of Poland.  We must take care, however, that neither this, nor any other objection to the new form, produces a schism in our Union.  That would be an incurable evil, because near friends falling out, never reunite cordially; whereas, all of us going together, we shall be sure to cure the evils of our new constitution, before they do great harm.  The box of books I had taken the liberty to address to you, is but just gone from Havre for New York.  I do not see, at present, any symptoms strongly indicating war.  It is true, that the distrust existing between the two courts of Versailles and London, is so great, that they can scarcely do business together.  However, the difficulty and doubt of obtaining money make both afraid to enter into war.  The little preparations for war, which we see, are the effect of distrust, rather then of a design to commence hostilities.  And in such a state of mind, you know, small things may produce a rupture: so that though peace is rather probable, war is very possible.

Your letter has kindled all the fond recollections of antient times; recollections much dearer to me than any thing I have known since.  There are minds which can be pleased by honors and preferments; but I see nothing in them but envy and enmity.  It is only necessary to possess them, to know how little they contribute to happiness, or rather how hostile they are to it.  No attachments soothe the mind so much as those contracted in early life; nor do I recollect any societies which have given me more pleasure, than those of which you have partaken with me.  I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.  I shall be glad to hear from you often.  Give me the small news as well as the great.  Tell Dr. Currie, that I believe I am indebted to him a letter, but that like the mass of our countrymen, I am not, at this moment, able to pay all my debts; the post being to depart in an hour, and the last stroke of a pen I am able to send by it, being that which assures you of the sentiments of esteem and attachment, with which I am, Dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant,

“A Son of Nature”

I arrived here, my dear friend, the last night, and in a bushel of letters presented me by way of reception, I saw that one was of your handwriting.  It is the only one I have yet opened, and I answer it before I open another.  I do not think I was in arrears in our epistolary account when I left Paris.  In affection I am sure you were greatly my debtor.  I often determined during my journey to write to you: but sometimes the fatigue of exercise, and sometimes fatigued attention hindered me.

At Dusseldorff I wished for you much.  I surely never saw so precious a collection of paintings.  Above all things those of Van der Werff affected me the most.  His picture of Sarah delivering Agar to Abraham is delicious.  I would have agreed to have been Abraham though the consequence could have been that I should have been dead five or six thousand years.  Carlo Dolce became also a violent favorite.  I am so little of a connoisseur that I preferred the works of these two authors to the old faded red things of Rubens.  I am but a son of nature, loving what I see & feel, without being able to give a reason, nor caring much whether there be one.  At Heidelberg I wished for you too.  In fact I led you by the hand thro’ the whole garden.

I was struck with the resemblance of this scene to that of Vaucluse as seen from what is called the chateau of Petrarch.  Nature has formed both on the same sketch, but she has filled up that of Heidelberg with a bolder hand, the river is larger, the mountains more majestic and better clothed.  Art too has seconded her views. The chateau of Petrarch is the ruin of a modest country house, that of Heidelberg would stand well along side the pyramids of Egypt.  It is certainly the most magnificent ruin after those left us by the antients.

At Strasbourg I sat down to write to you, but for my soul I could think of nothing at Strasbourg but the promontory of noses, of Diego, of Slawkenburgius his historiaga, & the procession of the Strasburgers to meet the man with the nose.  Had I written to you from thence it would have been a continuation of Sterne upon noses, & I knew that nature had not formed me for a Continuator of Sterne: so let it alone till I came here and received your angry letter.  It is a proof of your esteem, but I love better to have soft testimonials of it.

You must therefore now write me a letter teeming with affection; such as I feel for you.  So much I have no right to ask.  Being but just arrived I am not au fait of the small news affecting your acquaintances here.  I know only that the princess Lubomirski is still here & that she has taken the house that was M. de Simoulin’s.  When you come again therefore you will be somewhat nearer to me, but not near enough: and still surrounded by a numerous cortege, so that I shall see you only by scraps as I did when you were here last.  The time before we were half days & whole days together, & I found this too little.  Adieu!  God bless you!

Your’s affectionately

“Amazons and Angels”

DEAR MADAM, -- A gentleman going to Philadelphia furnishes me the occasion of sending you some numbers of the Cabinet des Modes & some new theatrical pieces.  These last have had great success on the stage, where they have excited perpetual applause.  We have now need of something to make us laugh, for the topics of the times are sad and eventful.  The gay and thoughtless Paris is now become a furnace of Politics.  All the world is now politically mad.  Men, women, children talk nothing else, & you know that naturally they talk much, loud & warm.  Society is spoilt by it, at least for those who, like myself, are but lookers on.  -- You too have had your political fever.  But our good ladies, I trust, have been too wise to wrinkle their foreheads with politics.  They are contented to soothe & calm the minds of their husbands returning ruffled from political debate.  They have the good sense to value domestic happiness above all other, and the art to cultivate it beyond all others.  There is no part of the earth where so much of this is enjoyed as in America.  You agree with me in this; but you think that the pleasures of Paris more than supply its wants; in other words that a Parisian is happier than an American.  You will change your opinion, my dear Madam, and come over to mine in the end.  Recollect the women of this capital, some on foot, some on horses, & some in carriages hunting pleasure in the streets, in routs & assemblies, and forgetting that they have left it behind them in their nurseries; compare them with our own countrywomen occupied in the tender and tranquil amusements of domestic life, and confess that it is a comparison of Amazons and Angels.  -- You will have known from the public papers that Monsieur de Buffon, the father, is dead & you have known long ago that the son and his wife are separated.  They are pursuing pleasure in opposite directions.  Madame de Rochambeau is well: so is Madame de la Fayette.  I recollect no other Nouvelles de societe interesting to you.  And as for political news of battles & sieges, Turks & Russians, I will not detail them to you, because you would be less handsome after reading them.  I have only to add then, what I take a pleasure in repeating, tho’ it will be the thousandth time that I have the honour to be with sentiments of very sincere respect & attachment, dear Madam, your most obedient & most humble servant.

“The Crumbs of Science”

DEAR SIR, -- My last letter to you was of the 13th of August last.  As you seem willing to accept of the crumbs of science on which we are subsisting here, it is with pleasure I continue to hand them on to you, in proportion as they are dealt out.  Herschel’s volcano in the moon you have doubtless heard of, and placed among the other vagaries of a head, which seems not organised for sound induction.  The wildness of the theories hitherto proposed by him, on his own discoveries, seems to authorise us to consider his merit as that of a good optician only.  You know also, that Doctor Ingenhouse had discovered, as he supposed, from experiment, that vegetation might be promoted by occasioning streams of the electrical fluid to pass through a plant, and that other physicians had received and confirmed this theory.  He now, however, retracts it, and finds by more decisive experiments, that the electrical fluid can neither forward nor retard vegetation.  Uncorrected still of the rage of drawing general conclusions from partial and equivocal observations, he hazards the opinion that light promotes vegetation.  I have heretofore supposed from observation, that light affects the color of living bodies, whether vegetable or animal; but that either the one or the other receives nutriment from that fluid, must be permitted to be doubted of, till better confirmed by observation.  It is always better to have no ideas, than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong.  In my mind, theories are more easily demolished than rebuilt.

An Abbe here, has shaken, if not destroyed, the theory of de Dominis, Descartes and Newton, for explaining the phenomenon of the rainbow.  According to that theory, you know, a cone of rays issuing from the sun, and falling on a cloud in the opposite part of the heavens, is reflected back in the form of a smaller cone, the apex of which is the eye of the observer: so that the eye of the observer must be in the axis of both cones, and equally distant from every part of the bow.  But he observes, that he has repeatedly seen bows, the one end of which has been very near to him, and the other at a very great distance.  I have often seen the same thing myself.  I recollect well to have seen the end of a rainbow between myself and a house, or between myself and a bank, not twenty yards distant; and this repeatedly.  But I never saw, what he says he has seen, different rainbows at the same time, intersecting each other.  I never saw coexistent bows, which were not concentric also.  Again, according to the theory, if the sun is in the horizon, the horizon intercepts the lower half of the bow, if above the horizon, that intercepts more than the half, in proportion.  So that generally, the bow is less than a semicircle, and never more.  He says he has seen it more than a semicircle.  I have often seen the leg of the bow below my level.  My situation at Monticello admits this, because there is a mountain there in the opposite direction of the afternoon’s sun, the valley between which and Monticello, is five hundred feet deep.  I have seen a leg of a rainbow plunge down on the river running through the valley.  But I do not recollect to have remarked at any time, that the bow was more than half a circle.  It appears to me, that these facts demolish the Newtonian hypothesis, but they do not support that erected in its stead by the Abbe.  He supposes a cloud between the sun and observer, and that through some opening in that cloud, the rays pass, and form an iris on the opposite part of the heavens, just as a ray passing through a hole in the shutter of a darkened room, and falling on a prism there, forms the prismatic colors on the opposite wall.  According to this, we might see bows of more than the half circle, as often as of less.  A thousand other objections occur to this hypothesis, which need not be suggested to you.  The result is, that we are wiser than we were, by having an error the less in our catalogue; but the blank occasioned by it, must remain for some happier hypothesist to fill up.

The dispute about the conversion and reconversion of water and air, is still stoutly kept up.  The contradictory experiments of chemists, leave us at liberty to conclude what we please.  My conclusion is, that art has not yet invented sufficient aids, to enable such subtle bodies to make a well defined impression on organs as blunt as ours: that it is laudable to encourage investigation, but to hold back conclusion.  Speaking one day with Monsieur de Buffon, on the present ardor of chemical inquiry, he affected to consider chemistry but as cookery, and to place the toils of the laboratory on a footing with those of the kitchen.  I think it, on the contrary, among the most useful of sciences, and big with future discoveries for the utility and safety of the human race.  It is yet, indeed, a mere embryon.  Its principles are contested; experiments seem contradictory; their subjects are so minute as to escape our senses; and their result too fallacious to satisfy the mind.  It is probably an age too soon, to propose the establishment of a system.  The attempt, therefore, of Lavoisier to reform the chemical nomenclature, is premature.  One single experiment may destroy the whole filiation of his terms, and his string of sulphates, sulfites and sulfures, may have served no other end, than to have retarded the progress of the science, by a jargon, from the confusion of which, time will be requisite to extricate us.  Accordingly, it is not likely to be admitted generally.

You are acquainted with the properties of the composition of nitre, salt of tartar and sulphur, called pulvis fulminans.  Of this, the explosion is produced by heat alone.  Monsieur Bertholet, by dissolving silver in the nitrous acid, precipitating it with lime water, and drying the precipitate on ammoniac, has discovered a powder which fulminates most powerfully, on coming into contact with any substance whatever.  Once made, it cannot be touched. It cannot be put into a bottle, but must remain in the capsula, where dried.  The property of the spathic acid, to corrode flinty substances, has been lately applied by a Mr. Puymaurin, to engrave on glass, as artists engrave on copper, with aquafortis.  M. de la Place has discovered, that the secular acceleration and retardation of the moon’s motion, is occasioned by the action of the sun, in proportion as his excentricity changes, or, in other words, as the orbit of the earth increases or diminishes.  So that this irregularity is now perfectly calculable.

Having seen announced in a gazette, that some person had found in a library of Sicily, an Arabic translation of Livy, which was thought to be complete, I got the charge des affaires of Naples here, to write to Naples to inquire into the fact.  He obtained in answer, that an Arabic translation was found, and that it would restore to us seventeen of the books lost, to wit, from the sixtieth to the seventy-seventh, inclusive: that it was in possession of an Abbe Vella, who, as soon as he shall have finished a work he has on hand, will give us an Italian, and perhaps a Latin translation of this Livy.  There are persons, however, who doubt the truth of this discovery, founding their doubts on some personal cricumstances relating to the person who says he has this translation.  I find, nevertheless, that the charge des affaires believes in the discovery, which makes me hope it may be true.

A countryman of ours, a Mr. Ledyard of Connecticut, set out from hence some time ago for St. Petersburg, to go thence to Kamtschatka, thence to cross over to the western coast of America , and penetrate through the continent, to the other side of it.  He had got within a few days’ journey of Kamtschatka, when he was arrested by order of the Empress of Russia, sent back, and turned adrift in Poland.  He went to London; engaged under the auspices of a private society, formed there for pushing discoveries into Africa; passed by this place, which he left a few days ago for Marseilles, where he will embark for Alexandria and Grand Cairo; thence explore the Nile to its source; cross the head of the Niger, and descend that to its mouth.  He promises me, if he escapes through his journey, he will go to Kentucky, and endeavor to penetrate westwardly to the South Sea.

The death of M. de Buffon you have heard long ago.  I do not know whether we shall have any thing posthumous of his.  As to political news, this country is making its way to a good constitution.  The only danger is, they may press so fast as to produce an appeal to arms, which might have an unfavorable issue for them.  As yet, the appeal is not made.  Perhaps the war which seems to be spreading from nation to nation, may reach them: this would insure the calling of the States General, and this, as is supposed, the establishment of a constitution.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of sincere esteem and respect, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,

“A Monopoly of Despotism”

DEAR SIR, -- While our second revolution is just brought to a happy end with you, yours here, is but cleverly under way.  For some days, I was really melancholy with the apprehension, that arms would be appealed to, and the opposition crushed in its first efforts.  But things seem now to wear a better aspect.  While the opposition keeps at its highest wholesome point, government, unwilling to draw the sword, is not forced to do it.  The contest here is exactly what it was in Holland: a contest between the monarchical and aristocratical parts of the government, for a monopoly of despotism over the people.  The aristocracy in Holland, seeing that their common prey was likely to escape out of their clutches, chose rather to retain its former portion, and therefore coalesced with the single head.  The people remained victims.  Here, I think, it will take a happier turn.  The parliamentary part of the aristocracy is alone firmly united.  The Noblesse and Clergy, but especially the former, are divided partly between the parliamentary and the despotic party, and partly united with the real patriots, who are endeavoring to gain for the nation what they can, both from the parliamentary and the single despotism.  I think I am not mistaken in believing, that the King and some of his ministers are well affected to this band; and surely, that they will make great cessions to the people, rather than small ones to the parliament.  They are, accordingly, yielding daily to the national reclamations, and will probably end, in according a well tempered constitution.  They promise the States General for the next year, and I have good information that an Arret will appear the day after tomorrow, announcing them for May, 1789.  How they will be composed, and what they will do, cannot be foreseen.  Their convocation, however, will tranquillise the public mind, in a great degree, till their meeting.  There are, however, two intervening difficulties.  1.  Justice cannot till then continue completely suspended, as it now is.  The parliament will not resume their functions, but in their entire body.  The baillages are afraid to accept of them.  What will be done?  2.  There are well founded fears of a bankruptcy before the month of May.  In the mean time, the war is spreading from nation to nation.  Sweden has commenced hostilities against Russia; Denmark is shewing its teeth against Sweden; Prussia against Denmark; and England too deeply engaged in playing the back game, to avoid coming forward, and dragging this country and Spain in with her.  But even war will not prevent the assembly of the States General, because it cannot be carried on without them.  War, however, is not the most favorable moment for divesting the monarchy of power.  On the contrary, it is the moment when the energy of a single hand, shews itself in the most seducing form.

Your friend the Countess d’Houdetot has had a long illness at Sanois.  She was well enough the other day to come to Paris & was so good as to call on me, as I did also on her, without finding each other.  The Dutchess Danville is in the country altogether.  Your sons are well.  Their master speaks very highly of the genius & application of Aly, and more favorably of the genius than application of the younger.  They are both fine lads, and will make you very happy.  I am not certain whether more exercise than the rules of the school admit would not be good for Aly.  I conferred the other day on this subject with M. le Moine, who seems to be of that opinion, & disposed to give him every possible indulgence.

A very considerable portion of this country, has been desolated by a hail.  I considered the newspaper accounts, of hailstones of ten pounds weight, as exaggerations.  But in a conversation with the Duke de la Rochefoucaut, the other day, he assured me, that though he could not say he had seen such himself, yet he considered the fact as perfectly established.  Great contributions, public and private, are making for the sufferers.  But they will be like the drop of water from the finger of Lazarus.  There is no remedy for the present evil, nor way to prevent future ones, but to bring the people to such a state of ease, as not to be ruined by the loss of a single crop.  This hail may be considered as the coup de grace to an expiring victim.  In the arts, there is nothing new discovered since you left us, which is worth communicating.  Mr. Payne’s iron bridge was exhibited here, with great approbation.  An idea has been encouraged, of executing it in three arches, at the King’s garden.  But it will probably not be done.

I am, with sentiments of perfect esteem and attachment, Dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

“Commerce, War, and Revolution”

SIR, -- Your favor of Aug. 31. came to hand yesterday; and a confidential conveiance offering, by the way of London, I avail myself of it to acknolege the receipt.

I have seen, with infinite pleasure, our new constitution accepted by 11. states, not rejected by the 12th. and that the 13th. happens to be a state of the least importance.  It is true, that the minorities in most of the accepting states have been very respectable, so much so as to render it prudent, were it not otherwise reasonable, to make some sacrifice to them.  I am in hopes that the annexation of the bill of rights to the constitution will alone draw over so great a proportion of the minorities, as to leave little danger in the opposition of the residue; and that this annexation may be made by Congress and the assemblies, without calling a convention which might endanger the most valuable parts of the system.  Calculation has convinced me that circumstances may arise, and probably will arise, wherein all the resources of taxation will be necessary for the safety of the state.  For tho’ I am decidedly of opinion we should take no part in European quarrels, but cultivate peace and commerce with all, yet who can avoid seeing the source of war, in the tyranny of those nations who deprive us of the natural right of trading with our neighbors?  The products of the U.S. will soon exceed the European demand: what is to be done with the surplus, when there shall be one?  It will be employed, without question, to open by force a market for itself with those placed on the same continent with us, and who wish nothing better.  Other causes too are obvious, which may involve us in war; and war requires every resource of taxation & credit.  The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace.  If the new government wears the front which I hope it will, I see no impossibility in the availing ourselves of the wars of others to open the other parts of America to our commerce, as the price of our neutrality.

The campaign between the Turks & two empires has been clearly in favor of the former.  The emperor is secretly trying to bring about a peace.  The alliance between England, Prussia and Holland, (and some suspect Sweden also) renders their mediation decisive whenever it is proposed.  They seemed to interpose it so magisterially between Denmark & Sweden, that the former submitted to it’s dictates, and there was all reason to believe that the war in the North-Western parts of Europe would be quieted.  All of a sudden a new flame bursts out in Poland.  The king and his party are devoted to Russia.  The opposition rely on the protection of Prussia.  They have lately become the majority in the confederated diet, and have passed a vote for subjecting their army to a commission independent of the king, and propose a perpetual diet in which case he will be a perpetual cypher.  Russia declares against such a change in their constitution, and Prussia has put an army into readiness for marching at a moment’s warning on the frontiers of Poland.  These events are too recent to see as yet what turn they will take, or what effect they will have on the peace of Europe.  So is that also of the lunacy of the king of England, which is a decided fact, notwithstanding all the stuff the English papers publish about his fevers, his deliriums &c.  The truth is that the lunacy declared itself almost at once; and with as few concomitant complaints as usually attend the first development of that disorder.  I suppose a regency will be established, and if it consist of a plurality of members it will probably be peaceable.  In this event it will much favor the present wishes of this country, which are so decidedly for peace, that they refused to enter into the mediation between Sweden and Russia, lest it should commit them.  As soon as the convocation of the States-general was announced, a tranquillity took place thro’ the whole kingdom.  Happily no open rupture had taken place in any part of it.  The parliaments were re-instated in their functions at the same time.  This was all they desired, and they had called for the States general only through fear that the crown could not otherwise be forced to re-instate them.  Their end obtained, they began to foresee danger to themselves in the States general.  They began to lay the foundations for cavilling at the legality of that body, if it’s measures should be hostile to them.  The court, to clear itself of the dispute, convened the Notables who had acted with general approbation on the former occasion, and referred to them the forms of calling and organising the States-general.  These Notables consist principally of nobility & clergy, the few of the tiers etat among them being either parliament-men, or other privileged persons.  The court wished that in the future States general the members of the Tiersetat should equal those of both the other orders, and that they should form but one house, all together, & vote by persons, not by orders.  But the Notables, in the true spirit of priests and nobles, combining together against the people, have voted by 5 bureaux out of 6. that the people or tiers etat shall have no greater number of deputies than each of the other orders separately, and that they shall vote by orders: so that two orders concurring in a vote, the third will be overruled, for it is not here as in England where each of the three branches has a negative on the other two.  If this project of theirs succeeds, a combination between the two houses of clergy & nobles, will render the representation of the Tiers etat merely nugatory.  The bureaux are to assemble together to consolidate their separate votes; but I see no reasonable hope of their changing this.  Perhaps the king, knowing that he may count on the support of the nation and attach it more closely to him, may take on himself to disregard the opinion of the Notables in this instance, and may call an equal representation of the people, in which precedents will support him.  In every event, I think the present disquiet will end well.  The nation has been awaked by our revolution, they feel their strength, they are enlightened, their lights are spreading, and they will not retrograde.  The first states general may establish 3. important points without opposition from the court.  1.  their own periodical convocation.  2.  their exclusive right of taxation (which has been confessed by the king.)  3.  the right of registering laws and of previously proposing amendments to them, as the parliaments have by usurpation been in the habit of doing.  The court will consent to this from it’s hatred to the parliaments, and from the desire of having to do with one rather than many legislatures.  If the states are prudent they will not aim at more than this at first, lest they should shock the dispositions of the court, and even alarm the public mind, which must be left to open itself by degrees to successive improvements.  These will follow from the nature of things.  How far they can proceed, in the end, towards a thorough reformation of abuse, cannot be foreseen.  In my opinion a kind of influence, which none of their plans of reform take into account, will elude them all; I mean the influence of women in the government.  The manners of the nation allow them to visit, alone, all persons in office, to sollicit the affairs of the husband, family, or friends, and their sollicitations bid defiance to laws and regulations.  This obstacle may seem less to those who, like our countrymen, are in the habit of considering Right, as a barrier against all sollicitation.  Nor can such an one, without the evidence of his own eyes, believe the desperate state to which things are reduced in this country from the omnipotence of an influence which, fortunately for the happiness of the sex itself, does not endeavor to extend itself in our country beyond the domestic line.

Your communications to the Count de Moustier, whatever they may have been, cannot have done injury to my endeavors here to open the W. Indies to us.  On this head the ministers are invincibly mute, tho’ I have often tried to draw them into the subject.  I have therefore found it necessary to let it lie till war or other circumstance may force it on.  Whenever they are in war with England, they must open the islands to us, and perhaps during that war they may see some price which might make them agree to keep them always open.  In the meantime I have laid my shoulder to the opening the markets of this country to our produce, and rendering it’s transportation a nursery for our seamen.  A maritime force is the only one by which we can act on Europe.  Our navigation law (if it be wise to have any) should be the reverse of that of England.  Instead of confining importations to home-bottoms or those of the producing nations, I think we should confine exportations to home bottoms or to those of nations having treaties with us.  Our exportations are heavy, and would nourish a great force of our own, or be a tempting price to the nation to whom we should offer a participation of it in exchange for free access to all their possessions.  This is an object to which our government alone is adequate in the gross, but I have ventured to pursue it, here, so far as the consumption of productions by this country extends.  Thus in our arrangements relative to tobacco, none can be received here but in French or American bottoms.  This is emploiment for nearly 2000 seamen, and puts nearly that number of British out of employ.  By the Arret of Dec, 1787, it was provided that our whale oils should not be received here but in French or American bottoms, and by later regulations all oils but those of France and America are excluded.  This will put 100 English whale vessels immediately out of employ, and 150. ere long; and call so many of French & American into service.  We have had 6000 seamen formerly in this business, the whole of whom we have been likely to lose.  The consumption of rice is growing fast in this country, and that of Carolina gaining ground on every other kind.  I am of opinion the whole of the Carolina rice can be consumed here.  It’s transportation employs 2500 sailors, almost all of them English at present; the rice being deposited at Cowes & brought from thence here.  It would be dangerous to confine this transportation to French & American bottoms the ensuing year, because they will be much engrossed by the transportation of wheat & flour hither, and the crop of rice might lie on hand for want of vessels; but I see no objections to the extensions of our principle to this article also, beginning with the year 1790.  However, before there is a necessity of deciding on this I hope to be able to consult our new government in person, as I have asked of Congress a leave of absence for 6. months, that is to say from April to November next.  It is necessary for me to pay a short visit to my native country, first to reconduct my family thither, and place them in the hands of their friends, & secondly to place my private affairs under certain arrangements.  When I left my own house, I expected to be absent but 5 months, & I have been led by events to an absence of 5 years.  I shall hope therefore for the pleasure of personal conferences with your Excellency on the subject of this letter and others interesting to our country, of getting my own ideas set to rights by a communication of yours, and of taking again the tone of sentiment of my own country which we lose in some degree after a certain absence.  You know doubtless of the death of the Marquise de Chastellux.  The Marquis de La Fayette is out of favor with the court, but high in favor with the nation.  I once feared for his personal liberty, but I hope he is on safe ground at present.  On the subject of the whale fishery I inclose you some observations I drew up for the ministry here, in order to obtain a correction of their Arret of Sepr last, whereby they had involved our oils with the English in a general exclusion from their ports.  They will accordingly correct this, so that our oils will participate with theirs in the monopoly of their markets.  There are several things incidentally introduced which do not seem pertinent to the general question.  They were rendered necessary by particular circumstances the explanation of which would add to a letter already too long.  I will trespass no further then than to assure you of the sentiments of sincere attachment and respect with which I have the honor to be your Excellency’s most obedt. humble servant.

P.S. The observations inclosed, tho’ printed, have been put into confidential hands only.