again. In fine after reading a little & examining the
signature, alternately, half a dozen times, I found that
your name was to four lines only, instead of four
3 2 4 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
pages. I thank you for the four lines however be-
cause they prove you think of me little indeed, but
better a little than none. To shew how much I think
of you I send you the enclosed letter of three sheets
of paper, being a history of the evening I parted with
you. But how expect you should read a letter of
three mortal sheets of paper ? I will tell you.
Divide it into six doses of half a sheet each, and
every day, when the toilette begins, take a dose, that
is to say, read half a sheet. By this means it will
have the only merit it's length & dulness can aspire
to, that of assisting your coiffezise to procure you six
good naps of sleep. I will even allow you twelve
days to get through it, holding you rigorously to one
condition only, that is, that at whatever hour you
receive this, you do not break the seal of the enclosed
till the next toilette. Of this injunction I require a
sacred execution. I rest it on your friendship, &
that in your first letter you tell me honestly whether
you have honestly performed it. I send you the
song I promised. Bring me in return it's subject,
Jours heureux ! Were I a songster I should sing it
all to these words " Dans ces lieux quelle tarde a se
rendre ! " Learn it I pray you, & sing it with feel-
ing. My right hand presents it's devoirs to, and sees
with great indignation the left supplanting it in a
correspondence so much valued. You will know the
first moment it can resume it's rights. The first
exercise of them shall be addressed to you, as you
had the first essay of it's rival. It will yet, however,
be many a day. Present my esteem to Mr. Cosway,
& believe me to be yours very affectionately.
1786] THOMAS JEFFEKSON. 325
TO WILLIAM STEPHENS SMITH. J. MSS.
PARIS, Oct. 22, 1786.
DEAR SIR, How the right hand became disabled
would be a long story for the left to tell. It was by
one of those follies from which good cannot come,
but ill may. As yet I have no use of that hand, & as
the other is an awkward scribe, I must be sententious
& not waste words. Yours of Sep. 18. & 22. & Oct.
i. & 4. have been duly received, as have been also the
books from Lackington & Stockdale, & the second
parcel from Dilly. The harness is at the Douane of
Paris, not yet delivered to me. Dilly's first parcel of
books, & the first copying press are arrived at Rouen.
You see how much reason I have to say ' well done,
thou good and faithful servant.' With Chastellux's
voiages & Latrd's map I took a great deal more
trouble than was necessary, such as going myself to
the book shop when a servant might as well have
gone etc. merely from a desire to do something in
return fo you, & that I might feel as if I have done
something. You desire to know whether the 2d.
order for copying paper & ink was meant to be addi-
tional to the former ? It was, but I had now rather not
receive the paper because I have found a better kind
here. The ink I shall be glad of. The twelve sheet
map I shall send by the first good opportunity, &
hope ere long to receive the plate of mine from Mr.
Neele. I will trouble you to have the inclosed note
to Jones delivered. Will you undertake to prevail
on Mr. Adams to set for his picture & on Mr. Brown
to draw it for me ? I wish to add to those of other
principal American characters which I have or shall
326 THE WRITINGS OF [.786
have : & I had rather it should be original than a
copy. We saw a picture of Sr. W. Raleigh at
Birmingham, & I do not know whether it was of Mr.
Adams or yourself I asked the favor to get it for me.
I must pray your taylor to send me a buff casimir
waistcoat & breeches with those of cotton, & of my
shoemaker to send me two pr. of thin waxed leather
slippers. Things of this kind come better by private
hands if any such should be coming within any
reasonable time. The accident to my wrist has de-
fected my views of visiting the South of France this
fall. Present me very affectionately to Mrs. Adams
and Mrs. Smith. I hope the former is very well, &
that the latter is, or has been very sick, otherwise I
would observe to you that it is high time. Adieu.
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON. j. MSS.
PARIS Nov. 14, 1786.
SIR, The house of Le Coulteux, which for some
centuries has been the wealthiest of this place, has it
in contemplation to establish a great company for the
fur trade. They propose that partners interested one
half in the establishment should be American citizens,
born & residing in the U. S. Yet if I understood
them rightly they expect that half of the company
which resides here should make the greatest part, or
perhaps the whole of the advances, while those on our
side the water should superintend the details. They
had at first thought of Baltimore as the center of their
American transactions. I have pointed out to them the
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 327
advantages of Alexandria for this purpose. They
have concluded to take information as to Baltimore,
Philadelphia, & N. York for a principal deposit, &
having no correspondent at Alexandria have asked
me to procure a state of the advantages of that place,
as also to get a recommendation of the best merchant
there to be adopted as partner & head of the business
there. Skill, punctuality & integrity are the requisites
in such a character. They will decide on their whole
information as to the place for their principal factory.
Being unwilling that Alexandria should lose it's pre-
tensions, I have undertaken to procure them informa-
tion as to that place. If they undertake this trade at
all, it will be on so great a scale as to decide the cur-
rent of the Indian trade to the place they adopt. I
have no acquaintance at Alexandria or in it's neigh-
borhood, but believing you would feel an interest in
it, from the same motives which I do, I venture to
ask the favor of you to recommend to me a proper
merchant for their purpose, & to engage some well-
informed person to send me a representation of the
advantages of Alexandria as the principal deposit of
the fur trade.
The author of the Political part of the Encyclo-
pedic Methodique desired me to examine his article
" Etats unis." I did so. I found it a tissue of errors,
for in truth they know nothing about us here. Par-
ticularly however the article " Cincinnati " was a mere
Philippic against that institution ; in which it appears
that there was an utter ignorance of facts & motives.
I gave him notes on it. He reformed it as he sup-
328 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
posed & sent it again to me to revise. In this re-
formed state Colo. Humphreys saw it. I found it
necessary to write that article for him. Before I gave
it to him I showed it to the Marq. de la Fayette who
made a correction or two. I then sent it to the au-
thor. He used the materials, mixing a great deal of
his own with them. In a work which is sure of going
down to the latest posterity I thought it material to
set facts to rights as much as possible. The author
was well disposed : but could not entirely get the bet-
ter of his original bias. I send you the article as
ultimately published. If you find any material errors
in it & will be so good as to inform me of them, I
shall probably have opportunities of setting this
author to rights. What has heretofore passed be-
tween us on this institution, makes it my duty to
mention to you that I have never heard a person in
Europe, learned or unlearned, express his thoughts
on this institution, who did not consider it as dishon-
orable & destructive to our governments, and that
every writing which has come out since my arrival
here, in which it is mentioned, considers it, even as
now reformed, as the germ whose development is one
day to destroy the fabric we have reared. I did not
apprehend this while I had American ideas only.
But I confess that what I have seen in Europe has
brought me over to that opinion ; & that tho' the day
may be at some distance, beyond the reach of our
lives perhaps, yet it will certainly come, when a single
fibre left of this institution will produce an hereditary
aristocracy which will change the form of our govern-
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 329
ments from the best to the worst in the world. To
know the mass of evil which flows from this fatal
source, a person must be in France, he must see the
finest soil, the finest climate, the most compact state,
the most benevolent character of people, & every
earthly advantage combined, insufficient to prevent
this scourge from rendering existence a curse to 24
out of 25 parts of the inhabitants of this country.
With us the branches of this institution cover all the
states. The Southern ones at this time are aristo-
cratical in their disposition ; and that that spirit should
grow & extend itself, is within the natural order of
things. I do not flatter myself with the immortality
of our governments : but I shall think little also of
their longevity unless this germ of destruction be
taken out. When the society themselves shall weigh
the possibility of evil against the impossibility of any
good to proceed from this institution, I cannot help
hoping they will eradicate it. I know they wish the
permanence of our governments as much as any indi-
viduals composing them. An interruption here & the
departure of the gentleman by whom I send this
obliges me to conclude it, with assurances of the sin-
cere respect & esteem with which I have the honor
to be Dear Sir your most obedt. & most humble servt.
TO MRS. ELIZABETH TRIST. 1
PARIS, Dec. 15, 1786.
DEAR MADAM, I have duly received your friendly
letter of July 24 & received it with great pleasure as
I do all those you do me the favor to write me. If
1 From a copy courteously furnished by Mr. Jules J. Vail of New York.
330 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
I have been long in acknowledging the receipt, the
last cause to which it should be ascribed would be
want of inclination. Unable to converse with my
friends in person, I am happy when I do it in black
& white. The true cause of the delay has been
an unlucky dislocation of my wrist which has dis-
abled me from writing three months. I only begin
to write a little now, but with pain. I wish, while in
Virginia, your curiosity had led you on to James
river. At Richmond you would have seen your old
friends mr. & mrs. Randolph, and a little further
you would have become acquainted with my friend,
mrs. Eppes whom you would have found among the
most amiable women on earth. I doubt whether
you would ever have got away from her. This trip
would have made you better acquainted too with my
lazy & hospitable countrymen, & you would have
found that their character has some good traits
mixed with some feeble ones. I often wish myself
among them, as I am here burning the candle of life
without present pleasure, or future object. A dozen
or twenty years ago this scene would have amused
me, but I am past the age for changing habits. I
take all the fault on myself, and it is impossible to
be among a people who wish more to make one
happy, a people of the very best character it is pos-
sible for one to have. We have no idea in America
of the real French character, with some true samples
we have had many false ones. I am very, very
sorry I did not receive your letter three or four
months sooner. It would have been absolutely con-
j 7 86] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 331
venient for me while in England to have seen
Browse's relations, and I should have done it with
infinite pleasure. At present I have no particular
expectation of returning there yet it is among pos-
sible events, and the desire of being useful to him
would render it a pleasing one. The former journey
thither was made at a week's warning, without the
least previous expectation. Living from day to day,
without a plan for four & twenty hours to come, I
form no catalogue of impossible events. Laid up in
port, for life, as I thought myself at one time, I am
thrown out to sea, and an unknown one to me. By
so slender a thread do all our plans of life hang.
My hand itself further, every letter admonish-
ing me, by a pain, that it is time to finish, but my
heart would go on in expressing to you all its friend-
ship. The happiest moments it knows are those in
which it is pouring forth its affections to a few
esteemed characters. I will pray you to write me
often. I wish to know that you enjoy health and
that you are happy. Present me in the most friendly
terms to your mother & brother, & be assured of the
sincerity of the esteem with which I am, dear
Madam, your affectionate friend & humble servant.
TO JAMES MADISON. j. MSS.
PARIS Dec. 16, 1786.
DEAR SIR, After a very long silence, I am at
length able to write to you. An unlucky dislocation
of my right wrist has disabled me from using my pen
332 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
for three months. I now begin to use it a little, but
with great pain ; so that this letter must be taken up
at such intervals as the state of my hand will permit,
& will probably be the work of some days. Tho'
the joint seems to well set, the swelling does not
abate, nor the use of it return. I am now therefore
on the point of setting out to the South of France to
try the use of some mineral waters there, by immer-
sion. This journey will be of 2 or 3 months.
My last letters to you were of Apr. 25. & May 20.
the latter only a letter of recommendation. Yours
of Jan. 22. Mar. 18. May 12. June 19. & Aug. 12.
remain unacknowledged.
I enclose you herein a copy of the letter from the
minister of finance to me making several advanta-
geous regulations for our commerce. The obtaining
this has occupied us a twelvemonth. I say us be-
cause I find the M. de la Fayette so useful an auxil-
iary that acknowledgments for his cooperation are
always due. There remains still something to do
for the articles of rice, turpentine, & ship duties.
What can be done for tobacco when the late regula-
tion expires is very uncertain. The commerce be-
tween the U. S. and this country being put on a good
footing, we may afterwards proceed to try if anything
can be done to favour our intercourse with their
colonies. Admission into them for our fish & flour,
is very desirable : but unfortunately those articles
would raise a competition against their own.
I find by the public papers that your Commercial
Convention failed in point of representation. If it
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 333
should produce a full meeting in May and a broader
reformation, it will still be well. To make us one
nation as to foreign concerns, & keep us distinct in
Domestic ones, gives the outline of the proper divi-
sion of power between the general & particular gov-
ernments. But to enable the Federal head to exercise
the power given it, to best advantage, it should be
organized, as the particular ones are into Legislative
Executive & Judiciary. The ist & last are already
separated. The 2d should also be. When last with
Congress I often proposed to members to do this by
making of the Committee of the states, an Executive
committee during the recess of Congress and during its
sessions to appoint a Committee to receive & despatch
all executive business, so that Congress itself should
meddle only with what should be legislative. But I
question if any Congress (much less all successively)
can have self denial enough to go through with this
distribution. The distribution should be imposed on
them then. I find Congress have reversed their divi-
sion of the Western states & proposed to make them
fewer & larger. This is reversing the natural order
of things. A tractable people may be governed in
large bodies but in proportion as they depart from
this character the extent of their government must be
less. We see into what small divisions the Indians
are obliged to reduce their societies. This measure,
with the disposition to shut up the Mississippi give
me serious apprehensions of the severance of the
Eastern & Western parts of our confederacy. It
might have been made the interest of the Western
334 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
states to remain united with us, by managing their
interests honestly & for their own good. But the
moment we sacrifice their interests to our own, they
will see it is better to govern themselves. The mo-
ment they resolve to do this, the point is settled. A
forced connection is neither our interest nor within
our power. The Virginia act for religious freedom
has been received with infinite approbation in Europe
& propagated with enthusiasm. I do not mean by
the governments, but by the individuals which com-
pose them. It has been translated into French &
Italian, has been sent to most of the courts of Eu-
rope, & has been the best evidence of the falsehood
of those reports which stated us to be in anarchy. It
is inserted in the new Encyclopedic, & is appearing
in most of the publications respecting America. In
fact it is comfortable to see the standard of reason at
length erected, after so many ages during which the
human mind has been held in vassalage by kings,
priests & nobles : and it is honorable for us to have
produced the first legislature who had the courage to
declare that the reason of man may be trusted with
the formation of his own opinions.
I shall be glad when the revisal shall be got thro'.
In the criminal law, the principle of retaliation is
much criticised here, particularly in the case of Rape.
They think the punishment indecent & unjustifiable.
I should be for altering it, but for a different reason :
that is on account of the temptation women would be
under to make it the instrument of vengeance against
an inconstant lord, & of disappointment to a rival.
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 335
Are our courts of justice open for the recovery of
British debts according to the Septennial Act ? the
principles of that act can be justified : but the total
stoppage of justice cannot. The removal of the
negroes from New York would duly give cause for
stopping some of the last paiments, if the British
government should refuse satisfaction, which however
I think they will not do.
I thank you for your communications in Natural
history. The several instances of trees &c found far
below the surface of the earth, as in the case of Mr.
Hay's well, seem to set the reason of man at defiance.
Another Theory of the earth has been contrived
by one Whitford, not absolutely reasonable, but some-
what more so than any that has yet appeared. It is
full of interesting facts, which however being inade-
quate to his theory, he is obliged to supply them
from time to time by begging questions. It is worth
your getting from London. If I can be useful to you
in ordering books from London you know you may
command me. You had better send me the duplicate
volume of the Encyclopedic. I will take care to send
you the proper one. I have many more livraisons for
you, & have made some other inconsiderable purchases
for you in this way. But I shall not send them till
the spring, as a winter passage is bad for books.
I reserve myself till that time therefore to give you
an account of the execution of your several commis-
sions, only observing that the watch will not be fin-
ished till the spring & that it will be necessary for me
to detain her some time on trial, because it often
336 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
happens that a watch, looking well to the eye, &
faithfully made, goes badly at first on account of some
little circumstance which escapes the eye of the work-
man when he puts her together, & which he could
easily rectify. With respect to the proposition about
the purchase of lands, I had just before made the ex-
periment desired. It was to borrow money for aiding
the opening of the Potowmac, which was proposed to
me by Genl. Washington. I had the benefit of his
name, & the foundation of a special Act of Assem-
bly. I lodged the papers in the hands of Mr. Grand
to try to obtain Money on loan at 6. per cent, assur-
ing him that the securities should be made compleatly
satisfactory to the lenders. After long trial he told
me it could not be done. That this government has
always occasion to borrow more money than can be
lent in this country : that they pay 6. per cent per
annum in quarterly paiments, & with a religious punc-
tuality : that besides this they give very considerable
douceurs to the lenders : that every one therefore
would prefer having his money here rather than on
the other side the Atlantic, where distance, want
of punctuality, & a habitual protection of the debtor
would be against them. There is therefore but one
way in which I see any chance of executing your
views. Monied men sometimes talk of investing
money in American lands. Some such might be
willing to ensure an advantageous investiture by in-
teresting trust-worthy characters in the purchase, &
to do this, might be willing to advance the whole
Money, being properly secured. On this head no
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 337
satisfaction should be wanting which I could give
them : and as persons with these views sometimes
advise with me, I shall be attentive to propose to them
this plan. I consider it's success however as only
possible, not probable. * * *
TO CHARLES THOMSON. 1
PARIS, Dec. i7th, 1786.
DEAR SIR, A dislocation of my right wrist has
for three or four months past disabled me from writ-
ing except with my left hand, which was too slow
and awkward to be employed but in cases of neces-
sity. I begin to have so much use of my wrist as to
be able to write, but it is slowly and in pain. I take
the first moment I can, however, to acknowledge the
receipt of your letters of Aug. 6, July 8, and 30. In
one of these you say you have not been able to learn
whether in the new mills in London, steam is the im-
mediate mover of the machinery or raises water to
move it. It is the immediate mover. The power of
this agent, tho' long known, is but now beginning to
be applied to the various purposes of which it is
susceptible. You observe that Whitford supposes
it to have been the agent which, bursting the earth,
threw it up into mountains and vallies. You ask me
what I think of his book. I find in it many interesting
facts brought together, and many ingenious commen-
taries on them, but there are great chasms in his facts,
and consequently in his reasoning ; these he fills up
1 From Collections of the N. Y. Historical Society for 1878, p. 230.
VOL. IV. 22
338 THE WRITINGS OF [1786
with suppositions which may be as reasonably denied
as granted. A sceptical reader, therefore, like my-
self, is left in the lurch. I acknowledge, however, he
makes more use of fact than any other writer of a
theory of the earth. But I give one answer to all
theorists that is as follows : they all suppose the
earth a created existence ; they must suppose a Crea-
tor, then, and that he possessed power and wisdom to
a great degree. As he intended the earth for the
habitation of animals and vegetables, is it reasonable
to suppose he made two jobs of his Creation ? That
he first made a chaotic lump and set it into motion,
and then, waiting ages necessary to form itself that
when it had done this he stepped in a second time to
create the animals and plants which were to inhabit
it ? As a hand of a Creator is to be called in it may
as well be called in at one stage of the process as
another. We may as well suppose he created the
earth at once nearly in the state in which we see it
fit for the preservation of the beings he placed on it.
But it is said we have a proof that he did not create
it in its solid form, but in a state of fluidity, because
its present shape of an oblate spheroid is precisely
that which a fluid mass revolving on its axis would
assume ; but I suppose the same equilibrium between
gravity and centrifugal force which would determine
a fluid mass into the form of an oblate spheroid would
determine the wise Creator of that mass if he made it
in a solid state, to give it the same spherical form. A
revolving fluid will continue to change its shape till it
attains that in which its principles of contrary motion
1786] THOMAS JEFFERSON. 339
are balanced ; for if you suppose them not balanced it