I send you a copy of the late marine regulations of this country. There are things in it, which may become interesting to us. Particularly, what relates to the establishment of a marine militia, and their classification.

You will have seen in the public papers, that the King has called an assembly of the Notables of this country. This has not been done for one hundred and sixty years past. Of course, it calls up all the attention of the people. The objects of this assembly are not named: several are conjectured. The tolerating the Protestant religion; removing all the internal Custom-houses to the frontier; equalizing the gabelles on salt through the kingdom; the sale of the King's domains, to raise money; or, finally, the effecting this necessary end by some other means, are talked of. But in truth, nothing is known about it. This government practises secrecy so systematically, that it never publishes its purposes or its proceedings, sooner or more extensively than necessary. I send you a pamphlet, which, giving an account of the last Assemblee des Notables, may give an idea of what the present will be.

A great desire prevails here of encouraging manufactures. The famous Boulton and Watts, who are at the head of the plated manufactures of Birmingham, the steam mills of London, copying presses and other mechanical works, have been here. It is said also, that Wedgewood has been here, who is famous for his steel manufactories, and an earthen ware in the antique style; but as to this last person, I am not certain. It cannot, I believe, be doubted, but that they came at the request of government, and that they will be induced to establish similar manufactures here.

The transferring hither those manufactures, which contribute so much to draw our commerce to England, will have a great tendency to strengthen our connections with this country, and loosen them with that.

The enfranchising the port of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine, for multiplying the connections with us, is at present an object. It meets with opposition in the ministry; but I am in hopes it will prevail. If natural causes operate, uninfluenced by accidental circumstances, Bordeaux and Honfleur, or Havre, must ultimately take the greatest part of our commerce. The former by the Garonne and canal of Languedoc, opens the southern provinces to us; the latter, the northern ones and Paris. Honfleur will be peculiarly advantageous for our rice and whale oil, of which the principal consumption is at Paris. Being free, they can be re-exported when the market here shall happen to be overstocked.

The labors of the ensuing summer will close the eastern half of the harbor of Cherbourg, which will contain and protect forty sail of the line. It has from fifty to thirty-five feet of water next to the cones, shallowing gradually to the shore. Between this and Dunkirk, the navigation of the channel will be rendered much safer in the event of a war with England, and invasions on that country become more practicable.

The gazettes of France and Leyden, to the present date, accompany this.

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



TO JOHN ADAMS.

PARIS, January 11, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—Mr. Jay, in his last letter to me, observes they hear nothing further of the treaty with Portugal. I have taken the liberty of telling him that I will write to you on the subject, and that he may expect to hear from you on it, by the present conveyance. The Chevalier del Pinto being at London, I presume he has, or can inform you why it is delayed on their part. I will thank you also for the information he shall give you.

There is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is, the begging of alms for the redemption of captives. About eighteen months ago, they redeemed three hundred, which cost them about fifteen hundred livres apiece. They have agents residing in the Barbary States, who are constantly employed in searching and contracting for the captives of their nation, and they redeem at a lower price than any other people can. It occurred to me, that their agency might be engaged for our prisoners at Algiers. I have had interviews with them, and the last night, a long one with the General of the order. They offer their services with all the benignity and cordiality possible. The General told me, he could not expect to redeem our prisoners as cheap as their own, but that he would use all the means in his power to do it on the best terms possible, which will be the better, as there shall be the less suspicion that he acts for our public. I told him I would write to you on the subject, and speak to him again. What do you think of employing them, limiting them to a certain price, as three hundred dollars for instance, or any other sum you think proper? He will write immediately to his instruments there, and in two or three months we can know the event. He will deliver them at Marseilles, Cadiz, or where we please, at our expense. The money remaining of the fund destined to the Barbary business, may, I suppose, be drawn on for this object. Write me your opinion, if you please, on this subject, finally, fully and immediately, that, if you approve the proposition, I may enter into arrangements with the General, before my departure to the waters of Aix, which will be about the beginning of February.

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



TO COLONEL FRANKS.

January 11, 1787.

My anxiety, my dear Sir, on the detention of the Morocco treaty is inexpressible. However cogent and necessary the motives which detain you, I should be deemed inexcusable were I to let such a safe opportunity as that by Colonel Blackden pass without sending the papers on to London. Mr. Jay complained that a treaty signed in June was not ratified in October. What will they say when they shall observe that the same treaty does not reach them till March, nine months? In the meantime, our whole commerce is paying a heavy tax for insurance till its publication. Can you fix a day as early as Monday or Tuesday for your departure, whether your baggage arrives or not, or would you rather decline the going with the papers? In the former case, if your baggage does not arrive before your departure, any orders you may think proper to leave respecting it, shall be punctually executed. I can send it to Mr. Simonson at Havre, so that it may go to America in the February packet. I shall see you at the Marquis's to-day, and we will speak about this matter.



TO MONSIEUR OTTO.

PARIS, January 14, 1787.

SIR,—I have been honored with your letter of October 15, and thank you for the intelligence it contained. I am able to make you but an unequal return for it, your friends here being so much more in condition to communicate to you interesting intelligence. With respect to the affairs of Holland, they do not promise arrangement. The interest which the King of Prussia takes in the affairs of the Stadtholder, seem to threaten an interruption of his cordiality with the country. The misunderstanding between the Kings of Spain and Naples, and a projected visit of the latter to Vienna, with the known influence of his Queen over him, are matter for some jealousy.

As to domestic news, the Assembly of Notables occupies all conversation. What will be the subjects of their deliberation is not yet declared. The establishment of provincial assemblies, tolerating the Protestant religion, removing the internal barriers to the frontiers, equalizing the Gabelles, sale of the King's domains, and, in short, every other possible reformation, are conjectured by different persons. I send you a pamphlet on the last Assembly of Notables, from which ideas are formed as to what this will be. Possibly you may receive the same from some of your friends. I send you, also, what it is less likely you should get from them, because it is next to impossible to get it at all—that is, a late memoir by Linquet, which has produced his perpetual exile from this country. To these I add a report written by M. Bailly, on the subject of the Hotel-Dieu of Paris, which has met a very general approbation. These are things for the day only. I recollect no work of any dignity which has been lately published. We shall very soon receive another volume on Mineralogy from M. de Buffon; and a third volume of the "Cultivator Americain" is in the press. So is a History of the American War, by a Monsieur Soules, the two first volumes of which, coming down to the capture of Burgoyne, I have seen, and think better than any I have seen. Mazzei will print soon two or three volumes 8vo. of "Recherches Historiques and Politiques sur les Etats Unis d'Amerique," which are sensible. We are flattered with the hopes that the packet boats will hereafter sail monthly from Havre, the first being to sail on the 10th of the next month. This is very desirable indeed, as it will furnish more frequent opportunities of correspondence between the two countries. If I can be made useful to you in any line whatever here, it will make me very happy. Being with sincere esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO MONSIEUR LE DUC D'HARCOURT, GOVERNEUR DU DAUPHIN.

PARIS, January 14, 1787.

SIR,—In the conversation with which you were pleased to honor me, a few days ago, on the enfranchisement of the port of Honfleur, I took the liberty of observing, that I was not instructed by my constituents to make any proposition on that subject. That it would be agreeable to them, however, I must suppose, because it will offer the following advantages:

1. It is a convenient entrepot for furnishing us with the manufactures of the northern parts of France, and particularly of Paris, and for receiving and distributing the productions of our country in exchange.

2. Cowes, on the opposite side of the channel, has heretofore been the deposit for a considerable part of our productions, landed in Great Britain in the first instance, but intended for re-exportation. From thence, our rice, particularly, has been distributed to France and other parts of Europe. I am not certain whether our tobaccos were deposited there, or carried to London to be sorted for the different markets. To draw this business from Cowes, no place is so favorably situated as Honfleur.

3. It would be a convenient deposit for our whale oil, of which, after the supply of Paris, there will be a surplus for re-exportation.

4. Should our fur trade be recovered out of the hands of the English, it will naturally come to Honfleur, as the port of Paris.

5. Salt is an important article in all our return cargoes; because, being carried as ballast, its freight costs nothing. But, on account of some regulations, with which I am not well acquainted, it cannot, at present, be shipped to advantage from any port on the Seine.

6. Our vessels being built sharp, for swift sailing, suffer extremely in most of the western ports of France, in which they are left on dry ground at every ebb of the tide. But at Honfleur, I am told, they can ride in bold water, on a good bottom and near the shore at all times.

These facts may, perhaps, throw some light on the question in which, for the good of both countries, you are pleased to interest yourself. I take the liberty, therefore, of barely mentioning them, and with the more pleasure, as it furnishes me an occasion of assuring you of those sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, your most obedient, humble servant.



TO MONSIEUR DE CREVE-COEUR.

PARIS, January 15, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—I see by the Journal of this morning, that they are robbing us of another of our inventions to give it to the English. The writer, indeed, only admits them to have revived what he thinks was known to the Greeks, that is, the making the circumference of a wheel of one single piece. The farmers in New Jersey were the first who practised it, and they practised it commonly. Dr. Franklin, in one of his trips to London, mentioned this practice to the man now in London, who has the patent for making those wheels. The idea struck him. The Doctor promised to go to his shop, and assist him in trying to make the wheel of one piece. The Jersey farmers do it by cutting a young sapling, and bending it, while green and juicy, into a circle; and leaving it so until it becomes perfectly seasoned. But in London there are no saplings. The difficulty was, then, to give to old wood the pliancy of young. The Doctor and the workman labored together some weeks, and succeeded; and the man obtained a patent for it, which has made his fortune. I was in his shop in London, he told me the whole story himself, and acknowledged, not only the origin of the idea, but how much the assistance of Dr. Franklin had contributed to perform the operation on dry wood. He spoke of him with love and gratitude. I think I have had a similar account from Dr. Franklin, but cannot be quite certain. I know, that being in Philadelphia when the first set of patent wheels arrived from London, and were spoken of by the gentleman (an Englishman) who brought them, as a wonderful discovery, the idea of its being a new discovery was laughed at by the Philadelphians, who, in their Sunday parties across the Delaware, had seen every farmer's cart mounted on such wheels. The writer in the paper, supposes the English workman got his idea from Homer. But it is more likely the Jersey farmer got his idea from thence, because ours are the only farmers who can read Homer; because, too, the Jersey practice is precisely that stated by Homer: the English practice very different. Homer's words are (comparing a young hero killed by Ajax to a poplar felled by a workman) literally thus: "He fell on the ground, like a poplar, which has grown smooth, in the west part of a great meadow; with its branches shooting from its summit. But the chariot maker, with the sharp axe, has felled it, that he may bend a wheel for a beautiful chariot. It lies drying on the banks of the river." Observe the circumstances which coincide with the Jersey practice. 1. It is a tree growing in a moist place, full of juices and easily bent. 2. It is cut while green. 3. It is bent into the circumference of a wheel. 4. It is left to dry in that form. You, who write French well and readily, should write a line for the Journal, to reclaim the honor of our farmers. Adieu. Yours affectionately.



TO COLONEL EDWARD CARRINGTON.

PARIS, January 16, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—Uncertain whether you might be at New York at the moment of Colonel Franks' arrival. I have enclosed my private letters for Virginia under cover to our delegation in general, which otherwise I would have taken the liberty to enclose particularly to you, as best acquainted with the situation of the persons to whom they are addressed. Should this find you at New York, I will still ask your attention to them.

In my letter to Mr. Jay, I have mentioned the meeting of the Notables, appointed for the 29th instant. It is now put off to the 7th or 8th of next month. This event, which will hardly excite any attention in America, is deemed here the most important one which has taken place in their civil line during the present century. Some promise their country great things from it, some nothing. Our friend de La Fayette was placed on the list originally. Afterwards his name disappeared, but finally was reinstated. This shows that his character here is not considered as an indifferent one, and that it excites agitation. His education in our school has drawn on him a very jealous eye from a court whose principles are the most absolute despotism. But I hope he has nearly passed his crisis. The King, who is a good man, is favorably disposed towards him, and he is supported by powerful family connections and by the public good will. He is the youngest man of the Notables except one whose office placed him on the list.

The Count de Vergennes has within these ten days had a very severe attack of what is deemed an unfixed gout. He has been well enough, however, to do business to-day. But anxieties for him are not yet quieted. He is a great and good minister, and an accident to him might endanger the peace of Europe.

The tumults in America I expected would have produced in Europe an unfavorable opinion of our political state. But it has not. On the contrary, the small effect of these tumults seems to have given more confidence in the firmness of our governments. The interposition of the people themselves on the side of government has had a great effect on the opinion here. I am persuaded myself that the good sense of the people will always be found to be the best army. They may be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. The people are the only censors of their governors; and even their errors will tend to keep these to the true principles of their institution. To punish these errors too severely would be to suppress the only safeguard of the public liberty. The way to prevent these irregular interpositions of the people, is to give them full information of their affairs through the channel of the public papers, and to contrive that those papers should penetrate the whole mass of the people. The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of reading them. I am convinced that those societies (as the Indians) which live without government, enjoy in their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than those who live under the European governments. Among the former, public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the latter, under pretence of governing, they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. The want of news has led me into disquisition instead of narration, forgetting you have every day enough of that. I shall be happy to hear from you sometimes, only observing that whatever passes through the post is read, and that when you write what should be read by myself only, you must be so good as to confide your letter to some passenger, or officer of the packet. I will ask your permission to write to you sometimes, and to assure you of the esteem and respect with which I have honor to be, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO M. DU RIVAL.

PARIS, January 17, 1787.

SIR,—You were pleased, in behalf of a friend, to ask information of me on the subject of the money of the United States of America, and I had the honor of informing you, by letter of November 7, that no regulations of their coin had then been made by Congress, as far as I knew. They had, however, entered into resolutions on that subject, which have since come to hand. A translation of these will be found in the Leyden Gazette of some few weeks ago. But it will be necessary to make the following corrections in the Gazette:

The Gazette dates the resolutions October 10; but they were of August 8. It gives only 365.64 grains of pure silver to the dollar; it should be 375.64. It states the pound of silver, with its alloy, to be worth 9.99 dollars only, whereas it is fixed at 13.777 dollars; and the pound of gold, with its alloy, being worth 209.77 dollars, gives the proportion of silver to gold as 1 to 15.225. These corrections being made, the resolutions as stated in the Leyden Gazette may be confided in.

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



TO MESSRS. S. AND J. H. DELAP.

PARIS, January 17, 1787.

GENTLEMEN,—I am honored this day by the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant. Having nothing to do with the matters of account of the United States in Europe, it is out of my power to say anything to you as to the payment of the balance due to you. Yet I think it would be proper for you to write to the "Commissioners of the Treasury," at New York, on this subject. They are the persons who are to pay it; and as their Board has been created since the debt was contracted, they may possibly need information on the subject.

As to your loan office certificates, you would do well to commit them to some correspondent in America. They will be settled by the table of depreciation at their true worth in gold or silver at the time the paper dollars were lent. On that true value the interest has been paid, and continues to be paid to the creditors annually in America. That the principal will also be paid, is as sure as any future fact can be. The epoch is not fixed. It is expected that the State of New York will shortly accede to the impost which has been proposed. When that shall be done, that impost will suffice to pay the interest, and sink the principal in a very few years. I have the honor to be, with much respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant.



TO M. SOULES.

PARIS, January 19, 1787.

SIR,—I have the honor of enclosing to you the sheets on the subject of Wyoming. I have had a long conversation with M. Creve-coeur on them. He knows well that canton. He was in the neighborhood of the place when it was destroyed, saw great numbers of the fugitives, aided them with his wagons, and had the story from all their mouths. He committed notes to writing at the moment, which are now in Normandy, at his father's. He has written for them, and they will be here in five or six days, when he premises to put them into my hands. He says there will be a great deal to alter in your narration, and that it must assume a different face, more favorable both to the British and Indians. His veracity may be relied on, and I told him I was sure your object was truth; and, to render your work estimable by that character, that I thought you would wait, and readily make any changes upon evidence which should be satisfactory to you. The moment I receive his notes I will communicate them to you, and have the honor to be, with much respect, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.



TO M. HILLIARD D'AUBERTEUIL.

PARIS, January 27, 1787.

SIR,—I duly received the letter you did me the honor to write, and the verses therein enclosed on the subject of M. de La Fayette. I have taken measures to present the public with this acceptable present; but the newspapers here are slow in complying with the applications addressed to them. It is not for a stranger to decide on the merits of poetry in a language foreign to him. Were I to presume to do it in this instance, I should certainly assign to this composition a high degree of approbation.

I wish it were in my power to furnish you with any materials for the history on which you are engaged, but I brought no papers of that kind with me from America. In a letter you did me the honor of writing me sometime ago, you seemed to suppose, you might go to America in quest of materials. Should you execute this idea, I should with great pleasure give any assistance in my power to obtain access for you to the several deposits of materials which are in that country. I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO CHEVALIER DE SEGOND.

PARIS, January 27, 1787.

SIR,—I have duly received the letter with which you have been pleased to honor me, complaining of the non-payment of interest on the sum due to you from the United States. I feel with great sensibility the weight of these complaints; but it is neither in my province, nor in my power, to remedy them. I am noways authorized to interfere with the money matters of the United States in Europe. These rest altogether between the Commissioners of the Treasury of the United States at New York and their bankers in Europe. Being informed, however, from Mr. Grand, that the funds appropriated to the payment of the foreign officers were exhausted, I took the liberty of representing strongly to the Commissioners the motives which should urge them to furnish new supplies. They assured me, in answer, that they would do it at the first moment it should be in their power. I am perfectly persuaded they will; however, I shall immediately forward to them the letter you have been pleased to address to me; and will observe to you, that it is to them alone, or to Congress, to whom you can make any future applications with effect.

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



TO JAMES MADISON.[2]

PARIS, January 30, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—My last to you was of the 16th of December; since which, I have received yours of November the 25th, and December the 4th, which afforded me, as your letters always do, a treat on matters public, individual and economical. I am impatient to learn your sentiments on the late troubles in the Eastern States. So far as I have yet seen, they do not appear to threaten serious consequences. Those States have suffered by the stoppage of the channels of their commerce, which have not yet found other issues. This must render money scarce, and make the people uneasy. This uneasiness has produced acts absolutely unjustifiable; but I hope they will provoke no severities from their governments. A consciousness of those in power that their administration of the public affairs has been honest, may perhaps, produce too great a degree of indignation; and those characters, wherein fear predominates over hope, may apprehend too much from these instances of irregularity. They may conclude too hastily, that nature has formed man insusceptible of any other government than that of force, a conclusion not founded in truth nor experience. Societies exist under three forms, sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under governments, wherein the will of every one has a just influence; as is the case in England, in a slight degree, and in our States, in a great one. 3. Under governments of force; as is the case in all other monarchies, and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence under these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem, not clear in my mind, that the first condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it. The mass of mankind under that, enjoys a precious degree of liberty and happiness. It has its evils, too; the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject. But weigh this against the oppressions of monarchy, and it becomes nothing. Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem. Even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to the public affairs. I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people, which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.

[2] The latter part of this letter is in cypher; but appended to the copy preserved, are explanatory notes, which have enabled us to publish it entire, except a few words, to which they afford no key. These are either marked thus * * *, or the words which the context seemed to require, inserted in italics.

If these transactions give me no uneasiness, I feel very differently at another piece of intelligence, to wit, the possibility that the navigation of the Mississippi may be abandoned to Spain. I never had any interest westward of the Alleghany; and I never will have any. But I have had great opportunities of knowing the character of the people who inhabit that country; and I will venture to say, that the act which abandons the navigation of the Mississippi is an act of separation between the eastern and western country. It is a relinquishment of five parts out of eight, of the territory of the United States; an abandonment of the fairest subject for the payment of our public debts, and the chaining those debts on our own necks, in perpetuum. I have the utmost confidence in the honest intentions of those who concur in this measure; but I lament their want of acquaintance with the character and physical advantages of the people, who, right or wrong, will suppose their interest sacrificed on this occasion, to the contrary interests of that part of the confederacy in possession of present power. If they declare themselves a separate people, we are incapable of a single effort to retain them. Our citizens can never be induced, either as militia or as soldiers, to go there to cut the throats of their own brothers and sons, or rather, to be themselves the subjects, instead of the perpetrators of the parricide. Nor would that country quit the cost of being retained against the will of its inhabitants, could it be done. But it cannot be done. They are able already to rescue the navigation of the Mississippi out of the hands of Spain, and to add New Orleans to their own territory. They will be joined by the inhabitants of Louisiana. This will bring on a war between them and Spain; and that will produce the question with us, whether it will not be worth our while to become parties with them in the war, in order to re-unite them with us, and thus correct our error? And were I to permit my forebodings to go one step further, I should predict that the inhabitants of the United States would force their rulers to take the affirmative of that question. I wish I may be mistaken in all these opinions.

We have, for some time, expected that the Chevalier de La Luzerne would obtain a promotion in the diplomatic line, by being appointed to some of the courts where this country keeps an ambassador. But none of the vacancies taking place, which had been counted on, I think the present disposition is, to require his return to his station in America. He told me himself, lately, that he should return in the spring. I have never pressed this matter on the court, though I knew it to be desirable and desired on our part; because, if the compulsion on him to return had been the work of Congress, he would have returned in such ill temper with them, as to disappoint them in the good they expected from it. He would forever have laid at their door his failure of promotion. I did not press it for another reason, which is, that I have great reason to believe that the character of the Count de Moutier, who would go, were the Chevalier to be otherwise provided for, would give the most perfect satisfaction in America.

As you have now returned into Congress, it will become of importance that you should form a just estimate of certain public characters: on which, therefore, I will give you such notes, as my knowledge of them has furnished me with. You will compare them with the materials you are otherwise possessed of, and decide on a view of the whole.

You know the opinion I formerly entertained of my friend, Mr. Adams. * * * and the Governor were the first who shook that opinion. I afterwards saw proofs which convicted him of a degree of vanity, and of a blindness to it, of which no germ appeared in Congress. A seven months' intimacy with him here, and as many weeks in London, have given me opportunities of studying him closely. He is vain, irritable, and a bad calculator of the force and probable effect of the motives which govern men. This is all the ill which can possibly be said of him. He is as disinterested as the being who made him: he is profound in his views; and accurate in his judgment, except where knowledge of the world is necessary to form a judgment. He is so amiable, that I pronounce you will love him, if ever you become acquainted with him. He would be, as he was, a great man in Congress.

Mr. Carmichael is, I think, very little known in America. I never saw him, and while I was in Congress I formed rather a disadvantageous idea of him. His letters, received then, showed him vain, and more attentive to ceremony and etiquette, than we suppose men of sense should be. I have now a constant correspondence with him, and find him a little hypochondriac and discontented. He possesses a very good understanding, though not of the first order. I have had great opportunities of searching into his character, and have availed myself of them. Many persons of different nations, coming from Madrid to Paris, all speak of him as in high esteem, and I think it certain that he has more of the Count de Florida Blanca's friendship, than any diplomatic character at that court. As long as this minister is in office, Carmichael can do more than any other person who could be sent there.

You will see Franks, and doubtless he will be asking some appointment. I wish there may be any one for which he is fit. He is light, indiscreet, active, honest, affectionate. Though Bingham is not in diplomatic office, yet as he wishes to be so, I will mention such circumstances of him, as you might otherwise be deceived in. He will make you believe he was on the most intimate footing with the first characters in Europe, and versed in the secrets of every cabinet. Not a word of this is true. He had a rage for being presented to great men, and had no * * * in the methods by which he could effect it. * * * * *

The Marquis de La Fayette is a most valuable auxiliary to me. His zeal is unbounded, and his weight with those in power, great. His education having been merely military, commerce was an unknown field to him. But his good sense enabling him to comprehend perfectly whatever is explained to him, his agency has been very efficacious. He has a great deal of sound genius, is well remarked by the King, and rising in popularity. He has nothing against him, but the suspicion of republican principles. I think he will one day be of the ministry. His foible is, a canine appetite for popularity and fame; but he will get above this. The Count de Vergennes is ill. The possibility of his recovery, renders it dangerous for us to express a doubt of it; but he is in danger. He is a great minister in European affairs, but has very imperfect ideas of our institutions, and no confidence in them. His devotion to the principles of pure despotism, renders him unaffectionate to our governments. But his fear of England makes him value us as a make weight. He is cool, reserved in political conversations, but free and familiar on other subjects, and a very attentive, agreeable person to do business with. It is impossible to have a clearer, better organized head; but age has chilled his heart.

Nothing should be spared, on our part, to attach this country to us. It is the only one on which we can rely for support, under every event. Its inhabitants love us more, I think, than they do any other nation on earth. This is very much the effect of the good dispositions with which the French officers returned. In a former letter, I mentioned to you the dislocation of my wrist. I can make not the least use of it, except for the single article of writing, though it is going on five months since the accident happened. I have great anxieties, lest I should never recover any considerable use of it. I shall, by the advice of my surgeons, set out in a fortnight for the waters of Aix, in Provence. I chose these out of several they proposed to me, because if they fail to be effectual, my journey will not be useless altogether. It will give me an opportunity of examining the canal of Languedoc, and of acquiring knowledge of that species of navigation, which may be useful hereafter; but more immediately, it will enable me to make the tour of the ports concerned in commerce with us, to examine, on the spot, the defects of the late regulations respecting our commerce, to learn the further improvements which may be made in it, and on my return, to get this business finished. I shall be absent between two and three months, unless anything happens to recall me here sooner, which may always be effected in ten days, in whatever part of my route I may be.

In speaking of characters, I omitted those of Reyneval and Hennin, the two eyes of Count de Vergennes. The former is the most important character, because possessing the most of the confidence of the Count. He is rather cunning than wise, his views of things being neither great nor liberal. He governs himself by principles which he has learned by rote, and is fit only for the details of execution. His heart is susceptible of little passions, but not of good ones. He is brother-in-law to M. Gerard, from whom he received disadvantageous impressions of us, which cannot be effaced. He has much duplicity. Hennin is a philosopher, sincere, friendly, liberal, learned, beloved by everybody; the other by nobody. I think it a great misfortune that the United States are in the department of the former. As particulars of this kind may be useful to you, in your present situation, I may hereafter continue the chapter. I know it will be safely lodged in your discretion.

Feb. 5. Since writing thus far, Franks has returned from England. I learn that Mr. Adams desires to be recalled, and that Smith should be appointed Charge des Affaires there. It is not for me to decide whether any diplomatic character should be kept at a court, which keeps none with us. You can judge of Smith's abilities by his letters. They are not of the first order, but they are good. For his honesty, he is like our friend Monroe; turn his soul wrong side outwards, and there is not a speck on it. He has one foible, an excessive inflammability of temper, but he feels it when it comes on, and has resolution enough to suppress it, and to remain silent till it passes over.

I send you, by Colonel Franks, your pocket telescope, walking stick and chemical box. The two former could not be combined together. The latter could not be had in the form you referred to. Having a great desire to have a portable copying machine, and being satisfied, from some experiments, that the principle of the large machine might be applied in a small one, I planned one when in England, and had it made. It answers perfectly. I have since set a workman to making them here, and they are in such demand that he has his hands full. Being assured that you will be pleased to have one, when you shall have tried its convenience, I send you one by Colonel Franks. The machine costs ninety-six livres, the appendages twenty-four livres, and I send you paper and ink for twelve livres; in all, one hundred and thirty-two livres. There is a printed paper of directions; but you must expect to make many essays before you succeed perfectly. A soft brush, like a shaving brush, is more convenient than the sponge. You can get as much ink and paper as you please from London. The paper costs a guinea a ream. I am, dear Sir, with sincere esteem and affection, your most obedient humble servant.



TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, February 1, 1787.

SIR,—My last letters were of the 31st of December, and 9th of January; since which last date, I have been honored with yours of December the 13th and 14th. I shall pay immediate attention to your instructions relative to the South Carolina frigate. I had the honor of informing you of an improvement in the art of coining, made here by one Drost, and of sending you, by Colonel Franks, a specimen of his execution in gold and silver. I expected to have sent also a coin of copper. The enclosed note from Drost will explain the reason why this was not sent. It will let you see also, that he may be employed; as I suppose he is not so certain as he was of being engaged here. Mr. Grand, who knows him, gives me reason to believe he may be engaged reasonably. Congress will decide whether it be worth their attention.

In some of my former letters, I suggested an opportunity of obliging this court, by borrowing as much money in Holland as would pay the debt due here, if such a loan could be obtained; as to which, I was altogether ignorant. To save time, I wrote to Mr. Dumas, to know whether he thought it probable a loan could be obtained, enjoining on him the strictest secrecy, and informing him I was making the inquiry merely of my own motion, and without instruction. I enclose you his answer. He thinks purchasers of the debt could be found, with a sacrifice of a small part of the capital, and a postponement be obtained of some of the first reimbursements. The proposition by him, for an immediate adoption of this measure by me, was probably urged on his mind by a desire to serve our country, more than a strict attention to my duty, and the magnitude of the object. I hope, on the contrary, that if it should be thought worth a trial, it may be put into the hands of Mr. Adams, who knows the ground, and is known there, and whose former successful negotiations in this line, would give better-founded hopes of success on this occasion.

I formerly mentioned to you the hopes of preferment, entertained by the Chevalier de La Luzerne. They have been baffled by events; none of the vacancies taking place which had been expected. Had I pressed his being ordered back, I have reason to believe the order would have been given. But he would have gone back in ill humor with Congress, he would have laid forever at their door the failure of a promotion then viewed as certain; and this might have excited dispositions that would have disappointed us of the good we hoped from his return. The line I have observed with him has been, to make him sensible that nothing was more desired by Congress than his return, but that they would not willingly press it, so as to defeat him of a personal advantage. He sees his prospects fail, and will return in the approaching spring, unless something unexpected should turn up in his favor. In this case, the Count de Moutier has the promise of succeeding to him, and, if I do not mistake his character, he would give great satisfaction. So that I think you may calculate on seeing one or the other, by midsummer.

It had been suspected that France and England might adopt those concerted regulations of commerce for their West Indies, of which your letter expresses some apprehensions. But the expressions in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 18th, and other articles of their treaty, which communicate to the English the privileges of the most favored European nation only, has lessened, if not removed those fears. They have clearly reserved a right of favoring, specially, any nation not European; and there is no nation out of Europe, who could so probably have been in their eye at that time, as ours. They are wise. They must see it probable, at least, that any concert with England, will be but of short duration; and they could hardly propose to sacrifice for that, a connection with us, which may be perpetual.

We have been for some days in much inquietude for the Count de Vergennes. He is very seriously ill. Nature seems struggling to decide his disease into a gout. A swelled foot, at present, gives us a hope of this issue. His loss would at all times have been great; but it would be immense during the critical poise of European affairs existing at this moment. I enclose you a letter from one of the foreign officers, complaining of the non-payment of their interest. It is only one out of many I have received. This is accompanied by a second copy of the Moorish declaration sent me by Mr. Barclay. He went to Alicant to settle with Mr. Lambe; but on his arrival there, found he was gone to Minorca. A copy of his letter will inform you of this circumstance, and of some others relative to Algiers, with his opinion on them. Whatever the States may enable Congress to do for obtaining the peace of that country, it is a separate question whether they will redeem our captives, how, and at what price. If they decide to redeem them, I will beg leave to observe, that it is of great importance that the first redemption be made at as low a price as possible, because it will form the future tariff. If these pirates find that they can have a very great price for Americans, they will abandon proportionably their pursuits against other nations, to direct them towards ours. That the choice of Congress may be enlarged, as to the instruments they may use for effecting the redemption, I think it my duty to inform them, that there is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is to beg alms for the redemption of captives. They keep members always in Barbary, searching out the captives of their country, and redeem, I believe, on better terms than any other body, public or private. It occurred to me, that their agency might be obtained for the redemption of our prisoners at Algiers. I obtained conference with the General, and with some members of the order. The General, with all the benevolence and cordiality possible, undertook to act for us, if we should desire it. He told me that their last considerable redemption was of about three hundred prisoners, who cost them somewhat upwards of fifteen hundred livres apiece; but that they should not be able to redeem ours as cheap as they do their own; and that it must be absolutely unknown that the public concern themselves in the operation, or the price would be greatly enhanced. The difference of religion was not once mentioned, nor did it appear to me to be thought of. It was a silent reclamation and acknowledgment of fraternity, between two religions of the same family, which historical events of ancient date had rendered more hostile to one another, than to their common adversaries. I informed the General, that I should communicate the good dispositions of his order to those who alone had the authority to decide whatever related to our captives. Mr. Carmichael informs me, that moneys have been advanced for the support of our prisoners at Algiers, which ought to be replaced. I infer from the context of his letter, that these advances have been made by the court of Madrid. I submit the information to Congress.

A treaty of commerce is certainly concluded between France and Russia. The particulars of it are yet secret.

I enclose the gazettes of France and Leyden to this time, and have the honor of assuring you of those sentiments of perfect esteem and respect with which I am, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO M. SOULES.

February 2, 1787.

SIR,—I send you the papers M. de Creve-coeur sent to Normandy for. The account of the destruction of Wyoming begins page 40. You may rely certainly on the author's facts, and you will be easily able to separate from them his reflections. You can best judge whether an account of that interesting settlement, condensed into a few lines, might not form an agreeable episode in your history, and prepare the mind more awfully for its final catastrophe. I will thank you to return these papers as soon as you are done with them, that I may restore them to the hands of M. de Creve-coeur before my departure, which will now be in a few days. I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant.



TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.

PARIS, February 6, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—Your favors by Colonel Franks have come safely to hand. He will set out from thence the 8th instant. The packet being to sail from Havre the 10th, I enclose you the copy of a letter lately received from Mr. Barclay, and of the paper it enclosed. In a letter from Mr. Carmichael, is a postscript, dated December 25, in the following words: "Since writing the preceding, the Portuguese Ambassador has pressed me to hint, that the present moment is favorable to push our treaty with the court." In the body of the letter he says: "The Count de Expilly has promised me to continue his attention to our prisoners during his stay at Algiers; and I have also engaged the Consul of Spain, who remains there on his return, to take care of them. Advances have been made for their support which ought to be refunded." I suppose these advances have been made by order of Mr. Lambe, and that his powers being at an end, it will be incumbent on us to take measures on that subject. The Count de Vergennes is extremely ill. His disease is gouty. We have for some days had hopes it would fix itself decidedly in the foot. It shows itself there at times, as also in the shoulder, the stomach, &c. Monsieur de Calonne is likewise ill, but his complaints are of a rheumatic kind, which he has often had before. The illness of these two ministers occasioned the postponement of the Assembly of the Notables to the 14th, and probably will yet postpone it. Nothing is yet known of the objects of that meeting. I send you a pamphlet giving a summary account of all the meetings of a general nature which have taken place heretofore. The treaty between Prussia and this country is certainly concluded, but its contents are not yet known. I shall set out for the waters of Aix on the 13th instant, so that I am unable to say when and whence I shall have the honor of addressing you again. But I take measures for the conveying to me on my road all letters, so that should anything extraordinary require it, I can at all times be recalled to Paris in a fortnight. I shall hope to hear from you at times, as if I were in Paris. I thank you much for the valuable present of your book. The subject of it is interesting, and I am sure it is well treated. I shall take it on my journey, that I may have time to study it. You told me once, you had thought of writing on hereditary aristocracy. I wish you would carry it into execution. It would make a proper sequel to the present work. I wish you all possible happiness, and have the honor to be, with sentiments of sincere esteem and affection, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO MRS. BINGHAM.

PARIS, February 7, 1787.

I know, Madam, that the twelve month is not yet expired; but it will be, nearly, before this will have the honor of being put into your hands. You are then engaged to tell me, truly and honestly, whether you do not find the tranquil pleasures of America, preferable to the empty bustle of Paris. For, to what does that bustle tend? At eleven o'clock, it is day, chez madame. The curtains are drawn. Propped on bolsters and pillows, and her head scratched into a little order, the bulletins of the sick are read, and the billets of the well. She writes to some of her acquaintance, and receives the visits of others. If the morning is not very thronged, she is able to get out and hobble round the cage of the Palais Royal; but she must hobble quickly, for the coiffeur's turn is come; and a tremendous turn it is! Happy, if he does not make her arrive when dinner is half over! The torpitude of digestion a little passed, she flutters half an hour through the streets, by way of paying visits, and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half hour is devoted to dodging in and out of the doors of her very sincere friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; and after cards, bed; to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like a mill horse, the same trodden circle over again. Thus the days of life are consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment; ever flying from the ennui of that, yet carrying it with us; eternally in pursuit of happiness, which keeps eternally before us. If death or bankruptcy happen to trip us out of the circle, it is matter for the buzz of the evening, and is completely forgotten by the next morning. In America, on the other hand, the society of your husband, the fond cares for the children, the arrangements of the house, the improvements of the grounds, fill every moment with a healthy and an useful activity. Every exertion is encouraging, because, to present amusement, it joins the promise of some future good. The intervals of leisure are filled by the society of real friends, whose affections are not thinned to cob-web, by being spread over a thousand objects. This is the picture, in the light it is presented to my mind; now let me have it in yours. If we do not concur this year, we shall the next; or if not then, in a year or two more. You see I am determined not to suppose myself mistaken.

To let you see that Paris is not changed in its pursuits, since it was honored with your presence, I send you its monthly history. But this relating only to the embellishments of their persons, I must add, that those of the city go on well also. A new bridge, for example, is begun at the Place Louis Quinze; the old ones are clearing off the rubbish which encumbered them in the form of houses; new hospitals erecting; magnificent walls of inclosure, and Custom-houses at their entrances, &c., &c., &c. I know of no interesting change among those whom you honored with your acquaintance, unless Monsieur de Saint James was of that number. His bankruptcy, and taking asylum in the Bastile, have furnished matter of astonishment. His garden, at the Pont de Neuilly, where, on seventeen acres of ground, he had laid out fifty thousand louis, will probably sell for somewhat less money. The workmen of Paris are making rapid strides towards English perfection. Would you believe, that in the course of the last two years, they have learned even to surpass their London rivals in some articles? Commission me to have you a phaeton made, and, if it is not as much handsomer than a London one, as that is than a Fiacre, send it back to me. Shall I fill the box with caps, bonnets, &c.? Not of my own choosing, but—I was going to say, of Mademoiselle Bertin's, forgetting, for the moment, that she too is a bankrupt. They shall be chosen then by whom you please; or, if you are altogether nonplused by her eclipse, we will call an Assemblee des Notables to help you out of the difficulty, as is now the fashion. In short, honor me with your commands of any kind, and they shall be faithfully executed. The packets now established from Havre to New York, furnish good opportunities of sending whatever you wish.

I shall end where I began, like a Paris day, reminding you of your engagement to write me a letter of respectable length, an engagement the more precious to me, as it has furnished the occasion, after presenting my respects to Mr. Bingham, of assuring you of the sincerity of those sentiments of esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be, dear Madam, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO GOVERNOR RANDOLPH.

PARIS, February 7, 1787.

SIR,—I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency, a report of the proceedings on the inauguration of the bust of the Marquis de La Fayette in this city. This has been attended with a considerable, but a necessary delay. The principle that the King is the sole fountain of honor in this country opposed a barrier to our desires, which threatened to be insurmountable. No instance of a similar proposition from a foreign power, had occurred in their history. The admitting it in this case, is a singular proof of the King's friendly disposition towards the States of America, and of his personal esteem for the Marquis de La Fayette.

I take this, the earliest occasion, of congratulating my country on your Excellency's appointment to the chair of government, and of assuring you with great sincerity, of those sentiments of perfect esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, February 8, 1787.

SIR,—The packet being to sail the day after tomorrow, I have awaited the last possible moment of writing by her, in hopes I might be able to announce some favorable change in the situation of the Count de Vergennes. But none has occurred, and in the meantime he has become weaker by the continuance of his illness. Though not desperately ill, he is dangerously so. The Comptroller General, M. de Calonnes, has been very ill also, but he is getting well. These circumstances have occasioned the postponement of the Assemblee des Notables to the 14th instant, and will probably occasion a further postponement. As I shall set out this day sennight for the waters of Aix, you will probably hear the issue of the Count de Vergennes' illness through some other channel, before I shall have the honor of addressing you again. I may observe the same, as to the final decision for the effranchisement of Honfleur, which is in a fair way of being speedily concluded. The exertions of Monsieur de Creve-coeur, and particularly his influence with the Duke d'Harcourt, the principal instrument in effecting it, have been of chief consequence in this matter.

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



TO MR. DUMAS.

PARIS, February 9, 1787.

SIR,—My last to you was dated December 25th; since which I have been honored with your several favors of December the 29th, January the 5th, 9th and 23d. I thought that your affairs could not be more interesting than they have been for a considerable time. Yet in the present moment they are become more so, by the apparent withdrawing of so considerable a personage in the drama, as the King of Prussia. To increase this interest, another person, whose importance scarcely admits calculation, is in a situation which fills us with alarm. Nature is struggling to relieve him by a decided gout; she has my sincere prayers to aid her, as I am persuaded she has yours. I have letters and papers from America, as late as the 15th of December. The government of Massachusetts had imprisoned three of the leaders of their insurgents. The insurgents, being collected to the number of three or four hundred, had sent in their petition to the government, praying another act of pardon for their leaders and themselves, and, on this condition, offering to go every man home, and conduct himself dutifully afterwards. This is the latest intelligence.

I thank you for your attention to the question I had taken the liberty of proposing to you. I think with you, that it would be advisable to have our debt transferred to individuals of your country. There could, and would be no objection to the guarantee remaining as you propose; and a postponement of the first payments of capital, would surely be a convenience to us. For though the resources of the United States are great and growing, and their dispositions good, yet their machine is new, and they have not got it to go well. It is the object of their general wish at present, and they are all in movement, to set it in a good train; but their movements are necessarily slow. They will surely effect it in the end, because all have the same end in view; the difficulty being only to get all the thirteen States to agree on the same means. Divesting myself of every partiality, and speaking from that thorough knowledge which I have of the country, their resources and their principles, I had rather trust money in their hands, than in that of any government on earth; because, though for awhile the payments of the interest might be less regular, yet the final reimbursement of the capital would be more sure.

I set out next week for the south of France, to try whether some mineral waters in that quarter, much recommended, will restore the use of my hand. I shall be absent from Paris two or three months; but I take arrangements for the regular receipt of your favors, as if I were here. It will be better, however, for you to put your letters to Mr. Jay, under cover to Mr. Short, who remains here, and will forward them.

I have thought it my duty to submit to Congress the proposition about the French debt, and may expect their answer in four months.

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



TO MESSRS. BORGNIS DESBORDES FRERES.

PARIS, February 12, 1787.

GENTLEMEN,—Mr. Barclay, the American Consul General for France, being at present out of the kingdom, I have given orders to Mr. Grand, banker at Paris, to pay your draught for one hundred and eighty-six livres, advanced by you for the relief of the shipwrecked Americans. I thank you for your attention to these unfortunate people. It will rest with Mr. Barclay to give such future directions as he shall think proper for cases of this kind, which properly fall within the consular department. A certainty that your kindness will meet his thanks, and that my interference in his absence will be approved, has engaged me to do it without any hesitation. I am just setting out on a journey of two or three months, but Mr. Grand, as I have before mentioned, will pay your draught for the 168 livres whenever you shall be pleased to make it. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.

PARIS, February 14, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—As I propose to write you on business by Mr. Cairnes, who will set out in a few days for London, the object of the present letter is only to inform you that the Count de Vergennes died yesterday morning, and that the Count de Montmorin is appointed his successor, and further to beg the favor of you to forward the enclosed by the first vessel from London. I set out on my journey on Sunday the 18th. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of very sincere affection and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, February 14, 1787.

SIR,—In the letter of the 8th instant, which I had the honor of writing you, I informed you that the Count de Vergennes was dangerously ill. He died yesterday morning, and the Count de Montmorin is appointed his successor. Your personal knowledge of this gentleman, renders it unnecessary for me to say anything of him.

Mr. Morris, during his office, being authorized to have the medals and swords executed, which had been ordered by Congress, he authorized Colonel Humphreys to take measures here for the execution. Colonel Humphreys did so; and the swords were finished in time for him to carry them. The medals not being finished, he desired me to attend to them. The workman who was to make that of General Greene, brought me yesterday, the medal in gold, twenty-three in copper, and the dye. Mr. Short, during my absence, will avail himself of the first occasion which shall offer, of forwarding the medals to you. I must beg leave, through you, to ask the pleasure of Congress as to the number they would choose to have struck. Perhaps they might be willing to deposit one of each person, in every college of the United States. Perhaps they might choose to give a series of them, to each of the crowned heads of Europe, which would be an acceptable present to them. They will be pleased to decide. In the meantime, I have sealed up the dye, and shall retain it till I am honored with their orders as to this medal, and the others also, when they shall be finished.

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



TO M. LE PREVOT DES MARCHANDS ET ECHEVINS DE PARIS.

PARIS, February 18, 1787.

SIR,—I am now to acknowledge the receipt of the letter with which you have been pleased to honor me, together with the report on the inauguration of the bust of the Major General the Marquis de La Fayette. I availed myself of an opportunity which offered in the moment, of transmitting them to the State of Virginia, with a faithful representation of the favor with which the Prevot des Marchands et Echevins de Paris received their proposition, the zeal with which it was pursued, and the dignity of its ultimate execution. Knowing the attachment of my country to the character which was the subject of that transaction, and the price they will set on the attentions of the magistracy of Paris, I am safe in assuring you that they will feel themselves infinitely obliged on this occasion.

The interest you are pleased to take in the happiness of our infant States, your judicious admonitions as to the means of preserving it, and the terms in which you particularly honor some of their members, require my personal thanks, which I humbly offer, with all those sentiments of homage and respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO MR. CARMICHAEL.

PARIS, February 18, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—My last to you was dated December 26, since which I have been honored with yours of December 17. I now enclose you a duplicate of the vote for the recall of Mr. Lambe. I take the liberty, also, of putting under cover to you our confirmation of the Morocco treaty, together with a joint letter to Fennish. The fear that Mr. Barclay might not be at Madrid has occasioned my giving you this trouble, as well as that of addressing the letter properly, and of having it transmitted.

I have received from Mr. Jay sundry despatches relative to the frigate the South Carolina, and to a claim against the Court of Madrid founded on the aid of that vessel in taking the Bahama and Providence islands, with an instruction from Congress to confer with the Prince of Luxembourg, and get him to interest the Duke de La Vauguyon to join you in your solicitations of this matter. This is accordingly done, and you will have the aid of the Duke. The despatches relative to this subject, I have sealed up and addressed to you, but they will be delivered to the Duke de La Vauguyon, to find a safe occasion of forwarding them. My last news from America was of the 15th of December. The insurgents of Massachusetts had sent in a petition to their government, praying the release of their leaders in jail, and an act of pardon for themselves, and offering thereon to retire every man to his home and to live submissively. You will have heard of the death of the Count de Vergennes, and appointment of Mons. de Montmorin. I was unlucky enough five months ago to dislocate my right wrist, and though well set, I have as yet no use of it, except that I can write, but in pain. I am advised to try the use of mineral waters, and those of Aix in Provence being as much recommended as any others, I combine with this object a design of making the tour of those seaports with which we trade, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, &c, and shall set out the day after to-morrow, and expect to be absent three months. This may probably prevent my having the honor of writing to you during that interval, unless anything extraordinary should arise. I take measures for the receipt of all letters addressed to me as regularly as were I here. I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO MR. BARCLAY.

PARIS, February 18, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—I am now to acknowledge your separate favors of December 4th, and January 6th, and the joint one to Mr. Adams and myself of January 6th; this last has been communicated to Congress, and to Mr. Adams. You have my full and hearty approbation of the treaty you obtained from Morocco, which is better and on better terms than I expected. Mr. Adams and myself have annexed our confirmation to two of the copies, one of which is gone to Congress; the other, with a joint letter to Fennish, I now enclose to Mr. Carmichael, apprehending you are not in Madrid. I concur clearly with you in opinion that, for many reasons, Mr. Carmichael would be a proper person to negotiate our business with Algiers, if it be negotiable with such means as we possess. I have expressed, this opinion in my letters to America, but I am sure we cannot raise the money necessary. Colonel Franks was gone to London before I received your letter. He returned and embarked in the packet for Havre, but nothing was done on the subject of accounts or money. I was unlucky enough to dislocate my right wrist five months ago, and though it was well set, I can yet make no use of it but to write. I am advised to try mineral waters, and those of Aix in Provence, being as much recommended as any others, I am induced to go to them by the desire of making the tour of the ports with which we trade, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Nantes, &c. I set out in two days and shall be absent three months. The packets are finally fixed at Havre. They sail every six weeks. Honfleur will, I think, certainly be made a free port; and I flatter myself will become the centre for much of our trade, and particularly that of rice. The death of Count de Vergennes, and appointment of Monsieur de Montmorin, will reach you before this letter does. I have letters, &c., from America as late as the 15th of December. The insurgents of Massachusetts had prayed pardon for themselves and their leaders in jail, and on these terms had offered to retire and live peaceably at home. Mrs. Barclay and your family are well, except they are somewhat apprehensive of a film growing over the eye of your youngest daughter; but should it do so, it will be easily removed. I have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN ADAMS.

PARIS, February 20, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of January 25th. Colonel Franks sailed in the packet of this month from Havre for New York. The arrangement of the packets opens a direct communication between Paris and America, and if we succeed, as I expect we will, in getting Honfleur made a free port, I hope to see that place become the deposit for our whale oil, rice, tobacco and furs, and that, from thence, what is not wanted in the country may be distributed to others. You remember giving me a letter of credit on Messrs. Willinck and Staphorst for one thousand guineas to pay for the swords and medals. When the swords were finished, I drew on the Vandemjers, with whom the money was deposited, for sixty-five thousand livres, to pay for the swords. They paid it. A medal is now finished, and others will very soon be. But these gentlemen say they must have fresh orders. In the meantime, the workmen complain. Will you be so good as to draw in favor of Mr. Grand on Willinck, &c, for the balance of the thousand guineas (which is about the sum that will be necessary), and send the bill to Mr. Grand, who, in my absence, will negotiate it and pay the workmen. I enclose you Vandemjers' answer. The meeting of the Notables on Thursday, and the necessity of paying my court to our new minister, will detain me till Friday, and perhaps till Tuesday next. Nothing is known yet of the objects of this Assembly. I enclose you two new pamphlets relative to it, and will inform you of whatever I can discover relative to it during my stay. I learn with real pain the resolution you have taken of quitting Europe. Your presence on this side the Atlantic gave me a confidence that, if any difficulties should arise within my department, I should always have one to advise with, on whose counsels I could rely. I shall now feel bewidowed. I do not wonder at your being tired out by the conduct of the court you are at. But is there not room to do a great deal of good for us in Holland in the department of money? No one can do it as well as yourself. But you have taken your resolution on mature consideration, and I have nothing to offer, therefore, but my regrets. If anything transpires from the Notables before my departure worth communication, you shall yet hear from me. In the meantime, believe me to be, with sincere esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO HIS EXCELLENCY MR. ADAMS.

PARIS, February 23, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—The Notables met yesterday; the King opened the Assembly with a short speech, wherein he expressed his inclination to consult with them on the affairs of his kingdom, to receive their opinions on the plans he had digested, and to endeavor to imitate the head of his family, Henry IV., whose name is so dear to the nation. The speech was affectionate. The Garde des Sceaux spoke about twenty minutes, complimented the clergy, the noblesse, the magistrates and tiers etats. The Comptroller General spoke about an hour. He enumerated the expenses necessary to arrange his department when he came into it; he said his returns had been minutely laid before the King; he took a review of the preceding administrations, and more particularly of Mr. Neckar's; he detailed the improvement which had been made; he portrayed the present state of the finances, and sketched the several schemes proposed for their improvement; he spoke on a change in the form of the taxes, the removal of the interior custom-houses to the frontiers, provincial administrations and some other objects. The Assembly was then divided into committees. To-day, there was to be another grand Assembly, the plans more fully explained and referred to the discussion of the committees. The grand Assembly will meet once a week and vote individually. The propriety of my attending the first audience day of Count Montmorin, which will not be till the 27th, retards my departure till then.

I have read your book with infinite satisfaction and improvement. It will do great good in America. Its learning and its good sense will, I hope, make it an institute for our politicians, old as well as young. There is one opinion in it, however, which I will ask you to reconsider, because it appears to me not entirely accurate, and not likely to do good. Page 362, "Congress is not a legislative, but a diplomatic assembly." Separating into parts the whole sovereignty of our States, some of these parts are yielded to Congress. Upon these I should think them both legislative and executive, and that would have been judiciary also, had not the confederation required them for certain purposes to appoint a judiciary. It has accordingly been the decision of our courts that the confederation is a part of the law of the land, and superior in authority to the ordinary laws, because it cannot be altered by the legislature of any one State. I doubt whether they are at all a diplomatic assembly. On the first news of this work there were proposals to translate it. Fearing it might be murdered in that operation, I endeavored to secure a good translator. This is done, and I lend him my copy to translate from. It will be immediately announced to keep others from attempting it. I am, with sincere esteem and respect, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO JOHN JAY.

PARIS, February 23, 1787.

SIR,—The Assemblee des Notables being an event in the history of this country which excites notice, I have supposed it would not be disagreeable to you to learn its immediate objects, though no way connected with our interests. The Assembly met yesterday; the King, in a short but affectionate speech, informed them of his wish to consult with them on the plans he had digested, and on the general good of his people, and his desire to imitate the head of his family, Henry IV., whose memory is so dear to the nation. The Garde des Sceaux then spoke about twenty minutes, chiefly in compliment to the orders present. The Comptroller General, in a speech of about an hour, opened the budget, and enlarged on the several subjects which will be under their deliberation. He explained the situation of the finances at his accession to office, the expenses which their arrangement had rendered necessary, their present state, with the improvements made in them, the several plans which had been proposed for their future improvement, a change in the form of some of their taxes, the removal of the interior custom-houses to the frontiers, and the institution of Provincial Assemblies. The Assembly was then divided into committees, with a prince of the blood at the head of each. In this form, they are to discuss separately the subjects which will be submitted to them. Their decision will be reported by two members to the minister, who, on view of the separate decisions of all the committees, will make such changes in his plans as will best accommodate them to their views, without too much departing from his own, and will then submit them to the vote (but I believe not to the debate) of the General Assembly, which will be convened for this purpose one day in every week, and will vote individually.

The event of the Count de Vergennes' death, of which I had the honor to inform you in a letter of the 14th instant, the appointment of the Count Montmorin, and the propriety of my attending at his first audience, which will be on the 27th, have retarded the journey I had proposed, a few days.

I shall hope, on my return, to meet here new powers for the consular convention, as under those I have, it will be impossible to make the changes in the convention which may be wished for.

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



TO RICHARD PETERS.

PARIS, February 26, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—Your favor of October 1, covering the letter and bill to Captain Capitaine, did not come to my hands till yesterday. I wrote to him immediately, to inform him it should be delivered here at any moment. We talk and think of nothing here but the Assemblee des Notables. Were all the puns collected, to which this Assembly has given rise, I think they would make a larger volume than the "Encyclopedie." The government is said to want eighty millions of livres revenue more than they have. They propose to give to the people provincial administrations, and to make other improvements. It is a pity they had not more of the virtue called economy, of which we have something to spare. I hope the company of Mrs. Peters and your little ones have cured all your aches and pains both of body and mind. That you and they may continue forever clear of them, is the sincere prayer of, dear Sir, your friend and servant.



TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

PARIS, February 28, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—I am just now in the moment of my departure. Monsieur de Montmorin having given us audience at Paris yesterday, I missed the opportunity of seeing you once more. I am extremely pleased with his modesty, the simplicity of his manners, and his dispositions toward us. I promise myself a great deal of satisfaction in doing business with him. I hope he will not give ear to any unfriendly suggestions. I flatter myself I shall hear from you sometimes. Send your letters to my hotel, as usual, and they will be forwarded to me. I wish you success in your meeting. I should form better hopes of it, if it were divided into two Houses, instead of seven. Keeping the good model of your neighboring country before your eyes, you may get on, step by step, towards a good constitution. Though that model is not perfect, yet, as it would unite more suffrages than any new one which could be proposed, it is better to make that the object. If every advance is to be purchased by filling the royal coffers with gold, it will be gold well employed. The King, who means so well, should be encouraged to repeat these Assemblies. You see how we republicans are apt to preach, when we get on politics. Adieu, my dear friend. Yours affectionately.



TO MADAME LA COMTESSE DE TESSE.

NISMES, March 20, 1787.

Here I am, Madam, gazing whole hours at the Maison Quarree, like a lover at his mistress. The stocking weavers and silk spinners around it consider me a hypochondriac Englishman, about to write with a pistol the last chapter of his history. This is the second time I have been in love since I left Paris. The first was with a Diana at the Chateau de Laye-Epinaye in Beaujolois, a delicious morsel of sculpture, by M. A. Slodtz. This, you will say, was in rule, to fall in love with a female beauty; but with a house! it is out of all precedent. No, Madam, it is not without a precedent in my own history. While in Paris, I was violently smitten with the Hotel de Salm, and used to go to the Tuileries almost daily, to look at it. The loueuse des chaises, inattentive to my passion, never had the complaisance to place a chair there, so that, sitting on the parapet, and twisting my neck round to see the object of my admiration, I generally left it with a torti-colli.

From Lyons to Nismes I have been nourished with the remains of Roman grandeur. They have always brought you to my mind, because I know your affection for whatever is Roman and noble. At Vienna I thought of you. But I am glad you were not there; for you would have seen me more angry than, I hope, you will ever see me. The Praetorian Palace, as it is called, comparable, for its fine proportions, to the Maison Quarree, defaced by the barbarians who have converted it to its present purpose, its beautiful fluted Corinthian columns cut out, in part, to make space for Gothic windows, and hewed down, in the residue, to the plane of the building, was enough, you must admit, to disturb my composure. At Orange, too, I thought of you. I was sure you had seen with pleasure the sublime triumphal arch of Marius at the entrance of the city. I went then to the Arenae. Would you believe, Madam, that in this eighteenth century, in France, under the reign of Louis XVI., they are at this moment pulling down the circular wall of this superb remain, to pave a road? And that, too, from a hill which is itself an entire mass of stone, just as fit, and more accessible? A former intendant, a M. de Basville, has rendered his memory dear to the traveller and amateur, by the pains he took to preserve and restore these monuments of antiquity. The present one (I do not know who he is) is demolishing the object, to make a good road to it. I thought of you again, and I was then in great good humor, at the Pont du Gard, a sublime antiquity, and well preserved. But most of all here, where Roman taste, genius, and magnificence, excite ideas analogous to yours at every step. I could no longer oppose the inclination to avail myself of your permission to write to you, a permission given with too much complaisance by you, and used by me with too much indiscretion. Madame de Tott did me the same honor. But she, being only the descendant of some of those puny heroes who boiled their own kettles before the walls of Troy, I shall write to her from a Grecian, rather than a Roman canton; when I shall find myself, for example, among her Phocaean relations at Marseilles.

Loving, as you do Madam, the precious remains of antiquity, loving architecture, gardening, a warm sun and a clear sky, I wonder you have never thought of moving Chaville to Nismes. This, as you know, has not always been deemed impracticable; and, therefore, the next time a Sur-intendant des batiments du roi, after the example of M. Colbert, sends persons to Nismes to move the Maison Quarree to Paris, that they may not come empty handed, desire them to bring Chaville with them, to replace it. A propos of Paris. I have now been three weeks from there, without knowing anything of what has passed. I suppose I shall meet it all at Aix, where I have directed my letters to be lodged, poste restante. My journey has given me leisure to reflect on this Assemblee des Notables. Under a good and a young King, as the present, I think good may be made of it. I would have the deputies then, by all means, so conduct themselves as to encourage him to repeat the calls of this Assembly. Their first step should be, to get themselves divided into two chambers instead of seven; the Noblesse and the Commons separately. The second, to persuade the King, instead of choosing the deputies of the Commons himself, to summon those chosen by the people for the Provincial administrations. The third, as the Noblesse is too numerous to be all of the Assemblee, to obtain permission for that body to choose its own deputies. Two Houses, so elected, would contain a mass of wisdom which would make the people happy, and the King great; would place him in history where no other act can possibly place him. They would thus put themselves in the track of the best guide they can follow; they would soon overtake it, become its guide in turn, and lead to the wholesome modifications wanting in that model, and necessary to constitute a rational government. Should they attempt more than the established habits of the people are ripe for, they may lose all, and retard indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim. These, Madam, are my opinions; but I wish to know yours, which, I am sure, will be better.

From a correspondent at Nismes, you will not expect news. Were I to attempt to give you news, I should tell you stories one thousand years old. I should detail to you the intrigues of the courts of the Caesars, how they affect us here, the oppressions of their praetors, prefects, &c. I am immersed in antiquities from morning to night. For me, the city of Rome is actually existing in all the splendor of its empire. I am filled with alarms for the event of the irruptions daily making on us, by the Goths, the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals, lest they should re-conquer us to our original barbarism. If I am sometimes induced to look forward to the eighteenth century, it is only when recalled to it by the recollection of your goodness and friendship, and by those sentiments of sincere esteem and respect with which I have the honor to be Madam, your most obedient, and most humble servant.



TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

NICE, April 11, 1787.

Your head, my dear friend, is full of notable things; and being better employed, therefore, I do not expect letters from you. I am constantly roving about, to see what I have never seen before, and shall never see again. In the great cities, I go to see what travellers think alone worthy of being seen; but I make a job of it, and generally gulp it all down in a day. On the other hand, I am never satiated with rambling through the fields and farms, examining the culture and cultivators, with a degree of curiosity which makes some take me to be a fool, and others to be much wiser than I am. I have been pleased to find among the people a less degree of physical misery than I had expected. They are generally well clothed, and have a plenty of food, not animal indeed, but vegetable, which is as wholesome. Perhaps they are over-worked, the excess of the rent required by the landlord obliging them to too many hours of labor in order to produce that, and wherewith to feed and clothe themselves. The soil of Champagne and Burgundy I have found more universally good than I had expected, and as I could not help making a comparison with England, I found that comparison more unfavorable to the latter than is generally admitted. The soil, the climate, and the productions are superior to those of England, and the husbandry as good, except in one point; that of manure. In England, long leases for twenty-one years, or three lives, to wit, that of the farmer, his wife, and son, renewed by the son as soon as he comes to the possession, for his own life, his wife's and eldest child's, and so on, render the farms there almost hereditary, make it worth the farmer's while to manure the lands highly, and give the landlord an opportunity of occasionally making his rent keep pace with the improved state of the lands. Here the leases are either during pleasure, or for three, six, or nine years, which does not give the farmer time to repay himself for the expensive operation of well manuring, and, therefore, he manures ill, or not at all. I suppose, that could the practice of leasing for three lives be introduced in the whole kingdom, it would, within the term of your life, increase agricultural productions fifty per cent.; or were any one proprietor to do it with his own lands, it would increase his rents fifty per cent., in the course of twenty-five years. But I am told the laws do not permit it. The laws then, in this particular, are unwise and unjust, and ought to give that permission. In the southern provinces, where the soil is poor, the climate hot and dry, and there are few animals, they would learn the art, found so precious in England, of making vegetable manure, and thus improving these provinces in the article in which nature has been least kind to them. Indeed, these provinces afford a singular spectacle. Calculating on the poverty of their soil, and their climate by its latitude only, they should have been the poorest in France. On the contrary, they are the richest, from one fortuitous circumstance. Spurs or ramifications of high mountains, making down from the Alps, and, as it were, reticulating these provinces, give to the valleys the protection of a particular inclosure to each, and the benefit of a general stagnation of the northern winds produced by the whole of them, and thus countervail the advantage of several degrees of latitude. From the first olive fields of Pierrelatte, to the orangeries of Hieres, has been continued rapture to me. I have often wished for you. I think you have not made this journey. It is a pleasure you have to come, and an improvement to be added to the many you have already made. It will be a great comfort to you, to know, from your own inspection, the condition of all the provinces of your own country, and it will be interesting to them at some future day, to be known to you. This is, perhaps, the only moment of your life in which you can acquire that knowledge. And to do it most effectually, you must be absolutely incognito, you must ferret the people out of their hovels as I have done, look into their kettles, eat their bread, loll on their beds under pretence of resting yourself, but in fact, to find if they are soft. You will feel a sublime pleasure in the course of this investigation, and a sublimer one hereafter, when you shall be able to apply your knowledge to the softening of their beds, or the throwing a morsel of meat into their kettle of vegetables.

You will not wonder at the subjects of my letters; they are the only ones which have been presented to my mind for some time past; and the waters must always be what are the fountains from which they flow. According to this, indeed, I should have intermixed, from beginning to end, warm expressions of friendship to you. But according to the ideas of our country, we do not permit ourselves to speak even truths, when they may have the air of flattery. I content myself, therefore, with saying once for all, that I love you, your wife and children. Tell them so, and adieu. Yours affectionately.



TO WILLIAM SHORT.

NICE, April 12, 1787.

DEAR SIR,—At Marseilles, they told me I should encounter the rice fields of Piedmont soon after crossing the Alps. Here they tell me there are none nearer than Vercelli and Novarra, which is carrying me almost to Milan. I fear that this circumstance will occasion me a greater delay than I had calculated on. However I am embarked in the project, and shall go through with it. To-morrow, I set out on my passage over the Alps, being to pursue it ninety-three miles to Coni, on mules, as the snows are not yet enough melted to admit carriages to pass. I leave mine here, therefore, proposing to return by water from Genoa. I think it will be three weeks before I get back to Nice. I find this climate quite as delightful as it has been represented. Hieres is the only place in France, which may be compared with it. The climates are equal. In favor of this place, are the circumstances of gay and dissipated society, a handsome city, good accommodations, and some commerce. In favor of Hieres, are environs of delicious and extensive plains, a society more contracted, and therefore more capable of esteem, and the neighborhood of Toulon, Marseilles and other places, to which excursions may be made. Placing Marseilles in comparison with Hieres, it has extensive society, a good theatre, freedom from military control, and the most animated commerce. But its winter climate is far inferior. I am now in the act of putting my baggage into portable form for my bat-mule; after praying you therefore, to let my daughter know I am well, and that I shall not be heard of again in three weeks, I take my leave of you for that time, with assurances of the sincere esteem with which I am, dear Sir, your friend and servant.



TO JOHN JAY.

MARSEILLES, May 4, 1787.

SIR,—I had the honor of receiving at Aix your letter of February the 9th, and immediately wrote to the Count de Montmorin, explaining the delay of the answer of Congress to the King's letter, and desired Mr. Short to deliver that answer with my letter to Monsieur de Montmorin, which he informs me he has accordingly done.

My absence prevented my noting to you, in the first moment, the revolution which has taken place at Paris, in the department of finance, by the substitution of Monsieur de Fourqueux in the place of Monsieur de Calonne, so that you will have heard of it through other channels before this will have the honor of reaching you.

Having staid at Aix long enough to prove the inefficacy of the waters, I came on to this place for the purpose of informing myself here, as I mean to do at the other sea-port towns, of whatever may be interesting to our commerce. So far as carried on in our own bottoms, I find it almost nothing, and so it must probably remain till something can be done with the Algerines. Though severely afflicted with the plague, they have come out within these few days, and showed themselves in force along the coast of Genoa, cannonading a little town and taking several vessels.

Among other objects of inquiry, this was the place to learn something more certain on the subject of rice, as it is a great emporium for that of the Levant and of Italy. I wished particularly to know whether it was the use of a different machine for cleaning, which brought European rice to market less broken than ours, as had been represented to me by those who deal in that article in Paris. I found several persons who had passed through the rice country of Italy, but not one who could explain to me the nature of the machine. But I was given to believe that I might see it myself immediately on entering Piedmont. As this would require but about three weeks, I determined to go and ascertain this point, as the chance only of placing our rice above all rivalship in quality, as it is in color, by the introduction of a better machine, if a better existed, seemed to justify the application of that much time to it. I found the rice country to be in truth Lombardy, one hundred miles further than had been represented, and that though called Piedmont rice, not a grain is made in the country of Piedmont. I passed through the rice fields of the Venellese and Milanese, about sixty miles, and returned from thence last night, having found that the machine is absolutely the same as ours, and of course, that we need not listen more to that suggestion. It is a difference in the species of grain, of which the government of Turin is so sensible, that, as I was informed, they prohibit the exportation of rough rice on pain of death. I have taken measures, however, which I think will not fail for obtaining a quantity of it, and I bought on the spot a small parcel, which I have with me. As further details on this subject to Congress would be misplaced, I propose, on my return to Paris, to communicate them, and send the rice to the society at Charleston for promoting agriculture, supposing that they will be best able to try the experiment of cultivating the rice of this quality, and to communicate the species to the two States of South Carolina and Georgia, if they find it answer. I thought the staple 'of these two States was entitled to this attention, and that it must be desirable to them to be able to furnish rice of the two qualities demanded in Europe, especially, as the greater consumption is in the forms for which the Lombardy quality is preferred. The mass of our countrymen being interested in agriculture, I hope I do not err in supposing that in a time of profound peace, as the present, to enable them to adapt their productions to the market, to point out markets for them, and endeavor to obtain favorable terms of reception, is within the line of my duty.

My journey into this part of the country has procured me information which I will take the liberty of communicating to Congress. In October last I received a letter dated Montpelier, October the 2d, 1786, announcing to me that the writer was a foreigner, who had a matter of very great consequence to communicate to me, and desired I would indicate the channel through which it might pass safely. I did so.