The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 1 (of 9)

TO COLONEL JAMES MONROE

    Monticello, May 20th, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I have been gratified with your two favors of the 6th and 11th inst. It gives me pleasure that your county has been wise enough to enlist your talent into their service. I am much obliged by the kind wishes you express of seeing me also in Richmond, and am always mortified when anything is expected from me which I cannot fulfill, and more especially if it relate to the public service. Before I ventured to declare to my countrymen my determination to retire from public employment, I examined well my heart to know whether it were thoroughly cured of every principle of political ambition, whether no lurking particle remained which might leave me uneasy, when reduced within the limits of mere private life. I became satisfied that every fibre of that passion was thoroughly eradicated. I examined also, in other views, my right to withdraw. I considered that I had been thirteen years engaged in public service—that, during that time, I had so totally abandoned all attention to my private affairs as to permit them to run into great disorder and ruin—that I had now a family advanced to years which require my attention and instruction—that, to these, was added the hopeful offspring of a deceased friend, whose memory must be forever dear to me, and who have no other reliance for being rendered useful to themselves or their country—that by a constant sacrifice of time, labor, parental and friendly duties, I had, so far from gaining the affection of my countrymen, which was the only reward I ever asked or could have felt, even lost the small estimation I had before possessed.

That, however I might have comforted myself under the disapprobation of the well-meaning but uninformed people, yet, that of their representatives was a shock on which I had not calculated. That this, indeed, had been followed by an exculpatory declaration. But, in the meantime, I had been suspected in the eyes of the world, without the least hint then or afterwards being made public, which might restrain them from supposing that I stood arraigned for treason of the heart, and not merely weakness of the mind; and I felt that these injuries, for such they have been since acknowledged, had inflicted a wound on my spirit which will only be cured by the all-healing grave. If reason and inclination unite in justifying my retirement, the laws of my country are equally in favor of it. Whether the State may command the political services of all its members to an indefinite extent, or, if these be among the rights never wholly ceded to the public power, is a question which I do not find expressly decided in England. Obiter dictums on the subject I have indeed met with, but the complexion of the times in which these have dropped would generally answer them. Besides that, this species of authority is not acknowledged in our possession.

In this country, however, since the present government has been established, the point has been settled by uniform, pointed and multiplied precedents. Offices of every kind, and given by every power, have been daily and hourly declined and resigned from the Declaration of Independence to this moment. The General Assembly has accepted these without discrimination of office, and without ever questioning them in point of right. If the difference between the office of a delegate and any other could ever have been supposed, yet in the case of Mr. Thompson Mason, who declined the office of delegate, and was permitted so to do by the House, that supposition has been proved to be groundless. But, indeed, no such distinction of offices can be admitted. Reason, and the opinions of the lawyers, putting all on a footing as to this question, and so giving to the delegate the aid of all the precedents of the refusal of other offices. The law then does not warrant the assumption of such a power by the State over its members. For if it does, where is that law? nor yet does reason. For though I will admit that this does subject every individual, if called on, to an equal tour of political duty, yet it can never go so far as to submit to it his whole existence. If we are made in some degree for others, yet, in a greater, are we made for ourselves. It were contrary to feeling, and indeed ridiculous to suppose that a man had less rights in himself than one of his neighbors, or indeed all of them put together. This would be slavery, and not that liberty which the bill of rights has made inviolable, and for the preservation of which our government has been charged. Nothing could so completely divest us of that liberty as the establishment of the opinion, that the State has a perpetual right to the services of all its members. This, to men of certain ways of thinking, would be to annihilate the blessings of existence, and to contradict the Giver of life, who gave it for happiness and not for wretchedness. And certainly, to such it were better that they had never been born. However, with these, I may think public service and private misery inseparably linked together, I have not the vanity to count myself among those whom the State would think worth oppressing with perpetual service. I have received a sufficient memento to the contrary. I am persuaded that, having hitherto dedicated to them the whole of the active and useful part of my life, I shall be permitted to pass the rest in mental quiet. I hope, too, that I did not mistake modes any more than the matter of right when I preferred a simple act of renunciation, to the taking sanctuary under those disqualifications (provided by the law for other purposes indeed but) affording asylum also for rest to the wearied. I dare say you did not expect by the few words you dropped on the right of renunciation to expose yourself to the fatigue of so long a letter, but I wished you to see that, if I had done wrong, I had been betrayed by a semblance of right at least. I take the liberty of enclosing to you a letter for General Chattellux, for which you will readily find means of conveyance. But I mean to give you more trouble with the one to Pelham, who lives in the neighborhood of Manchester, and to ask the favor of you to send it by your servant—express—which I am in hopes may be done without absenting him from your person, but during those hours in which you will be engaged in the house. I am anxious that it should be received immediately. * * * * * * It will give me great pleasure to see you here whenever you can favor us with your company. You will find me still busy, but in lighter occupations. But in these and all others you will find me to retain a due sense of your friendship, and to be, with sincere esteem, dear Sir,

    Your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON

    Chesterfield, November 26, 1782.

Sir,—I received yesterday the letter with which you have been pleased to honor me, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 12th instant, renewing my appointment as one of their ministers plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace—and beg leave, through you, to return my sincere thanks to that august body, for the confidence they are pleased to repose in me, and to tender the same to yourself for the obliging manner in which you have notified it.[106 - Mr. Jefferson's reasons for now accepting this appointment, which he had previously declined, are thus explained by himself:—"I had, about two months before, lost the cherished companion of my life [his wife], in whose affection, unabated on both sides, I had lived the last ten years in unchequered happiness." On the 19th of December, 1782, he left Monticello for Philadelphia, where he intended to embark for Europe; but the French Minister Luzerne, offering him a passage in the French frigate Romulus, then lying below Baltimore, he accepted the offer. The sailing of this frigate being delayed by ice, and a British fleet on the coast, information, in the meantime, reached America that a provisional treaty of peace had been signed by the American Commissioners, to become absolute on the conclusion of peace between France and England. On the arrival of this information, Mr. Jefferson was released from his mission, and returned to his home in Virginia on the 15th May, 1783.—Ed.] I will employ in this arduous charge, with diligence and integrity, the best of my poor talents, which I am conscious are far short of what it requires. This, I hope, will ensure to me from Congress a kind construction of all my transactions. And it gives me no small pleasure, that my communications will pass through the hands of a gentleman with whom I have acted in the earlier stages of this contest, and whose candor and discernment I had the good fortune then to approve and esteem. Your letter finds me at a distance from home, attending my family under inoculation. This will add to the delay which the arrangements of my particular affairs would necessarily occasion. I shall lose no moment, however, in preparing for my departure, and shall hope to pay my respects to Congress and yourself at sometime between the 20th and the last of December.

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

TO THE CHEVALIER DE CHATTELLUX

    Amphill, November 26, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I received your friendly letters of – and June 30th, but the latter not till the 17th of October. It found me a little emerging from the stupor of mind which had rendered me as dead to the world as was she whose loss occasioned it.[107 - The death of Mrs. Jefferson.] Your letter recalled to my memory that there were persons still living of much value to me. If you should have thought me remiss in not testifying to you sooner, how deeply I had been impressed with your worth in the little time I had the happiness of being with you, you will, I am sure, ascribe it to its true cause, the state of dreadful suspense in which I have been kept all the summer, and the catastrophe which closed it.

Before that event, my scheme of life had been determined. I had folded myself in the arms of retirement, and rested all prospects of future happiness on domestic and literary objects. A single event wiped away all my plans, and left me a blank which I had not the spirits to fill up. In this state of mind an appointment from Congress found me, requiring me to cross the Atlantic. And that temptation might be added to duty, I was informed, at the same time, from his Excellency the Chevalier de Luzerne, that a vessel of force would be sailing about the middle of December in which you would be passing to France. I accepted the appointment, and my only object now is, to so hasten over those obstacles which would retard my departure, as to be ready to join you in your voyage—fondly measuring your affection by my own, and presuming your consent. It is not certain that I can, by any exertion, be in Philadelphia by the middle of December—the contrary is most probable. But hoping it will not be much later, and counting on those procrastinations which usually attend the departure of vessels of size, I have hopes of being with you in time. This will give me full leisure to learn the result of your observations on the natural bridge, to communicate to you my answers to the enquiries of Monsieur de Marbois, to receive edification from you on these and other subjects of science; considering chess, too, as a matter of science. Should I be able to get out in tolerable time, and any extraordinary delays attend the sailing of the vessel, I shall certainly do myself the honor of waiting on his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, at his head-quarters, and assuring him in person of my high respect and esteem for him—an object of which I have never lost sight. To yourself, I am unable to express the warmth of those sentiments of friendship and attachment with which I have the honour to be, dear Sir,

    Your most obedient and most humble servant.

TO MR. STEPTOE

    November 26, 1782.

Dear Sir,—I received in August your favor, wherein you give me hopes of being able to procure for me some of the big bones. I should be unfaithful to my own feeling, were I not to express to you how much I am obliged by your attention to the requests I made you on that subject. A specimen of each of the several species of bones now to be found, is to me the most desirable objects in natural history. And there is no expense of package or of safe transportation which I will not gladly reimburse, to procure them safely. Elk horns of very extraordinary size, or anything else uncommon, would be very acceptable. You will hear of my going to Europe, but my trip there will be short. I mention this, lest you should hesitate forwarding any curiosities to me. New London in Bedford, Staunton in Augusta, or Frederick County, are places from whence I can surely get them. Any observations of your own on the subject of the big bones or their history, or on anything else in the western country, will come acceptably to me, because I know you see the works of nature in the great and not merely in detail. Descriptions of animals, vegetables, minerals, or other curious things; notes as to the Indians' information of the country between the Mississippi and waters of the South Sea, &c., &c., will strike your mind as worthy being communicated. I wish you had more time to pay attention to them. I perceive by your letter, you are not unapprized that your services to your country have not made due impression on every mind. That you have enemies, you must not doubt, when you reflect that you have made yourself eminent. If you meant to escape malice, you should have confined yourself within the sleepy line of regular duty. When you transgressed this, and enterprised deeds which will hand down your name with honor to future times, you made yourself a mark for envy and malice to shoot at. Of these there is enough, you know, both in and out of office. I was not a little surprised, however, to find one person hostile to you, as far as he has personal courage to show hostility to any man. Who he is, you will probably have heard, or may know him by this description—as being all tongue without either head or heart. In the variety of his crooked schemes, however, his interest may probably veer about, so as to put it in your power to be useful to him. In which case, he certainly will be your friend again, if you want him. That you may long continue a fit object for his enmity, and for that of every person of his complexion in the State, which I know can only be by your continuing to do good to your country and to acquire honor to yourself, is the earnest prayer of one who subscribes himself, with great truth and sincerity, dear Sir,

    Your friend and servant.

TO JAMES MADISON

    Amphill, in Chesterfield, November 26th, 1782.

Dear Sir,—Your favor by Colonel Basset is not yet come to hand. The intimation through the attorney, I received the day before Colonel Bland's arrival, by whom I am honored with yours of the 14th inst. It finds me at this place attending my family under inoculation. This will of course retard those arrangements of my domestic affairs, which will of themselves take time and cannot be made but at home. I shall lose no time, however, in preparing for my departure. And from the calculation I am at present enabled to make, I suppose I cannot be in Philadelphia before the 20th of December, and that possibly it may be the last of that month. Some days I must certainly pass there, as I could not propose to jump into the midst of a negotiation without a single article of previous information. From these data, you will be enabled to judge of the chance of availing myself of his Excellency, the Chevalier de Luzerne's, kind offers, to whom I beg you to present my thanks for his friendly attention, and let him know I shall use my best endeavors to be in time for the departure of his frigate. No circumstances of a private nature could induce me to hasten over the several obstacles to my departure more unremitting than the hope of having the Chevalier de Chattellux as a companion in my voyage. A previous acquaintance with his worth and abilities, had impressed me with an affection for him which, under the then prospect of never seeing him again, was perhaps imprudent.

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

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON

    Philadelphia, January 22d, 1783.

Sir,—Having lately received a call from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of their minister for negotiating peace, I cannot leave the continent without separating myself for a moment from the general gratitude of my country, to offer my individual tribute to your Excellency for all you have suffered and all you have effected for us. Were I to indulge myself in those warm effusions which this subject forever prompts, they would wear an appearance of adulation very foreign to my nature; for such is become the prostitution of language that sincerity has no longer distinct terms in which to express her own truths. Should you give me occasion, during the short mission on which I go, to render you any service beyond the water, I shall, for a proof of my gratitude, appeal from language to the zeal with which I shall embrace it. The negotiations to which I am joined may perhaps be protracted beyond our present expectations, in which case, though I know you must receive much better intelligence from the gentlemen whose residence there has brought them into a more intimate acquaintance with the characters and views of the European courts, yet I shall certainly presume to add my mite, should it only serve to convince you of the warmth of those sentiments of respect and esteem with which I have the honor to be, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE CHEVALIER DE LA LUZERNE, MINISTER OF FRANCE

    Baltimore, February 7th, 1783.

Sir,—The Chevalier de Ville Brun was so kind as to communicate to me yesterday your Excellency's letter to him of January, together with the intelligence therein referred to. I feel myself bound to return you my thanks, for your orders to the Guadeloupe frigate to receive me, if I should think a passage should be hazarded under present circumstances. According to this information (which is the most worthy of credit of any we have received here), it would seem that our capture would be unavoidable were we to go out now. This, therefore, is a risk to which I cannot think of exposing his Majesty's vessel and subjects; however I might be disposed to encounter personal hazards, from my anxiety to execute, with all the promptitude in my power, a service which has been assigned to me. I shall therefore wait with patience the arrival of the moment when the Chevalier de Ville Brun shall be of opinion that the one or the other of the vessels may venture out without any greater risk than he shall think proportioned to her proper object, independently of mine. It has been suggested to me this evening, that perhaps their safe departure might be greatly forwarded by their falling down to York, or Hampton, there to be ready at a moment's warning, to avail themselves of those favorable circumstances which the present season sometimes offers.

But of this, yourself will be the proper judge. I cannot close my letter without expressing to you my obligations to the Chevalier de Ville Brun for the particular attention he has shown to my accommodation on board his ship. The apartments he has had constructed for me are ample and commodious, and his politeness and deportment as an officer are an agreeable presage of everything that shall depend on him. I have delivered to him the two large packets you were pleased to put into my hands, and he will dispose of them according to your orders.

I have the honor to be, with the highest sentiments of esteem, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, SECRETARY FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

    Baltimore, February 7, 1783.

Sir,—I arrived here on the 30th of the last month, and had a short interview the same evening with the Chevalier de Ville Brun, commander of the Ramilies. There appeared at that time little apprehension but that we might sail in a few days, but we were not very particular in our conference, as we expected to see each other again. The severity of the cold, however, which commenced that night, obliged the Chevalier de Ville Brun to fall twelve miles below this place, and excluded all correspondence with him till yesterday, when I found means to get through the ice on board his ship. He then communicated to me, by direction of his Excellency, the minister of France, intelligence as to the number and force of the cruisers now actually watching the capes of the Chesapeake. I must acknowledge that the appearances are such as to render a capture certain were we to hazard it. The minister was pleased at the same time to submit the Guadeloupe to my wishes, if I chose to adventure. I take the liberty of troubling you with a copy of my letter to him on that subject. I should certainly be disposed to run very considerable risks myself to effect my passage; but should think it an unfortunate introduction to an ally, who has already done so much for us, were I to add to his losses and disbursements that of a valuable ship and crew. I wish that the present delay offered some period less distant than the lassitude of an avaricious enemy to watch for prey. Perhaps you may be able to put me on some more expeditious mode of passage than the one under which I am acquiescing at present. I shall be much pleased to adopt any such which may come recommended from you, without regard to personal risk or trouble. In the meantime, any intelligence which you can collect and will be pleased to give me as to the state of our coast, will be of utility in determining whether and when we shall depart hence.

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

P. S. Your letter of the 31st ultimo came safely to hand with the packet to Mr. Adams accompanying it.

GEORGE WASHINGTON TO THE HONORABLE THOMAS JEFFERSON

    Newburgh, 10th February, 1783.

Dear Sir,—I have been honored with your favor of 22d of January from Philadelphia. I feel myself much flattered by your kind remembrance of me in the hour of your departure from this continent, for the favorable sentiments you are pleased to entertain of my services for this our common country. To merit the approbation of good and virtuous men is the height of my ambition, and will be a full compensation for all my toils and sufferings in the long and painful contest in which we have been engaged. It gave me great pleasure to hear that the call upon you from Congress to pass the Atlantic in the character of one of their ministers for negotiating peace had been repeated; but I hope you will have found the business already done. The speech of his Britannic Majesty is strongly indicative of the olive branch; and yet, as he observes, unforseen events may place it out of reach. At present, the prospect of peace absorbs, or seems to do so, every other consideration among us; and would, it is to be feared, leave us in a very unprepared state to continue the war, if the negotiations at Paris should terminate otherwise than in a general pacification. But I will hope that it is the dearth of other news that fills the mouths of every person with peace, while their minds are employed in contemplating on the means of prosecuting the war, if necessity should drive us to it. You will please to accept my grateful thanks for your obliging offer of services during your stay in France. To hear from you frequently will be an honor and very great satisfaction to, dear Sir, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO THOMAS JEFFERSON

    Philadelphia, 14th February, 1783.

Sir,—I have delayed in answering your favor of the 7th instant until I could obtain the sense of Congress on the matter it contains. I conceive it hardly possible, while the British cruisers retain their present station, for you to elude their vigilance in either of the ships offered to your choice. This, concurring with the late advices from England, has induced Congress to pass the enclosed resolution.[108 - BY THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:February 14, 1783.The committee consisting of Mr. Jones, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. Wilson, to whom was referred a letter of the 7th from the Honorable Thomas Jefferson, reported thereon, whereupon on motion of Mr. Gorham, seconded by Mr. Wolcott, ordered: That the Secretary for Foreign Affairs inform Mr. Jefferson, that it is the pleasure of Congress, considering the advices lately received in America and the probable situation of affairs in Europe, that he do not proceed on his intended voyage until he shall receive their further instructions.Charles Thompson, (copied)Secretary.] We have reason to conjecture that peace is already concluded; whether it is or not, a few days will determine. I transmit the speech of his Britannic Majesty, which, with what you already know of the state of our negotiations, will enable you to form your opinion on the same ground that we do. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO R. R. LIVINGSTON

    Baltimore, February 14, 1783.

Sir,—I apprised you in my former letter of the causes which had so long delayed my departure. These still continue. I have this moment received a printed copy of his British Majesty's speech to his Parliament, by which we learn that the preliminaries between Great Britain and America, among which is one for the acknowledgment of our independence, have been provisionally agreed to on his part. That the negotiations with the other powers at war were considerably advanced, and that he hoped, in a very short time, they would end in terms of pacification. As considerable progress has been made in the negotiations for peace since the appointment with which Congress were pleased to honor me, it may have become doubtful whether any communications I could make or any assistance I could yield to the very able gentlemen in whose hands the business already is, would compensate the expense of prosecuting my voyage to Europe. I therefore beg leave through you, Sir, to assure Congress that I desire this question to be as open to them now as it was on the day of my appointment, and that I have not a wish either to go or to stay. They will be pleased to weigh the economy of the one measure against the chance which the other may offer of my arriving in such time as that any communications which have been confided to me may produce effect on definitive articles. I shall continue here for the prosecution of my voyage, under the orders before received, or for its discontinuance, should that be more eligible to Congress, and be signified at any moment before my departure. I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO THOMAS JEFFERSON

    Philadelphia, February 18, 1783.

Sir,—I was yesterday honored with your favor of the 14th, which I shall lay before Congress this morning. As you have by this time received their resolution which I had the honor to send you by the last post, and again enclosed, you will be relieved in some measure from your embarrassments, though not entirely of your suspense with respect to their final determination. But that cannot be long doubtful, since the negotiations have certainly arrived at such a crisis as either to terminate soon in a peace or a total rupture. In the latter case, you will necessarily be obliged to proceed on your voyage, as Congress seems anxious to avail themselves of your abilities and information in the negotiations, unless they are fully assured that a speedy peace will preclude them from that advantage.

I enclose a paper which contains all that we have yet received on that interesting subject. It may, perhaps, be difficult to account for our ministers having signed before those of France. But if this letter is genuine, it serves, when compared with their instructions, to prove that the terms of peace are acceptable to us and not disagreeable to France. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect and esteem, your most obedient, and most humble servant.

TO THE HON. R. R. LIVINGSTON