Chapter IV: Part III: Continued (3)

DEAR SIR,-- * * * * * Burr is on his way to Richmond for trial. No man's history proves better the value of honesty. With that, what might he not have been! I expect you are at a loss to understand the situation of the British treaty, on which the newspapers make so many speeches for me which I never made. It is exactly this. By a letter received from our negotiators in January, we found they were making up their minds to sign a treaty containing no provision against the impressment of our seamen. We instantly (February 3d) instructed them not to do so; and that if such a treaty had been forwarded, it could not be ratified; that therefore they must immediately resume the negociations to supply that defect, as a _sine quâ non_. Such a treaty having come to hand, we of course suspend it, until we know the result of the instructions of February 3d, which probably will not be till midsummer. We reserve ourselves till then to decide the question of calling the Senate. In the meantime, I have, by proclamation continued the suspension of the non-importation law, as a proof of the continuance of friendly dispositions. There was another circumstance which would have prevented the acceptance of the treaty. The British commissioners, at the time of signing, gave in a written declaration, that until they knew what we meant to do in the subject of the French decree, the king reserved to himself the right of not ratifying, and of taking any measures retaliating on France which he should deem proper, notwithstanding the treaty. This made the treaty binding on us; while he was loose to regard it or not, and clearly squinted at the expectation that we should join in resistance to France, or they would not regard the treaty. We rejected this idea unhesitatingly.

I expected to have paid a short visit to Monticello before this, but have been detained by the illness of my son-in-law, Mr. Randolph, and now by an attack of periodical headache on myself. This leaves me but an hour and a half each morning capable of any business at all. A part of this I have devoted to write you this letter, and to assure you of my constant friendship and respect.

TO COLONEL G. MORGAN.

WASHINGTON, March 26th, 1807.

SIR,--Your favors of January 19th and 20th came to hand in due time, but it was not in my power to acknowledge their receipt during the session of Congress. General Gage's paper I have filed with that on Pensacola, in the War Office, and Mr. Hutchins' map, in the Navy Office, where they will be useful. I tender you my thanks for this contribution to the public service. The bed of the Mississippi and the shoals on the coast change so frequently, as to require frequent renewals of the surveys. Congress have authorized a new survey of our whole coast, by an act of the last session. Burr is on his way to Richmond for trial; and if the judges do not discharge him before it is possible to collect the testimony from Maine to New Orleans, there can be no doubt where his history will end. To what degree punishments of his adherents shall be extended, will be decided when we shall have collected all the evidence, and seen who were cordially guilty. The federalists appear to make Burr's cause their own, and to spare no efforts to screen his adherents. Their great mortification is at the failure of his plans. Had a little success dawned on him, their openly joining him might have produced some danger. As it is, I believe the undertaking will not be without some good effects, as a wholesome lesson to those who have more ardor than principle. I believe there is reason to expect that Blennerhasset will also be sent by the judges of Mississippi to Virginia. Yours was the very first intimation I had of this plot, for which it is but justice to say you have deserved well of your country. Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO MR. COXE.

WASHINGTON, March 27, 1807.

SIR,--I received on the 24th of January a communication, which from an endorsement in your hand, I knew to have come from you. Others had been received at different periods before, which candor obliges me frankly to say, had not been answered because some of the earliest of them had been of a character with which I thought it my duty to be dissatisfied. Observing, however, that you have continued to turn your attention assiduously to the public interests, and to communicate to the government your ideas, which have often been useful, I expunge from my mind the umbrage which had been taken, and wish it no more to be recollected or explained on either side.

Your idea of providing as many arms as we have fighting men, is undoubtedly a sound one. Its execution, however, depends on the Legislature. Composed, indeed, of gentlemen of the best intentions, but like all others collected in mass, requiring considerable time to receive impressions, however useful, if new. Time and reflection will not fail in the end to bring them to whatever is right. The session before the last I proposed to them the classification of the militia, so that those in the prime of life only, and unburthened with families, should ever be called into distant service; and that every man should receive a stand of arms the first year he entered the militia. This would have required 40,000 stands a year, and in a few years would have armed the whole, besides the stock in the public arsenals, which is a good one. Converts to the measure are daily coming over, and it will prevail in time. The same thing will happen as to the employing the surplus of our revenues to roads, rivers, canals, education. The proposition for building lock-docks for the preservation of our navy, has local rivalries to contend against. Till these can be overruled or compromised, the measure can never be adopted. Yet there ought never to be another ship built until we can provide some method of preserving them through the long intervals of peace which I hope are to be the lot of our country. I understand that, employing private as well as the public manufactories, we can make about 40,000 stand of arms a year. But they come so much dearer than the imported of equal quality, that we shall import also. From the beginning of my administration, I have discouraged the laying in stores of powder, but have recommended great stores of sulphur and salt-petre. I confess, however, I do not apprehend that the dislike which I know the European governments have to our form, will combine them in any serious attempts against it. They have too many jealousies of one another, to engage in distant wars for a matter of opinion only. I verily believe that it will ever be in our power to keep so even a stand between England and France, as to inspire a wish in neither to throw us into the scale of his adversary. But if we can do this for a dozen years only, we shall have little to fear from them. Accept my salutations, and assurances of esteem and respect.

TO LEVETT HARRIS, ESQ.

WASHINGTON, March 28, 1807.

SIR,--Your letters of August 10th and September 18th have been duly received, and I have to thank you for the safe transmission of the four volumes of the "Vocabulaires Comparés de Pallas," for which I am indebted, through you, to the Minister of Commerce, Count Romanzoff. I must pray you, in a particular manner, to express to his Excellency my sensibility for this mark of his obliging attention, rendered the more impressive from a high esteem for his personal character, and from the hope that an interchange of personal esteem may contribute to strengthen the friendship of the two nations, bound together by many similar interests. To this I must add by anticipation my thanks for his work on the Commerce of Russia, as well as to Count Potoski, for the two works from him, which you mention to have been sent by Mr. A. Smith, and which, I doubt not, will come safely to hand. Accept for yourself my salutations and assurances of esteem and respect.

TO MR. GALLATIN.

March 29, 1807.

A doubt is entertained whether the Acts of Congress respecting claims to lands in Orleans and Louisiana, and authorizing the commissioners "to decide according to the laws and established usages and customs of the French and Spanish governments, _upon all claims to lands within their respective districts_," &c., meant to give that power as to _all claims_, or to restrict it to those claims only which had been previously recognized by Congress.

Were it necessary for us to decide that question, I should be of opinion that it meant _all claims_, because the words are general. "_All claims to lands within their respective districts_," and there are no other words restricting them to those claims only, previously recognized by Congress; and because the intention of the Act was to quiet and satisfy all the minor claimants, and reserve only the great and fraudulent speculations for rigorous examination.

But the Board of Commissioners, being a judiciary tribunal, I should think it proper to leave them to the law itself, as their instructions, on the meaning of which they are competent to decide, and, being on the spot, are better informed of the nature of those claims than we are. Affectionate salutations.

TO GENERAL DEARBORNE.

March 29, 1807.

Many officers of the army being involved in the offence of intending a military enterprise against a nation at peace with the United States, to remove the whole without trial, by the paramount authority of the executive, would be a proceeding of unusual severity. Some line must therefore be drawn to separate the more from the less guilty. The only sound one which occurs to me is between those who believed the enterprise was with the approbation of the government, open or secret, and those who meant to proceed in defiance of the government. Concealment would be no line at all, because all concealed it. Applying the line of _defiance_ to the case of Lieutenant Meade, it does not appear by any testimony I have seen, that he meant to proceed in defiance of the government, but, on the contrary, that he was made to believe the government approved of the expedition. If it be objected that he concealed a part of what had taken place in his communications to the Secretary at War, yet if a concealment of the whole would not furnish a proper line of distinction, still less would the concealment of a part. This too would be a removal for _prevarication_, not for _unauthorized enterprise_, and could not be a proper ground for exercising the extraordinary power of removal by the President. On the whole, I think Lieutenant Meade's is not a case for its exercise. Affectionate salutations.

TO MR. ROBERT PATTERSON.

WASHINGTON, March 29, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--I have duly received your letter of the 25th, proposing the appointment of an assistant-engraver to the Mint, at a salary of $600, and that Mr. Reich should be the assistant. You are so exclusively competent to decide on the want of such an officer, that I approve the proposition in the faith of your opinion. With respect to the person to be appointed, my knowledge of the superior talents of Mr. Reich concurs with your recommendation in the propriety of appointing him.

I should approve of your employing the Mint on small silver coins, rather than on dollars and gold coins, as far as the consent of those who employ it can be obtained. It would be much more valuable to the public to be supplied with abundance of dimes and half dimes, which would stay among us, than with dollars and eagles which leave us immediately. Indeed I wish the law authorized the making two cent and three cent pieces of silver, and golden dollars, which would all be large enough to handle, and would be a great convenience to our own citizens. Accept my affectionate salutations.

TO M. LE COMTE DIODATI.

WASHINGTON, March 29, 1807.

MY DEAR AND ANCIENT FRIEND,--Your letter of August the 29th reached me on the 18th of February. It enclosed a duplicate of that written from Brunswick five years before, but which I never received, or had notice of, but by this duplicate. Be assured, my friend, that I was incapable of such negligence towards you, as a failure to answer it would have implied. It would illy have accorded with those sentiments of friendship I entertained for you at Paris, and which neither time nor distance has lessened. I often pass in review the many happy hours I spent with Madame Diodati and yourself on the banks of the Seine, as well as at Paris, and I count them among the most pleasing I enjoyed in France. Those were indeed days of tranquillity and happiness. They had begun to cloud a little before I left you; but I had no apprehension that the tempest, of which I saw the beginning, was to spread over such an extent of space and time. I have often thought of you with anxiety, and wished to know how you weathered the storm, and into what port you had retired. The letters now received give me the first information, and I sincerely felicitate you on your safe and quiet retreat. Were I in Europe, _pax et panis_ would certainly be my motto. Wars and contentions, indeed, fill the pages of history with more matter. But more blest is that nation whose silent course of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say. This is what I ambition for my own country, and what it has fortunately enjoyed for now upwards of twenty years, while Europe has been in constant volcanic eruption, I again, my friend, repeat my joy that you have escaped the overwhelming torrent of its lava.

At the end of my present term, of which two years are yet to come, I propose to retire from public life, and to close my days on my patrimony of Monticello, in the bosom of my family. I have hitherto enjoyed uniform health; but the weight of public business begins to be too heavy for me, and I long for the enjoyments of rural life, among my books, my farms and my family. Having performed my _quadragena stipendia_, I am entitled to my discharge, and should be sorry, indeed, that others should be sooner sensible than myself when I ought to ask it. I have, therefore, requested my fellow citizens to think of a successor for me, to whom I shall deliver the public concerns with greater joy than I received them. I have the consolation too of having added nothing to my private fortune, during my public service, and of retiring with hands as clean as they are empty. Pardon me these egotisms, which, if ever excusable, are so when writing to a friend to whom our concerns are not uninteresting. I shall always be glad to hear of your health and happiness, and having been out of the way of hearing of any of our cotemporaries of the _corps diplomatique_ at Paris, any details of their subsequent history which you will favor me with, will be thankfully received. I pray you to make my friendly respects acceptable to Madame la Comtesse Diodati, to assure M. Tronchin of my continued esteem, and to accept yourself my affectionate salutations, and assurances of constant attachment and respect.

TO MR. BOWDOIN.

WASHINGTON, April 2, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--I wrote you on the 10th of July last; but neither your letter of October the 20th, nor that of November the 15th mentioning the receipt of it, I fear it has miscarried. I therefore now enclose a duplicate. As that was to go under cover of the Secretary of State's despatches by any vessel going from our distant ports, I retained the polygraph therein mentioned for a safer conveyance. None such has occurred till now, that the United States armed brig the Wasp, on her way to the Mediterranean is to touch at Falmouth, with despatches for our ministers at London and at Brest, with others for yourself and General Armstrong.

You heard in due time from London of the signature of a treaty there between Great Britain and the United States. By a letter we received in January from our ministers at London, we found they were making up their minds to sign a treaty, in which no provision was made against the impressment of our seamen, contenting themselves with a note received in the course of their correspondence, from the British negotiators, assuring them of the discretion with which impressments should be conducted, which could be construed into a covenant only by inferences, against which its omission in the treaty was a strong inference; and in its terms totally unsatisfactory. By a letter of February the 3d, they were immediately informed that no treaty, not containing a satisfactory article on that head, would be ratified, and desiring them to resume the negotiations on that point. The treaty having come to us actually in the inadmissible shape apprehended, we, of course, hold it up until we know the result of the instructions of February the 3d. I have but little expectation that the British government will retire from their habitual wrongs in the impressment of our seamen, and am certain, that without that, we will never tie up our hands by treaty, from the right of passing a non-importation or non-intercourse act, to make it her interest to become just. This may bring on a war of commercial restrictions. To show, however, the sincerity of our desire for conciliation, I have suspended the non-importation act. This state of things should be understood at Paris, and every effort used on your part to accommodate our differences with Spain, under the auspices of France, with whom it is all important that we should stand in terms of the strictest cordiality. In fact, we are to depend on her and Russia for the establishment of neutral rights by the treaty of peace, among which should be that of taking no persons by a belligerent out of a neutral ship, unless they be the _soldiers_ of an enemy. Never did a nation act towards another with more perfidy and injustice than Spain has constantly practised against us: and if we have kept our hands off of her till now, it has been purely out of respect to France, and from the value we set on the friendship of France. We expect, therefore, from the friendship of the Emperor, that he will either compel Spain to do us justice, or abandon her to us. We ask but one month to be in possession of the city of Mexico.

No better proof of the good faith of the United States could have been given, than the vigor with which we have acted, and the expense incurred, in suppressing the enterprise meditated lately by Burr against Mexico. Although at first, he proposed a separation of the western country, and on that ground received encouragement and aid from Yrujo, according to the usual spirit of his government towards us, yet he very early saw that the fidelity of the western country was not to be shaken, and turned himself wholly towards Mexico. And so popular is an enterprise on that country in this, that we had only to lie still, and he would have had followers enough to have been in the city of Mexico in six weeks. You have doubtless seen my several messages to Congress, which give a faithful narrative of that conspiracy. Burr himself, after being disarmed by our endeavors of all his followers, escaped from the custody of the court of Mississippi, but was taken near Fort Stoddart, making his way to Mobile, by some country people, who brought him on as a prisoner to Richmond, where he is now under a course for trial. Hitherto we have believed our law to be, that suspicion on probable grounds was sufficient cause to commit a person for trial, allowing time to collect witnesses till the trial. But the judges here have decided, that conclusive evidence of guilt must be ready in the moment of arrest, or they will discharge the malefactor. If this is still insisted on, Burr will be discharged; because his crimes having been sown from Maine, through the whole line of the western waters, to New Orleans, we cannot bring the witnesses here under four months. The fact is, that the federalists make Burr's cause their own, and exert their whole influence to shield him from punishment, as they did the adherents of Miranda. And it is unfortunate that federalism is still predominant in our judiciary department, which is consequently in opposition to the legislative and executive branches, and is able to baffle their measures often.

Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO WILLIAM B. GILES.

MONTICELLO, April 20, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--Your favor of the 6th instant, on the subject of Burr's offences, was received only four days ago. That there should be anxiety and doubt in the public mind, in the present defective state of the proof, is not wonderful; and this has been sedulously encouraged by the tricks of the judges to force trials before it is possible to collect the evidence, dispersed through a line of two thousand miles from Maine to Orleans. The federalists, too, give all their aid, making Burr's cause their own, mortified only that he did not separate the Union or overturn the government, and proving, that had he had a little dawn of success, they would have joined him to introduce his object, their favorite monarchy, as they would any other enemy, foreign or domestic, who could rid them of this hateful republic for any other government in exchange.

The first ground of complaint was the supine inattention of the administration to a treason stalking through the land in open day. The present one, that they have crushed it before it was ripe for execution, so that no overt acts can be produced. This last may be true; though I believe it is not. Our information having been chiefly by way of letter, we do not know of a certainty yet what will be proved. We have set on foot an inquiry through the whole of the country which has been the scene of these transactions, to be able to prove to the courts, if they will give time, or to the public by way of communication to Congress, what the real facts have been. For obtaining this, we are obliged to appeal to the patriotism of particular persons in different places, of whom we have requested to make the inquiry in their neighborhood, and on such information as shall be voluntarily offered. Aided by no process or facilities from the _federal_ courts, but frowned on by their new born zeal for the liberty of those whom we would not permit to overthrow the liberties of their country, we can expect no revealments from the accomplices of the chief offender. Of treasonable intentions, the judges have been obliged to confess there is probable appearance. What loophole they will find in the case, when it comes to trial, we cannot foresee. Eaton, Stoddart, Wilkinson, and two others whom I must not name, will satisfy the world, if not the judges, of Burr's guilt. And I do suppose the following overt acts will be proved. 1. The enlistment of men, in a regular way. 2. The regular mounting of guard round Blennerhasset's island when they expected Governor Tiffin's men to be on them, _modo guerrino arraiati_. 3. The rendezvous of Burr with his men at the mouth of Cumberland. 4. His letter to the acting Governor of Mississippi, holding up the prospect of civil war. 5. His capitulation regularly signed with the aids of the Governor, as between two independent and hostile commanders.

But a moment's calculation will show that this evidence cannot be collected under four months, probably five, from the moment of deciding when and where the trial shall be. I desired Mr. Rodney expressly to inform the Chief Justice of this, inofficially. But Mr. Marshall says, "More than five weeks have elapsed since the opinion of the Supreme Court has declared the necessity of proving the overt acts, if they exist. Why are they not proved?" In what terms of decency can we speak of this? As if an express could go to Natchez, or the mouth of Cumberland, and return in five weeks, to do which has never taken less than twelve. Again, "If, in November or December last, a body of troops had been assembled on the Ohio, it is impossible to suppose the affidavits establishing the fact could not have been obtained by the last of March." But I ask the judge where they should have been lodged? At Frankfort? at Cincinnati? at Nashville? St. Louis? Natchez? New Orleans? These were the probable places of apprehension and examination. It was not known at _Washington_ till the 26th of March that Burr would escape from the Western tribunals, be retaken and brought to an Eastern one; and in five days after, (neither five months nor five weeks, as the judge calculated,) he says, it is "impossible to suppose the affidavits could not have been obtained." Where? At Richmond he certainly meant, or meant only to throw dust in the eyes of his audience. But all the principles of law are to be perverted which would bear on the favorite offenders who endeavor to overturn this odious Republic. "I understand," says the judge, "_probable_ cause of guilt to be a case made out by _proof_ furnishing good reason to believe," &c. Speaking as a lawyer, he must mean legal proof, i. e., proof on oath, at least. But this is confounding _probability_ and _proof_. We had always before understood that where there was reasonable ground to believe guilt, the offender must be put on his trial. That guilty intentions were probable, the judge believed. And as to the overt acts, were not the bundle of letters of information in Mr. Rodney's hands, the letters and facts published in the local newspapers, Burr's flight, and the universal belief or rumor of his guilt, probable ground for presuming the facts of enlistment, military guard, rendezvous, threat of civil war, or capitulation, so as to put him on trial? Is there a candid man in the United States who does not believe some one, if not all, of these overt acts to have taken place?

If there ever had been an instance in this or the preceding administrations, of federal judges so applying principles of law as to condemn a federal or acquit a republican offender, I should have judged them in the present case with more charity. All this, however, will work well. The nation will judge both the offender and judges for themselves. If a member of the executive or legislature does wrong, the day is never far distant when the people will remove him. They will see then and amend the error in our Constitution, which makes any branch independent of the nation. They will see that one of the great co-ordinate branches of the government, setting itself in opposition to the other two, and to the common sense of the nation, proclaims impunity to that class of offenders which endeavors to overturn the Constitution, and are themselves protected in it by the Constitution itself; for impeachment is a farce which will not be tried again. If their protection of Burr produces this amendment, it will do more good than his condemnation would have done. Against Burr, personally, I never had one hostile sentiment. I never indeed thought him an honest, frank-dealing man, but considered him as a crooked gun, or other perverted machine, whose aim or shot you could never be sure of. Still, while he possessed the confidence of the nation, I thought it my duty to respect in him their confidence, and to treat him as if he deserved it; and if his punishment can be commuted now for an useful amendment of the Constitution, I shall rejoice in it. My sheet being full, I perceive it is high time to offer you my friendly salutations, and assure you of my constant and affectionate esteem and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

MONTICELLO, April 21st, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 13th came to hand only yesterday, and I now return you the letters of Turreau and Woodward, and Mr. Gallatin's paper on foreign seamen. I retain Monroe and Pinckney's letters, to give them a more deliberate perusal than I can now before the departure of the post. By the next they shall be returned. I should think it best to answer Turreau at once, as he will ascribe delay to a supposed difficulty, and will be sure to force an answer at last. I take the true principle to be, that "for violations of jurisdiction, with the consent of the sovereign, or his voluntary sufferance, indemnification is due; but that for others he is bound only to use all _reasonable_ means to obtain indemnification from the aggressor, which must be calculated on his circumstances, and these endeavors _bonâ fide_ made; and failing, he is no further responsible." It would be extraordinary indeed if we were to be answerable for the conduct of belligerents through our whole coast, whether inhabited or not.

Will you be so good as to send a passport to Julian Y. Niemcewicz, an American citizen, of New Jersey, going to Europe on his private affairs? I have known him intimately for twenty years, the last twelve of which he has resided in the United States, of which he has a certificate of citizenship. He was the companion of Kosciusko. Be so good as to direct it to him at Elizabethtown, and without delay, as he is on his departure. Mr. Gallatin's estimate of the number of foreign seamen in our employ renders it prudent, I think, to suspend all propositions respecting our non-employment of them. As, on a consultation when we were all together, we had made up our minds on every article of the British treaty, and this of not employing their seamen was only mentioned for further inquiry and consideration, we had better let the negociations go on, on the ground then agreed on, and take time to consider this supplementary proposition. Such an addition as this to a treaty already so bad would fill up the measure of public condemnation. It would indeed be making bad worse. I am more and more convinced that our best course is, to let the negotiation take a friendly nap, and endeavor in the meantime to practice on such of its principles as are mutually acceptable. Perhaps we may hereafter barter the stipulation not to employ their seamen for some equivalent to our flag, by way of convention; or perhaps the general treaty of peace may do better for us, if we shall not, in the meantime, have done worse for ourselves. At any rate, it will not be the worse for lying three weeks longer. I salute you with sincere affection.

P. S. Will you be so good as to have me furnished with a copy of Mr. Gallatin's estimate of the number of foreign seamen? I think he overrates the number of officers greatly.

TO MR. GALLATIN.

MONTICELLO, April 21, 1807.

Some very unusual delay has happened to the post, as I received yesterday only my letter from Philadelphia, as far back as April 9th, and Washington, April 11th. Of course yours of the 13th and 16th were then only received, and being overwhelmed with such an accumulated mail, I must be short, as the post goes out in a few hours. I return you Huston's, Findlay's, and Governor Harrison's letters. J. Smith's is retained because it is full of nominations. I had received, a week ago, from a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, a copy of their act for the Western road. I immediately wrote to Mr. Moore that we should consider the question whether the road should pass through Uniontown, as now decided affirmatively, and I referred to the commissioner to reconsider the question whether it should also pass through Brownsville, and to decide it according to their own judgment. I desired him to undertake the superintendence of the execution, to begin the work in time to lay out the whole appropriation this summer, and to employ it in making effectually good the most difficult parts. I approve of Governor Harrison's lease to Taylor, and of the conveying the salt water by pipes to the fuel and navigation, rather than the fuel and navigation to the Saline. I think it our indispensable duty to remove immediately all intruders from the lands, the timber of which will be wanting for the Salines, and will sign any order you will be so good as to prepare for that purpose. You are hereby authorized to announce to the collector of Savannah, his removal, if you judge it for the public good. I recollect nothing of Bullock, the attorney, and not having my papers here, I am not able to refresh my memory concerning him. I expect to leave this, on my return to Washington, about three weeks hence. Your estimate of the number of foreign seamen in our employ, renders it prudent, in my opinion, to drop the idea of any proposition not to employ them. As we had made up our minds on every article of the British treaty, when consulting together, and this idea was only an after thought referred for enquiry and consideration, we had better take more time for it. Time strengthens my belief that no equal treaty will be obtained from such a higher as Lord Auckland, or from the present ministry, Fox being no longer with them, and that we shall be better without any treaty than an unequal one. Perhaps we may engage them to act on certain articles, including their note on impressment, by a mutual understanding, under the pretext of further time to arrange a general treaty. Perhaps, too, the general peace will, in the meantime, establish for us better principles than we can obtain ourselves.

I enclose a letter from Gideon Fitz. Affectionate salutes.

TO MR. NIEMCEWICZ.

MONTICELLO, April 22, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--I received on the 20th your favor of the 10th instant, and yesterday I wrote to desire the Secretary of State to forward your passport to Elizabethtown. In the visit you propose to make to your native country, I sincerely wish you may find its situation, and your own interests in it, satisfactory. On what it has been, is, or shall be, however, I shall say nothing. I consider Europe, at present, as a world apart from us, about which it is improper for us even to form opinions, or to indulge any wishes but the general one, that whatever is to take place in it, may be for its happiness. For yourself, however, personally, I may express with safety as well as truth, my great esteem and the interest I feel for your welfare. From the same principles of caution, I do not write to my friend Kosciusko. I know he is always doing what he thinks is right, and he knows my prayers for his success in whatever he does. Assure him, if you please, of my constant affection, and accept yourself my wishes for a safe and pleasant voyage, with my friendly salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO MR. MADISON.

MONTICELLO, April 25, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 20th came to hand on the 23d, and I now return all the papers it covered, to wit, Harris's, Maunce's, and General Smith's letters, as also some papers respecting Burr's case, for circulation. Under another cover is a letter from Governor Williams, confidential, and for yourself alone, as yet. I expect we shall have to remove Meade. Under still a different cover you will receive Monroe's and Pinckney's letters, detained at the last post. I wrote you then on the subject of the British treaty, which the more it is developed the worse it appears. Mr. Rodney being supposed absent, I enclose you a letter from Mr. Reed, advising the summoning Rufus Easton as a witness; but if he is at St. Louis, he cannot be here by the 22d of May. You will observe that Governor Williams asks immediate instructions what he shall do with Blennerhasset, Tyler, Floyd, and Ralston. I do not know that we can do anything but direct General Wilkinson to receive and send them to any place where the judge shall decide they ought to be tried. I suppose Blennerhasset should come to Richmond. On consulting with the other gentlemen, be so good as to write to Williams immediately, as a letter will barely get there by the 4th Monday of May. I enclose you a warrant for five thousand dollars for Mr. Rodney, in the form advised by Mr. Gallatin.

We have had three great rains within the last thirteen days. It is just now clearing off after thirty-six hours of rain, with little intermission. Yet it is thought not too much. I salute you with sincere affection.

TO MR. THOMAS MOORE.

MONTICELLO, May 1,1807.

SIR,--On the 14th of April I wrote to you, on the presumption that a law respecting the western road had passed the Legislature of Pennsylvania, in the form enclosed by Mr. Dorsey, and which I enclosed to you. I have now received from the Governor an authentic copy of the law, which agrees with that I forwarded to you. You will therefore be pleased to consider the contents of that letter as founded in the certainty of the fact that the law did pass in that form, although not certainly known at that time, and proceed on it accordingly. I shall be in Washington on the 16th and 17th inst., should you have occasion for further communication with me. I salute you with esteem and respect.

TO MR. MADISON.

MONTICELLO, May 1, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--I return you Monroe's, Armstrong's, Harris's, and Anderson's letters, and add a letter and act from Gov. McKean, to be filed in your office. The proposition for separating the western country, mentioned by Armstrong to have been made at Paris, is important. But what is the declaration he speaks of? for none accompanies his letter, unless he means Harry Grant's proposition. I wish our Ministers at Paris, London, and Madrid, could find out Burr's propositions and agents there. I know few of the characters of the new British administration. The few I know are true Pittites, and anti-American. From them we have nothing to hope, but that they will readily let us back out. Whether they can hold their places will depend on the question whether the Irish propositions be popular or unpopular in England. Dr. Sibley, in a letter to Gen. Dearborne, corrects an error of fact in my message to Congress of December. He says the Spaniards never had a single soldier at Bayou Pierre till after 1805. Consequently it was not a keeping, but a taking of a military possession of that post. I think Gen. Dearborne would do well to desire Sibley to send us affidavits of that fact.

Our weather continues extremely seasonable, and favorable for vegetation. I salute you with sincere affection.

P. S. The pamphlet and papers shall be returned by next post.

TO MR. OLIVER EVANS.

MONTICELLO, May 2, 1807.

SIR,--Your favor of the 18th came to hand two days ago. That the ingenuity of an advocate, seeking for something to defend his client, should have hazarded as an objection that it did not appear on the face of the patent itself, that you had complied with the requisitions of the act authorizing a patent for your invention, is not wonderful; but I do not expect that such an objection can seriously embarrass the good sense of a judge. The law requires, indeed, that certain acts shall be performed by the inventor to authorize a monopoly of his invention, and, to secure their being done, it has called in, and relied on, the agency of the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and President. When they are satisfied the acts have been done, they are to execute a patent, granting to the inventor the monopoly. But the law does not require that the patent itself should bear the evidence that they should have been performed, any more than it requires that in a judgment should be stated all the evidence on which it is founded. The evidence of the acts on which the patent is founded, rests with those whose duty it is to see that they are performed; in fact, it is in the Secretary of State's office, where the interloper or inventor may have recourse to it if wanting. If these high officers have really failed to see that the acts were performed, or to preserve evidence of it, they have broken their trust to the public, and are responsible to the public; but their negligence cannot invalidate the inventor's right, who has been guilty of no fault. On the contrary, the patent, which is a record, has conveyed a right to him from the public, and that it was issued rightfully ought to be believed on the signature of these high officers affixed to the patent,--this being a solemn pledge on their part that the acts had been performed. Would their assertion of the fact, in the patent itself, pledge them more to the public? I do not think, then, that the disinterested judgment of a court can find difficulty in this objection. At any rate your right will be presumed valid, until they decide that it is not. Their final decision alone can authorize your resort to any remedial authority,--that is to say, to the Legislature, who alone can provide a remedy. Certainly an inventor ought to be allowed a right to the benefit of his invention for some certain time. It is equally certain it ought not to be perpetual; for to embarrass society with monopolies for every utensil existing, and in all the details of life, would be more injurious to them than had the supposed inventors never existed; because the natural understanding of its members would have suggested the same things or others as good. How long the term should be is the difficult question. Our Legislators have copied the English estimate of the term, perhaps without sufficiently considering how much longer, in a country so much more sparsely settled, it takes for an invention to become known, and used to an extent profitable to the inventor. Nobody wishes more than I do that ingenuity should receive a liberal encouragement: nobody estimates higher the utility which society has derived from that displayed by yourself; and I assure you with truth, that I shall always be ready to manifest it by every service I can render you. To this assurance I add that of my great respect and esteem, and my friendly salutations.

TO J. MADISON.

MONTICELLO, May 5, 1807.

I return you the pamphlet of the author of War in Disguise. Of its first half, the topics and the treatment of them are very commonplace; but from page 118 to 130 it is most interesting to all nations, and especially to us. Convinced that a militia of all ages promiscuously are entirely useless for distant service, and that we never shall be safe until we have a selected corps for a year's distant service at least, the classification of our militia is now the most essential thing the United States have to do. Whether, on Bonaparte's plan of making a class for every year between certain periods, or that recommended in my message, I do not know, but I rather incline to his. The idea is not new, as, you may remember, we adopted it once in Virginia during the revolution, but abandoned it too soon. It is the real secret of Bonaparte's success. Could H. Smith put better matter into his paper than the twelve pages above mentioned, and will you suggest it to him? No effort should be spared to bring the public mind to this great point. I salute you with sincere affection.

TO THE HONORABLE JOHN SMITH.

MONTICELLO, May 7, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--Your two letters of March 27th and April 6th have been received. Writing from this place, where I have not my papers to turn to, I cannot even say whether I have received such as you ask copies of. But I am sorry to answer any request of yours by saying that a compliance would be a breach of trust. It is essential for the public interest that I should receive all the information possible respecting either matters or persons connected with the public. To induce people to give this information, they must feel assured that when deposited with me it is secret and sacred. Honest men might justifiably withhold information, if they expected the communication would be made public, and commit them to war with their neighbors and friends. This imposes the duty on me of considering such information as mere suggestions for inquiry, and to put me on my guard; and to injure no man by forming any opinion until the suggestion be verified. Long experience in this school has by no means strengthened the disposition to believe too easily. On the contrary, it has begotten an incredulity which leaves no one's character in danger from any hasty conclusion. I hope these considerations will satisfy you, both as they respect you and myself, and that you will be assured I shall always be better pleased with those cases which admit that compliance with your wishes which is always pleasing to me. Accept my salutations, and assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO MR. MADISON.

MONTICELLO, May 8, 1807.

I return you Monroe's letter of March 5th. As the explosion in the British ministry took place about the 15th, I hope we shall be spared the additional embarrassment of his convention. I enclose you a letter of Michael Jones for circulation, and to rest with the Attorney General. It contains new instances of Burr's enlistments. I received this from Mr. Gallatin, so you can hand it to General Dearborne direct.

I expect to leave this on the 13th, but there is a possible occurrence which may prevent it till the 19th, which however is not probable. Accept affectionate salutations.

TO MR. HAY.

WASHINGTON, May 20, 1807.

DEAR SIR,--Dr. Bollman, on his arrival here in custody in January, voluntarily offered to make communications to me, which he accordingly did, Mr. Madison also being present. I previously and subsequently assured him, (without, however, his having requested it,) that they should never be used _against himself_. Mr. Madison on the same evening committed to writing, by memory, what he had said; and I moreover asked of Bollman to do it himself, which he did, and I now enclose it to you. The object is, as he is to be a witness, that you may know how to examine him, and draw everything from him. I wish the paper to be seen and known only to yourself and the gentlemen who aid you, and to be returned to me. If he should prevaricate, I should be willing you should go so far as to ask him whether he did not say so and so to Mr. Madison and myself. In order to let him see that his prevarications will be marked, Mr. Madison will forward you a pardon for him, which we mean should be delivered previously. It is suspected by some he does not intend to appear. If he does not, I hope you will take effectual measures to have him immediately taken into custody. Some other blank pardons are sent on to be filled up at your discretion, if you should find a defect of evidence, and believe that this would supply it, by avoiding to give them to the gross offenders, unless it be visible that the principal will otherwise escape. I send you an affidavit of importance received last night. If General Wilkinson gets on in time, I expect he will bring Dunbaugh on with him. At any rate it may be a ground for an arrest and commitment for treason. Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO MR. DE LA COSTE.

WASHINGTON, May 24, 1807.

SIR,--I received, in due time, your favor of April 10th, enclosing a scheme and subscription for the establishment of a museum of natural history, at Williamsburgh, by private contributions. Nobody can desire more ardently than myself, to concur in whatever may promote useful science, and I view no science with more partiality than natural history. But I have ever believed that in this, as in most other cases, abortive attempts retard rather than promote this object. To be really useful we must keep pace with the state of society, and not dishearten it by attempts at what its population, means, or occupations will fail in attempting. In the particular enterprises for museums, we have seen the populous and wealthy cities of Boston and New York unable to found or maintain such an institution. The feeble condition of that in each of these places sufficiently proves this. In Philadelphia alone, has this attempt succeeded to a good degree? It has been owing there to a measure of zeal and perseverance in an individual rarely equalled; to a population, crowded, wealthy, and more than usually addicted to the pursuit of knowledge. And, with all this, the institution does not maintain itself. The proprietor has been obliged to return to the practice of his original profession to help it on. I know, indeed, that there are many individuals in Williamsburg, and its vicinity, who have already attained a high degree of science, and many zealously pursuing it. But after viewing all circumstances there as favorably as the most sanguine of us could wish, I cannot find in them a rational ground for expecting success in an undertaking to which the other positions have been found unequal. I sincerely wish I may be mistaken, and that the success which your zeal I am sure will merit, may be equal to your wishes, as well as ours. But, for the present, I would rather reserve myself till its prospects can be more favorably estimated; because the aid we would be disposed to give to a promising enterprise, would be very different to one we might offer to a desperate one. Although less sanguine on this particular subject, I do entire justice to the zeal for the promotion of science, which has excited your effort, and shall see it with uncommon pleasure surmounting the present difficulties, or engaged in other pursuits which may reward it with better success. Be assured that no one is more sincere in wishing it, and accept my salutations and assurances of great respect and consideration.

TO MR. CLINTON.

WASHINGTON, May 24, 1807.

Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to Mr. Clinton, and his thanks for the pamphlet sent him. He recollects the having read it at the time with a due sense of his obligation to the author, whose name was surmised, though not absolutely known, and a conviction that he had made the most of his matter. The ground of defence might have been solidly aided by the assurance (which is the absolute fact) that the whole story fathered on Mazzei, was an unfounded falsehood. Dr. Linn, as aware of that, takes care to quote it from a dead man, who is made to quote from one residing in the remotest part of Europe. Equally false was Dr. Linn's other story about Bishop Madison's lawn sleeves, as the Bishop can testify, for certainly Th: J. never saw him in lawn sleeves. Had the Doctor ventured to name time, place, and person, for his third lie, (the government without religion) it is probable he might have been convicted on that also. But these are slander and slanderers, whom Th: Jefferson has thought it best to leave to the scourge of public opinion. He salutes Mr. Clinton with esteem and respect.

TO GEORGE HAY, ESQ.

WASHINGTON, May 26, 1807.