LETTER CLII. TO MR. RITTENHOUSE. Paris, January 25, 1786. DEAR SIR, Your favor of September the 28th, came to hand a few days ago. I thank you for the details on the subject of the southern and western lines. There remains thereon, one article, however, which I will still beg you to inform me of; viz. how far is the western boundary beyond the meridian of Pittsburgh? This information is necessary to enable me to trace that boundary in my map. I shall be much gratified, also, with a communication of your observations on the curiosities of the western country. It will not be difficult, to induce me to give up the theory of the growth of shells, without their being the nidus of animals. It is only an idea, and not an opinion with me. In the Notes with which I troubled you, I had observed that there were three opinions as to the origin of these shells. 1. That they have been deposited even in the highest mountains, by an universal deluge. 2. That they, with all the calcareous stones and earths, are animal remains. 3. That they grow or shoot as chrystals do. I find that I could swallow the last opinion, sooner than either of the others; but I have not yet swallowed it. Another opinion might have been added, that some throe of nature has forced up parts which had been the bed of the ocean. But have we any better proof of such an effort of nature, than of her shooting a lapidific juice into the form of a shell? No such convulsion has taken place in our time, nor within the annals of history: nor is the distance greater, between the shooting of the lapidific juice into the form of a chrystal or a diamond, which we see, and into the form of a shell, which we do not see, than between the forcing volcanic matter a little above the surface, where it is in fusion, which we see, and the forcing the bed of the sea fifteen thousand feet above the ordinary surface of the earth, which we do not see. It is not possible to believe any of these hypotheses; and if we lean towards any of them, it should be only till some other is produced, more analogous to the known operations of nature. In a letter to Mr. Hopkinson, I mentioned to him that the Abbé Rochon, who discovered the double refracting power in some of the natural chrystals, had lately made a telescope with the metal called platina, which, while it is as susceptible of as perfect a polish as the metal heretofore used for the specula of telescopes, is insusceptible of rust, as gold and silver are. There is a person here, who has hit on a new method of engraving. He gives you an ink of his composition. Write on copper plates, any thing of which you would wish to take several copies, and, in an hour, the plate will be ready to strike them off; so of plans, engravings, &c. This art will be amusing to individuals, if he should make it known. I send you herewith, the nautical almanacs for 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, which are as late as they are published. You ask, how you may reimburse the expense of these trifles? I answer, by accepting them; as the procuring you a gratification, is a higher one to me than money. We have had nothing curious published lately. I do not know whether you are fond of chemical reading. There are some things in this science worth reading. I will send them to you, if you wish it. My daughter is well, and joins me in respects to Mrs. Rittenhouse and the young ladies. After asking when we are to have the Lunarium, I will close with assurances of the sincere regard and esteem, with which I am, Dear Sir, DEAR SIR, your most obedient humble servant, TH: JEFFERSON. LETTER CLIII. TO A. STEWART. Paris, January 25, 1786. I have received your favor of the 17th of October, which, though you mention it as the third you have written me, is the first that has come to hand. I sincerely thank you for the communications it contains. Nothing is so grateful to me, at this distance, as details, both great and sinall, of what is passing in my own country. Of the latter, we receive little here, because they either escape my correspondents, or are thought unworthy of notice. This, however, is a very mistaken opinion, as every one may observe, by recollecting, that when he has been long absent from his neighborhood, the small news of that is the most pleasing, and occupies his first attention, either when he meets with a person from thence, or returns thither himself. I still hope, therefore, that the letter, in which you have been so good as to give me the minute occurrences in the neighborhood of Monticello, may yet come to hand, and I venture to rely on the many proofs of friendship I have received from you, for a continuance of your favors. This will be the more meritorious, as I have nothing to give you in exchange. The quiet of Europe, at this moment, furnishes little which can attract your notice. Nor will that quiet be soon disturbed, at least for the current year. Perhaps, it hangs on the life of the King of Prussia, and that hangs by a very slender thread. American reputation, in Europe, is not such as to be flattering to its citizens. Two circumstances are particularly objected to us; the non-payment of our debts, and the want of energy in our government. These discourage a connection with us. I own it to be my opinion, that good will arise from the destruction of our credit. I see nothing else which can restrain our disposition to luxury, and to the change of those manners which alone can preserve republican government. As it is impossible to prevent credit, the best way would be to cure its ill effects, by giving an instantaneous recovery to the creditor. This would be reducing purchases on credit, to purchases for ready money. A man would then see a prison painted on every thing he wished, but had not ready money to pay for. I fear from an expression in your letter, that the people of Kentucky think of separating, not only from Virginia (in which they are right,) but also from the confederacy. I own, I should think this a most calamitous event, and such a one as every good citizen should set himself against. Our present federal limits are not too large for good government, nor will the increase of votes in Congress produce any ill effect. On the contrary, it will drown the little divisions at present existing there. Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest, from which all America, North and South, is to be peopled. We should take care, too, not to think it for the interest of that great continent, to press too soon on the Spaniards. Those countries cannot be in better hands. My fear is, that they are too feeble to hold them till our population can be sufficiently advanced, to gain it from them, piece by piece. The navigation of the Mississippi we must have. This is all we are, as yet, ready to receive. I have made acquaintance with a very sensible, candid gentleman, here, who was in South America during the revolt which took place there, while our Revolution was going on. He says, that those disturbances (of which we scarcely heard any thing) cost, on both sides, an hundred thousand lives. I have made a particular acquaintance here, with Monsieur de Buffon, and have a great desire to give him the best idea I can of our elk. Perhaps your situation may enable you to aid me in this. You could not oblige me more, than by sending me the horns, skeleton and skin of an elk, were it possible to procure them. The mostdesirable form of receiving them, would be, to have the skin slit from the under jaw along the belly to the tail, and down the thighs to the knee, to take the animal out, leaving the legs and hoofs, the bones of the head, and the horns attached to the skin. By sewing up the belly, &c. and stuffing the skin, it would present the form of the animal. However, as an opportunity of doing this is scarcely to be expected, I shall be glad to receive them detached, packed in a box and sent to Richmond, to the care of Dr. Currie. Every thing of this kind is precious here. And to prevent my adding to your trouble, I must close my letter, with assurances of the esteem and attachment, with which I am, Dear Sir, your friend and servant, TH: JEFFERSON. LETTER CLIV. TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY. GENTLEMEN, Paris, January 26, 1786. I have been duly honored by the receipt of your letter, of December the 6th, and am to thank you for the communications it contained, on the state of our funds and expectations here. Your idea, that these communications, occasionally, may be useful to to the United States, is certainly just, as I am frequently obliged to explain our prospects of paying interest, &c. which, I should better do, with fuller information. If you would be so good as to instruct Mr. Grand, always to furnish me with a duplicate of those cash accounts which he furnishes to you, from time to time, and if you would be so good as to direct your secretary, to send me copies of such letters, as you transmit to Mr. Grand, advising him of the remittances he may expect, from time to time, I should, thereby, be always informed of the sum of money on hand here, and the probable expectations of supply. Dr. Franklin, during his residence here, having been authorised to borrow large sums of money, the disposal of that money seemed naturally to rest with him. It was Mr. Grand's practice, therefore, never to pay money, but on his warrant. On his departure, Mr. Grand sent all money drafts to me, to authorise their payment. I informed him, that this was in nowise within my province, that I was unqualified to direct him in it, and that were I to presume to meddle, it would be no additional sanction to him. He refused, however, to pay a shilling without my order. I have been obliged, therefore, to a nugatory interference, merely to prevent the affairs of the United States from standing still. I need not represent to you the impropriety of my continuing to direct Mr. Grand, longer than till we can receive your orders, the mischief which might ensue from the uncertainty in which this would place you, as to the extent to which you might venture to draw on your funds here, and the little necessity there is for my interference. Whenever you order a sum of money into Mr. Grand's hands, nothing will be more natural than your instructing him how to apply it, so as that he shall observe your instructions alone. Among these, you would doubtless judge it necessary to give him one standing instruction, to answer my drafts for such sums, as my office authorises me to call for. These would be salary, couriers, postage, and such other articles as circumstances will require, which cannot be previously defined. These will never be so considerable, as to endanger the honor of your drafts; I shall certainly exercise in them the greatest caution, and stand responsible to Congress. Mr. Grand conceives that he has suffered in your opinion, by an application of two hundred thousand livres, during the last year, differently from what the office of finance had instructed him. This was a consequence of his being thought subject to direction here, and it is but justice to relieve him from blame on that account, and to shew that it ought to fall, if any where, on Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams and myself. The case was thus. The monies here were exhausted, Mr. Grand was in advance about fifty thousand livres, and the diplomatic establishments in France, Spain and Holland, subsisting on his bounties, which they were subject to see stopped, every moment, and feared a protest on every bill. Other current expenses, too, were depending on advances from him, and though these were small in their amount, they sometimes involved great consequences. In this situation, he received four hundred thousand livres, to be paid to this government for one year's interest. We thought the honor of the United States, would suffer less by suspending half the payment to this government, replacing Mr. Grand's advances, and providing a fund for current expenses. We advised him so to do. I still think it was for the best, and I believe my colleagues have continued to see the matter in the same point of view. We may have been biassed by feelings excited by our own distressing situation. But certainly, as to Mr. Grand, no blame belongs to him. We explained this matter in a letter to Congress, at the time, and justice |