Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson Volume II Part 55

May the 21st. I have this moment received a letter from Ledyard, dated Cairo, November the 15th. He therein says, 'I am doing up my baggage, and most curious baggage it is, and I leave Cairo in two or three days.

I travel from hence southwest, about three hundred leagues, to a black King: there my present conductors leave me to my fate. Beyond, I suppose, I go alone. I expect to hit the continent across, between the parallels of twelve and twenty degrees north lat.i.tude. I shall, if possible, write you from the kingdom of this black gentleman.' This seems to contradict the story of his having died at Cairo, in January, as he was then, probably, in the interior parts of Africa. If Sir Joseph Banks has no news from him later than the letter of September, it may do him pleasure, if you will communicate the above. If he or any other person knows whether there is any foundation for the story of his death, I will thank you to inform me of it. My letter being to go off to-morrow, I shall only add a.s.surances of the esteem and respect, with which I am, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER CCIV.--TO MONSIEUR DE ST. ETIENNE, June 3, 1789

TO MONSIEUR DE ST. ETIENNE.

Paris, June 3, 1789.

Sir,

After you quitted us yesterday evening, we continued our conversation (Monsieur de la Fayette, Mr. Short, and myself) on the subject of the difficulties which environ you. The desirable object being to secure the good which the King has offered, and to avoid the ill which seems to threaten, an idea was suggested, which appearing to make an impression on Monsieur de la Fayette, I was encouraged to pursue it on my return to Paris, to put it into form, and now to send it to you and him. It is this; that the King, in a _seance royale_, should come forward with a Charter of Rights in his hand, to be signed by himself and by every member of the three orders. This charter to contain the five great points which the _Resultat_ of December offered on the part of the King; the abolition of pecuniary privileges offered by the privileged orders, and the adoption of the national debt, and a grant of the sum of money asked from the nation. This last will be a cheap price for the preceding articles; and let the same act declare your immediate separation till the next anniversary meeting. You will carry back to your const.i.tuents more good than ever was effected before without violence, and you will stop exactly at the point where violence would otherwise begin. Time will be gained, the public mind will continue to ripen and to be informed, a basis of support may be prepared with the people themselves, and expedients occur for gaining still something further at your next meeting, and for stopping again at the point of force. I have ventured to send yourself and Monsieur de la Fayette a sketch of my ideas of what this act might contain, without endangering any dispute. But it is offered merely as a canva.s.s for you to work on, if it be fit to work on at all. I know too little of the subject, and you know too much of it, to justify me in offering any thing but a hint. I have done it, too, in a hurry: insomuch, that since committing it to writing, it occurs to me that the fifth article may give alarm; that it is in a good degree included in the fourth, and is, therefore, useless. But after all, what excuse can I make, Sir, for this presumption. I have none but an unmeasurable love for your nation, and a painful anxiety lest despotism, after an unaccepted offer to bind its own hands, should seize you again with tenfold fury. Permit me to add to these, very sincere a.s.surances of the sentiments of esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

[The annexed is the Charter accompanying the preceding letter.]

A Charter of Rights, solemnly established by the King and Nation.

1. The States General shall a.s.semble, uncalled, on the first day of November, annually, and shall remain together so long as they shall see cause. They shall regulate their own elections and proceedings, and until they shall ordain otherwise, their elections shall be in the forms observed in the present year, and shall be triennial.

2. The States General alone shall levy money on the nation, and shall appropriate it.

3. Laws shall be made by the States General only, with the consent of the King.

4. No person shall be restrained of his liberty, but by regular process from a court of justice, authorized by a general law. (Except that a n.o.ble may be imprisoned by order of a court of justice, on the prayer of twelve of his nearest relations.) On complaint of an unlawful imprisonment, to any judge whatever, he shall have the prisoner immediately brought before him, and shall discharge him, if his imprisonment be unlawful. The officer, in whose custody the prisoner is, shall obey the orders of the judge; and both judge and officer shall be responsible, civilly and criminally, for a failure of duty herein.

5. The military shall be subordinate to the civil authority.

7. Printers shall be liable to legal prosecution for printing and publis.h.i.+ng false facts, injurious to the party prosecuting; but they shall be under no other restraint.

7. All pecuniary privileges and exemptions, enjoyed by any description of persons, are abolished.

8. All debts already contracted by the King, are hereby made the debts of the nation; and the faith thereof is pledged for their payment in due time.

9. Eighty millions of livres are now granted to the King, to be raised by loan, and reimbursed by the nation: and the taxes heretofore paid, shall continue to be paid to the end of the present year, and no longer.

10. The States General shall now separate, and meet again on the 1st day of November next.

Done, on behalf of the whole nation, by the King and their representatives in the States General, at Versailles, this ------ day of June, 1789.

Signed by the King, and by every member individually, and in his presence.

LETTER CCV.--TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, June 12, 1789

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

Paris, June 12, 1789.

My Dear Sir,

As I may not be able to get at you at Versailles, I write this to deliver it myself at your door. With respect to the utility or inutility of your minority's joining the Commons, I am unable to form an opinion for myself. I know too little of the subject to see what may be its consequences.

I never knew an instance of the English parliament's undertaking to relieve the poor by a distribution of bread in time of scarcity. In fact, the English commerce is so extensive and so active, that though bread may be a little more or less plenty, there can never be an absolute failure. The island is so narrow, that corn can be readily carried from the sea-ports to its interior parts. But were an absolute want to happen, and were the parliament to undertake a distribution of corn, I think, that according to the principles of their government, they would only vote a sum of money, and address the King to employ it for the best. The business is, in its nature, executive, and would require too great a variety of detail to be managed by an act of parliament. However, I repeat it, that I never heard or read of an instance of the parliament's interfering to give bread. If I see you at Versailles to-day, I can be more particular.

I am with great sincerity, my dear Sir, your affectionate friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson,

LETTER CCVI.--TO JOHN JAY, June 17, 1789

TO JOHN JAY.

Sir

Paris, June 17, 1789.

I had the honor of addressing you on the 9th and 12th of May, by the way of London. This goes through the same channel to the care of Mr.

Trumbull. Having received no letter from you of later date than the 25th of November, I am apprehensive that there may have been miscarriages, and the more so, as I learn, through another channel, that you have particularly answered mine of November the 19th.

The death of the Grand Seignior, which has happened, renders the continuance of the war more probable, as it has brought to the throne a successor of a more active and ardent temper, and who means to put himself at the head of his armies. He has declared the Captain Pacha his Generalissimo. The prospects for Russia, on the other hand, are less encouraging. Her princ.i.p.al ally, the Emperor, is at death's door, blazing up a little indeed, from time to time like an expiring taper, but certainly to extinguish soon. Denmark, too, is likely to be restrained by the threats of England and Prussia, from contributing even her stipulated naval succors. It is some time since I have been able to obtain any account of the King of England, on which I can rely with confidence. His melancholy continues, and to such a degree, as to render him absolutely indifferent to every thing that pa.s.ses, so that he seems willing to let his ministers do every thing they please, provided they will let him alone. When forced to speak, his comprehension seems better than it was in the first moments after his phrensy went off. His health is bad: he does not go into public at all, and very few are admitted to see him. This is his present state, according to the best accounts I have been able to get lately. His ministers dictate boldly in the north, because they know it is impossible they should be engaged in the war, while this country is so completely palsied.

You will have seen by my former letters, that the question, whether the States General should vote by persons or by orders, had stopped their proceedings in the very first instance in which it could occur, that is, as to the verification of their powers, and that they had appointed committees to try if there were any means of accommodation. These could do nothing. The King then proposed that they should appoint others, to meet persons whom he should name, on the same subject. These conferences also proved ineffectual. He then proposed a specific mode of verifying.

The clergy accepted it unconditionally; the _n.o.blesse_, with such conditions and modifications, as did away their acceptance altogether.

The Commons, considering this as a refusal, came to the resolution of the 10th instant (which I have the honor to send you), inviting the two other orders to come and take their places in the common room, and notifying that they should proceed to the verification of powers, and to the affairs of the nation, either with or without them. The Clergy have, as yet, given no answer. A few of their members have accepted the invitation of the Commons, and have presented themselves in their room, to have their powers verified; but how many it will detach, in the whole, from that body, cannot be known till an answer be decided on. The _n.o.blesse_ adhered to their former resolutions, and even the minority, well disposed to the Commons, thought they could do more good in their own chamber, by endeavoring to increase their numbers and fettering the measures of the majority, than by joining the Commons. An intrigue was set on foot, between the leaders of the majority in that House, the Queen, and Princes. They persuaded the King to go for some time to Marly: he went. On the same day, the leaders moved in the chamber of n.o.bles, that they should address the King, to declare his own sentiments on the great question between the orders. It was intended that this address should be delivered to him at Marly, where, separated from his ministers, and surrounded by the Queen and Princes, he might be surprised into a declaration for the n.o.bles. The motion was lost, however, by a very great majority, that chamber being not yet quite ripe for throwing themselves into the arms of despotism. Necker and Montmorin, who had discovered this intrigue, had warned some of the minority to defeat it, or they could not answer for what would happen.

These two and St. Priest, are the only members of the Council in favor of the Commons. Luzerne, Puy-Segur, and the others, are high aristocrats. The Commons having verified their powers, a motion was made the day before yesterday, to declare themselves const.i.tuted, and to proceed to business. I left them at two o'clock yesterday; the debates not then finished. They differed only about forms of expression, but agreed in the substance, and probably decided yesterday, or will decide to-day. Their next move, I fancy, will be to suppress all taxes, and instantly re-establish them till the end of their session, in order to prevent a premature dissolution: and then they will go to work on a declaration of rights and a const.i.tution. The _n.o.blesse_, I suppose, will be employed altogether in counter operations; the Clergy, that is to say, the higher Clergy, and such of the _Cures_ as they can bring over to their side, will be waiting and watching, merely to keep themselves in their saddles. Their deportment, hitherto, is that of meekness and cunning. The fate of the nation depends on the conduct of the King and his ministers. Were they to side openly with the Commons, the revolution would be completed without a convulsion, by the establishment of a const.i.tution, tolerably free, and in which the distinction of n.o.ble and Commoner would be suppressed. But this is scarcely possible. The King is honest, and wishes the good of his people; but the expediency of an hereditary aristocracy is too difficult a question for him. On the contrary, his prejudices, his habits, and his connections decide him in his heart to support it. Should they decide openly for the _n.o.blesse_, the Commons, after suppressing taxes, and finis.h.i.+ng their declaration of rights, would probably go home; a bankruptcy takes place in the instant, Mr. Necker must go out, a resistance to the tax-gatherers follows, and probably a civil war. These consequences are too evident and violent, to render this issue likely.

Though the Queen and Princes are infatuated enough to hazard it, the party in the ministry would not. Something, therefore, like what I hinted in my letter of May the 12th, is still the most likely to take place. While the Commons, either with or without their friends of the other two Houses, shall be employed in framing a const.i.tution, perhaps the government may set the other two Houses to work on the same subject: and when the three schemes shall be ready, joint committees may be negotiated, to compare them together, to see in what parts they agree; and probably they will agree in all, except the organization of the future States General. As to this, it may be endeavored, by the aid of wheedling and intimidation, to induce the two privileged chambers to melt themselves into one, and the Commons, instead of one, to agree to two Houses of legislation. I see no other middle ground to which they can be brought.

It is a tremendous cloud, indeed, which hovers over this nation, and he at the helm has neither the courage nor the skill necessary to weather it. Eloquence in a high degree, knowledge in matters of account, and order, are distinguis.h.i.+ng traits in his character. Ambition is his first pa.s.sion, virtue his second. He has not discovered that sublime truth, that a bold, unequivocal virtue is the best handmaid even to ambition, and would carry him further, in the end, than the temporizing, wavering policy he pursues. His judgment is not of the first order, scarcely even of the second; his resolution frail; and upon the whole, it is rare to meet an instance of a person so much below the reputation he has obtained. As this character, by the post and times in which Providence has placed it, is important to be known, I send it to you as drawn by a person of my acquaintance, who knows him well. He is not, indeed, his friend, and allowance must, therefore, be made for the high coloring.

But this being abated, the facts and groundwork of the drawing are just. If the _Tiers_ separate, he goes at the same time; if they stay together, and succeed in establis.h.i.+ng a const.i.tution to their mind, as soon as that is placed in safety, they will abandon him to the mercy of the court, unless he can recover the confidence which he has lost at present, and which, indeed, seems to be irrecoverable.

The inhabitants of St. Domingo, without the permission of the government, have chosen and sent deputies to the States General. The question of their admission is to be discussed by the States. In the mean time, the government had promised them an a.s.sembly in their own Island, in the course of the present year. The death of the Dauphin, so long expected, has at length happened. Montmorin told Ternant the other day, that De Moustier had now asked a _conge_, which would be sent him immediately. So that unless a change of ministry should happen, he will, probably, be otherwise disposed of. The gazettes of France and Leyden accompany this. I have the honor to be, with the most perfect esteem and respect, Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,