Johnson, then expected on that coast, touched and landed there two thousand men, the dominion of Spain in that country was at an end; they only wanted a point of union, which this body would have constituted; not having this, they acted without concert, and were at length subdued, separately. This conflagration was quenched in blood, two hundred thousand souls on both sides having perished, but the remaining matter is very capable of combustion. I have this information from a person who was on the spot at the time, and whose good faith, understanding and means of information, leave no doubt of the facts; he observed, however, that the numbers above supposed to have perished, were on such conjectures only as he could collect. I trouble Congress with these details, because, however distant we may be, both in condition and dispositions, from taking an active part in any commotions in that country, nature has placed it too near us to make its movements altogether indifferent to our interests or to our curiosity. I hear of another arrêt of this Court, increasing the duties on foreign stock fish, and the premiums on their own, imported into their Islands, but not having yet seen it, I can say nothing certain on it. I am in hopes the effect of this policy will be defeated by the practice which I am told takes place on the bank of Newfoundland, of putting our fish into the French fishing boats, and the parties sharing the premium, instead of ours paying the duty. I am in hopes Mr. Short will be able to send you the medals of General Gates by this packet. I await a gen eral instruction as to these medals. The academies of Europe will be much gratified to receive each a set. I propose to set out the day after to-morrow for Bourdeaux, (by the canal of Languedoc,) Nantes, L'Orient, and Paris. I have the honor to be, &c. TH: JEFFERSON. FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. Dear Sir, Paris, June 14, 1787. Having got back to Paris three days ago, I resume immediately the correspondence, with which you have been pleased to honor me. I wish I could have begun it with more agreeable information than that furnished me. by M. Grand, that the funds of the United States here are exhausted, and himself considerably in advance; and by the Board of Treasury at New York, that they have no immediate prospect of furnishing supplies. We are thus left to shift for ourselves, without previous warning. As soon as they shall replenish Mr. Grand's hands, I will give you notice, that you may recommence your usual drafts on him; unless the Board should provide a separate fund for you, dependant on yourself alone, which I strongly and repeatedly pressed on them, in order to remove the indecency of suffering your drafts to pass through any intermediate hand for payment. My letters from America come down to the 24th of April. The disturbances in the eastern States were entirely settled. I do not learn that the Government had made any examples. Mr. Hancock's health being reestablished, the want of which had occasioned him to resign the Government of Massachusetts, he has been reelected to the exclusion of Governor Bowdoin. New York still refuses to pass the impost in any form, and were she to pass it, Pennsylvania will not uncouple it from the supplementary funds. These two States, and Virginia, are the only ones, my letter says, which have paid any thing into the Continental Treasury, for a twelve month past. I send you a copy of a circular letter from Congress to the several States, insisting on their removing all obstructions to the recovery of British debts. This was hurried, that it might be delivered to the Assembly of New York, before they rose. It was delivered, but they did nothing in consequence of it. The Convention to be assembled at Philadelphia will be an able one. Ten States were known to have appointed delegates. Massachusetts was about to appoint; Connecticut was doubtful; and Rhode Island had refused. We are sure, however, of eleven States. South Carolina has prohibited the importation of slaves for three years; which is a step towards a perpetual prohibition. Between six and seven hundred thousand acres of land are actually surveyed into townships, and the sales are to begin immediately. They are not to be sold for less than a dollar the acre, in public certificates. I wrote you from Bourdeaux, on the subject of Colonel Smith. I was sorry I missed him there, for other reasons as well as from a curiosity to know his errand. The Notables have laid the foundation for much good here: you have seen it detailed in the public papers. The Prince of Wales is likely to recover from his illness, which was very threat ening. It is feared that three powers have combined to lift the Prince of Orange out of his difficulties. Have you yet the cypher of which I formerly wrote to you, or any copy of it? I had the honor of addressing you in a letter of May 4th, from Marseilles, which was to have gone by the last packet, but it arrived a few hours too late for that conveyance, and has been committed to a private one passing through England, with a promise that it should go through no Post-Office. I was desirous, while at the sea ports, to obtain a list of the American vessels, which have come to them since the peace, in order to estimate their comparative importance to us, as well as the general amount of our commerce with this country, so far as carried on in our own bottoms. At Marseilles, I found there had been thirty two since that period; at Cette not a single one; at Bayonne, one of our free ports, only one; this last article I learnt from other information, not having visited that place, as it would have been a deviation, from my route, too considerable for the importance of the object; at Bourdeaux, Nantes, and L'Orient, I could not obtain lists in the moment: but am in hopes I shall be able to get them ere long, though more important to us, they VOL. III-32 will probably be more imperfect than that of Marseilles ; at Nantes I began with Mr. Dobrée an arrangement of his claims. I visited the military stores which have been detained there so long, opened some boxes of each kind, and found the state of their contents much better than had been represented, an exact list of the articles is to be sent me; in the meantime the following is near the truth. 24 cases of gun locks; 6 cases of gun barrels; 65 cases of old bayonets; locks and furniture of 3,100 fire arms of various kinds, taken from the peasants of Bourdeaux, when they were deprived of the droit de chasse, and purchased by Mr. Deane, the above are broken, eaten up with rust and worth nothing; 15,000 pieces of walnut for gun stocks very good; 30 cases of muskets from Holland, about 27 in each chest, say about 700 muskets with their bayonets, good of their form, but not of the best form, in such condition that they will need only such a cleaning as the soldier himself, can give; 21 cases of sabres, from Holland, about 63 in each case, say about 1300 in good condition; 18 hogsheads of gun flints; 10 anchors weighing in the whole about 21,500lbs. But we must deduct about 1-5 from the muskets and sabres, because there are in the warehouses five tiers of cases, the bottom one of which having been partly under water, during an inundation of the Loire, that whole tier may be considered as lost; another deduction will be warehouse rent, 600 liv. a year from the year 1782, still they remain an object of too much value to be abandoned, if they can be withdrawn by mutual consent, without any notice of their having been in the hands of justice. Mr. Dobrée appears to be so reasonable, that I am in hopes this may |