FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THOMAS BARCLAY. Sir, I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your several favors of June the 29th, and July the 6th and 8th. I am of opinion that the affair of Grand and Roland in Holland, had better be committed to M. Dumas, in Holland, as lawsuits must always be attended to by some person on the spot. For the same reason, I think that of La Vayse and Puchelberg, should be managed by the agent at L'Orient, and Gruel's by the agent at Nantes. I shall always be ready to assist the agents at L'Orient and Nantes, in any way in my power; but were the details to be left to me, they would languish necessarily, on account of my distance from the place, and perhaps suffer too, for want of verbal consultations with the lawyers entrusted with them. You are now with Congress; and can take their orders on the subject. I shall, therefore, do nothing in these matters, in reliance that you will put them in such channel as they direct, furnishing the necessary documents and explanations. * With respect to French's affair, being perfectly satisfied myself, I have not ceased, nor shall I cease, endeavoring to satisfy others, that your conduct has been that of an honest and honorable debtor, and theirs the counterpart of Shylock in the play. I enclose you a letter, containing my testimony on your general conduct, which I have written to relieve a debt of justice pressing on my mind, well knowing at the same time, you will not stand in need of it in America. Your conduct is too well known to Congress, your character to all the world, to need any testimonials. The moment I close my despatches for the packet, which will be the 9th instant, I shall, with great pleasure, go to pay my respects to Mrs. Barclay, at St. Germain's, to satisfy her on the subject of your transactions, and to assure her that my resources shall be hers, as long as I have any. A multitude of letters to write, prevents my entering into the field of public news, further than to observe, that it is extremely doubtful whether the affairs of Holland will, or will not produce a war between France, on one side, and England and Prussia, on the other. I beg you to accept assurances of the sincere esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be &c. TH: JEFFERSON. FROM THOMAS JEFFERSON TO JOHN JAY. Paris, August 6, 1787. Sir, The last letter I had the honor of addressing you was dated June 21st. I have now that of enclosing you a letter from the Swedish Ambassador praying that inquiry may be made for a vessel of his nation piratically carried off, and measures taken relative to the vessel, cargo and crew, also a letter from William Russell and others, citizens of America, concerned in trade to the Island of Guadaloupe, addressed to the Mareschal de Castries, and complaining of the shutting to them the port of Point a Petre, and receiving them only at Basse-terre. This was enclosed to me by the subscribers to be delivered to the Mareschal de Castries, but the present is not the moment to move in that business, and moreover, I suppose that wherever parties are within the reach of Congress, they should apply to them, and my instructions come through that channel; matters arising within the kingdom of France, to which my commission is limited, and not admitting time to take the orders of Congress, I suppose I may move in originally. I also enclose you a copy of a letter from Mr. Barclay, closing his proceedings in our affairs with Morocco. Before this reaches you, he will have had the honor of presenting himself to you in person. After his departure, the Parliament of Bourdeaux decided that he was liable to arrest. This was done on a letter from the Minister, informing them that Mr. Barclay was vested with no character, which privileged him from arrest, his constant character of Consul was no protection, and they did not explain whether his character to Morocco was not originally diplomatic or had expired. Mr. Barclay's proceedings under this commission being now enclosed, it would be incumbent on me to declare with respect to them, as well as his consular transactions, my opinion of the judgment, zeal, and disinterestedness, with which he has conducted himself; were it not that Congress has been so possessed of those transactions from time to time, as to judge for themselves. I cannot but be uneasy, lest my delay of entering on the subject of the Consular Convention may be disapproved; my hope was and is, that more practicable terms might be obtained; in this hope, I do nothing till further orders. Observing by an extract from the jour nals you were pleased to send me, that Congress have referred the matter to your consideration, and conscious that we are not suffering in the meantime, as we have not a single Consul in France, since the departure of Mr. Barclay. I mentioned to you in my last, the revival of the hopes of the Chevalier de la Luzerne. I thought it my duty to remind the Count de Montmorin, the other day, of the long absence of their Minister from Congress, he told me the Chevalier de la Luzerne would not be sent back, but that we might rely that in the month of October, a person would be sent, with whom we should be content; he did not name the person, though there is no doubt that it is the Count de Moustier. It is an appointment which, according to the opinion I have formed of him, bids as fair to give content, as any one which could be made. I also mentioned in my last letter, that I had proposed the reducing the substance of M. de Calonne's letter, into the form of an arrêt with some alterations, which on consultation with the merchants at the different ports Ivisited, I had found to be necessary. I received soon after a letter from the Comptroller General informing me, that the letter of Monsieur de Calonne was in a course of execution. Of this I enclose you a copy. I was in that moment enclosing to him my general observations on that letter, a copy of which is also enclosed; in this, I stated all the alterations I wished to have made. It became expedient soon after to bring on the article of tobacco, first to know whether the farmers had executed the orders of Bernis, and also to prepare some arrangements to succeed the expiration of this order, so that I am now pursuing the whole subject of our commerce. 1st. to have ne cessary amendments made in M. de Calonne's letter, 2nd. to put it into a more stable form: 3rd. to have full execution of the order of Bernis: 4th. to provide arrangements for the article of tobacco, after that order shall be expired. By the copy of my letter on the two last points, you will perceive that I again press the attention of the farm of this article, the conferences on that subject give no hope of effecting that, some poor palliative is probably all we shall obtain. The Marquis de la Fayette goes hand in hand with me in all these transactions, and is an invaluable auxiliary to me. I hope it will not be imputed either to partiality or affectation, my naming this gentleman so often in my despatches; were I not to do it, it would be a suppression of truth, and as taking to myself the whole merit, where he has the greatest share. The Emperor, on his return to Vienna, discovered the concessions of his Governors General to his subjects of Brabant, he, at the same time, proposed their sending deputies to him, to consult on their affairs; they refused in the first moment, but afterwards nominated deputies, without giving them any power, however, to concede anything; in the meantime they are arming and training themselves, probably the Emperor will avail himself of the aid of these deputies to tread back his steps, he will be the more prompt to do this, that he may be in readiness to act freely if he finds occasion, in the new scenes preparing in Holland; what these will be, cannot be foreseen. You well know that the original party divisions of that country were into Stadtholderians, Aristocrats and Democrats, there was a subdivision of the aristocrats, into violent and moderate, which was important; the violent aristocrats would have wished to preserve all |