Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson Volume II Part 21

LETTER LXX.--TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN, July 23, 1787

TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.

Paris, July 23, 1787.

Sir,

I had the honor, a few days ago, of putting into the hands of your Excellency, some observations on the other articles of American produce, brought into the ports of this country. That of our tobaccos, from the particular form of their administration here, and their importance to the King's revenues, has been placed on a separate line, and considered separately. I will now ask permission to bring that subject under your consideration.

The mutual extension of their commerce was among the fairest advantages to be derived to France and the United States, from the independence of the latter. An exportation of eighty millions, chiefly in raw materials, is supposed to const.i.tute the present limits of the commerce of the United States with the nations of Europe; limits, however, which extend as their population increases. To draw the best proportion of this into the ports of France, rather than of any other nation, is believed to be the wish and interest of both. Of these eighty millions, thirty are const.i.tuted by the single article of tobacco. Could the whole of this be brought into the ports of France, to satisfy its own demands, and the residue to be re-vended to other nations, it would be a powerful link of commercial connection. But we are far from this. Even her own consumption, supposed to be nine millions, under the administration of the monopoly to which it is farmed, enters little, as an article of exchange, into the commerce of the two nations. When this article was first put into Farm, perhaps it did not injure the commercial interests of the kingdom; because nothing but British manufactures were then allowed to be given in return for American tobaccos. The laying the trade open, then, to all the subjects of France, could not have relieved her from a payment in money. Circ.u.mstances are changed; yet the old inst.i.tution remains. The body to which this monopoly was given, was not mercantile. Their object is to simplify, as much as possible, the administration of their affairs. They sell for cash; they purchase, therefore, with cash. Their interest, their principles, and their practice seem opposed to the general interest of the kingdom, which would require, that this capital article should be laid open to a free exchange for the productions of this country. So far does the spirit of simplifying their operations govern this body, that, relinquis.h.i.+ng the advantages to be derived from a compet.i.tion of sellers, they contracted some time ago with a single person (Mr. Morris) for three years'

supplies of American tobacco, to be paid for in cash. They obliged themselves, too, expressly, to employ no other person to purchase in America, during that term. In consequence of this, the mercantile houses of France, concerned in sending her productions to be exchanged for tobacco, cut off for three years from the hope of selling these tobaccos in France, were of necessity to abandon that commerce. In consequence of this, too, a single individual, const.i.tuted sole purchaser of so great a proportion of the tobaccos made, had the price in his own power. A great reduction in it took place, and that not only on the quant.i.ty he bought, but on the whole quant.i.ty made. The loss to the States producing the article, did not go to cheapen it for their friends here. Their price was fixed. What was gained on their consumption, was to enrich the person purchasing it; the rest, the monopolists and merchants of other countries. The effect of this operation was vitally felt by every farmer in America, concerned in the culture of this plant. At the end of the year, he found he had lost a fourth or a third of his revenue; the State, the same proportion of its subjects of exchange with other nations: the manufactures of this country, too, were either not to go there at all, or go through the channel of a new monopoly, which, freed from the control of compet.i.tion in prices and qualities, was not likely to extend their consumption. It became necessary to relieve the two countries from the fatal effects of this double monopoly. I had the honor of addressing a letter, on the 15th day of August, 1785, to his late Excellency, the Count de Vergennes, upon this subject, a copy of which I do myself the honor herein to enclose. The effectual mode of relief was to lay the commerce open. But the King's interest was also to be guarded. A committee was appointed to take this matter into consideration; and the result was, an order to the Farmers General, that no such contract should be made again. And to furnish such aliment as might keep that branch of commerce alive, till the expiration of the present contract, they were required to put the merchants in general on a level with Mr. Morris, for the quant.i.ty of twelve or fifteen thousand hogsheads a year. That this relief, too, might not be intercepted from the merchants of the two suffering nations, by those of a neighboring one, and that the transportation of so bulky an article might go to nourish their own s.h.i.+pping, no tobaccos were to be counted of this purchase, but those brought in French or American vessels. Of this order, made at Bernis, his Excellency, Count de Vergennes, was pleased to honor me with a communication, by a letter of the 30th of May, 1786; desiring that I would publish it as well in America as to the American merchants in France. I did so; communicating it to Congress at the same time. This order, thus viewed, with the transactions which produced it, will be seen to have been necessary; and its punctual and candid execution has been rendered still more so, by the speculations of the merchants, entered into on the faith of it. Otherwise it would become the instrument of their ruin instead of their relief. A twelvemonth has elapsed some time since; and it is questioned, whether the Farmers General have purchased, within that time, the quant.i.ty prescribed, and on the conditions prescribed. It would be impossible for the merchants to prove the negative; it will be easy for the Farmers General to show the affirmative, if it exists. I hope that a branch of commerce of this extent, will be thought interesting enough to both nations to render it the desire of your Excellency to require, as I deem it my duty to ask, a report of the purchases they have made, according to the conditions of the order of Bernis, specifying in that report, 1. The quant.i.ties purchased; 2. the prices paid; 3. the dates of the purchase and payment; 4. the flag of the vessel in which imported; 5. her name; 6. her port of delivery; and 7. the name of the seller. The four first articles make part of the conditions required by the order of Bernis; the three last may be necessary for the correction of any errors, which should happen to arise in the report.

But the order of Bernis was never considered but as a temporary relief.

The radical evil will still remain. There will be but one purchaser in the kingdom, and the hazard of his refusal will damp every mercantile speculation. It is very much to be desired, that before the expiration of this order, some measure may be devised, which may bring this great article into free commerce between the two nations. Had this been practicable at the time it was put into Farm, that mode of collecting the revenue would probably never have been adopted: now that it has become practicable, it seems reasonable to discontinue this mode, and to subst.i.tute some of those practised on other imported articles, on which a revenue is levied, without absolutely suppressing them in commerce.

If the revenue can be secured, the interests of a few individuals will hardly be permitted to weigh against those of as many millions, equally subjects of his Majesty, and against those, too, of a nation allied to him by all the ties of treaty, of interest, and of affection. The privileges of the most favored nation have been mutually exchanged by treaty. But the productions of other nations, which do not rival those of France, are suffered to be bought and sold freely within the kingdom.

By prohibiting all his Majesty's subjects from dealing in tobacco, except with a single company, one third of the exports of the United States are rendered uncommerciable here. This production is so peculiarly theirs, that its shackles affect no other nation. A relief from these shackles will form a memorable epoch in the commerce of the two nations. It will establish at once a great basis of exchange serving, like a point of union, to draw to it other members of our commerce. Nature, too, has conveniently a.s.sorted our wants and our superfluities to each other. Each nation has exactly to spare the articles which the other wants. We have a surplus of rice, tobacco, furs, peltry, potash, lamp-oils, timber, which France wants; she has a surplus of wines, brandies, esculent oils, fruits, and manufactures of all kinds, which we want. The governments have nothing to do, but not to hinder their merchants from making the exchange. The difference of language, laws, and customs, will be some obstacle for a time; but the interest of the merchants will surmount them. A more serious obstacle is our debt to Great Britain. Yet, since the treaty between this country and that, I should not despair of seeing that debt paid, in part, with the productions of France, if our produce can obtain here a free course of exchange for them. The distant prospect is still more promising. A century's experience has shown, that we double our numbers every twenty or twenty-five years. No circ.u.mstance can be foreseen, at this moment, which will lessen our rate of multiplication for centuries to come. For every article of the productions and manufactures of this country, then, which can be introduced into habit there, the demand will double every twenty or twenty-five years. And to introduce the habit, we have only to let the merchants alone. Whether we may descend, by a single step, from the present state to that of perfect freedom of commerce in this article; whether any, and what, intermediate operation may be necessary to prepare the way to this; what cautions must be observed for the security of his Majesty's revenue, which we do not wish to impair, will rest with the wisdom of his ministers, whose knowledge of the subject will enable them to devise the best plans, and whose patriotism and justice will dispose them to pursue them. To the friendly dispositions of your Excellency, of which we have had such early and multiplied proofs, I take the liberty of committing this subject, particularly, trusting that some method may be devised of reconciling the collection of his Majesty's revenues with the interests of the two nations; and have the honor of a.s.suring you of those sincere sentiments of esteem and respect, with which I am your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXI.--TO MR. SKIPWITH, July 28, 1787

TO MR. SKIPWITH.

Paris, July 28, 1787.

Dear Sir,

A long journey has prevented me from writing to any of my friends for some time past. This was undertaken with a view to benefit a dislocated and ill-set wrist, by the mineral waters of Aix, in Provence. Finding this hope vain, I was led from other views to cross the Alps as far as Turin, Milan, Genoa; to follow the Mediterranean as far as Cette, the ca.n.a.l of Languedoc, the Garonne, &c, to Paris. A most pleasing journey it proved; arts and agriculture offering something new at every step, and often things worth our imitation. But the accounts from our country give me to believe, that we are not in a condition to hope for the imitation of any thing good. All my letters are filled with details of our extravagance. From these accounts, I look back to the time of the war, as a time of happiness and enjoyment, when amidst the privation of many things not essential to happiness, we could not run in debt, because n.o.body would trust us; when we practised, of necessity, the maxim of buying nothing but what we had money in our pockets to pay for; a maxim, which, of all others, lays the broadest foundation for happiness. I see no remedy to our evils, but an open course of law.

Harsh as it may seem, it would relieve the very patients who dread it, by stopping the course of their extravagance, before it renders their affairs entirely desperate. The eternal and bitter strictures on our conduct, which teem in every London paper, and are copied from them into others, fill me with anxiety on this subject. The state of things in Europe is rather threatening at this moment. The innovations of the Emperor in his dominions, have excited a spirit of resistance. His subjects in Brabant and Flanders are arming, and he has put forty-five thousand troops in motion towards that country. I believe they will come to blows. The parties in Holland have already spilt too much blood to be easily stopped. If left to themselves, I apprehend the Stadtholderians will be too strong; and if foreign powers interfere, the weight is still on their side. England and Prussia will be too much for France. As it is certain that neither of these powers wish for war, and that England and France are particularly averse to it, perhaps the matter may end in an armed mediation. If the mediators should not agree, they will draw their negotiations into length, and trust to the chapter of accidents for their final solution. With respect to our country, it stands well with the present ministry here. The non-payment of our debt is against us. We are occupied in procuring favorable terms of reception for our produce.

Adieu, my Dear Sir, and be a.s.sured of the sentiments of sincere esteem of your affectionate friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXII.--TO J. W. EPPES, July 28,1787

TO J. W. EPPES.

Paris, July 28,1787.

Dear Jack,

The letter which you were so kind as to write to me the 22nd of May, 1786, was not delivered to me till the 3rd of May, 1787, when it found me in the neighborhood of Ma.r.s.eilles. Before that time you must have taken your degree, as mentioned in your letter. Those public testimonies which are earned by merit, and not by solicitation, may always be accepted without the imputation of vanity. Of this nature is the degree which your masters proposed to confer on you. I congratulate you sincerely on it. It will be a pleasing event to yourself; it will be the same to your parents and friends, and to none more than myself. Go on deserving applause, and you will be sure to meet with it: and the way to deserve it, is to be good, and to be industrious. I am sure you will be good, and hope you will be industrious. As to your future plan, I am too distant from you, to advise you on sure grounds. In general, I am of opinion that till the age of about sixteen, we are best employed on languages; Latin, Greek, French, and Spanish, or such of them as we can.

After this, I think the College of William and Mary the best place to go through courses of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy in its different branches, and Law. Of the languages I have mentioned, I think Greek the least useful. Write me word, from time to time, how you go on. I shall always be glad to a.s.sist you with any books you may have occasion for, and you may count with certainty on every service I can ever render you, as well as on the sincere esteem of, Dear Jack, yours affectionately,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXIII.--TO A. DONALD, July 28, 1787

TO A. DONALD.

Paris, July 28, 1787.

Dear Sir,

I received with infinite satisfaction your letter of the 1st of March: it was the first information I had of your being in America. There is no person whom I shall see again with more cordial joy, whenever it shall be my lot to return to my native country; nor any one whose prosperity, in the mean time, will be more interesting to me. I find as I grow older, that I set a higher value on the intimacies of my youth, and am more afflicted by whatever loses one of them to me. Should it be in my power to render any service, in your s.h.i.+pment of tobacco to Havre de Grace, I shall do it with great pleasure. The order of Bernis has, I believe, been evaded by the Farmers General as much as possible. At this moment, I receive information from most of the seaports, that they refuse taking any tobacco, under the pretext, that they have purchased their whole quant.i.ty. From Havre I have heard nothing, and believe you will stand a better chance there than any where else. Being one of the ports of manufacture, too, it is ent.i.tled to a higher price. I have now desired that the Farmers may make a distinct return of their purchases, which are conformable to the order of Bernis. If they have really bought their quant.i.ty, on those terms, we must be satisfied: if they have not, I shall propose their being obliged to make it up instantly. There is a considerable acc.u.mulation of tobacco in the ports.

Among many good qualities which my countrymen possess, some of a different character unhappily mix themselves. The most remarkable are indolence, extravagance, and infidelity to their engagements. Cure the two first, and the last would disappear, because it is a consequence of them, and not proceeding from a want of morals. I know of no remedy against indolence and extravagance, but a free course of justice. Every thing else is merely palliative: but unhappily, the evil has gained too generally the ma.s.s of the nation, to leave the course of justice un.o.bstructed. The maxim of buying nothing without the money in our pockets to pay for it, would make of our country one of the happiest upon earth. Experience during the war proved this; as I think every man will remember, that under all the privations it obliged him to submit to, during that period, he slept sounder, and awaked happier than he can do now. Desperate of finding relief from a free course of justice, I look forward to the abolition of all credit, as the only other remedy which can take place. I have seen, therefore, with pleasure, the exaggerations of our want of faith, with which the London papers teem. It is, indeed, a strong medicine for sensible minds, but it is a medicine. It will prevent their crediting us abroad, in which case, we cannot be credited at home. I have been much concerned at the losses produced by the fire of Richmond. I hope you have escaped them. It will give me much pleasure to hear from you, as often as you can spare a moment to write. Be a.s.sured that n.o.body entertains for you sentiments of more perfect and sincere esteem than, Dear Sir, your friend and servant,

Th: Jefferson.

LETTER LXXIV.--TO WILLIAM DRAYTON, July 30, 1787

TO WILLIAM DRAYTON.

Paris, July 30, 1787.

Sir,

Having observed that the consumption of rice in this country, and particularly in this capital, was very great, I thought it my duty to inform myself from what markets they draw their supplies, in what proportion from ours, and whether it might not be practicable to increase that proportion. This city being little concerned in foreign commerce, it is difficult to obtain information on particular branches of it in the detail. I addressed myself to the retailers of rice, and from them received a mixture of truth and error, which I was unable to sift apart in the first moment. Continuing, however, my inquiries, they produced at length this result; that the dealers here, were in the habit of selling two qualities of rice, that of Carolina, with which they were supplied chiefly from England, and that of Piedmont: that the Carolina rice was long, slender, white, and transparent, answers well when prepared with milk, sugar, &ic. but not so well when prepared _au gras_; that that of Piedmont was shorter, thicker, and less white, but that it presented its form better when dressed _au gras_, was better tasted, and therefore preferred by good judges for those purposes: that the consumption of rice, in this form, was much the most considerable, but that the superior beauty of the Carolina rice, seducing the eye of those purchasers who are attached to appearances, the demand for it was upon the whole as great as for that of Piedmont. They supposed this difference of quality to proceed from a difference of management; that the Carolina rice was husked with an instrument which broke it more, and that less pains were taken to separate the broken from the unbroken grains; imagining that it was the broken grains which dissolved in oily preparations: that the Carolina rice costs somewhat less than that of Piedmont; but that being obliged to sort the whole grains from the broken, in order to satisfy the taste of their customers, they ask and receive as much for the first quality of Carolina, when sorted, as for the rice of Piedmont; but the second and third qualities, obtained by sorting, are sold much cheaper. The objection to the Carolina rice then, being, that it crumbles in certain forms of preparation, and this supposed to be the effect of a less perfect machine for husking, I flattered myself I should be able to learn what might be the machine of Piedmont, when I should arrive at Ma.r.s.eilles, to which place I was to go in the course of a tour through the seaport towns of this country.

At Ma.r.s.eilles, however, they differed as much in the account of the machine, as at Paris they had differed about other circ.u.mstances. Some said it was husked between mill-stones, others between rubbers of wood in the form of mill-stones, others of cork. They concurred in one fact, however, that the machine might be seen by me, immediately on crossing the Alps. This would be an affair of three weeks. I crossed them, and went through the rice country from Vercelli to Pavia, about sixty miles. I found the machine to be absolutely the same with that used in Carolina, as well as I could recollect a description which Mr. E.

Rutledge had given me of it. It is on the plan of a powder-mill. In some of them, indeed, they arm each pestle with an iron tooth, consisting of nine spikes hooped together, which I do not remember in the description of Mr. Rutledge. I therefore had a tooth made, which I have the honor of forwarding you with this letter; observing, at the same time, that as many of their machines are without teeth as with them, and of course, that the advantage is not very palpable. It seems to follow, then, that the rice of Lombardy (for though called Piedmont rice, it does not grow in that country, but in Lombardy) is of a different species from that of Carolina; different in form, in color, and in quality. We know that in Asia they have several distinct species of this grain. Monsieur Poivre, a former Governor of the Isle of France, in travelling through several countries of Asia, observed with particular attention the objects of their agriculture, and he tells us, that in Cochin-China they cultivate six several kinds of rice, which he describes, three of them requiring water, and three growing on highlands. The rice of Carolina is said to have come from Madagascar, and De Poivre tells us, it is the white rice which is cultivated there. This favors the probability of its being of a different species originally, from that of Piedmont; and time, culture, and climate may have made it still more different. Under this idea, I thought it would be well to furnish you with some of the Piedmont rice, unhusked, but was told it was contrary to the laws to export it in that form. I took such measures as I could, however, to have a quant.i.ty brought out, and lest these should fail, I brought, myself, a few pounds. A part of this I have addressed to you by the way of London; a part comes with this letter; and I shall send another parcel by some other conveyance, to prevent the danger of miscarriage. Any one of them arriving safe, may serve to put in seed, should the society think it an object. This seed, too, coming from Vercelli, where the best rice is supposed to grow, is more to be depended on, than what may be sent me hereafter. There is a rice from the Levant, which is considered as of a quality still different, and some think it superior to that of Piedmont.

The troubles which have existed in that country for several years back, have intercepted it from the European market, so that it is become almost unknown. I procured a bag of it, however, at Ma.r.s.eilles, and another of the best rice of Lombardy, which are on their way to this place, and when arrived, I will forward you a quant.i.ty of each, sufficient to enable you to judge of their qualities when prepared for the table. I have also taken measures to have a quant.i.ty of it brought from the Levant, unhusked. If I succeed, it shall be forwarded in like manner. I should think it certainly advantageous to cultivate, in Carolina and Georgia, the two qualities demanded at market; because the progress of culture, with us, may soon get beyond the demand for the white rice; and because, too, there is often a brisk demand for the one quality, when the market is glutted with the other. I should hope there would be no danger of losing the species of white rice, by a confusion with the other. This would be a real misfortune, as I should not hesitate to p.r.o.nounce the white, upon the whole, the most precious of the two, for us.

The dry rice of Cochin-China has the reputation of being the whitest to the eye, best flavored to the taste, and most productive. It seems then to unite the good qualities of both the others known to us. Could it supplant them, it would be a great happiness, as it would enable us to get rid of those ponds of stagnant water, so fatal to human health and life. But such is the force of habit, and caprice of taste, that we could not be sure beforehand, it would produce this effect. The experiment, however, is worth trying, should it only end in producing a third quality, and increasing the demand. I will endeavor to procure some to be brought from Cochin-China. The event, however, will be uncertain and distant.

I was induced, in the course of my journey through the south of France, to pay very particular attention to the objects of their culture, because the resemblance of their climate to that of the southern parts of the United States authorizes us to presume we may adopt any of their articles of culture, which we would wish for. We should not wish for their wines, though they are good and abundant. The culture of the vine is not desirable in lands capable of producing any thing else. It is a species of gambling, and of desperate gambling too, wherein, whether you make much or nothing, you are equally ruined. The middling crop alone is the saving point, and that the seasons seldom hit. Accordingly, we see much wretchedness among this cla.s.s of cultivators. Wine, too, is so cheap in these countries, that a laborer with us, employed in the culture of any other article, may exchange it for wine, more and better than he could raise himself. It is a resource for a country, the whole of whose good soil is otherwise employed, and which still has some barren spots, and a surplus of population to employ on them. There the vine is good, because it is something in the place of nothing. It may become a resource to us at a still earlier period: when the increase of population shall increase our productions beyond the demand for them, both at home and abroad. Instead of going on to make an useless surplus of them, we may employ our supernumerary hands on the vine. But that period is not yet arrived.