Chapter XIII: Part III: Continued (12)

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

MONTICELLO, May 20, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--I return you the papers of Fanning, Lesdernier, and Sacket. With respect to Fanning's case, the true key for the construction of everything doubtful in a law, is the intention of the law-makers. This is most safely gathered from the words, but may be sought also in extraneous circumstances, provided they do not contradict the express words of the law. We certainly know that the Legislature meant that vessels might go out to bring home property, but not to commence a new career of commerce. The bringing home the property being the main object, if it be in an impracticable form, it expects the intention of the law to let it be commuted into a practicable form; and so from an inconvenient to a convenient form. To prevent any abuse of this accommodation, by entering into a new operation of commerce with it, the discretionary permission is left to the President. I think the conversion of the sandal wood into a more portable form in this case, is fulfilling the object of the law, and that it is immaterial whether that be done in the Friendly Islands, where the wood now is, or wherever by the way it can be better done. Consequently, that permission may be granted. I hope you will spare no pains or expense to bring the rascals of Passamaquoddy to justice, and if more force be necessary, agree on the subject with General Dearborne or Mr. Smith, as to any aid they can spare, and let it go without waiting to consult me. Let the successor to Sacket also be commissioned without waiting for my opinion, which will be yours. Should a pardon be granted to Russell, I generally but not invariably require a recommendation from the judges. I shall be ready to consider any propositions you may make for mitigating the embargo law of April 25th, but so only as not to defeat the object of the law. I shall be ready to make a distinction between provisions, timber, naval stores, and such things, as by the exaggerated prices they have got to in foreign markets, would enable infactors to pay all forfeitures and still make great profit, and cotton and such other articles as have not got to such prices. I am for going substantially to the object of the law, and no further; perhaps a little more earnestly because it is the first expedient, and it is of great importance to know its full effect.

I salute you with constant affection and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY AT WAR.

MONTICELLO, May 20, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 14th came to hand yesterday. I do not see that we can avoid agreeing to estimates made by worthy men of our own choice for the sites of fortifications, or that we could leave an important place undefended because too much is asked for the site. And therefore we must pay what the sites at Boston have been valued at. At the same time I do not know on what principles of reasoning it is that good men think the public ought to pay more for a thing than they would themselves if they wanted it. I salute you with affection and respect.

TO GENERAL BENJAMIN SMITH.

MONTICELLO, May 20, 1808.

SIR,--I return you my thanks for the communication by your letter of April 19th, of the resolutions of the Grand Jury of Brunswick, approving of the embargo. Could the alternative of war or the embargo have been presented to the whole nation, as it occurred to their representatives, there could have been but the one opinion that it was better to take the chance of one year by the embargo, within which the orders and decrees producing it may be repealed, or peace take place in Europe, which may secure peace to us. How long the continuance of the embargo may be preferable to war, is a question we shall have to meet, if the decrees and orders and war continue. I am sorry that in some places, chiefly on our northern frontier, a disposition even to oppose the law by force has been manifested. In no country on earth is this so impracticable as in one where every man feels a vital interest in maintaining the authority of the laws, and instantly engages in it as in his own personal cause. Accordingly, we have experienced this spontaneous aid of our good citizens in the neighborhoods where there has been occasion, as I am persuaded we ever shall on such occasions. Through the body of our country generally our citizens appear heartily to approve and support the embargo. I am also to thank you for the communication of the Wilmington proceedings, and I add my salutations and assurances of great respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

MONTICELLO, May 24, 1807.

DEAR SIR;-- * * * * * What has been already said on the subject of Casa Calvo, Yrujo, Miranda, is sufficient, and that these should be seriously brought up again argues extreme weakness in Cavallos, or a plan to keep things unsettled with us. But I think it would not be amiss to take him down from his high airs as to the right of the sovereign to hinder the upper inhabitants from the use of the Mobile, by observing, 1st, that we claim to be the sovereign, although we give time for discussion. But 2d, that the upper inhabitants of a navigable water have always a right of innocent passage along it. I think Cavallos will not probably be the minister when the letter arrives at Madrid, and that an eye to that circumstance may perhaps have some proper influence on the style of the letter, in which, if meant for himself, his hyperbolic airs might merit less respect. I think too that the truth as to Pike's mission might be so simply stated as to need no argument to show that (even during the suspension of our claims to the eastern border of the Rio Norte) his getting on it was mere error, which ought to have called for the setting him right, instead of forcing him through the interior country. [Sullivan's letter.] His view of things for some time past has been entirely distempered.

Cathcart's, Ridgeley's, Navour's, Degen's, Appleton's, Lee's, and Baker's letters, are all returned. I salute you with great affection and respect.

TO GENERAL DEARBORNE.

MONTICELLO, May 25, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--There is a subject on which I wished to speak with you before I left Washington; but an apt occasion did not occur. It is that of your continuance in office. Perhaps it is as well to submit my thoughts to you by letter. The present summer is too important in point of preparation, to leave your department unfilled, for any time, as I once thought might be done; and it would be with extreme reluctance that, so near the time of my own retirement, I should proceed to name any high officer, especially one who must be of the intimate councils of my successor, and who ought of course to be in his unreserved confidence. I think too it would make an honorable close of your term as well as mine, to leave our country in a state of substantial defence, which we found quite unprepared for it. Indeed, it would for me be a joyful annunciation to the next meeting of Congress, that the operations of defence are all complete. I know that New York must be an exception; but perhaps even that may be closed before the 4th of March, when you and I might both make our bow with approbation and satisfaction. Nor should I suppose that under present circumstances, anything interesting in your future office could make it important for you to repair to its immediate occupation. In February my successor will be declared, and may then, without reserve, say whom he would wish me to nominate to the Senate in your place. I submit these circumstances to your consideration, and wishing in all things to consult your interests, your fame and feelings, it will give me sincere joy to learn that you will "watch with me to the end." I salute you with great affection and respect.

TO MR. LIEPER.

MONTICELLO, May 25, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--I received your favor of April 22d a little before I was to leave Washington, much engaged with despatching the business rendered necessary by the acts of Congress just risen, and preparatory to a short visit to this place. Here again I have been engrossed with some attentions to my own affairs, after a long absence, added to the public business which presses on me here as at Washington. I mention these things to apologize for the long delay of an answer to the address of the Democratic republicans of Philadelphia, enclosed in your letter, and which has remained longer unanswered than I wished. I have been happy in my journey through the country to this place, to find the people unanimous in their preference of the embargo to war, and the great sacrifice they make, rendered a cheerful one from a sense of its necessity.

Whether the pressure on the throne from the suffering people of England, and of their Islands, the conviction of the dishonorable as well as dishonest character of their orders of council, the strength of their parliamentary opposition, and remarkable weakness of the defence of their ministry, will produce a repeal of these orders and cessation of our embargo, is yet to be seen. To nobody will a repeal be so welcome as to myself. Give us peace till our revenues are liberated from debt, and then, if war be necessary, it can be carried on without a new tax or loan, and during peace we may chequer our whole country with canals, roads, &c. This is the object to which all our endeavors should be directed. I salute you with great friendship and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

MONTICELLO, May 27, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--I received yesterday yours of the 23d, and now return you Woolsey's and Astor's letters. I send you one also which I have received from a Mr. Thorne, on the evasions of the embargo on Lake Champlain. The conduct of some of our officers there, and of some excellent citizens, has been very meritorious, and I will thank you to express any degree of approbation you think proper, in my name, for Captain Mayo. Woolsey appears also to deserve assurances of approbation. If you think Thorne's suggestion of some militia at Point au Fer necessary and proper, be so good as to consult General Dearborne, who will give any order you and he approve. With respect to the coasting trade, my wish is only to carry into full effect the intentions of the embargo laws. I do not wish a single citizen in any of the States to be deprived of a meal of bread, but I set down the exercise of commerce, merely for profit, as nothing when it carries with it the danger of defeating the objects of the embargo. I have more faith, too, in the Governors. I cannot think that any one of them would wink at abuses of that law. Still, I like your circular of the 20th, and the idea there brought forward of confining the shipment to so small a proportion of the bond as may correspond with the exaggeration of price and foreign markets, and thus restrain the adventurer from gaining more than he would lose by dishonesty. Flour, by the latest accounts, I have observed, sold at about eight times its cost here, while the legal penalties are but about three prices--by restraining them to an eighth they will be balanced. But as prices rise must not our rules be varied? Had the practicability of this mode of restraint occurred before the recurrence to the Governors, I should have preferred it, because it is free from the objection of favoritism to which the Governors will be exposed, and if you find it work well in practice, we may find means to have the other course discontinued. Our course should be to sacrifice everything to secure the effect of the law, and nothing beyond that.

I enclose you an application of Neilson & Son, to which you will please to have given whatever answer is conformable to general rules. The petition of Gardner and others, masters of the Rhode Island packet ships, which I enclose you, does not specify the particular act required from us for their relief. If it be to declare that the open sea in front of their coast is a bay or a river, the matter of fact, as well as the law, renders that impossible. I really think it desirable to relieve their case, in any way which is lawful, because it is one, which though embraced by the words of the law, is not within its object. You mention that a principal method of evading the embargo is by loading secretly and going off without clearance. The naval department must aid us against this. As I shall leave this for Washington in about ten or twelve days, I now desire the post-office there to send no letters to this place after receiving this notice. All further matters relative to the embargo will therefore be answered verbally as soon as they could by letter. I salute you with great affection and respect.

TO MR. BOWDOIN.

MONTICELLO, May 29, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--I received the favor of your letter, written soon after your arrival, a little before I left Washington, and during a press of business preparatory to my departure on a short visit to this place; this has prevented my earlier congratulations to you on your safe return to your own country. There, judging from my own experience, you will enjoy much more of the tranquil happiness of life, than is to be found in the noisy scenes of the great cities of Europe. I am also aware that you had at Paris additional causes of disquietude; these seem inseparable from public life, and, indeed, are the greatest discouragements to entering into or continuing in it. Perhaps, however, they sweeten the hour of retirement, and secure us from all dangers of regret. On the subject of that disquietude, it is proper for me only to say that, however unfortunate the incident, I found in it no cause of dissatisfaction with yourself, nor of lessening the esteem I entertain for your virtues and talents; and, had it not been disagreeable to yourself, I should have been well pleased that you could have proceeded on your original destination.

While I thank you for the several letters received from you during your absence, I have to regret the miscarriage of some of those I wrote you. Not having my papers here, I cannot cite their dates by memory; but they shall be the subject of another letter on my return to Washington.

You find us on your return in a crisis of great difficulty. An embargo had, by the course of events, become the only peaceable card we had to play. Should neither peace, nor a revocation of the decrees and orders in Europe take place, the day cannot be distant when that will cease to be preferable to open hostility. Nothing just or temperate has been omitted on our part, to retard or to avoid this unprofitable alternative. Our situation will be the more singular, as we may have to choose between two enemies, who have both furnished cause of war. With one of them we could never come into contact; with the other great injuries may be mutually inflicted and received. Let us still hope to avoid, while we prepare to meet them.

Hoping you will find our cloudless skies and benign climate more favorable to your health than those of Europe, I pray you to accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and consideration.

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

MONTICELLO, May 31, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--I return you all the papers received from you by yesterday's mail, except Mr. Burnley's, which I shall send by the Secretary at War. Although all the appointments below field-officers are made, it is possible some may decline, and open a way for new competition. I have observed that Turreau's letters have for some time past changed their style unfavorably. I believe this is the first occasion he has had to complain of French deserters being enlisted by us, and if so, the tone of his application is improper. The answer to him, however, is obvious as to our laws and instructions, and the _discharge_, not _delivery_, of the men, for which purpose I presume you will write a line to the Secretary at War. Woodward's scruples are perplexing. And they are unfounded, because, on his own principle, if a law requires an oath to be administered, and does not say by whom, he admits it may be any judge; if, therefore, it names a person no longer in existence, it is as if it named nobody. On this construction all the territories have practised, and all the authorities of the national government,--even the Legislature. It was wrong on a second ground; no judge ever refusing to administer an oath in any useful case, although he may not consider it as strictly judicial. If it may be valid or useful, he administers "_ut valeat quantum valer potest_." But what is to be done? Would it not be well for you to send the case to the Attorney General, and get him to enclose his opinion to Governor Hull, who will use it with Judge Witherall, or some territorial judge or justice?

With the quarrel of Judge Vandeberg and his bar we cannot intermeddle. Mercer's querulous letter is an unreasonable one. How could his offer of service be acted on, but by putting it in the hands of those who were to act on all others?

I shall to-day direct the post-rider not to continue his route to this place after to-day, and to take your orders as to the time you would wish him to continue coming to you. I salute you with affectionate esteem and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

WASHINGTON, June 15, 1808.

SIR,--I have considered the letter of the director of the mint, stating the ease with which the errors of Commodore Truxton's medal may be corrected on the medal itself, and the unpracticability of doing it on the die. In my former letter to you on this subject, I observed that to make a new die would be a serious thing, requiring consideration. In fact, the first die having been made by authority of the Legislature, the medal struck, accepted, and acquiesced in for so many years, the powers given by that law are executed and at an end, and a second law would be requisite to make a second die or medal. But I presume it will be quite as agreeable to Commodore Truxton to have his medal corrected in one way as another, if done equally well, and it certainly may be as well or better done by the graver, and with more delicate traits. I remember it was the opinion of Doctor Franklin that where only one or a few medals were to be made, it was better to have them engraved.

The medal being corrected, the die becomes immaterial. That has never been delivered to the party, the medal itself being the only thing voted to him. I say this on certain grounds, because I think this and Preble's are the only medals given by the United States which have not been made under my immediate direction. The dies of all those given by the old Congress, and made at Paris, remain to this day deposited with our bankers at Paris. That of General Lee, made in Philadelphia, was retained in the mint. I mention this not as of consequence whether the die be given or retained, but to show that there can be no claim of the party to it, or consequently to its correction. I think, therefore, the medal itself should be corrected by Mr. Reich; that this is as far as we can stretch our authority, and I hope it will be satisfactory to the Commodore. I salute you with constant affection and respect.

TO SHELTON GILLIAM, ESQ.

WASHINGTON, June 19, 1808.

SIR,--Your favor of the 4th was received on my return to this place, and the proposition of your correspondent on the subject of fortification was referred to the Secretary at War, where office and qualifications make him the proper judge of it. I enclose you his answer. The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys. It is not enough that an individual and an unknown one says and even thinks he has made a discovery of the magnitude announced on this occasion. Not only explanation, but the actual experiment must be required before we can cease to doubt whether the inventor is not deceived by some false or imperfect view of his subject. Still your patriotic attention to bring such a proposition under our notice, that it might be applied to the public good, if susceptible of it, is praiseworthy, and I return you thanks for it with the assurances of my esteem and respect.

TO CHRISTOPHER COLLES.

WASHINGTON, June 19, 1808.

SIR,--I thank you for the pamphlet containing your ideas on the subject of canals constructed of wood; but it is not in my power to give any definite opinion of its national importance. If there exists a cement which used as a lining for cisterns and aqueducts, renders them impermeable to water, (and it is affirmed that in France they are in the possession and use of such an one,) then it becomes the common question whether constructions of wood, brick, or rough stone are cheapest in the end? A question on which every man possesses materials for forming his judgment. I suspect it is the supposed necessity of using hewn stone in works of this kind which has had the greatest effect in discouraging their being undertaken. I tender you my salutations and respects.

TO JAMES PEMBERTON.

WASHINGTON, June 21, 1808.

SIR,--Your favor of May 30th was delivered me on my return to this place, and I now enclose the prospectus of Clarkson's history with my subscription to it. I have perused with great satisfaction the Report of the Committee for the African institution. The sentiments it breathes are worthy of the eminent characters who compose the institution, as are also the generous cares they propose to undertake. I wish they may begin their work at the right end. Our experience with the Indians has proved that letters are not the first, but the last step in the progression from barbarism to civilization. Our Indian neighbors will occupy all the attentions we may spare, towards the improvement of their condition. The four great Southern tribes are advancing hopefully. The foremost are the Cherokees, the upper settlements of whom have made to me a formal application to be received into the Union as citizens of the United States, and to be governed by our laws. If we can form for them a simple and acceptable plan of advancing by degrees to a maturity for receiving our laws, the example will have a powerful effect towards stimulating the other tribes in the same progression, and will cheer the gloomy views which have overspread their minds as to their own future history. I salute you with friendship and great respect.

TO MR. FRANKLIN.

WASHINGTON, June 22d, 1808.

Thomas Jefferson returns his thanks to Mr. Franklin for the address to the Society of Friends which he was so kind as to send him. The appeal both to facts and principles is strong, and their consistency will require an able advocate. Conscious that the present administration has been essentially pacific, and that in all questions of importance it has been governed by the identical principles professed by that Society, it has been quite at a loss to conjecture the unknown cause of the opposition of the greater part, and bare neutrality of the rest. The hope however that prejudices would at length give way to facts, has never been entirely extinguished, and still may be realized in favor of another administration.

TO DOCTOR LEIB.

WASHINGTON, June 23, 1808.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor covering a copy of the talk to the Tammany society, for which I thank you, and particularly for the favorable sentiments expressed towards myself. Certainly, nothing will so much sweeten the tranquillity and comfort of retirement, as the knowledge that I carry with me the good will and approbation of my republican fellow citizens, and especially of the individuals in unison with whom I have so long acted. With respect to the federalists, I believe we think alike; for when speaking of them, we never mean to include a worthy portion of our fellow citizens, who consider themselves as in duty bound to support the constituted authorities of every branch, and to reserve their opposition to the period of election. These having acquired the appellation of federalists, while a federal administration was in place, have not cared about throwing off their name, but adhering to their principle, are the supporters of the present order of things. The other branch of the federalists, those who are so in principle as well as in name, disapprove of the republican principles and features of our Constitution, and would, I believe, welcome any public calamity (war with England excepted) which might lessen the confidence of our country in those principles and forms. I have generally considered them rather as subjects for a mad-house. But they are now playing a game of the most mischievous tendency, without perhaps being themselves aware of it. They are endeavoring to convince England that we suffer more by the embargo than they do, and if they will but hold out awhile, we must abandon it. It is true, the time will come when we must abandon it. But if this is before the repeal of the orders of council, we must abandon it only for a state of war. The day is not distant, when that will be preferable to a longer continuance of the embargo. But we can never remove that, and let our vessels go out and be taken under these orders, without making reprisal. Yet this is the very state of things which these federal monarchists are endeavoring to bring about; and in this it is but too possible they may succeed. But the fact is, that if we have war with England, it will be solely produced by their manœuvres. I think that in two or three months we shall know what will be the issue.

I salute you with esteem and respect.

TO GENERAL WILKINSON.

June 24, 1808.

Thomas Jefferson presents his compliments to General Wilkinson, and in answer to his letters of yesterday observes that during the course of the Burr conspiracy, the voluminous communications he received were generally read but once and then committed to the Attorney General, and were never returned to him. It is not in his power, therefore, to say that General Wilkinson did or did not denounce eminent persons to him, and still less who they were. It was unavoidable that he should from time to time mention persons known or supposed to be accomplices of Burr, and it is recollected that some of these suspicions were corrected afterwards on better information. Whether the undefined term _denunciation_ goes to cases of this kind or not Thomas Jefferson does not know, nor could he now name from recollection the persons suspected at different times. He salutes General Wilkinson respectfully.

TO COLONEL D. C. BRENT.

June 24, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--The information given to me by Mrs. Paradise of letters to me from her grandsons, is without foundation. I have not for many years heard a tittle respecting the family at Venice. Should any information respecting them come to me I will certainly communicate it to Mrs. Paradise.

That the embargo is approved by the body of republicans through the Union, cannot be doubted. It is equally known that a great proportion of the federalists approve of it; but as they think it an engine which may be used advantageously against the republican system, they countenance the clamors against it. I salute you with great friendship and respect.

TO MR. GALLATIN.

July 4, 1808.

General Turreau's application for two vessels to carry French subjects to France, must, I think, be granted, because under present circumstances we ought not on slight grounds to dissatisfy either belligerent. The vessels may be back before winter, and their only danger will be of stoppage by the English, who, however, have no right but to take out the French subjects.

At the same time, I think it would be well to say to General Turreau that we reluctantly let our seamen be exposed to capture, or perhaps to a voluntary engagement with one of the belligerents: that we rely, therefore, on his so proportioning the vessels to the number of passengers as merely to give them a reasonable accommodation. It would be well, too, that he should inform us after their departure, of the number of persons sent in them.

Affectionate salutes.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR CLAIBORNE.

WASHINGTON, July 9, 1808.

SIR,--I have lately seen a printed report of the committee of the Canal company of New Orleans, stating the progress and prospects of their enterprize. In this the United States feel a strong interest, inasmuch as it will so much facilitate the passage of our armed vessels out of the one water into the other. For this purpose, however, there must be at least five and a half feet water through the whole line of communication from the lake to the river. In some conversations with Mr. Clark on this subject the winter before last, there was a mutual understanding that the company would complete the canal, and the United States would make the locks. This we are still disposed to do; and so anxious are we to get this means of defence completed, that to hasten it we would contribute any other encouragement within the limits of our authority which might produce this effect. If, for instance, the completion of it within one year could be insured by our contributing such a sum as one or two thousand dollars a month to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, in the whole, we might do it, requiring as a consideration for our justification that the vessels of the United States should always pass toll-free. The object of this letter is to sound the principal members, without letting them know you do it by instruction from us, and to find out what moderate and reasonable aid on our part would be necessary to get a speedy conclusion of the work, and in what form that aid would be most useful, and to be so good as to communicate it to me as soon as the knowledge is obtained by yourself. I should be glad to learn, at the same time, what is the perpendicular height of the top of the levee above the surface of the water in the Mississippi in its lowest state. Five and a half feet below this would be indispensable for our purposes. I salute you with great esteem and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

July 12, 1808.

1. (Peyton Skipwith's letter.) I approve of the proposition to authorize the collector of St. Mary's or Savannah to permit vessels to bring to St. Mary's such supplies as in his opinion are really wanted for the individuals applying, and where he has entire confidence no fraud will be committed. But the vessels should be reasonably proportioned to the cargo. Should this be extended to Passamaquoddy?

2. (The cases of detention by Gelston and Turner.) The Legislature finding that no general rules could be formed which would not be evaded by avarice and roguery, finally authorized the collector, if there were still circumstances of suspicion, to detain the vessel. Wherever, therefore, the collector is impressed with suspicion, from a view of all circumstances, which are often indescribable, I think it proper to confirm his detention. It would be only where, from his own showing, or other good information, prejudice or false views biassed his judgment, that I should be disposed to countermand his detention.

3. The declaration of the bakers of New York, that their citizens will be dissatisfied, under the present circumstances of their country, to eat bread of the flour of their own State, is equally a libel on the produce and citizens of the State. The citizens have certainly a right to speak for themselves on such occasions, and when they do we shall be able to judge whether their numbers or characters are such as to be entitled to a sacrifice of the embargo law. If this prevails, the next application will be for vessels to go to New York for the pippins of that State, because they are higher flavored than the same species of apples growing in other States.

4. We should by all means appoint a new collector at Sackett's Harbor. If the Governor knows nobody there who can be depended on, can he not find some faithful man in the city or country who would consider the emoluments acceptable, such as they are?

5. The seizure by Mr. Illsley not being under the embargo law, will take its course. With respect to the aid of gun-boats, desired by him and Mr. Holmes of Sunbury, or any military aid, that can always be settled directly between Mr. Gallatin and the Secretaries of the Navy or War. Both those gentlemen know our extreme anxiety to give a full effect to the important experiment of the embargo, at any expense within the bounds of reason, and will, on the application of Mr. Gallatin, yield the aid of their departments without waiting the delay of consulting me.

I have gone a little into the grounds of these opinions, in order that there being a mutual understanding on these subjects, Mr. Gallatin during the time of our separation may decide on the cases occurring, without the delay of consulting me at such a distance. My principle is that the conveniences of our citizens shall yield reasonably, and their taste greatly to the importance of giving the present experiment so fair a trial that on future occasions our legislators may know with certainty how far they may count on it as an engine for national purposes.

TO M. DE LA CAPEDE.

WASHINGTON, July 14, 1808.

SIR,--If my recollection does not deceive me, the collection of the remains of the animal incognitum of the Ohio (sometimes called mammoth), possessed by the Cabinet of Natural History at Paris, is not very copious. Under this impression, and presuming that this Cabinet is allied to the National Institute, to which I am desirous of rendering some service, I have lately availed myself of an opportunity of collecting some of those remains. General Clarke (the companion of Governor Lewis in his expedition to the Pacific Ocean) being, on a late journey, to pass by the Big-bone Lick of the Ohio, was kind enough to undertake to employ for me a number of laborers, and to direct their operations in digging for these bones at this important deposit of them. The result of these researches will appear in the enclosed catalogue of specimens which I am now able to place at the disposal of the National Institute. An aviso being to leave this place for some port of France on public service, I deliver the packages to Captain Haley, to be deposited with the Consul of the United States, at whatever port he may land. They are addressed to Mr. Warden of our legation at Paris, for the National Institute, and he will have the honor of delivering them. To these I have added the horns of an animal called by the natives the Mountain Ram, resembling the sheep by his head, but more nearly the deer in his other parts; as also the skin of another animal, resembling the sheep by his fleece but the goat in his other parts. This is called by the natives the Fleecy Goat, or in the style of the natural historian, the Pokotragos. I suspect it to be nearly related to the Pacos, and were we to group the fleecy animals together, it would stand perhaps with the Vigogne, Pacos, and Sheep. The Mountain Ram was found in abundance by Messrs. Lewis and Clarke on their western tour, and was frequently an article of food for their party, and esteemed more delicate than the deer. The Fleecy Goat they did not see, but procured two skins from the Indians, of which this is one. Their description will be given in the work of Governor Lewis, the journal and geographical part of which may be soon expected from the press; but the parts relating to the plants and animals observed in his tour, will be delayed by the engravings. In the meantime, the plants of which he brought seeds, have been very successfully raised in the botanical garden of Mr. Hamilton of the Woodlands, and by Mr. McMahon, a gardener of Philadelphia; and on the whole, it is with pleasure I can assure you that the addition to our knowledge in every department, resulting from this tour of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, has entirely fulfilled my expectations in setting it on foot, and that the world will find that those travellers have well earned its favor. I will take care that the Institute as well as yourself shall receive Governor Lewis's work as it appears.

It is with pleasure I embrace this occasion of returning you my thanks for the favor of your very valuable works, _sur les poissons et les cetacées_, which you were so kind as to send me through Mr. Livingston and General Turreau, and which I find entirely worthy of your high reputation in the literary world. That I have not sooner made this acknowledgment has not proceeded from any want of respect and attachment to yourself, or a just value of your estimable present, but from the strong and incessant calls of duty to other objects. The candor of your character gives me confidence of your indulgence on this head, and I assure you with truth that no circumstances are more welcome to me than those which give me the occasion of recalling myself to your recollection, and of renewing to you the assurances of sincere personal attachment, and of great respect and consideration.

_Contents of the large square Box._

A Fibia.

A Radius.

Two ribs belonging to the upper part of the thorax.

Two ribs from a lower part of the thorax.

One entire vertebra.

Two spinous processes of the vertebra broken from the bodies.

Dentes molares, which appear to have belonged to the full-grown animal.

A portion of the under-jaw of a young animal with two molar teeth in it.

These teeth appear to have belonged to a first set, as they are small, and the posterior has but three grinding ridges, instead of five, the common number in adult teeth of the lower jaw.

Another portion of the under-jaw, including the symphisis, or chin. In this portion the teeth of one side are every way complete; to wit, the posterior has five transverse ridges, and the anterior three.

A fragment of the upper-jaw with one molar tooth much worn.

Molar teeth which we suppose to be like those of the mammoth or elephant of Siberia. They are essentially different from those of the mammoth or elephant of this country, and although similar in some respects to the teeth of the Asiatic elephant, they agree more completely with the description of the teeth found in Siberia in the arrangement and size of the transverse lamina of enamel. This idea, however, is not derived from actual comparison of the different teeth with each other, for we have no specimens of Siberian teeth in this country; but from inferences deduced from the various accounts and drawings of these teeth to be found in books. A few of these teeth have been found in several places where the bones of the American animal have existed.

An Astragalus.

An Oscalcis.

Os naviculare.

In the large box in which the preceding bones are, is a small one containing a promiscuous mass of small bones, chiefly of the feet.

In the large irregular-shaped box, a tusk of large size. The spiral twist in all the specimens of these tusks which we have seen, was remarked so long ago as the time of Breyneus, in his description of the tusks of the Siberian mammoth in the Philosophical Transactions, if that paper is rightly recollected, for the book is not here to be turned to at present. Many fragments of tusks have been sent from the Ohio, generally resembling portions of such tusks as are brought to us in the course of commerce. But of these spiral tusks, in a tolerable complete state, we have had only four. One was found near the head of the north branch of the Susquehanna. A second possessed by Mr. Peale, was found with the skeleton, near the Hudson. A third is at Monticello, found with the bones of this collection at the Big-bone lick of Ohio, and the fourth is that now sent for the Institute, found at the same place and larger than that at Monticello.

The smallest box contains the horns of the mountain ram, and skin of the fleecy goat.

TO MR. SYLVESTRE.

WASHINGTON, July 15, 1808.

SIR,--I had received from you on a former occasion the four first volumes of the Memoirs of the Agricultural Society of the Seine, and since that, your letter of September 19th, with the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th volumes, being for the years 1804 '5 '6 with some separate memoirs. These I have read with great avidity and satisfaction, and now return you my thanks for them. But I owe particular acknowledgments for the valuable present of the Theatre de De Serres, which I consider as a prodigy for the age in which it was composed, and shows an advancement in the science of agriculture which I had never suspected to have belonged to that time. Brought down to the present day by the very valuable notes added, it is really such a treasure of agricultural knowledge, as has not before been offered to the world in a single work.

It is not merely for myself, but for my country, that I must do homage to the philanthropy of the Society, which has dictated their destination for me of their newly-improved plough. I shall certainly so use it as to answer their liberal views, by making the opportunities of profiting by it as general as possible.

I have just received information that a plough addressed to me has arrived at New York, _from England_, but unaccompanied by any letter or other explanation. As I have had no intimation of such an article to be forwarded to me from that country, I presume it is the one sent by the Society of the Seine, that it has been carried into England under their orders of council, and permitted to come on from thence. This I shall know within a short time. I shall with great pleasure attend to the construction and transmission to the Society of a plough with my mould board. This is the only part of that useful instrument to which I have paid any particular attention. But knowing how much the perfection of the plough must depend, 1st, on the line of traction; 2d, on the direction of the share; 3d, on the angle of the wing; 4th, on the form of the mould-board; and persuaded that I shall find the three first advantages eminently exemplified in that which the Society sends me, I am anxious to see combined with these a mould-board of my form, in the hope it will still advance the perfection of that machine. But for this I must ask time till I am relieved from the cares which have now a right to all my time, that is to say, till the next Spring. Then giving, in the leisure of retirement, all the time and attention this construction merits and requires, I will certainly render to the Society the result in a plough of the best form I shall be able to have executed. In the meantime, accept for them and yourself the assurances of my high respect and consideration.

TO MR. LASTEYRIE.

WASHINGTON, July 15, 1808.

SIR,--I have duly received your favor of March 28th, and with it your treatises on the culture of the sugar cane and cotton plant in France. The introduction of new cultures, and especially of objects of leading importance to our comfort, is certainly worthy the attention of every government, and nothing short of the actual experiment should discourage an essay of which any hope can be entertained. Till that is made, the result is open to conjecture; and I should certainly conjecture that the sugar cane could never become an article of profitable culture in France. We have within the ancient limits of the United States, a great extent of country which brings the orange to advantage, but not a foot in which the sugar cane can be matured. France, within its former limits, has but two small spots, (Olivreles and Hieres) which brings the orange in open air, and _à fortiori_, therefore, none proper for the cane. I should think the sugar-maple more worthy of experiment. There is no part of France of which the climate would not admit this tree. I have never seen a reason why every farmer should not have a sugar orchard, as well as an apple orchard. The supply of sugar for his family would require as little ground, and the process of making it as easy as that of cider. Mr. Micheaux, your botanist here, could send you plants as well as seeds, in any quantity from the United States. I have no doubt the cotton plant will succeed in some of the southern parts of France. Whether its culture will be as advantageous as those they are now engaged in, remains to be tried. We could, in the United States, make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good. Yet I have ever observed to my countrymen, who think its introduction important, that a laborer cultivating wheat, rice, tobacco, or cotton here, will be able with the proceeds, to purchase double the quantity of the wine he could make. Possibly the same quantity of land and labor in France employed on the rich produce of your Southern counties, would purchase double the quantity of the cotton they would yield there. This however may prove otherwise on trial, and therefore it is worthy the trial. In general, it is a truth that if every nation will employ itself in what it is fittest to produce, a greater quantity will be raised of the things contributing to human happiness, than if every nation attempts to raise everything it wants within itself. The limits within which the cotton plant is worth cultivating in the United States, are the Rappahanock river to the north, and the first mountains to the west. And even from the Rappahanock to the Roanoke, we only cultivate for family use, as it cannot there be afforded at market in competition with that of the more Southern region. The Mississippi country, also within the same latitudes, admits the culture of cotton.

The superficial view I have yet had time to take of your treatise on the cotton plant, induces a belief that it is rich and correct in its matter, and contains a great fund of learning on that plant. When retired to rural occupations, as I shall be ere long, I shall profit of its contents practically, in the culture of that plant merely for household manufacture. In that situation, too, I shall devote myself to occupations much more congenial with my inclinations, than those to which I have been called by the character of the times into which my lot was cast. About to be relieved from this _corvée_ by age and the fulfilment of the _quadragena stipendia_, what remains to me of physical activity will chiefly be employed in the amusements of agriculture. Having little practical skill, I count more on the pleasures than the profits of that occupation. They will give me, too, the leisure which my present situation nearly denies, of rendering such services as may be within my means, to the Institute, the Agricultural Society of the Seine, to yourself, and such other worthy individuals as may find any convenience in a correspondence here. I shall then be able particularly to fulfil the wishes expressed, of my sending to the Society of Agriculture a plough with my mould-board. Perhaps I may be able to add some other implements, peculiar to us, to the collection which I perceive that the Society is making. I salute you, Sir, with assurances of great esteem and respect.

TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.

WASHINGTON, July 16, 1808.

DEAR SIR,--Complaints multiply upon us of evasions of the embargo laws, by fraud and force. These come from Newport, Portland, Machias, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, &c., &c. As I do consider the severe enforcement of the embargo to be of an importance, not to be measured by money, for our future government as well as present objects, I think it will be advisable that during this summer all the gun-boats, actually manned and in commission, should be distributed through as many ports and bays as may be necessary to assist the embargo. On this subject I will pray you to confer with Mr. Gallatin, who will call on you on his passage through Baltimore, and to communicate with him hereafter, _directly_, without the delay of consulting me, and generally to aid this object with such means of your department as are consistent with its situation.

I think I shall be able to leave this place by Wednesday. I will mention for your information, that the post for Milton leaves this place on Tuesdays and Fridays, and arrives at it on Sundays and, I believe, Thursdays.

I salute you with affection and respect.

TO MR. SMITH, OF THE WAR OFFICE.

WASHINGTON, July 16, 1808.

SIR,--The correspondence which you sent me the other day, between the British commanders and our officers in Moose Island, is now in the hands of Mr. Madison, and will be delivered to you on application. On consulting him and Mr. Gallatin, I find the facts to be that Moose Island has ever been in our possession, as well before as ever since the treaty of peace with Great Britain; that in the convention formed between Mr. King and the British government, about four years ago, wherein our limits in that quarter were mutually recognized, Moose Island was expressly acknowledged to belong to us; and, through an account of an article respecting Louisiana, the convention has not yet been ratified, yet both parties have acted on the article of these limits as if it had been ratified,--each party considering the parts then assigned to them as no longer questioned by the other.

I think you had better communicate the papers, with a copy of that article of the convention, to Gen. Dearborne, with these observations, from whom the answer to our officer will go with more propriety. If you will speak on this subject with Mr. Madison, he will, perhaps, be able to state to you what passed between us on this subject more fully than I have done. Accept my salutations.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SULLIVAN.

WASHINGTON, July 16, 1808.